The following is a press release.
Long-time Bothell residents Nathan Hendrickson and Brian Pamintuan have something in common beyond working at their day jobs for a prominent video game company — a suspense thriller horror film entitled “The Hollow One.” Their first feature film makes its world premiere at Seattle International FIlm Festival (SIFF) Wednesday, May 27 at 9:00 p.m. andThursday, May 28 at 3:30 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown Theater. Tickets can be purchased through the SIFF Box Office.
The long-time video game makers decided to take the plunge into independent filmmaking a few years ago. They started Compulsion Films with colleagues Sherry Floyd, Wayne Burns andTony Doupe’. He is a household name in the local film, theater and acting communities. Hendrickson had wanted to tell the story of “The Hollow One” for a long time so it was a natural choice for the filmmakers as their first film.
“I’ve been lucky enough to work in the entertainment industry for more than 20 years. In the time I’ve had endless opportunities to produce and direct high budget CGI shorts for video games created, but making this independent feature film has been a dream of mine for a long time,” Hendrickson said.
“We knew at least some of our gaming industry skills could be transferred to the filmmaking side, and we wanted to see what kind of filmmakers we could be if we put our minds to it. For me, it was all about the challenge of sound for this story,” Pamintuan explained.
While Hendrickson wrote and directed the film, Pamintuan took on the daunting job of sound design. The Compulsion producers also recruited the talents of another local filmmaker and actor,Lorraine Montez, to assist in getting the film made. “The Hollow One” was also produced in association with Abundant Productions, founded by Montez.
The film stars several local actors, including Kate Alden, Tony Doupe’, and Tonya M. Skoog. It also stars Los Angeles actor Jesse James, best known for “As Good as it Gets” “The Butterfly Effect,” “Amityville Horror,” and “Blow,” and New York actor Chelsea Farthing.
“The Hollow One” follows young and hopeful Rachel Wade (Alden), who is sent down an emotionally destructive path after the tragic death of her mother (Skoog). Forced to leave home by her grieving father (Doupe’), Rachel and her younger sister Anna (Farthing) return years later to find their father missing and the community deserted. The few remaining people are not the same. They seem devoid of emotion, just empty husks controlled by some unknown desire.
Haunted by fractured memories and nightmarish visions of her mother’s death, Rachel struggles to piece together the events leading up to her father’s disappearance. But the search for answers quickly turns into a deadly race for survival.
In order to escape, Rachel must face her past and her mother’s dark history and a mysterious figure with sinister intentions.
“The Hollow One” was filmed using mainly local crew from Seattle and surrounding areas. Filming locations included Capitol Hill, Fremont, Duvall and Carnation.
“It’s my hope that the film’s production quality and storyline are as intriguing for viewers to watch as the story has been for me to write over the last several years. Making the film was a challenge in so many ways. I’m grateful to the producers, cast and crew for their professionalism and dedication to making a great movie,” Hendrickson said.
“Our producers, cast and crew were amazing to work with. The experience left me with a new appreciation of the filmmaking process and a great deal of respect for our producers, cast and crew,” Pamintuan said.
Hendrickson is the Cinematic Manager at a prominent local video game studio. Nathan resides in Washington state and is actively working on building bridges between the local gaming and film industries and community. Nathan previously worked as a game and cinematic designer for major titles such as Shogo, The Matrix Online, Aliens vs. Predator 2, F.E.A.R. 2, and Condemned. He is also the creator of the popular video game franchise Condemned. Before entering the video game realm, Nathan was a producer, director, and writer for a film and video company specializing in industrial health and safety: Lockert, Jackson and Associates (LJA). While there, he wrote, produced, and directed over 20 hours of original content and won multiple local and national awards for his work. Nathan holds a B.A. in Broadcast Communications from Washington State University.
Pamintuan is a producer and sound designer who is passionate about immersion and emotion through sound. Starting with a music career in the early 90′s primarily in the dance/electronic/DJ scene, Brian has recorded and produced bands, released his own music and performed around all the Seattle clubs. This foundation in the music industry led him to fifteen years of acoustical composition and design for a prominent Seattle-based video game company. Brian has garnered many awards and accolades for his audio expertise and is thrilled to translate that knowledge to filmmaking.
Hendrickson and Pamintuan also executive produced “The Hollow One” along with Floyd, Burns, and Brian Waite, Mike Dussault, Rosario De Guzman, Jan-Fryderyk Pleszczynski, and Louis-Simon Ménard.
