London calling! VOLITION has been officially selected to screen at London’s most epic genre festival, the legendary FrightFest! The film will play on August 24th at Leicester Square in the bustling West End. For tickets and festival info., visiting the FrightFest site. We hope to see you there!
Italy, here we come! VOLITION’s European Premiere will take place in Rome, at the OSTIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL! We screen at 9:30 pm at the Cineland di Ostia. Friends, Romans, Countrymen, if you’re a fan of cerebral science-fiction, please join us. More exciting European festival news still to come, so stay tuned!
The Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival has just wrapped up and what a festival it was! VOLITION played to a packed theater and walked away with TWO of the festival’s TOP PRIZES. The cerebral science-fiction feature won for BEST SCI-FI/HORROR FILM and for BEST FEATURE SCREENPLAY! To top things off, VOLITION was nominated in an impressive seven categories, including BEST DIRECTION: Tony Dean Smith, BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Byron Kopman, BEST ACTOR: Adrian Glynn McMorran, and BEST ACTRESS: Magda Apanowicz. A huge thank you to the Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival for their fantastic festival and warm hospitality!
For full list of winners and nominees, see the JTIFF site!
With VOLITION a feature presentation at the International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival this weekend, a new teaser trailer has been dropped. Without dialogue, the trailer’s pounding score (composed by Matthew Rogers) matches its dynamic images. Little of the plot is revealed. More to come as the film continues its festival run!
https://vimeo.com/329225817/5dc4295665
Wolf of Geek Street.com has reviewed the Phoenix Film Festival‘s screening of VOLITION, and the praise is high! Reviewer Zach Pope likened the film to a Robert Rodriguez-style mix of Christopher Nolan’s INCEPTION with Rian Johnson’s LOOPER. For the full review, see below!
WOLF OF GEEK STREET — “VOLITION”: The Next Generation Filmmaker
Picture Robert Rodriguez creating his own version of Inception mixed with Looper. You get the low budget feel without it feeling in the way of the storytelling and entertainment level. Plus you get the Sci-Fi doozie that brings you on a journey, unlike many other stories. Volition an independent Sci-Fi film does just that.
Volition is from director Tony Dean Smith and written by him and his brother Ryan W. Smith. The story is about a man who is afflicted with clairvoyance and tries to change fate when a series of events leads to a vision of his own murder. This trippy story starts out with this fun premise and takes it to you on a ride. While not having the high octane action that many Sci-Fi films have today, the vision of this movie trades in the action for more of a character piece and dealing with what is truly going on and trust me there is more than truly meets the eye. I had this weird feeling like watching this movie that I could see where it was truly going to go. Until an hour in a certain twist unlike a lot of other films in this genre takes and really turns the audience for a spin. Which at this point is where the film truly had me in its grips.
This twist of the plot makes for you to have more fun and think about every course of action earlier in the story that seemed off or weird. It even opens up certain story plots that you were curious about. It was a smart way to play with this genre in a way that I hadn’t seen in a while. Volition is the creative film of the Phoenix Film Festival, it truly is something that you have not seen before. For an independent film like this, it truly surprised me. Where it starts as another Sci-Fi film with a cool concept but feeling like I had seen this before turns out to be something super smart and on the level of the previous two films I had mentioned up above. Looper and Inception. While I could easily go into some nitpicks for the movie where some of the visual effects weren’t up to par with other films or even some of the dialogue between the characters did at times feel a little off. It’s hard to deny how much passion went into the elements of this film that turned it into a super creative fun film that has grit, passion, and even uniqueness all throughout it. Volition is the creative odyssey that you expect and I cannot wait to see where this pair of brilliant individuals take their ideas next.
Review site: wolfofgeekstreet.com
VOLITION’s film festival run continued to build as it played to packed theaters at the Harkins 101 Scottsdale for the Phoenix Film Festival. Each screening was followed by a Q & A period with Director/Co-writer Tony Dean Smith and Co-writer/Producer Ryan W. Smith. The pair also took part in industry panels, with Tony Dean Smith speaking on the director’s panel and Ryan W. Smith speaking for the two of them on the screenwriting panel.
Tony Dean Smith: Directing Panel
Ryan W. Smith: Screenwriting Panel
Following this week, the film will be a feature presentation at the International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival, with Director/Co-writer Tony Dean Smith in attendance, joined by Director of Photography, Byron Kopman. Check out the International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival site for tickets and showtimes!
Thanks HorrorBuzz.com for the shoutout about our BEST FEATURE win at The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival. We’re honored and thrilled to be part of celebrating PKD’s legacy! For more details, see the HorrorBuzz.com article. Next stop for the film is the Phoenix Film Festival. Hope to see you there!
Thanks to OC Weekly for covering the wild night of VOLITION’s World Premiere!
After an unforgettable evening as the opening night headline presentation in Santa Ana, VOLITION took home the festival’s top prize as Best Feature! What a way to start the film’s festival run! Members of the Volition team in attendance included Tony Dean Smith, Ryan W. Smith, Adrian Glynn McMorran, John Cassini, Amroe Anderson, Dusty Anderson, Pia Edberg and Martin Smith. Congrats to the whole team!
More good news for this mind-bending thriller! Volition is an official selection of the Phoenix Film Festival, screening in Arizona multiple times, from April 4th-14th. For schedule and festival information, check out the festival site, and if you’re in the area, grab some popcorn and join us!