Tagline
A second chance is the eye of the beholder.
Short Synopsis
Winnie (Jamie Schiller), a working class psychic finds herself in an oddly powerful position when a young man, Jack (Andrew Zagozdon), asks her to predict the outcome of a basketball game. With the prediction, Jack intends to put money down on the winner and get himself out of debt. She reluctantly tells him what he wants to hear and he leaves thinking that his money problems are over.
After finding drugs in her brother’s jacket pocket the next day, Winnie sees Jack unexpectedly as he is getting money to put on the game. Drawing a parallel between Jack and her brother, Winnie tells him what she wanted to say the day before.
Long Synopsis
While walking his bike aimlessly, Jack (Andrew Zagozdon), a twenty-something, comes across a sign advertising psychic readings. He meets a young woman named Winifred (Jamie Schiller) who promises to tell him his future. When Jack asks Winnie to predict the winner of the Bulls/Knicks game the next night, she is taken aback – she is used to answering questions about love or money. As Jack reveals that he is in debt and intends is to put all of his money on Winnie’s projected winner it becomes increasingly clear that he suffers from a gambling addiction. Winnie attempts to veer him into a different direction but fails. This forces her to wrestle with an “unpredictable” dilemma. Should she do her duty and tell the stranger what he wants to hear or break character and intervene? Incapable of reconciling, she opts to use a bogus and stereotypical psychic method while randomly choosing a winner. Thoroughly satisfied, Jack leaves her office further enabled by his vice.
We later return to Winnie now outside of her paranormal obligations. During her trip to the grocery store she borrows her brother’s jacket only to discover it contains a white powder in a little baggie. Incensed, she disposes of the drugs in a nearby dumpster.
As she marches away Winnie notices Jack walking into a money transfer station. The choice from the preceding day is now revived in full emotion like déjà vu: paramnesia. Winnie now faces the dilemma again, but this time she has no restrictions. Her own self-image of an enabler coalesces as she says what she wanted to all along.
Tuesday
Cast and Crew Bios and Antidotes
Bio for Jamie Schiller
Jamie is an undergraduate at The University of Iowa double-majoring in Cinema and Journalism. She is a Chicago native and is extremely close with her family and tends to include them in her films. When she graduates in 2010, Jamie hopes to attend grad school to study film more in depth.
Jamie sees her Journalistic side as an informant to her artistic side because it forces her to investigate and analyze everyday occurrences and norms in society. She has recently become very interested in gender relations and intends to put out more fictional work on the subject in the near future.
Jamie enjoyed working on Paramnesia and learned a great deal about studio work; particularly when the footage from a four hour shoot was unusable.
Bio for Andrew Zagozdon
Andrew is a student at The University of Iowa who majors in Cinema and English. He is an aspiring writer and filmmaker. Andrew takes strong interest to poetry and music. He likes to produce music for his musician friends and hopes to cultivate this skill enough to put his work out. Paramnesia marks Andrew’s acting debut.
Bio for Aaron Hurlburt
Aaron is currently a junior attending the University of Iowa and majors in Cinema, International Relations, and Museum Studies as well as completing a minor in Spanish. Born in Waterloo, Aaron grew up in Eastern Iowa and has developed a relationship with the area. While he holds a passion for filmmaking he also takes interest in diplomacy and non-profit organizations. He hopes to combine his love of cinema with these fields in order to develop a career. Most recently, Aaron has been contracted by the UI Museum of Natural History to help produce a sesquicentennial video and spot.
Paramnesia represented a departure from Aaron’s comfort zone in films and allowed him to explore drama as well as dialogue intensive pieces. Though the script went through several major renovations in preproduction that shifted the focus, the project was able to be completed in time. Among Aaron’s most loathed memories of working on Paramnesia, are crewing a scene by himself: operating a boom mike, umbrella, and camera simultaneously, a four hour set construction and shoot that had to be scrapped due to poor video
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