IndieX film festival story posted by IndieX
On a stormy night in a cramped decrepit apartment, 1973, a man’s struggles between order and chaos collide and overtake him in this psychedelic trip of a film. Part narrative psycho-thriller, part audio-visual spectacle, one technicolor nightmare, “Optic Nerve“ (USA), is a psychedelic film directed by Peter Hartsock, at IndieX at the Raleigh Studios Hollywood on Saturday 8th, at 6 pm. The film was awarded Best Student Short and Best Student Director (Male) in December 2019 by IndieX, which is an international film fest based in Los Angeles with a very competitive acceptance rate. Films are judged and selected by a team of invited experts from academia and film industry from Los Angeles area, against a high standard of merit.
“Nothing is more relatable in the human psyche than the fears we have when locked alone in our rooms at night, wondering what’s out there in the dark. Structure versus chaos is the ultimate conflict in the human experience, and I hope with this film I can shed a light on the personal anxieties and frustrations we all tend to feel when alone,” says Peter Hartsock.
The screening of “Optic Nerve” will be followed by a Q&A with the cast and crew. This is one of the 6 films to be screened during the event.
Hartsock ’19 VPA Transmedia (film), founded 410 Pictures with Daniel Simoni ’19 VPA Transmedia (film) and Justina Hnatowicz ’19 (Newhouse major and VPA minor in animation). While students at SU, they produced 10 films and crewed for 30 film projects in Upstate New York. 410 Pictures, an independent micro-budget production and distribution house, started at 410 Winding Ridge on South Campus, and went on to be a four-time winner of Best NY State Student Film at the Upstate NY Horror Film Festival, winner of the Spotlight Silver Award at the Spotlight Horror Film Festival, and was nomiated at the Atlanta Horror Film Festival, Lost Sanity Horror Film Festival, New Jersey Horror Film Festival and the Blackbird Film Festival. As students, they wrote the business plan for 410 Pictures, working with the LaunchPad at Syracuse University, and competed in the Panasci Business Plan Competition, as well as the iPrize. The team has recently relocated to Los Angeles to grow the production company, and are keeping the name 410 Pictures as an homage to their SU founding story and their friendships.
Optic Nerve trailer below:
See the full story here: https://indiexfest.com/2020/01/22/award-winning-psychedelic-optic-nerve-premieres-in-hollywood-at-the-indiex-february-screening/