“BLISS”/ PRESS NOTES/ CLIPS/ STILLS/ TRAILER
I./ TECHNICAL SPECS
100 minutes/ English/ Color
Aspect ratio: 1:85
Sound: 5.1
Camera: Arri Amira
Lenses: Cooke Primes
II./ PRESS AND PRINT CONTACT
Annie Jeeves/Cinematic Red
Email: Annie@cinematicredpr.com
Cell: 310-995-3834
III./ LOGLINE + SYNOPSIS
An opioid addicted fugitive living off the grid in the desert canyons north of LA plays a twisted game of cat and mouse with a sexually repressed holy-roller in search of her missing sister.
Virgil Bliss has been a fugitive for twenty years. His decision to return to the scene of his original crime and finally make amends is complicated by the sudden death of his girlfriend and fellow Oxy addict, Amy, and the unexpected arrival of Amy's holy-roller sister who catches Virgil up in a web of lies and deceit. At once a dark fable of persistence, perseverance and the transformative power of love, but also a searing indictment of the American carceral system and our ongoing opioid epidemic. BLISS is the sequel to the 2001 Indie Spirit Award nominated debut feature VIRGIL BLISS and is the second installment of the VIRGIL BLISS TRILOGY.
III./ DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
BLISS (2024) is the culmination of over 20 years of filmmaking experience - all of my cinematic discoveries and creative breakthroughs, as well as the mistakes and missteps. In the spirit of Michael Apted's 7-UP series and Richard Linklater's BOYHOOD, I reunited with Clint Jordan, the star of my debut feature VIRGIL BLISS (2001), to pick up Virgil's story over twenty years later. In many ways, Virgil's journey as an ex-con and fugitive has mirrored my own journey as a filmmaker. We both set out with the best and purest of intentions, but somehow, either through fate, or plain dumb luck, Virgil and I just always seemed to get knocked a little off course. Now, all these years later, we've found each other again - older, perhaps wiser, our bodies dinged and bruised, but our spirits unbroken. BLISS is the second film in a planned VIRGIL BLISS TRILOGY. It also marks my return to the filmmaking philosophy of "Incidental Cinema", an initiative I started back in 2006. Incidental films are films made with total creative freedom. An incidental film can be commercially exploited, but market considerations play no part in its actual creation. For more information about Incidental Cinema, please visit www.incidentalfilms.com
I wrote the script with Clint and co-star Faryl Amadeus. Together we imagined all the people and places Virgil might have encountered over the past two decades, how the world might have acted upon him, molded him into the grizzled man we encounter grinding his horseshoe in the film’s opening frames. Over the course of six months, we hammered out a screenplay during epic four-hour phone calls as I drove between my home in NYC and Boston where I teach film at Emerson College, and then began putting the pieces of our humble production together. Larry Fessenden and his legendary NYC production company Glass Eye Pix came on board with financing and we were off to the races. Paula Killen, a legend in her own right, took on the day-to-day producer duties with a tireless zeal which to this day still amazes me. And no film of mine would be possible without Seth Anderson, editor and co-creator extraordinaire.
Before we could truly dive in, we needed a realistic production plan that would enable us to tell this off-the-grid desert story with our very limited resources. Matt Myers, one of my closest friends and collaborators, and easily the most brilliant producer I’ve ever known, assessed the situation and, while juggling producer duties on back-to-back films for Netflix and Amazon, fashioned the kind of ingenious, ultra-low-budget production strategy we’d used on so many films in the past. Little did we know at the time that BLISS was to be Matt’s last film; he died suddenly of a heart attack three days before we wrapped principal photography.
It's to Matt that we dedicate BLISS. I think he would be proud of what we’ve accomplished, of the story we tell, and the timeless themes we explore:
ENDURANCE. FORGIVENESS. LOVE.
-Joe Maggio
IV./ CAST
Virgil Bliss… CLINT JORDAN
Dwayne Bells… CLINT JORDAN
Amy Damascus… FARYL AMADEUS
Jo Damascus… FARYL AMADEUS
Anton… JUAN FERNANDEZ
Pizza Guy… DAVID YOW
CLINT JORDAN: (DWAYNE BELLS + VIRGIL BLISS/ CO-WRITER) Clint Jordan is an actor, writer and fine artist. Film credits include “Virgil Bliss” (2001), for which he was nominated for a 2002 Independent Spirit Award for Breakthrough Performance; “Down to the Bone” (2004), directed by Academy Award nominee Debra Granik; and numerous TV shows including “American Crime Story”, “This is Us”, and “Bosch: Legacy.”
FARYL AMADEUS: (JO + AMY DAMASCUS/ CO-WRITER) Faryl Amadeus, filmmaker, Aspen Film’s “Independent By Nature” winner, and Spielberg fellow, is gearing up to premiere her latest 16mm film, ANY SIGN AT ALL. With two other films in post-production, she is currently developing projects for both TV and film.
JUAN FERNANDEZ: (ANTON) Juan Fernandez’s credits include “Salvador” (1986); “Crocodile Dundee” (1988); “A Man Apart” (2003); and “In the Country of Last Things” (2020). In addition to acting, he has worked extensively as a model for various designers, including Yves Saint-Laurent, Nino Cerruti, Zandra Rhodes, Ossie Clark, and Giorgio di Saint’Angelo. He also modeled for Salvador Dali.
DAVID YOW: (PIZZA GUY) David Yow appears alongside Kevin Bacon and Peter Dinklage in “The Toxic Avenger” (2023), directed by Macon Blair. He is also featured in Blair’s “I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore” (2017). David is renowned globally as the passionate lead singer of the legendary band The Jesus Lizard. Kurt Cobain cited Yow as a significant influence, resulting in a shared 7" record between The Jesus Lizard and Nirvana.
V./ KEY PERSONNEL
JOE MAGGIO: (WRITER, DIRECTOR) Joe Maggio is an award-winning writer-director. His work has screened in festivals and museums around the world, including Slamdance, Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, MoMA, The Museum of the Moving Image, The Paley Center for Media and The Boston Museum of Fine Arts. He has collaborated with Vincent D'Onofrio on three radio plays as part of the “Tales From Beyond the Pale” series presented and curated by Larry Fessenden. In 2006, he founded Incidental Films, a production company devoted to making "Incidental Cinema" - ultra-indie films that favor narrative truth and creative freedom above all else. He has taught at NYU in the Film and Dramatic Writing departments, and is currently on the faculty of Emerson College where he teaches directing. He is currently developing a ten-film series, NO OTHER GODS, inspired by Krystof Kieszlowski’s DEKALOG.
SETH ANDERSON: (EDITOR, CO-CREATOR) Seth Anderson has edited feature length and short films to much acclaim. His work as editor on “Speed for Thespians” helped earn the film an Academy Award nomination in the Best Short Film category. Anderson has edited numerous features including Emmy nominee “TikTok, Boom” (2022) for Shalini Kantayya; Joe Maggio’s “The Last Rites of Joe May” (2010, Tribeca Films); “Mercy” (2016, Netflix); and “Paper Soldiers” (2003, Universal Pictures). He has also edited television, including series for NBC, ABC, and Discovery. He edited “Gina, an Actress Age 29,” which won Best Short Film at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. A graduate of NYU, Anderson’s first film job was working as an apprentice editor for Ang Lee on “Sense and Sensibility.” He lives in NYC.
BUCKAROO MAY: (DIRECTOR OF AUDIO) Buck May is best known for his audio direction on the hit Netflix documentary series “Tiger King” (2021), and also Joe Maggio’s rarely seen cult biker classic, “Supermoto” (2016). He lives in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, with his bird.
HARLAN BOSMAJIAN: (DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY) Harlan started his cinematography career in the New York indie film scene of the mid 90’s and early 2000’s on such films as “La Ciudad”(1998), “Virgil Bliss” (2001), “Lovely and Amazing” (2001) and “Starting Out in the Evening”(2007). Television credits include Comedy Central’s “Strangers with Candy,” and “Madmen.” He is currently on the faculty at Emerson College where he teaches cinematography.
SAM BISBEE: (COMPOSER) Sam Bisbee has composed the score for numerous films including Primetime Emmy Award and Sundance Audience Award winner “The Sentence” (HBO), ESPN’s 30 for 30 and “Born to Play,” SXSW Grand Jury Prize winner “Wildflowers,” and Joe Maggio’s “Paper Covers Rock” (IFC Films, 2009.) As a singer-songwriter, Sam has released five albums and performs regularly in NYC. His music has been featured in numerous films and television shows (“Other People,” “Robot and Frank,” “Damages”, “Victorious”) and over twenty commercials, including his remake of “Hanging on the Telephone” for AT&T, which featured Cat Power. He has written songs that have been recorded by Leona Naess, Howie Day, Toby Lightman, Delirium and Laura Cantrell.
TOM EFFINGER: (POST-SOUND MIXER) After attending Phillips Academy Andover and the University of Vermont, Tom started his sound for film career, in NYC, in the 90s. He has worked with many notable directors over the years including Sydney Pollock, Mike Myers, Mark Ruffalo, Ramin Bahrani, and Ryan Fleck + Anna Boden, and more recently with Mike Birbiglia, Mira Nair, Larry Fessenden, and Ti West. He now has over 300 credits for sound design, sound supervision, and mixing. Tom works in both documentary and narrative film, video art, TV drama, and music, and is the owner of Red Hook Post in Brooklyn New York. Tom is a two-time Emmy nominee and a Grammy winner.
RUYOU LI: (ASSISTANT CAMERA + ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY) Ruyou Li is a cinematographer based in Los Angeles who has contributed to a diverse range of projects, including short films, commercials, branded content, and feature films. He received his BA in film production from the University of Utah, and an MFA degree in Film and Media Art from Emerson College in Boston, graduating in 2021.
PAULA KILLEN: (PRODUCER) Killen has been in the entertainment industry her entire adult life. As a playwright, Killen’s original works have been produced nationwide. Venues include The Goodman Theater Chicago, LaMama New York, Theater X Milwaukee, and The Upright Citizen’s Brigade, LA. Her film, “Fully Loaded” won numerous awards on the festival circuit and premiered on Starz. She’s sold a dozen screenplays and written extensively for TV. Shows include “Eyewitness,” “Shades of Blue,” and “The Box.” Killen currently writes the “Mea Culpa” podcast for Michael Cohen and produces independent projects on the side.
MATTHEW MYERS: (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) Matthew Myers, to whom “Bliss” is dedicated, was an American film and television producer. His first professional film job was as a production intern on “The Silence of the Lambs” in 1991. Throughout his career, he produced over 30 commercial features and TV movies for independent production companies, major studios and networks, including 20th Century Fox, Showtime, HBO, Sony, Lionsgate and Universal. His films have won major awards and international honors at the Cannes, Toronto, Berlin and Sundance film festivals. He worked with Academy Award-winning talent (Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Dustin Lance Black, Helen Hunt, Colin Firth, Harvey Keitel, Glenn Close, Kathy Bates and Bette Midler).
LARRY FESSENDEN: (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) Glass Eye Pix (“one of the indie scene’s most productive and longest-running companies” - Filmmaker Magazine) is the fierce independent NYC-based production outfit headed by art-horror auteur Larry Fessenden (BLACKOUT, DEPRAVED, THE LAST WINTER, WENDIGO, HABIT, NO TELLING, BENEATH, ABC's of DEATH 2, NBC's Fear Itself episode “SKIN AND BONES”). Fessenden (winner of the Someone to Watch Spirit Award) has operated the company since 1985, with the mission of supporting individual voices in the arts.
The subject of a 26 feature-film retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art in April 2022, Glass Eye Pix has produced numerous critically acclaimed films, including FOXHOLE (2022, Jack Fessenden—winner best ultra indie, Woodstock Film Fest), THE RANGER (2018, Jenn Wexler), LIKE ME (2017, Robert Mockler), MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND (2017, Ana Asensio— winner best feature SXSW, 2017), STRAY BULLETS (2017, Jack Fessenden), THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL and THE INNKEEPERS by Ti West; the gently macabre I SELL THE DEAD by Glenn McQuaid, the vampire saga STAKE LAND (Jim Mickle — winner of the Audience Award at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival's Midnight Madness), THE COMEDY (2012, Rick Alverson), WENDY AND LUCY (2009, Kelly Reichardt), LIBERTY KID (2008, Ilya Chaiken) and Joe Maggio’s BITTER FEAST (2010).
Glass Eye Pix produces books, comics, and the critically acclaimed audio podcast TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE, co-created with Glenn McQuaid, now in its 5th season. Fessenden is the author along with Graham Reznick of the acclaimed Bafta-winning Sony Playstation video game UNTIL DAWN.
As an actor, Fessenden has appeared in over 100 films including KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (Martin Scorsese), THE DEAD DON’T DIE (Jim Jarmusch), RIVER OF GRASS (Kelly Reichardt), IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE (Ti West) and BROOKLYN 45 (Ted Geoghegan).
VI./ STILLS
VII./ LINKS TO CLIPS + TRAILER
TRAILER
https://vimeo.com/907829646?share=copy
VIRGIL DRIVES
https://vimeo.com/890891060?share=copy
SHE’LL SHOW UP
https://vimeo.com/890890812?share=copy
DWAYNE’S LIES
https://vimeo.com/890890524?share=copy
GRAVE DIGGING
https://vimeo.com/890890271?share=copy
© COPYRIGHT 2024 INCIDENTAL FILMS, LLC