American Bystander Makes its World Premier at Oaxaca FilmFest

    OAXACA DE JUAREZ, MEXICO, October 09, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Denver Film Company announced its first feature film, American Bystander has been selected to participate in the Oaxaca FilmFest to take place in Oaxaca, Mexico October 8-15, 2016. The film will make its World Premiere during one of the film festival's Foundation Nights on October 10 in the Cinepolis, the largest theater space and a second screening on October 11. The Oaxaca FilmFest has been ranked as "One of the Top 25 Film Festivals in the World" by MovieMaker Magazine and dubbed "Sundance South of the Border" by Spotlight Magazine.

The film's central character, Hopper, loses his wife in the theater shooting and his life quickly spins out of control. He eventually finds himself living on the streets of Denver. Told from the perspective of the homeless community that Hopper surrounds himself with, this fictional tale explores some of today's most volatile issues: homelessness, police brutality, gun control, gay rights, the death penalty, and the abuse of power. Gabriel Dohrn, Writer and Director states, "While many films about social issues take a side or make a statement, I just want to start conversations. With much of the media polarizing various social issues, I want to humanize them. In this film we experience the homeless characters' lives and their struggles, and suddenly it seems we have much more in common with them than we thought."

The morning after the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting on July 20, 2012, Denver film writer and director Gabriel Dohrn wrote a song about the horrific event. The song was called "Dark Night" and was based on his friend Bryson Billapondo's experience surviving the theater massacre. "The shooting was horrific on so many levels," says Dohrn, "But to have a friend who was a victim of the shooting, that really shook me up. I got a firsthand look at the terrible impact the shooting had on people." Dohrn transformed his song into the film American Bystander.

Denver Film Company filmed much of American Bystander at the Denver County Courthouse and other landmark sections of Colorado's capital city of Denver. A large amount of the film was shot on Denver's 16th Street Mall. While Dohrn and his team filmed the movie, the real-life events the film is based on, took place. For example, on Monday July 13, 2015, they filmed the scene in which the shooting trial's verdict was read. Three days later the actually "guilty" verdict was handed down in Aurora. "The idea was to capture a time and place. There was a heavy feeling in this city during the trial," said Gabriel Dohrn, Writer and Director, "So I set my actors in the middle of that, and let the performances come naturally."

The film was shot in Denver, Colorado with an all local cast and crew. Local actors in the film include Kaye Taavialma, Kevin Sean Ryan, Chaz Grundy, Kelly Mower, Dorinda Dercar, and Rebie Bautista. The film's Director and Producer aim to support local Denver charities by donating 100% of the proceeds from American Bystander to Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.

Writer and Director, Gabriel Dohrn used funds from his own pocket to create the film. An online crowd funding campaign has been launched via IndieGoGo (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/american-bystander-movie-film#/) to assist with film festival costs for the Oaxaca FilmFest and additional film festivals around the world with the ultimate goal to land a distribution deal for the film. The general public will also be able to view the film in the comfort of their own home by donating to the American Bystander IndieGoGo Campaign.

For more about Oaxaca FilmFest visit www.oaxacafilmfest.com

Oaxaca FilmFest is passionately committed to providing Audiences, Filmmakers, and Screenwriters around the globe with an excellent and unique cinematic experience.

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