Vancouver isn’t just home to big Hollywood film and television productions. There’s a wealth of local film making talent and creativity being put to use for fan-made passion projects:
The Brothers Rapture (2013) BioShock fan-film (short)
Irrational/2K’s BioShock game franchise is critically acclaimed by critics and gamers alike. There are currently 3 game installments and (unfortunately) cancelled plans for a film, but not according to the fans. A group of Vancouver Film School Film Production alumni released a dramatic short film based on the popular first-person shooter video game:
“Before the underwater city of Rapture collapsed beneath itself and Splicers roamed its flooded halls, men and women thrived as they explored beyond the limits of their creative and scientific achievements. But who were they before their society crumbled around them? …”
The fan film follows the morality-based storyline of BioShock and stars Nicolas Taggart, Jonathan Alexander and Jake Croker. The short was directed by Shaun Rykiss and produced by Trevor Lareau.
Croft (2013) Tomb Raider fan-film (short)
If you grew up in the 90’s then you remember the comic books and video games of the Tomb Raider franchise. There were also two movie adaptations starring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft in 2001 and 2003. Fast-forward another decade and a short independent fan-film was conceived by a group of friends who love film making.
Made for entertainment purposes only, the non-profit short Croft (2013) was filmed right here in British Columbia. The fan-film has been viewed over 1.25 million times to-date:
“A woman will risk everything to save a young girl held hostage in the mountains by a group of mercenaries.”
The Hollywood North indie-production stars Vancouver-based actress, stunt woman, vlogger and cosplayer Cassandra Ebner (NerdzRL). Bradley Friesen, the aerial coordinator also appears as the helicopter pilot, and is known for his supernatural aerial videos of British Columbia:
Nightwing: The Darkest Knight (2016) DC Comics fan-film (short)
You can dream of being your favourite superhero or you can make it happen. A team of Vancouver-based movie and television pro’s got together to create the live-action fan film Nightwing: The Darkest Knight (2016).
“Nightwing returns home after a brief stint as the Green Lantern to find a close friend of his murdered. On the hunt for answers and justice, Nightwing steps beyond his normal boundaries of control until he is finally forced to confront the person responsible for the horrific crime. Torn between loyalty and justice, Nightwing is forced into a fight he would never want to have, but is forced to in order to save his city.”
The non-profit short film stars locals Brady Roberts as Nightwing / Dick Grayson, Dan Payne as Batman / Bruce Wayne, Camden Filtness as The Riddler and Stacey Roy as Harley Quinn. It’s also a sequel to 4-episode Nightwing: Prodigal (2014) web series. The web series was based on the fan-fiction trailer Nightwing: Prodigal Son.
All the projects took some major crowd funding and creativity to produce. From trailer to series to short film, these passionate fans are onto something!
Written by Amar Mirchandani @amarmirch