Penwheel Productions‘ film, ‘Trolled’, has been described as a cross between ‘Saw’ and ‘The Blair Witch Project’. This experimental, avant-garde film is currently showing at Cannes Marché du Film, and is the third project of Penwheel Productions, a company that’s going from strength to strength.
Penwheel Productions was started by two friends, John F Uranday and Bobby Cloud, in 2018, following a simple conversation. Uranday had started out in the music industry before attending LA Film School; music remains close to his heart and where possible he tries to combine both his passions.
Over the past three years Penwheel Productions has grown in size and ambition – what was meant to be a small film company has branched out into more varied projects, many of them on the go simultaneously. With five or more scripts, two show bibles, and more concepts for films and television than they have had time to put to paper, Penwheel Productions just keeps spinning new ideas. Its first two projects were the feature film ‘Lost Souls’ and short film ‘Broken Innocence’, which made the rounds on the festival circuit in 2018-2019. The two films won five awards between them, from honorable mention to best feature. In 2019, Penwheel Productions found a distributor for ‘Lost Souls’. Though the company is very proud of both of these projects, it is clear the future is even brighter.
The current film, ‘Trolled’, was shot in a unique way. The film appears to be a dark web show, where the main character has created a stage in a basement for the ‘lessons’ he intends to teach. This masked man, who appears outwardly kind except for the horrible torture he inflicts, seems to wish he did not have to teach these harsh lessons, but has no choice in the world we live in. Each of his victims, or ‘students’, has trolled someone online and ruined their life. Our antihero is contacted by their victims and, in turn, the troll becomes trolled.
Shot in a single location, with five actors, the film keeps the visual entertainment level high by shooting all of the scenes with six cameras at the same time, making for some interesting editing. It was created to be shown as a film or even as an experimental interactive viewing experience. It is a different and unsettling watch.
‘Depth of Field’ is Penwheel Productions’ latest feature drama. In the lead is Canadian actor Rafael Petardi, of Netflix‘s new film ‘Red Notice’. The cast also includes Jay Acovone, George Stroumboulopoulos and Carrie Quinn Dolin. It tells the story of an old biker who has lost his family in a tragic accident. He befriends a young girl who lives next door, and in discovering their new connection and their love of photography, they learn to heal their old wounds. Their unlikely friendship leaves both their lives in a better place than they could have imagined. Penwheel Productions continues to tackle different types of subject matter as it explores new ways of storytelling.
Featured photo credit: Penwheel Productions
