Brian’s quarantine-conceived “CIPHER” finds success
In April of 2020, a unique online film festival that served as a way for artists to come together and create entertaining short films during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic (all while respecting the rules of social distancing and remaining in quarantine) was born: The Cabin Fever Film Festival.
The festival featured weekly competitions in which filmmakers were tasked to make a film that fulfilled certain criteria. “Cipher”, the experimental short that Brian created for the festival, had to include: the use of toilet paper, an element of mystery, and a unique line prompt for that week of the event.
Exercising his creativity with the intent of creating a compelling short within a week while meeting the requirements for the competition, Brian’s black-and-white short managed to win the “Runner-Up” title and is considered an “Official Selection” of the Cabin Fever Film Festival.
Following its success at the festival the film was made specifically for, it has been submitted to other film festivals as well, receiving nominations and “Official Selection” titles for IndieX Fest, Venice Shorts, and Indie Short Fest.
The film can be viewed in its entirety on the official Cabin Fever Film Festival YouTube channel:
"Under the Earth" is the #1 film on Amazon Studios
On December 2nd 2015, filmmaker Michael Albright submitted his fifteen minute short film to Amazon Studios, the film and television division of one of the world's largest online retailers. Within a matter of days, the piece skyrocketed to the top spot out of over 13,000 projects to be considered by the studio for full fledged funding. As of right now, "Under the Earth" is still the #1 film on Amazon Studios and maintains a five star viewer rating!
Brian had the honor of narrating the lead character's tumultuous internal struggle of making sense of a whole unique world that exists within the center of the planet, which forces him to question everything he believes about the universe as a whole. Even worse, his encounter with its inhabitants has formed a mysterious, haunting connection between himself and them upon his return to the normal world, inducing a chronic state of paranoia and fear for his own life.
The film is still readily available for viewing exclusively on the project's Amazon Studio page. If you really enjoyed the short and are eager to see more of it, please voice your desire to see it go into full production in the comments section of the page!