Jessica Foster
Staff WriterThis summer, throughout Forest Lake and the greater Twin Cities area, a dream is coming true.
A group of youth and a handful of adults have been working on Arcaioz: Elemental Forces, an independent film so far into the future it takes viewers into the past.
Pronounced ìArchacious,î the film title is the Greek name for ìAncients.î
The first in a planned trilogy, the film is being driven purely by motivation, dreams and a lot of manpower.
Michael Kaeding, a senior at Forest Lake High School, Jordan Koch, a recent graduate of FLHS who will attend Hamline University this fall and Jon Holzschuh, a 1992 graduate of FLHS, are directors of the film which has been in the works for nearly one year.
Pat Weygand, Jordan Lindahl and Lewis Marshall also are heavily involved.
Written by a group of FLHS students, with a cast of local students and adults and a local animation, 3D and special effects team, Arcaioz truly is an effort of this community.
Arcaioz is a project of Fortification Productions. Fortification is comprised of a few dozen high school students and young adults who have an interest in making movies using the tools of computers.
With the aid of computers, the movie will feature the structures of medieval life not viable to shoot live in the Twin Cities. With advanced software, Arcaioz will feature castles and medieval cities.
This is not the first movie for Fortification. The team created Natrix, the first film, for a high school German class movie project.
Then, it was the project of a few. Now, the film is a project of many.
The young people have spent in excess of $3000 on the projectóall out of the pockets of Holzschuhís bus driver salary and Kaedingís summer job. The filmmakers are seeking funding sources for the project.
From providing man power at events for funds to writing grants, the producers are working overtime to fund their dreams.
Individuals and organizations who want to help make this dream a reality are encouraged to contact Jon Holzschuh at 651-462-0954.
Jessie Bystrom, an actress in the film, also pitched in. Without any sewing experience, the Forest Lake High School senior got out the manual for her grandmotherís sewing machine and got to work on sewing 50 costumes for a recent battle scene.
Organizers describe Arcaioz like this: ìIt is common knowledge that history repeats itself. But when mankind becomes too powerful, gaining the ability to bless and curse any human they choose, history is no longer repeating. History has become the toy of humans.î
Shooting on the film should be complete next month with post production being completed this winter. The film, with an edited length of about an hour and a half, will be complete in the spring.
When the film is completed, producers plan to enter the show into independent film competitions. They also are in preliminary talks with Lake 5 Theater to show the film.
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