Taylor Cooper and Guy Kent lead the resurrection proof-of-concept from ‘THE ATOMIC DREAM’ filmmaker Angad Aulakh, alum of Ryan Murphy’s accelerator Half Initiative.
Taylor Cooper (‘The Morning Show’, ‘FBI: Most Wanted’), Guy Kent (‘The Atomic Dream’), Ella Thomas (‘Nightbitch’, ‘Desperation Road’), and Lestonja Diaz (‘Nashville’) lead filmmaker Angad Aulakh’s RESURREKTOR. Aulakh, who is an alum of Half Initiative, the Ryan Murphy accelerator for diverse and minority filmmakers, is coming off his and Kent’s award-winning, Oscar-Qualified short THE ATOMIC DREAM (2022). RESURREKTOR recently premiered at the Oscar and BAFTA-qualifying LA Shorts Fest and is set for Closing Night at the Canadian Screen Awards-qualifying New York Shorts International Fest on October 19, 2023.
A frightening and visually arresting tale driven by profound sorrow, RESURREKTOR explores the age-old question of: to what lengths would you go to bring back someone you love? Two sisters, separated by tragedy. A grieving husband, haunted and devasted, looking for answers. An innocent victim, caught in the web of desperation. The film explores the depths of trauma and the lengths we will go to overcome it.
Aulakh produces alongside his Last Carnival partner Guy Kent from a script Aulakh co-wrote with Taylor Sardoni (‘Last Straw’); Aulakh and Sardoni also co-wrote the feature script, with Aulakh and Kent producing the feature. Rounding out the team on RESURREKTOR is Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Charlie Wuppermann (‘Kedi’), award-winning composer Tim Despic (Lionsgate’s ‘Fall’), Artios-winning casting director Michael Sanford (‘Sharp Stick’), and production designer Leah Berman (‘The Atomic Dream’).
Aulakh and Kent’s prior short, THE ATOMIC DREAM, was the winner of 22 festival awards and 34 nominations, garnering international accolades and critical acclaim on its festival tour, described as a “cinematic creature, beautifully and vividly realized by Angad Aulakh” (Richard Propes/The Independent Crtic). Among its festival tour, it was the only short apart of the After Dark Selection at SCAD Savannah Film Festival, IFS Los Angeles Film Festival, Amsterdam International Film Festival, Prague International Film Festival, among others. In a joint initiative with Paul Jun’s Filmocracy and Jon Fitzgerald’s iGems, it was previously announced the short film opened in select theaters in September 2022. FlickFeast described the dark sci-fi story as ” a recurring nightmare returning with a vengeance. The performances and direction generate magnificent suspense, while the craftsmanship has a playfulness worthy of The Twilight Zone.” Richard Propes of The Independent Critic described the film as “beautifully and vividly realized” and that “Aulakh’s magic here is strong as The Atomic Dream not only vividly captures the period in which it’s set but has an undeniable connection to these very times.” Short Films Matter praised it with “Angad Aulakh has crafted an extraordinary piece of filmmaking that will throw the audience sideways.”
