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James Kassier accepts his excellance and in filmaking award in Los Angeles

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James Kassier is an independent film maker. This page will follow as his career unfolds.

PLAY - Deja Vu Deception Trailer

PLAY - James Kassier's Destination Hollywood behind scenes video.

James accepts his excellance and in filmaking award in Los Angeles

Sci-fi flick Festival Favourite

Filmaker James Kassier honoured at Shriekfest By Robyn Chambers.

It is not Cannes, but for horror and science-fiction film buffs Shriekfest is an opportunity to screen some of the best in the genre. Local filmmaker James Kassier was there with

Special effects shot from the film Deja Vu Deception

his sci-fi feature Deja Vu Deception. Shriekfest 2004 Film Festival, held Sept. 24 to 26 at the Raleigh Studio in Los Angeles, is where the art of weird, wonderful and wacky meet to take centre stage. At Shriekfest, Deception won the award of Excellence in Filmmaking-an honour that was open to all 230 festival entries it was also amongst the finalists in the sci-fi feature category. "It was fun and a privilege to be included," Kassier, the 28-year-old writer, director, producer, editor and actor of Deception, said of the festival.

The film, a spoof of Star Trek, was a three-and-a-half year project requiring 53 volunteer cast and crew and was shot in the Chilliwack area. It was a tough job, says Kassier, who appears as Captain Kirk in the 62-minute film. Kassier also submitted Deception to the ShockerFest in Modesto, Calif. as well as seven other festivals. In Modesto it was a finalist in the best score category. Not known for their mainstream success science fiction movies face an uphill battle for public acceptance, but that doesn't deter Kassier, a long-time fan, from making those types of movies. "Science fiction allows you to escape from reality to a world that doesn't exist-a fictitious world. So there is freedom to do all kinds of stuff," he said. Despite the film's success, Kassier is moving on to next project, although he hopes Deception will eventually be picked up for a run on television. These days Kassier is working on a new movie that is set in the 1970s about a character who wants to make a movie and will stop at nothing to get it done. It will be in the comedy/sci-fi genre. Kassier has already shot most of the movie locally and plans to start editing next month. There is no budget except his own pocket. With little financial reward and such the heavy workload it leaves one wondering Kassier's motivation. It's simple: he wants to make movies. Making them and having them screened, he believes, is the best route to commercial success. Published friday oct,8,2004 courtesy the Chilliwack Times,

Reel labour of love

By Melissa Shaw - According to the posters stuck on telephone poles around Chilliwack, Dr. Stone is a master of deception. Indeed, the whole Federation is on the brink of subversion, and only one man stands in his way... It's almost as though Star Trek was never actually cancelled in 1969, said filmmaker James Kassier, of Road Rocket Pictures.

Image from Deja Vu Deception

That's the premise from which Kassier's first real production, a campy spoof he called Rendezvous with Revenge, began. "It's like a lost episode...It was lost for 30 years in a vault somewhere, and now here it is," The forty five minute film was the culmination of a lifetime-however short-of fascination with science fiction and making movies. "I loved building sets and props. I even built a full-sized rocket. It was quite crazy," he said. "I had a video camera, and my friends and I would do skits, mostly space adventure." For Rendezvous, production ventured way out of the Kassier family basement, however. can't film in the basement anymore," Kassier laughed. "There's just no room." Instead, the twenty member cast and crew worked outdoors or used vacant industrial space around Chilliwack. Kassier's mom stood by with lasagna and shepherd's pie so everyone who worked on the production ate well and In the early days, volunteers lined up. "It was like an avalanche," Kassier said. "More and more people wanted to get involved."

Characters in James Kassier's award winning film.

"I But the massive effort paid off in October 2001. Rendezvous with Revenge claimed third prize in its category at the Canadian International Annual Film Festival, just as Kassier was beginning its sequel, Deja Vu Deception. "It was just such a boost motivationally," he said. Making a giant leap in quality for the sequel, with fully 100 special effects packed into the film and months of script rewrites ahead, Kassier would need that boost more than he could have imagined. Effects he included in Deja Vu ranged from "blue screening," where crew members are seen looking out a porthole with craft flying towards them. He spent eight months on post production work, logging 2,200 hours in editing alone. Now, as Kassier prepares for Deja Vu Deception's world premier, happening at the Arts Centre Saturday night, it's clear that what started out as pure fun is becoming hard work: the stuff a career is made of. His adventures in filmmaking have cost Kassier somewhere around $25,000-money he had saved for his post-secondary education. In the end, Kassier believes he's got more to show for his effort that a diploma from a film school would provide. "I know people who have spent tens of thousands of dollars, and come out of it with a few minutes of film to show for themselves," he said. "Even if it fails, 10 to 15 years down the road, not many people can say they made a movie." The world premiere of Deja Vu Deception-replete with red carpet fanfare-happens at the Chilliwack Arts Centre on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. Published Nov, 21 2003 Chilliwack Times.

Contact James Kassier and Roadrocket Pictures

Destination Hollywood is the title of ROADROCKET Pictures Ltd next release. See the look-ear.com video sneak peek. more>>

Screen shot from Desitnation Hollywood - Road Rocket Pictures

Images from "Destination Hollywood"

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