Indie Comedy Secedes in "The Mutineer"

PITTSBURGH - Oct. 3, 2017 - PRLog -- Blackbird Films announces the release of The Mutineer, an indie comedy about a group of characters, fleeing a gun possession charge, who take over a farm in rural Appalachia and try to secede from the U.S. The film will be released on October 17^th on Amazon, iTunes and Vimeo On Demand streaming services, as well as on DVD through Amazon.

The story is loosely based on recent uprisings of secessionist or militia movements, such as the 2014 Cliven Bundy standoff that culminated in the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in early 2016; and earlier the case of John Joe Gray in Texas, the "sovereign citizen" who was involved in the longest standoff with authorities in U.S. history (15 years). The film satirizes these events and transplants them to Appalachia.

The Mutineer stars Harris Doran (Beauty Mark, Junction), Michael Barra (The Amazing Spider-Man, Law and Order: SVU, Blue Bloods) and Rachel McKeon (Homemakers). It was filmed on 35mm ORWO (Original Wolfen) film, the first feature film in the U.S. to be shot entirely on the modern film stock (https://theasc.com/articles/orwo-film-offers-black-and-white-negative). It was shot in a style of realism with a mix of professional actors and locals (in West Virginia) who had never acted in a film before.

The film had a theatrical release, screening at Anthology Film Archives in New York City in June. The trailer for the film can be viewed here:

https://vimeo.com/235243742



Director John Jaquish was accepted into Werner Herzog's "Rogue Film School" in 2016 by submitting a clip from The Mutineer.