The North Wind

Issue date: 6/8/07 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: Amanda Shellnut Forest Roberts Theatre veteran Adam Maslak on set in Negaunee.

It's been a decade since the human race lived its most anticipated and feared nightmare -- global nuclear war. Most of the planet has been destroyed, and although a significant number of people survived the blasts, the subsequent radioactive poisons in the air felled the survivors until only a handful remained. Doomed to a harsh existence in fallout shelters built by the government, all they can do is wait until the poisonous air dissipates; hoping against the odds for better lives.

Among these survivors is John, a determined man who is left on his own and utilizes his interrupted life to search for other human contact. He eventually finds Pierce, a family man who becomes a big part of John's quest for better or worse.

Although eerily realistic, this apocalyptic scene is merely the plot of NMU alumnus Alex Hansen's short film "With Nothing Left."

Hansen, director and co-executive producer of the film, enlisted Forest Roberts Theatre veteran Adam Maslak and NMU student actor Mike Rudden to portray the drama's two central characters, John and Pierce.
All three have been involved in the local entertainment scene for years, but earned one of eight places in the Cross Cultural Film Festival in Los Angeles for the first time earlier this month for "With Nothing Left."

Hansen said he submitted the film to nine other film festivals as well, including the world-renowned Sundance Film Festival.
"We have a one in 10 chance of getting in, and it's only $35 so I'm willing to put in the effort," he said.

The film's festival screening has also earned the four-person cast and crew credits on the Internet Movie Database, which could help them in their future pursuits, Hansen said.

"I'm hoping to use this as a networking tool for cast and crew; hopefully it will help if they decide to go down this kind of path," he said.

The idea for "With Nothing Left," Hansen explained, was the result of his wanting to raise awareness about the effects of war.
"I was trying to make a story about war and show how it affects people afterwards…very depressing and life-changing," he said. "I was trying to show a possible outcome and that we should change things."

Instead of the cliché desert-like and barren landscapes that most apocalyptic films are shot in, Hansen said he decided to "turn that cliché on its ear" by basing his post-war world in a setting that can be equally depressing -- an Upper Peninsula winter. Various locations in Marquette, including NMU, were used as well as an abandoned mine site in Negaunee.

Continued...

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