Five Stages Of Michael is an independent feature film set in central coastal Florida written and produced in Brevard County. The film tells the story of a fictional family who has just learned their oldest son was killed in action while deployed in Iraq. During the holiday season of 2009, the Lane family gathers for Thanksgiving in coastal central Florida. During a teleconference call at dinner with their son Michael, who is in the United States Army serving in Iraq, they learn he is coming home for Christmas. Days later, there is a knock at the door informing them that Michael was killed in action.
Obviously, the family is devastated and Michael's father, John Lane, is burdened by the recurring thought that he gave Michael the ultimatum of going to college or joining the military with Michael choosing the Army. John's wife, Lisa, adds to the conflict as she was never in favor of Michael joining the military in the first place.
Coping with Michael's death causes friction in an otherwise happy marriage and John and Lisa find themselves questioning everything they had once thought to be rock solid in their relationship. Lisa retracts into her own personal world while John plots a way to fix everything.
Deciding to celebrate Christmas against the family's need to mourn, as it was Michael's favorite holiday, they set out to make the best of the situation. John invites Michael's best Army buddy to join them for Christmas as he has nowhere else to go. Despite their best attempt, John and Lisa begin to realize that their lives have forever changed and their marriage may not survive the most unnatural thing in the world, burying their child.
The film will be entered at the Sundance Film Festival for the January 2014 competition in the NEXT category, which is set aside for lower budget feature films and is considered the heart and soul of true independent film. The actors are from the local talent pool who volunteered their services.
Director John Kilderry is a former news photographer (cameraman) for an ABC affiliate in the southwestern United States. John has covered numerous military deployments as well as your more standard news stories seen in every city. During this time, John learned there is frequently a story behind the story and began taking notes of some of his observations to later develop or incorporate into fictional short stories.
Later, John attended film school and learned about how stories are adapted into films. Five Stages Of Michael is John's first feature length script and will also be his first offering of feature length cinematography as well as co-directing duties after numerous short and student films.
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