Listening to funky music and dressing up in costumes isn’t only reserved for the eve of Halloween. Aspiring film producer, Damian J. Apunte teamed up with the Long Beach Cinematheque to host ‘Halloween in July,’ a fundraiser for Apunte’s latest film, “Soma.”
Hailing from North Carolina, Apunte moved to Long Beach in hopes of pursuing his dream as a writer and film producer. Since then, he has networked amongst film enthusiasts, professors and the Long Beach community. With previous experience under his belt and a few disasters later, Apunte is now ready to jumpstart his movie debut.
“I had a few accidents in the past couple years-accidents where I’ve broken my collarbone, my face in four places,” said Apunte. “It just kind of left me in a weird place of physical pain, feeling limited and also disfigured.”
Despite the physical and emotional pain Apunte had to endure, his accidents were an inspiration in disguise that gave him enough motivation to start working on scripts and films, specifically ‘Soma.’
“I ended up feeling like a zombie character and it just translated into ‘Soma,'” recalled Apunte. “It’s also talking on behalf of the people being addicted to technology, work, or just whatever they’re involved in.”
The film is a modern take on the zombie genre, and shows how our society’s obsession
with technology and consumerism has turned people into monsters. In the film, a
mad “engineer” becomes a zombie after his addiction to technology drives him insane.
Staying true to his theme of keeping it away from technology, Apunte decided to collaborate with Logan Crow, owner of the Long Beach Cinematheque instead of turning to websites such as Kickstarter to fundraise for his film.
The fundraiser is being held at Art du Vin where people are welcomed to dress up in their favorite movie character with the best costume contestant winning a free glass of wine or beer. There will be hors d’oeuvers, art throughout the event for attendees to enjoy and Damian’s previous films will be projected on screen throughout the event.