News on your favorite shows, specials & more!

SILICON CAESAR Now Available On Amazon Prime

By: May. 13, 2020
Enter Your Email to Unlock This Article

Plus, get the best of BroadwayWorld delivered to your inbox, and unlimited access to our editorial content across the globe.




Existing user? Just click login.

SILICON CAESAR Now Available On Amazon Prime  Image

A futuristic take on William Shakespeare's historic tragedy serves as the narrative arc in acclaimed writer/director Chuck Griffith's latest work, Silicon Caesar, which has now come to Amazon Prime.

Over the last few months, the bold and daringly innovative short took home a slew of awards at film festivals across the country, including winner of Best Short Screenplay at Hollywood Just4Shorts Film and Screenplay Competition, winner of Best LGBTQ Short Film from the Big Apple Film Festival, and Filmmatic's Best Short Screenplay 2019.

The film was also recognized in the runner up category for Best Screenplay in the Austin Revolution Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Awards, and Big Apple Film Festival.

In Silicon Caesar, Johnny Santiago stars as Caesar, a megalomaniac tech CEO, who is fatally usurped the night before a new A.I. product release.

Through its impressive special effects, calling to mind films like Blade Runner, 2001, and The Social Network, and its layered narrative, the film transports viewers to a place in the not so distant future where humans are aided by and asked to contend with the advanced power of artificial intelligence.

Produced by Robert Zimmer, Jr., Silicon Caesar also features a cast that includes Jeff Bold, Tammy-Anne Fortuin, Matt Devine, and Richard Neil, setting the stage for an ultramodern retelling of Shakespeare's 15th century play that reimagines 'Julius Caesar' as an epic sci-fi film dealing with the ramifications of AI technology.

With Silicon Caesar, "I wanted to expand upon the representation of gays as leaders," Griffith explains. "All too often we still see the stereotypes within LGBTQ films, and they're often about the gay experience through the eyes of service providers like waiters, stylists, or token friends, but rarely do we see gays as innovators, entrepreneurs, leaders, and thought-provokers."

"I wanted to show a gay man without the story of dealing with being gay, but rather as a leader of a company, with an Elon Musk-like flair, and a Tim Cook type of background, the latter being an openly gay innovator and CEO of the world's biggest company, Apple."

Following his win for 2000's Safe Sex for a Best Short Film prize in London, UK, Griffith directed his feature film debut Thank You, Good Night, starring Mark Hamill (Star Wars), Christian Campbell (Reefer Madness, Trick), Sally Kirkland (JFK), and John Paul Pitoc ("Six Feet Under"), garnering high praise at film festivals across the U.S., and won a Jury Prize award for Best Feature Film.

He also co-wrote the lyrics for the movie's hit songs, "Not In High School Anymore" and "Fifth of July." The film has generated a cult following on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Instant Video, Xbox, and Playstation.

After going back to finish college at Columbia University in 2006, where he received his B.A. and M.A., Griffith served as a producer for MTV's "Made" in 2007 and 2008, and worked as a story consultant on "In The Blood." In 2008, he served as Creative Director for Best of Breed: Volume 1, a critically-acclaimed high art compilation of curated short films.

His production credits include short films such as A Special Night (2017), Barista (2015), After Death (2013), Give Baby A Kiss (2012), and A Heart Felt (2011). Griffith also wrote and directed the festival darling No Woman's Face Remember, a short film nominated for several international awards and screened at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Chuck Griffith is founder and owner of DCG Arts, a film and video production company, headquarted in Los Angeles.



Comments

To post a comment, you must register and login.



Videos