MEDIA RELEASE

Zippo Film Productions announced that it will begin production of a new made-in-Hawaii narrative festival film, led by award-winning director David Rosen and starring an ensemble cast of Hawaii’s top talent including KITV4 sports director Robert Kekaula and musical artist and kumu hula Kealii Reichel.

Kealii Reichel

Filming is scheduled for May on Oahu, with a world premier planned for later this year, and film festival tour to follow.

In “The Fishing Club” a group of longtime fishing buddies hatch a plan to save their favorite fishing spot from development. When outside forces come into play, events start to spin out of control and the Fishing Club’s members have to question not only their plans, but their own, and each other’s, personal motives and kuleana.

One of Hawaii’s premier directors, Rosen (Shooters Film Production) is known for his visual storytelling style, which has helped create successful marketing campaigns and garnered numerous local and national awards, including Hawaii’s 2010 Advertising Man of the Year.

With him, Shooters executive producer Darrin Kaneshiro brings key organizational skills and 20 years of production storytelling to the quality film project.

In addition to Kekaula and Reichel, the cast includes veteran actor Allan Okubo, who began his career in “Magnum P.I.” and appeared recently in “You May Not Kiss the Bride.”

Robert Kekaula

Fellow “Bride” actor Theo Coumbis has also played roles in iconic TV series from “Fantasy Island” to “Lost” and “Hawaii Five-0.”

And, musical theatre actress-singer Mary Gutzi performed in “Les Miserables” and “CATS” in New York, and most recently, the television military drama “Last Resort.”

A serious story with a sense of humor, “The Fishing Club” is based on short fiction written by Big Island author Catherine Tarleton in the 1990’s, though its themes, and its questions, are alive and well today.

Executive producer Dana Hankins of Redhead Productions selected the story from entries written for the Honolulu Magazine Fiction Contest , as with previous short films, “The Lemon Tree Billiards House” with Ray Bumatai, “Dancing with the Long Bone” (Henry Kapono and Karen Keawehawaii), and “True Love and Mimosa Tea” (Tamlyn Tomita and Elizabeth Lindsey).

Hankins also produced the award-winning short film “Chief,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

— Find out more:
www.thefishingclubmovie.com