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SFFILM Festival

Hellion

Directed by Kat Candler

USA | 93

25 Apr
Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 6:30 pm PT

Description

Inspired by her 2012 short film of the same name, Candler expands the original Hellion story of sibling misbehavior and misguided peer pressure into an eye-catching and heart-wrenching family drama set in the sun-soaked industrial town of Port Neches, TX. Struggling father Hollis Wilson (Aaron Paul) drunkenly copes with the loss of his wife while blind to the toll her death and his frequent absences has taken on his teenage son Jacob (Josh Wiggins) and younger boy Wes (Deke Garner). Only when motocross-riding Jacob’s antics bring the Wilsons to the attention of the authorities and threaten to break up the family do Hollis and Jacob begin to understand that there is a price to be paid for their behavior. Much of Hellion is familiar territory for Candler: its blue-collar Texas backdrop, the heavy metal music Jacob favors and the story of children coping with the loss of their mother (the theme of Candler’s first feature film Jumping Off Bridges). That familiarity pays off in a resonant tale of a father and son desperately trying to patch together their broken family. The drama also serves as a kind of acting clinic, as Paul delivers an emotional performance equal to his award-winning work in the acclaimed AMC drama Breaking Bad, while newcomer Wiggins makes a powerful, career-making debut. –Steve Ramos

Director Kat Candler

Watch the films of Austin, TX-based writer/director Kat Candler and you’ll experience the storytelling elements that ignite her creativity. On the surface, there’s the hardscrabble landscape of Southeast Texas. Deeper inside her tales, there’s the emotional frenzy of childhood. Via her films, the shorts Hellion, Black Metal, Quarter to Noon and Love Bug, and the features Jumping Off Bridges and Hellion, Candler has become something of a poster child for today’s DIY moviemaking community. She’s an experienced crowd-funder, an active player in Austin’s creative class and a self-taught director who credits Jumping Off Bridges as her “grad school.”

Film Details

Language English

Year 2014

Runtime 93

Country USA

Director Kat Candler

Producer Kelly Williams, Jonathan Duffy

Writer Kat Candler

Editor Alan Canant

Cinematographer Brett Pawlak

Music Curtis Heath

Cast Aaron Paul, Juliette Lewis, Josh Wiggins, Deke Garner, Jonny Mars, Walt Roberts