UC Riverside Filmmakers Honored With Saturn Award Nomination

“A Thousand Cuts,” co-written by theater professors Charles Evered and Eric Barr, recognized by Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films

By Bettye Miller on February 27, 2013

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — “A Thousand Cuts,” a psychological thriller feature film directed by Charles Evered, noted playwright and UC Riverside associate professor of theater, has been nominated for a prestigious Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films in the Best DVD/Blue Ray Release category. Winners will be announced in June.

Evered co-write the screenplay with Eric Barr, UCR professor of theater, and actor-editor-producer Marty James (“Black Hearts,” “Diahann Carroll: The Lady. The Music. The Legend,” “Visiting”).

The film is a psychological thriller about a stranger (Michael O’Keefe, nominated for an Academy Award in “The Great Santini”) with a haunted past who shows up at the home of Hollywood’s hottest horror director (Michael A. Newcomer, “Pants on Fire”), determined to teach him what real horror is all about.

Evered said he is thrilled about the film’s nomination.

“It’s really been a two-year journey for me, and the chance to work with Eric and Marty James as writers was nothing short of fantastic,” he said. “Eric has a wonderful sensibility as a screenwriter, and is great with story. He really helped us out in a pinch. And when you consider the films we are nominated with all had budgets in the $14 million to $20 million range, and we shot this for a literal fraction of that, and in 10 days, it’s really very rewarding.”

Nominated with “A Thousand Cuts” are: “Atlas Shrugged II: The Strike,”  Atlas Distribution/Fox; “Chained,”  Anchor Bay; “Cosmopolis,” Entertainment One; “The Possession,” Lionsgate; and “Touchback,”  Anchor Bay / Starz.

“‘A Thousand Cuts’ isn’t the movie that many people expect,” Barr said. “Instead of a horror film, it is a psychological thriller that examines the responsibility filmmakers have for the violence they put into their movies.  So Kino Lorber, the distributor, deserves a lot of credit for recognizing the strength of the movie and promoting across the country.  The nomination and the attention the movie is getting are a great way of acknowledging Charles Evered as a filmmaker and the UCR Department of Theatre as a great place to study with an engaged and productive faculty.”

The film was the No. 3 Redbox rental in the nation in the Horror category in late January. It premiered at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2012 and was an official selection at the San Antonio, Omaha, Johnstown, Riverside and Garden State film festivals.

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films was founded in 1972 by film historian and scholar Donald A. Reed, whose goal was to honor genre entertainment that is often overlooked by mainstream awards organizations.

Archived under: Arts/Culture, Inside UCR, academy of science fiction fantasy and horror films, Charles Evered, Eric Barr, film, press release, psychological thriller, saturn award, Theater, thousand cuts

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