In creating this film, we asked the simple question: What would happen if you were scripted to behave badly? The result is FrICTION, a film that nearly went unfinished due to moral dilemma. After 2 years of letting the footage sit on a shelf, filmmaker Cullen Hoback decided to return to the project.
Weaving the original “intended” film with rehearsals and documentary elements, FrICTION breaks the wall that separates fiction from reality, challenging the very real lives of everyone involved. What remains is a one of a kind story that will leave you guessing long after its shattering conclusion.
You might have heard FrICTION was produced for less than $100. This is in fact, true. The limitation forced Hoback to use the resources and people who were part of a real summer program-- even requiring that they shoot on used tapes and wipe old hard drives. But the monetary limitation prompted the telling of a story that is now being considered by critics to be a major player in the new film movement labeled: “Fourthwall Cinema”.
It’s a movement that accepts the power of filmmaking as a force on the set, requires that people play themselves, and in most fourthwall films, the process of making the film alters the lives of those involved. In many instances, it can be hard to distinguish what is real, from what is not. Films such as Paper Heart and The Blair Witch Project embraced some of these tenants, and more films are coming out in 2010 that could be categorized as Fourthwall.
