CANNES, France — Daniel J. Pico and Matthew M. Jones sat together on the streets of Cannes, France, early Sunday morning, sharing pizza and reminiscing about their 25-year journey in filmmaking, that began in college.
Pico, of Pico Blvd Entertainment in Janesville, is currently at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival where his 48 Hour Film, “Reasonable Doubt,” will screen on Wednesday, May 22 at 11 a.m. (CEST). The screening is sold out, “there’s basically no seats left, it’s pretty exciting,” Pico said.
The international film festival runs May 14 to 25 in Cannes, France.
“It’s been really exciting to meet people here,” Pico said in a phone interview with The Gazette on Monday. “To be amongst so many other filmmakers and seeing people who are doing some of the best work in the world, is a real honor. It’s incredibly humbling.”
Pico was in Los Angeles, Calif., on Wed., May 15, for the premiere of his most recent TV show “RZR,” which was attended by 550 people.
The show is up for an Emmy in the category of outstanding short form comedy, drama, or variety series. It’s about a dystopian world full of artificial intelligence, brain implants and black market crime. It can be viewed for free at https://film.gala.com.
The next day, he was on a flight to Cannes.
Pico was able to raise just over $3,000 out of $4,000 through a GoFundMe to help him attend Cannes.
There are two aspects of the festival: the film screening competition and the film market.
The film market is where one can attend workshops, press tours, and sell, buy or finance movies. “There’s models dressed up doing photo shoots in the middle of a crowd, there’s red carpets, we even saw Nicolas Cage the other night. It was amazing,” Pico said. “There are representatives from all over the world here, just buying and selling films.”
Independent films such as these are typically screened on Tubi, Pico said.
“Reasonable Doubt” is a seven-minute-long legal thriller short drama. It revolves around a car accident, during which a mother loses her son and the offending parties won’t say who was driving or what happened. It was filmed in Janesville on Dec. 2, 2023.
Eight winners and one audience favorite film from the Filmapalooza festival in March in Lisbon, Portugal, won the right to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Of those eight, five were nominated for best short in Lisbon, including “Reasonable Doubt,” qualifying them to be screened in Cannes.
Jones and Pico met in film school at Columbia College Chicago. “Here we are, going from rodeo clown skits in a class exercise to being at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s been amazing to be able to do that with him after all these years. It’s a once in a lifetime experience,” Pico said.
Pico and his group have been going to the marketin Cannes, watching films and promoting their most recent 48 Hour Film project, “The Tie That Binds,” which was produced in Beloit last month.
“We started pitching it as a feature here and I’ve got three companies that are interested in it,” Pico said. He is hoping to turn the short film into a full fledged movie. “It’s like ‘Meet the Parents,’ but as a horror movie.”
It was filmed at The Castle, 501 Prospect St., Beloit.
“Levi (Andersen), the owner, is a great guy. He is a huge supporter of the arts. He donated the castle for our shoot and it was really a great gift.”
Pico was also interviewed by a French reporter at Coworking Channel News on Monday about his film and his opinion on cinema and its future.
Other members of the film cast and crew that were able to attend include: Matthew M. Jones (co-writer and co-editor); lead actors Amelia Mahrie, Sydney Possinger and Frankie Breit; Tanya Lovecraft (assistant director and assistant editor); Sam Sorenson (camera operator); Derek Pfister (crew member); and Alex Flees (producer).
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