The Story
Where do the spirits go when they are no longer remembered? And who shepherds them back to their native land?

Retired is a short film that employs the conceit of a world where gods still live and die among men to explore questions of individual belief and cultural identity as well as the mystery and meaning of faith. The script is written by award winning Cherokee animator Chris Kientz and Navajo filmmaker Shonie De Larosa.
  
The story is about two men, who during the course of the film, are revealed to be much more than they initially seem. First there is Nameless, a young Native American man obviously lost and searching to understand who he is, as well as remember his name and his purpose in living.

This quest to find out who he is begins at the Glittering World Casino, where he is strangely compelled to play the slots. He hits the jackpot, but fails to attain the revelation he is seeking. He’s thrown out of the casino and taken to the Running Indian truck stop nearby.

There he meets Pete, who appears to be little more than an old man as lost as Nameless. But Pete is hardly lost, and more importantly, he knows the true nature of what Nameless is, and what he is really searching for.  By the end of the film both Nameless and Pete find what they are looking for in the strangest of places.

The Style
Retired will be directed by Chris Kientz and Shonie Delarosa and will be display a cutting-edge style that combines classic story telling with state of the art visual FX.  Post production effects and digital color correction will produce a world for retired that allows the film to communicate in a visual way that would not be possible.  The running time of the film will be 26:40.

Taking advantage of cost reductions for FX and animation and with a combined FX experience of over 20 years, the crew of Retired will be able to create a unique and evocative visual experience while minimizing expense

Status of Project
Currently Retired is in pre-production with completed storyboards and temp reel. In addition music rights have been negotiated and funding and in-kind funding has been made available. The cast and crew are assembled and locations have been locked. All of the camera/lighting and post-production equipment is available and ready for use. Filming has been scheduled for June with funding available to film the live plates necessary for the rest of the film to be completed.


Bios
Chris Kientz (writer/director) is the co-director and co-writer of Raven Tales, the first animated film to be awarded a National Geographic All Roads film Project grant. The short has gone on to win 22 awards and has been licensed for broadcast as a 26 episode television series in Canada, Japan, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. After winning the Best Native Film Award at the Santa Fe Film Festival, Kietnz and Raven Tales co-director Simon James donated $10,000 to establish a grant for emerging Native American filmmakers at the Media Rights Foundation in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

For the past ten years Chris Kientz has worked as an independent producer and animator developing multimedia projects for commercial clients in both Canada and the United States.  He has scripted, produced and directed award winning video, animation and interactive media. Chris has also worked as an FX supervisor for television productions including Stargate SGI, X Files and Harsh Realm.

Chris Kientz is of Cherokee/Nodric extraction and growing up among the Navajo, Zuni and Hopi people of New Mexico gave him a great respect for North American Aboriginal Art and Culture.

Shonie De La Rosa (writer/director) is an award winning Navajo (Native American Indian) filmmaker living in Kayenta, Arizona on the Navajo Nation. He has shown his films all over Europe and the United States. Shonie continues to push the boundaries of typical Native American Film Making with unorthodox techniques in script writing, photography, and subject matter. Shonie has also worked on various projects with other filmmakers, directors and producers. He has also collaborated with many Native American music artists producing and directing many music videos.

Shonie also teamed up with Sundance participant and Director Larry Blackhorse Lowe of Blackhorse Films in the summer of 2004 as Production Manager for the film “The Fifth World” which screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005.

In January 2007, Shonie, along with his wife Andee released their first full feature film “Mile Post 398”. The film has been screened all over the Navajo Nation and 4 Corners region and numerous film festivals across the Nation with rave reviews and five awards.

Aaron Berger (FX coordinator) was born in Albuquerque, and currently lives and works in Las Cruces, NM. He has produced animated shorts and worked on several film projects within New Mexico.  He has experience with filming, writing, directing, post production and editing.  Notable highlights include his work on Raven Tales as an animator, creating the animated short Coyote and the Flea featured in the 2005 Santa Fe Film Festival and post production visual effects work for the New Mexico Governor Cup Winner A Day In Heaven.

Mark Vasconcellos (camera/crew/producer) is currently the lead instructor for digital camera/grip at CMT at the Dona Ana Community College. As an Actor/Award winning indie filmmaker, Mark Vasconcellos earned a B.A. in Film/Television production from San Jose State University and quickly found work as a T.V. segment director/videographer. Recently he has worked as a producer/cameraman on a number of television and feature film productions and has won awards with his first 16mm short film, which is still in the film festival circuit.  His low budget feature, Triple Threat recently secured worldwide distribution with Echelon Entertainment of Los Angeles.