Feature Length

Scene
Happe

A local filmmaker takes on his first Hollywood-style project.

ALAN HITSKY
Associate Editor

Ann Arbor
ou could be one of the lucky
130 to witn ess the final pre-
Hollywood chapter for Detroit
area filmmaker Ben
Ketai.
The 21-year-old
Bloomfield Hills
Andover and -
University of
Michigan graduate
turned a life-long
dream into his sen-
ior project at U-M:
an 82-minute psy-
chological
drama
Ben Ketai
about a young man.

1T

The "gritty" film will be screened at 2
p.m. Sunday, July 11, at the Michigan
Theater in Ann Arbor. Of the 200 seats
in the screening room, only 130 are
available to the public because of 70
reservations from family and friends of
the local cast.
Ketai, who has been making short
films since he was 12, utilized both his
educational majors — film and psychol-
ogy — to produce Fading with local
actors. He had to be the producer, direc-
tor, talent agent, writer of contracts,
screenwriter and solicitor of an original
score.
Fading, Ketai says, is the story of an
urban insomniac still troubled, six years
later, by the disappearance of his high
school sweetheart. A therapist unlocks
repressed dreams that begin to intrude
into daily life.
Detroit professional
actors John
Hawkinson, Jessica
Cloud and Joel
Mitchell have the
major roles, along with
North Farmington
High School grad
Alexis Pone, another U-
M film major.
Ketai came up with
Fading's concept in a U-
M psychology class in

John Hawkinson and Joel Mitchell in "Fading"

For college age through
30-something. Send information
to ahitsky@thejewishnews.corn

January 2003 and began writing the
script last summer. His crew was mostly
U-M students and the score was written
by Paul Schubach, who Ketai met while
working as the night bartender/manager
at the Zanzibar restaurant in Ann Arbor.
The film was shot last December,
January and February on Detroit streets;
at the Netco Nightclub, Ashley's Bar and
Ketai's home in Ann Arbor, and at a
northern Michigan cabin in minus 5
temperatures. The $11,000 budget was
provided by friends, family, the universi-
ty and actors working for deferred pay-
ment. Ketai's mother, Bonnie Fishman
of Bonnie's. Patisserie in Southfield, did
the catering.
"There was a lot more thinking and a
lot more planning than with anything
I've done before," said Ketai, who pro-
duced the 70-minute Transgressions in
high school. Transgressions won the
Michigan Student Film and Video
Festival, but received an "R" rating from
Andover administrators.
Ketai doesn't expect Fading to win
prizes: "It is what it is," he modestly
says, "a low-budget student film." But
he hopes to get it distributed on the
Internet and at film festivals "so that
people can see it."
Then he hopes to make it to .
California to see where his avocation will
lead.

❑

Fading will be screened 2 p.m. Sunday, July 11, at the
Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor. Cost: $6.

July 9 Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Outdoor musical Shabbat
Unplugged service for young
adults at Temple Israel.
Refreshments. No charge.

July 14 Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Hillel of Metro Detroit Glow in
the Dark Mini Golf Tournament
at the Putting Edge,
Fountainwalk, 44125 12 Mile
Road, Now Cost: $12. RSVP to
Lesley Zwick, (313) 577-3459 or
Hillelpd@wayne.edu

July 16-18 JCC and Young
Adults of Mat Shalom white
water rafting on the
Youghiogheny River in
Pennsylvania. Trip includes raft-
ing, camping, transportation,
meals. $175 for JCC and YAAS
members; $200 for non-mem-
hers. Call Marilyn Wolfe, (248)
661-1000.

July 23 Friday, 7:30 p.m. Hillel
of Metro Detroit Fondue
Shabbat, Oak Park JCC. Cost:
$10 in advance. RSVP to Lesley
Zwick by July 21: (313) 577-
3459 or
Hillelpd@wayne.edu

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2004

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