By Rich Bockmann
As a gesture of gratitude to the place where her career got its start, independent filmmaker, lifelong Little Neck resident and self-proclaimed dragon aficionado Elana Mugdan will screen the Queens premier of her film “Director’s Cut” at the Community Church of Douglaston Friday.
Admission to the 7:45 p.m. screening, at 39-50 Douglaston Pkwy., will cost $10 and all proceeds will benefit the church.
After graduating from the University of Maine in 2009 with an interdisciplinary degree in film studies, Mugdan found herself wallowing in an unfullfilling internship when someone from the church asked if she would like to help out on the set of a feature film being shot in and around northeast Queens.
“Someone contacted me and asked if I’d like to open the doors at whatever ungodly hour,” she said.
The church often rents its space out as a staging area for film and TV productions shooting in the area, and Mugdan landed a position as a sound intern on the set of the Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart movie “Rabbit Hole.”
“It was infinitely better than what I was doing,” Mugdan recalled. “I thought, this is really where I want to be and what I want to do.”
Her experiences on the set inspired her to write the screenplay for “Director’s Cut,” which is a semi-autobiographical story of a science-fiction/fantasy zealot and her attempts to make a campy, over-the-top B movie.
“I got a lot of jokes from being on that set,” Mugdan said. “What’s the difference between God and a [director of photography]? God doesn’t think he’s a D.P.”
After the internship ended, Mugdan got to work on her screenplay about Cassie Thompson, a film school dropout who quits her dead-end internship to make a movie about a zombie-cannibal-vampire-pirate queen, which is not so loosely based on the trilogy of dragon movies Mugdan made while she was in high school.
She formed her own production company, Shivnath Productions, and started searching for professionals to work on her project for the standard independent film rates: transportation and food.
The writer, actor and director spoke volumes about the dedication and professionalism of her cast and crew, which included Bayside director of photography Dave Dodds as well as special effects work by Eugene Chu and a contribution to the soundtrack by singer/songwriter Alex Dadras, both of Little Neck.
Neighborhood residents should easily recognize the movie’s locations, which include the Little Neck Long Island Rail Road station, Admiral Park and Diego’s, “which, when it was open, everyone knew,” Mugdan said.
She said she hopes the fund-raiser will draw in film buffs and help the church.
“Maybe someone saw the flier and was intrigued and wanted to see an independent film,” she said. “Maybe someone’s just wondering, ‘What has Elana Mugdan done now?’”
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
