Psychological thriller to be shot in Parsippany

PARSIPPANY – A Lake Hiawatha resident is preparing to shoot his first film this summer in Morris County, a psychological thriller focused on mental illness.

“Dongmei” was written by Bob Messinger and focuses on two main characters, a Chinese woman and her psychiatrist.

“I write stories about real people and ‘Dongmei’ is very loosely based on a person I know,” said Messinger, 65, of Parsippany. “It also depicts how mental illness is viewed in cultures, a kind of east vs. west.”

The movie is the first production of Messinger’s Where’s The Lake Productions, named after the neighbhorhood where he grew up: Lake Hiawatha.

“There’s no lake in Lake Hiawatha and people stop me on the street in the summer asking me, ‘where’s the lake?” he said.

“Dongmei” will be the first of Messinger’s scripts to be filmed, financed entirely through a crowdfunding campaign. His previous scripts have won numerous festival awards, but have never been purchased by a studio.

“About 50 spec scripts are purchased each year out of about half a million,” Messinger said. “I realized if I wanted something made I would have to do it myself.”

A few years ago Messinger launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $75,000 for his first feature, but failed to reach that goal.

“Crowdfunding is awfully tough without someone seeing what you’ve done before,” Messinger said. “And there are so many crowdfunding campaigns out there now you can’t just expect to go viral.”

A second attempt to crowdfund with a retooled budget of $35,000 also failed to resonate, so he decided to write a script specifically for a low budget short film.

“I’ve been biting off more than I can chew with features at first,” Messinger said. “I decided a short film would show people what I can do.”

Messinger said there is a large demand for short films due to both the short attention spans of people in the digital age and the variety of platforms on which they can be shown – from on demand and Netflix to iTunes and Vimeo.

The campaign has raised about $3,600 of its $5,000 goal with more than half a month left to go, giving Messinger enough confidence to enter preproduction on “Dongmei.”

“I’m making phone calls every day. I hate asking for money, I’m terrible at it, but it’s what you have to do,” Messinger said. “This is really happening this time. We’re currently rehearsing. I’m thrilled.”

Filming is expecting to begin August 1 primarily in Parsippany or Pompton Plains. The four-day shoot will take place over two weekends.

In addition to the writing script, Messinger is a producer and act as a consultant on set.

Messinger is proud of the crew he’s assembled for “Dongmei,” who he said are dedicated and experienced. The crew is as lean as expected – eight people working behind the camera with two main and six minor cast members.

“We’ve managed to attract some really talented people who are interested in the art not the overhead,” Messinger said. “Nobody is making a penny on this. The funding is for things like travel and food.”

The director is Cedric Hill, who is also co-producing the film through his To and Fro Productions. Rounding out the main crew is production coordinator Danielle Cooper and director of photography Jack Solomon. The lead actors are Heidi Li, who plays the title character, and Jorge Consejo, who plays the psychiatrist.

Messinger plans to take the completed film to festivals nationwide, eventually either securing distribution or selling the film to a platform, raising enough money in the process to film one of his feature scripts.

“I’m playing the long game. This movie is by no means the end,” Messinger said. “You have to get the experience to get the big jobs, and at 65 I’m trying to do that.”

Messinger may also turn “Dongmei” into a full-length feature, similar to what was done with last year’s Oscar-winning movie “Whiplash.”

Messinger has chronicled his progress preparing his scripts and films at http://indiefilmmakercommune.com/.

To support “Dongmei,” go to http://igg.me/at/dongmei, and visit www.DongmeiMovie.com to learn more about the film.

Staff Writer Michael Izzo: 973-428-6636; mizzo@GannettNJ.com