Imp in the City: Part Deux
When “Imp in the City” hit the KIDS FIRST! screen, the only negative critique was that it was too short, and people wanted to see more. Now they have their chance. Young Marc Carrizo and producer Dawn Westlake recently released “Imp in the City: Part Deux” to the film festival circuit.
Behind the Scenes:
In the original “The Imp in the City”, 15-yr-old Marc Carrizo choreographed
He had just lost his mother to inoperable lung cancer on Nov. 21st, 2009. This film is
dedicated to her.
Marc’s mother and a child psychologist suggested that Marc get into some form of dance when it was discovered that he couldn’t read or write at age 11! Both his mom and the psychologist had been reading about how crawling for long periods helps toddlers read earlier than “non-crawlers” and about how dance can help older children learn to read. He took to breakdancing immediately, going from his first lesson into a troupe with older kids! Soon, he was reading and writing (with just a few spelling mistakes), and now he teaches break to elementary school kids at Varium in Barcelona, the premiere school there for movement, as well as choreographing and performing professionally with the Brodas Bros. troupe, and with a troupe he co-founded called Lakasitos.
About the Director:
Dawn Westlake is the President of Ron de Cana Prods., Inc. in Los Angeles. She’s made 11 films in the US, Portugal, France and Spain since 2000 which have played on all seven continents and won 42 awards. Dawn is also an actress/writer/producer, and she’s judged film festivals in Italy and France. She is fluent in English and Spanish and proficient in Italian and Portuguese. www.dawnwestlake.com.
About the Music:
Gregory Johnson moved to Los Angeles from his native Philadelphia after winning a screenplay award for his feature script Shredding Steel in late 2001. Completely self-taught, Greg is one of a new breed of finger-style guitar players that have been redefining the acoustic guitar–how it’s played and the sounds it can make. Greg is
now enjoying a career in both film composition and screenwriting. Currently, he is splitting his time between Los Angeles and Sydney, Australia where he is writing an animation project and several feature projects with FX directors for Warner Bros. He won the award for Best Score on Dawn Westlake’s A Life of Death at the Inventaunfilm
Festival, Lenola, Italy in May 2006.
To hear more samples of Greg’s music: www.youtube.com/acousticlabs
