'Dramedy' is Saylor's third full-length feature film

PHILADELPHIA (November 18, 2009) – "God’s Country, Off Route 9," an independent film by Steven Saylor, an assistant professor in the Writing for Film and Television program at the University of the Arts, has been accepted into two Indian film festivals.

The film, which premiered at the University of the Arts in April, was screened at the Global Cinema Festival in Indore, India, in October, along with 255 other films from 56 countries. The 103-minute "dramedy" will also be screened in Chennai (formerly Madras) on December 13 at the Stepping Stone Film Festival, a venture of Wannabe Studios, an online social network for independent filmmakers and aspirants from around the world.

Co-written by Saylor with Ryan Kattner, “God’s Country, Off Route 9” follows Bruce Brewster, who has been written off as a loser by his ex-girlfriend, best friend and shady guys who bankrolled his grad school film project. Drowning in debt and desperate for a new direction, Bruce gets a proposal from his estranged father: a pile of cash in return for Bruce’s coming back home to family-values country to play the role of loyal son in dad’s well-financed political campaign. Bruce takes the bait and heads home, only to become romantically entangled with a former high school classmate who is connected in an inconvenient way to his father’s campaign.

The film stars Sean Christopher Lewis as Bruce; University of the Arts Theater Arts professor Johnnie Hobbs Jr. as his father Rod; Kristyn Chouiniere as Teri, Bruce’s former classmate cum love interest; Nick Martorelli as Cole, Bruce’s film-school buddy and business partner; University of the Arts alumna Alisa Howard ’08 (Theater Arts) as Kat, Bruce’s ex-girlfriend; and Kirk Wendell Brown as Bledsoe and Kaci M. Fannin as Sadie, Bruce’s ex-girlfriend’s father and mother, respectfully.

University of the Arts Multimedia sophomore Putra Roeung designed the movie's Web site and DVD packaging.

Saylor is a writer, director and editor whose first two features, “The Pope of Utah” (with Chaim Bianco) and “Beat the Air,” have played in festivals across the world. His features and shorts have won a number of awards, including best feature at the Chicago Underground Festival, best low-budget feature at London’s Raindance Festival and a citation at the Chicago International Film Festival, and have aired on public television stations. Since 1996, he has been an assistant professor at the University of the Arts, where he teaches screenwriting and film. He has also been a newspaper sportswriter, magazine editor for public television stations in Philadelphia and New Jersey, and a scriptwriter for educational videos.

The University of the Arts is the nation’s first and only university dedicated to the visual, performing and communication arts. Its 2,400 students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs on its campus in the heart of Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts. The institution’s roots as a leader in educating creative individuals date back to 1868.

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