“Jewel of the Sahara,” a 15-minute short film directed by Ariel Vromen, will have its United States Premiere June 28, 2001 in Los Angeles.
The film stars Gerard Butler, star of Wes Craven’s “Dracula 2000,” and USA Network’s “Attilla.”. Gerard has recently finished shooting ” Reign of Fire” for Spy Glass Entertainment and Disney and is about to star in director Richard Donner’s next feature “Timeline” a Paramount production. Butler plays Charles Belamy, a British Army Captain who finds himself stranded in the Sahara Desert in the early 1950’s with a group of French Legionnaires who appear to have an unusual attraction to the camp’s camel. A mystery, the film chronicles the modern-day efforts of Belamy’s son to figure out how his father died in the desert. The film was made by students in the Los Angeles Film School’s new Immersion filmmaking program.
“This is likely one of the largest student productions in the past few years. The challenges we had to overcome, from living in the desert during production to building an entire army camp to equipment failures on our isolated set, made this a very rewarding experience,” says Ariel Vromen, who directed the film. “With a limited budget, we managed to beg, borrow, and steal enough to make this look like a million dollar film.” Says the film’s producer, Kevin Keyser.
The film will be followed by “The Making of Jewel of the Sahara,” a short behind-the-scenes look at the difficulties faced by the film crew in the desert. A question and answer session with director Ariel Vromen and producer Kevin Keyser will follow.
For more information about “Jewel of the Sahara,” including still photographs, a feature article, writers can visit:
http://www.gerardbutler.net/jewel/jewel_main.htm.