A year ago today, Lionsgate continued its stake in author Suzanne Collins’ best-sellng YA-novel franchise, The Hunger Games, with the first of the studio’s two-part Mockingjay finale. It’s proven to be a highly lucrative move whilst continuing to perpetuate more and more fandom, even from a creative aspect for people like film duo, actress Kristen Brancaccio and filmmaker Leo Kei Angelos who’ve spent well more than a year putting together an inspired fan film take of their own with the help of crowdfunding.
Thankfully, close to a year later, those efforts have finally come together with today’s release of the new shortfilm, Mockingjay: Burn, and as we await Hollywood’s fourth and final chapter to open in theaters later this year, this should whet the appetite for virtually any fan. It’s packed with energy and intensity with Brancaccio in her own iteration of Katniss, the symbolic leader of the resistance against the courrpt, theocratic and oppressive Capitol, and appearances by franchise favorites, actor Nick Apostolides‘s role as Gale Hawthorne and Nick Uhas‘s portrayal of Peeta Mellark.
The cinematography takes you right in the heat of battle with spectacular stunt sequences and explosive battle action. The violence does get a little gory, but thankfully a project of this nature allows someone like Angelos to strech his muscles a bit, adding a dash of grit while still keeping true to the inherent authenticity of Collins’s vision. In short, it pushes the envelope a little bit while not completely setting it ablaze, and serves as a fitting fan tribute to a literary and cinematic property adorned by many, and that’s all really anyone can ask for from a small-scale, independently produced cinematic labor of love. I sure loved it.
Watch Mockingjay: Burn in the player below, and open the description to find out how you can win your own custom-made resistance patch. And a special shout out to my friend Darren Bailey who makes an *explosive* appearance in this one!
