fabien garcia

THE HUNT: SAVAGE WITHIN Asks What Becomes Of The Hunted In Fabien Garcia’s New Sci-Fi Thriller Short

It’s not everyday you read about an independent film project that’s endured more than your average fair share of hurdles along the way. To add, Fabien Garcia’s new sci-fi thriller short, The Hunt: Savage Within, nearly two years in the making with a strenuous two-part crowdfunding effort, also had to mitigate a pre-production period hampered by more sweeping fires across California, along with a deadly viral pandemic that forced much of North America and the rest of the world into lockdown. Such are the conditions that would have anyone wonder how they could strive toward a creatively immersive goal as filmmaking, which requires an entire team of working hands. One thing is certain there: With the right team and an ample amount of supporters, it’s possible, and proudly culminates a theory that worked in Garcia’s favor to help present film fans with a new look into the hopeful future of […]

THE HUNT: SAVAGE WITHIN Takes Fearless Aim In The Official Poster For Fabien Garcia’s Proof Of Concept Sci-Fi Thriller [EXCLUSIVE]

Lee B. Golden III

Production on writer/director Fabien Garcia’s upcoming sci-fi proof of concept, The Hunt: Savage Within, is just weeks away from its online premiere date set for August 20. In the meantime, Garcia and his team are already putting plans into motion for an early private in-person event screening for the cast and crew, as well as backers of the Indiegogo campaign that helped get this project off the ground through last year. For this, we now have an official poster for the upcoming short proof which you can view below! American-born Filipina actress Madeleine Humphries stars as Sarah, a meek forest ranger who finds herself at the center of an epic battle between elite spec-ops soldiers, and a supreme alien killer known only as “The Trickster”. Also starring are Also starring are Brett Tutor, Lou Wegner, Carla Seneca, Xango Henry, Davis Chong and Amje Elharden, with action and stunt sequences by Garcia, […]

THE HUNT: SAVAGE WITHIN Squads Up In New Stills From The Upcoming Sci-Fi Thriller [EXCLUSIVE]

Lee B. Golden III

Film Combat Syndicate can share a duo of exclusive images to accompany the latest post update from the official Instagram account for The Hunt: Savage Within. Principal photography on the upcoming proof-of-concept wrapped in January from director Fabien Garcia, who began campaigning the project last year. The Hunt: Savage Within marks the latest effort for Garcia and his team at Z Team Films, having amassed numerous short collaborations along with the action-packed splendor of 2014 martial arts fight thriller, Die Fighting. In The Hunt: Savage Within, American-born Filipina actress plays Sarah, a meek forest ranger who finds herself at the center of an epic battle between elite spec-ops soldiers, and a supreme alien killer known only as “The Trickster”. Also starring are Brett Tutor (Monsters Of Men), Lou Wegner (Last Call In The Dog House), Carla Seneca (Sons Of Thunder), Xango Henry (Call Me King), Davis Chong (Die Fighting) and […]

Z-Team Films Extends THE HUNT: SAVAGE WITHIN Indiegogo Deadline Through Mid-September

Lee B. Golden III

The team behind the current Indiegogo campaign for female-fronted sci-fi action thriller, The Hunt: Savage Within, is announcing a thirty-day extension as of Wednesday. Initial crowdfunding for the project launched on July 21 before hitting a $4,000 milestone – less than half of the current goal which is $10,000, but still stipulates a considerable threshold for the project according to writer/director Fabien Garcia. “As we’ve stated in our earlier messaging, every dollar counts, as does every share of our campaign to each of your circles and networks of friends and acquiantances.” he says. “This is progress, especially considering it has only been only a month, and so we invite you to take this amazing opportunity and share in the momentum, and help keep spreading the word until we reach our finish line.” Garcia marks his hopeful sophomore debut at the helm with The Hunt: Savage Within, in an effort to […]

THE HUNT: SAVAGE WITHIN Brings Back Z-Team Films For New Indie Sci-Fi Action Feature [Exclusive]

Lee B. Golden III

Actor, martial artist and filmmaker Fabien Garcia is developing female-centric sci-fi pic, The Hunt: Savage Within. The project has been ongoing for some years now, and also now comes with conceptual imagery and artwork that I’ve been allowed to share which you can view at the bottom of this article. Story and plot details center on the role of Sarah, a forest ranger who finds herself hunted by an extraterrestrial being until a band of spec-ops soldiers arrive to her aid while investigating the crash site of the entity’s spaceship. The film is being billed as a gritty action feature likened to a mix of classic cult thrillers such as Predator, Terminator and The Thing. Garcia is shepherding pre-production under his Z-Team Films banner with Laurent Buson (Merantau), and Christine Gorchon. The label is an upscale rebranding of his former Z-Team label which emerged in 2003 with Buson as both […]

THE HIT LIST: September 25, 2017

Lee B. Golden III

I had some great downtime this weekend despite working. It definitely gave me something to do apart from relaxing a little bit more, which reminds me… It’s time to get back to the biznazz of helping great stunt professionals and creatives become a little more famous and this week’s installment of The Hit List is here to do just that. Aaron “The Ginger Ninja” Gassor starts it up in the new stunt reel playlist followed by the talents of Braxton McAllister, John Nania, Cameron Okubo, Ilana Collins, William Greenburg, Kyle Glenn Thomas and Jason Triplett. Wrapping it up is a stellar sell by Marcus Shakesheff (Wonder Woman, Kamikaze) for his YouTube channel followed by stunt coordinator and choreography reels from Andrew Carlisi and Jessica Erin Bennett, and a YouTuber’s new fan reel featuring Fabien Garcia (Die Fighting) which I’m sharing because…well, I miss the guy and I hope he comes back […]

THE HIT LIST: July 10, 2017

Lee B. Golden III

Well, at least for me the bad news is that I relapsed again and now I have another cold. That makes two this summer. The good news is I had stuff to do so I got in some time to write two reviews, one of which you can check out on your own time. As for all else, I had people sending me stuff for the Hit List and there was no way I could pass up sharing it. Some of you know me as much. Kicking it off this week is a brand new block of jam-packed stunt and action reels starting with the latest from Black Site star, actress and martial artist Samantha Schnitzler via Vimeo. The playlist beneath cues onward from there beginning with legendary stunt coordinator Bruce Law followed by reels from Alyma Dorsey, David Conk, Tyler Witte, Jonathan Pang, Marissa Labog, Lee Gifford, Jyo “Six” Carolino, […]

MVD Announces DIE FIGHTING Release On DVD And Blu-Ray On April 19

Lee B. Golden III

Covering independent martial arts action can be a real treat, especially when a project carries with it a certain level of promise. Filmmaker Fabien Garcia has certainly lived up to the standard of said promise in the last six years with the development and subsequent production of his feature-film debut and Film Combat Syndicate’s Five-A-Day pick for 2016, Die Fighting, and the results have been all the more rewarding. Thus, it affirms the stateside establishment of Garcia’s Z-Team Films, a moniker handed down from his independent action and stunt group of the same name well over a decade ago in Beijing. Alas, with the film’s availability long on VoD and Digital HD since last year, a DVD and Blu-Ray release is now pending for April 19 with a fair load of special features to boot, including the usual behind-the-scenes gags and then some. And so with all this and more, […]

Watch Z-Team Film’s Hard-Hitting Webseries Pilot, DRAINED WORLD

Lee B. Golden III

It was last October on the cusp of finally releasing their debut feature film, Die Fighting, action and film production duo Fabien Garcia and Lohan Buson and the folks over at Z-Team Films began advancing their next cinematic venture into webseries territory. Their new action-packed pilot, Drained World, already an award-winning feat from its presence at the WideScreen Film And Music Festival from just this Spring, is now online with a call-to-action outro attached at the end to help ask fans for donations that not only guarantee the delivery of cool perks in exchange, but a series that no less continues the progressive state of martial arts action fandom by an award-winning team that knows how to deliver solid martial arts action within any subgenre of film. SYNOPSIS: In a world circling the drain and filled with plague, a man finds brief solace in a bunker deep within a forest. […]

A Case For Better Action Movies: DIE FIGHTING (2014)

Lee B. Golden III

Die Fighting – Trailer from Z Team Films on Vimeo. SYNOPSIS: The Z-Team, four Shaolin-forged martial artists has just won the top award at a Film Festival. FABIEN, LOHAN, DIDIER, and JESS immediately set their sights for Hollywood, but from within the shadows emerges a new challenge: the four find themselves in front of the seemingly inescapable eye of a mysterious DIRECTOR who forces them to “act” in his own brutal reality film, with the lives of their loved ones at stake. Their every move watched through hidden cameras like mice in a maze, the Z-Team are forced to run a gamut through the seedy underbelly of LA – from robbing an armored truck, encountering a Drug Lord, breaking an entire dojo of BLACKBELTS, evading a SWAT team, surviving a blazing gunfight…and it’s all a part of the Director’s script. A dark filmmaker’s game culminating into a shocking ending which […]

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Z-Team Films' DIE FIGHTING Goes On Demand This November!

Lee B. Golden III

In what can only be described as one of the most exemplary cases of dilligence, the independent filmmaking team over at the now Los Angeles-based Z-Team Films have now seen the first of their long-awaited efforts come to pass. Their newest feature-length debut, Die Fighting, comes roughly fourteen years after the team first got together in Beijing by way of France, contributing to the growing popularity of online action shorts with notable gems like Duel and Brothers Forever. Co-founding members, martial artists and actors Lohan Buson, and director Fabien Garcia spoke to Film Combat Syndicate a few months ago just as their new film began gaining recognition during Action On Film Festival 2014, evidently winning Best Fight Choreography and earning Buson accolades for Breakout Action Star; Respective links are attributed HERE and HERE where you can read more about their past and future endeavors. Meanwhile, it’s high time their film […]

Kill Or Be Killed In The New Teaser For Z-Team Films' Webseries, DRAINED WORLD

Lee B. Golden III

It’s been a good season for the independent filmmakers of the now L.A.-based company, Z-Team Films, having recently earned the first of many accolades to come for their upcoming premiere martial arts action feature, Die Fighting. Since then, film duo Fabien Garcia and Lohan Buson have moved onto other endeavors for their company, including their brand new action horror webseries, Drained World, offering a combined arsenal of stylish martial arts action with the visual grit, horror and gore meant to suit a project of this caliber. And just in time for Halloween at that! SYNOPSIS: Drained World is set in 2080, many years after the end of the Third World War which saw the near-eradication of the human population due to constant violence and conflict. Those who’ve survived live in continuous strife. Money holds no vice, not in this new world – clean water and edible food serve as the […]

FROM BEIJING TO Z (Part Two): My Interview With Fabien Garcia

Lee B. Golden III

Martial arts action fans are up to their necks with excitement and anticipation for the latest action packed thriller, Die Fighting. Its cast and crew all hail from a young legacy of ambitious artists, athletes and filmmakers who have all managed to find their niche online. For this, we look at Z-Team, whose previous shortfilm work have drawn plenty of acclaim from its fanbase as its members have also managed to find their way into the world of film and stuntwork. And if this happens to be your first time learning about Z-Team, consider this a chance to redeem yourself, and now is as good a time as any to do so. Well over a decade into their craft, the team has pushed through the years into its newest evolution into feature film territory with the recent launch of Z-Team Films. Die Fighting marks their first endeavor into feature film […]

AOF 2014: Z-Team Films Set To Premiere Its Debut Feature, DIE FIGHTING!

Lee B. Golden III

Not enough can be said about how good it is to witness something as amazing as the latest offering from our friends over at Z-Team Films. The production banner title is the latest evolution of the eponymous team French team that found its beginnings in China with Fabien Garcia, Yannick Van Dam, and brothers Lohan and Didier Buson making excellent short films for the online action fan base within the past decade. As we speak, I’m currently working on talking to a few of the team members in light of their latest long-awaited labor of love, The Price Of Success, which has since taken new life with the new title, Die Fighting following an initial trailer back in May of last year. The film is the first foray into feature-length directing territory for Fabien who also wrote the screenplay and stars alongside Lohan and Dider who also co-produced the film […]