18 min, Drama – A couple drifting apart during quarantine rediscover their sense of play.
Directed by: Peter Mackie
Screenplay by: Nick Vitale, Peter Mackie
Starring: Ina Farestad, Jack Mackie, Suzetti Hananel, Diana Tanaka
An incisive and compassionate look at a couple living together during quarantine but dealing with it in completely different ways. While Eva tries to maintain a healthy and productive routine, Vince, her man-child boyfriend, can barely get out of bed in the morning. Over the course of the story, their paths subtly cross as Vince becomes reawakened and Eva finds herself falling short of her goals, all the while the gulf between them widening, their relationship as uncertain as the pandemic raging outside.
TANK COMMANDER
“When everything shut down...
...they had to pick themselves up.”
DIRECTOR STATEMENT
With Tank Commander, I wanted to create a time capsule of quarantine - an odyssey film that takes you on the emotional journey of these characters while they're stuck inside their home during lockdown.
We follow their day-to-day lives: Eva, with her productive routine, and Vince, in a miserable funk. Two people under one roof living together but separately. It’s the classic tale of a relationship on the rocks. After all communication has broken down, they each endure their own journeys toward healing - or sinking further into despair.
Like any filmmaker would say, I hope people see themselves reflected in the characters. Everyone has their own quarantine story, but I think the emotions in Tank Commander are relevant not just during Covid.
Finally, after a year of doom and gloom, I hope people come away from this movie with a sense of hope and optimism for the future. Making this film was an opportunity to challenge the belief that you need a big budget and a crew to create. It was unbelievably liberating to work with what I have (including my own wife and brother in the lead roles) and not spend a dime. The only limits to create are the limits of our own imagination.
MEET THE (CREATIVE) FAMILY
Peter Mackie grew up in Madison, WI. He moved to Los Angeles to study film scoring at the University of Southern California, but dropped out after a semester to pursue his passion for directing. His short films have played at LA Shorts Fest, HollyShorts, Minneapolis-St Paul Int’l Film Festival, Wisconsin Film Festival, Hamilton Film Festival, Brooklyn Shorts, Athens Int’l Film Festival in Greece, and Cine Gear Expo, among others. He has two films on Omeleto, and his last short film, Sergey’s Fortune, won the Grand Prize at the 2019 Short Film Slam in Baltimore.
Ina Farestad was born in Norway and has a Masters Degree in Political Science. In college, she realized acting was her true calling. Off she went to LA and has now been residing there for six years and acted in several award winning projects. Peter and Ina met at a film festival in Santa Monica. They fell in love when collaborating on Ina’s directorial debut, Stand By Her. Today they are married and live in West Hollywood in the same building as Peter’s brother.
Jack Mackie always knew he wanted to be an actor. He has a BFA from The University of Minnesota Guthrie Theater and has performed in several Shakespeare festivals. Since moving to LA, Jack has had a role in all of Peter’s films.
Nick Vitale is Peter’s childhood friend and longtime collaborator. Also from Wisconsin (although a devout Chicago Bears and Cubs fan), Nick wrote the screenplay for the award-winning Sergey’s Fortune. This is their second collaboration to make it to the big screen.
