THE GENIUS CLUB IS #2 FILM IN MEXICO CITY (9.23.07)

This past weekend, ‘THE GENIUS CLUB’ (‘Duela De Genios’) was the #2 independent film in Mexico City (Sept 21-23) and #5 overall (out of 40 movies). Only ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’, ‘Resident Evil’, and ‘Underdog’ beat us. The film was in the 16 biggest theaters throughout Mexico City (Population: 22 million).

It caught the distributor, Cien Films, completely off guard.

The toughest film critics gave ‘THE GENIUS CLUB’ a thumbs up, with Milenio newspaper giving ‘The Genius Club’ 4.5 out of 5 stars. This is the same paper that has done no-holds bar critiques on Alfonso Cuarón (“The Children of Men”), Alejandro Iñárritu (“Babel”), and Guillermo del Toro’s (Pan Labyrtinth) movies.

At the screenings, people were seen literally weeping as they came out. It was infectious. Countless people approached us after our screenings to say how they cried and how much the film made them think about their lives, death, and God.

May the Lord bless each of you mightily as he us.

CBS NEWSTORY ON ‘THE GENIUS CLUB’

CBS NEWS STORY ON ‘THE GENIUS CLUB’

(CBS 11 News) A terrorist plot, a group of geniuses, and a deadline… if it sounds like the stuff of movies, it is. The brains behind “The Genius Club” are actually several north Texans.

It’s not your average day at the office for Jacob Bonnema. Jacob is part of a father-son duo, that’s thinking about the box office. Their movie, “The Genius Club” directed by Tim Chey opens September 15th.

“The movie is about, if you knew you had six hours to live, 27 minutes to live. What would be going through your mind?” said producer, Arch Bonnema.

Arch is the producer of the film, his son Jacob is one of the stars. Their day job is running Joshua Financial in Plano.

For the newcomers it was another big screen venture that showed them the way movies can move an audience and spark dialogue. For the Bonnema’s it was “The Passion of the Christ.”

“We went out and bought out 22 screens from Cinemark for opening day, for 6:30 in the morning, to have people come out and see it,” Arch said.

Then they read Tim Chey’s script of “The Genius Club.” It depicts a terrorist threat in Washington that brings together seven geniuses, with an apocalyptic mandate: to solve the world’s problems by morning.

“I think that this movie has tact, poise, and it has an intellectual battle that’s so exciting to watch,” Jacob said.

Actors Stephen Baldwin and Tom Sizemore agreed the script was good, and joined the cast.

“It’s got a message of hope, and it’s very intriguing, and engaging. It’s going to make you think,” Baldwin said.

The Bonnema’s shot the movie in three weeks in February, for less than 10 million dollars. So far, theatres across Texas and Oklahoma plan to show it.

For Arch Bonnema, it is a drastic departure from the world of corporate trusts, but this investment, he says, is a personal one. “I wanted a movie to make people think. Just to find out what really is important when it gets down to the end?”

CBS 11 News did a story on Arch Bonnema several weeks ago. It was about his trek to Iran to search for Noah’s Ark. Arch says his next film will be a documentary on that expedition.

More links:

The Genius Club Invited to the DC Film Festival

NEWS RELEASE (1.25.07):

The prestigious Washington, DC Independent Film Festival (DCIFF) is an award winning festival which showcases world premieres, award winning features, shorts, animation and documentaries by local, national and international filmmakers.

“We’re happy we were invited to a great film festival in the Nation’s capital,” says Tim Chey, the director of the closing night film, ‘The Genius Club’.

DCIFF is proud to present the 2007 finalists** (**films are subject to change) More information will be posted shortly :

Features:

1) The Genius Club, directed by Tim Chey (2006) World Premiere, U S A http://www.TheGeniusClubMovie.com
2) Baby Blues, directed by (2006) World Premiere, U S A
3) Barrio Cuba, directed by Humberto Solas (2006) East Coast Premiere, Cuba
4) Disappearances, directed by Jay Craven (2006) World Premiere, U S A http://www.kingdomcounty.com
5) Al Qarem, directed by Affandy Yacoob (2006) World Premiere, Afghanistan U S A http://www.alquremthemovie.com
6) God in My Pocket, directed by Arnault Labaronne (2006) US Premiere, France
7) ntellectual Property, directed by Nick Peterson (2006) World Premiere, U S A http://www.ipthemovie.com
8 ) My Brother, directed by Anthony Lover (2006) World Premiere, U S A
9) One Buddha, directed by (2006) World Premiere, Argentina
10) Rain in the Mountains, directed by (2006) World Premiere, U S A

Interview/Paula Jai Parker/set of ‘The Genius Club’

Here’s an interview with Paula Jai Parker, star of ‘The Genius Club’.

Paula Jai Parker’s character is Tatiana, a cancer research specialist, who is one of the seven geniuses.

Trailer for the new movie ‘The Genius Club’

The motion picture trailer for ‘The Genius Club’

Interview/Jack Scalia/set of ‘The Genius Club’

Here’s an interview with Jack Scalia, star of ‘The Genius Club’.

Jack Scalia plays the President who has assembled 7 geniuses to try to solve the world’s problems in 1 night or Tom Sizemore’s terrorist will detonate a nuclear bomb.

Interview/Stephen Baldwin/set of ‘The Genius Club’

Here’s an interview with Stephen Baldwin, star of ‘The Genius Club’.

Stephen Baldwin’s character is Rory, a pizza delivery guy with an IQ of 239.

Marilyn Beck on ‘The Genius Club’

NOW THERE’S AN IDEA: ‘The Genius Club,’ writer-producer Tim Chey’s unique movie, in which a demented soul has a nuclear bomb set to go off on Christmas day — unless the President of the United States and a group of the world’s greatest minds can come up with solutions to the world’s problems in one single night. We’re told those problems include hunger, war, cancer, terrorism, the meaning of life, rush hour traffic, and jerks.

Marilyn Beck
The Hollywood Exclusive

10 Questions for Tim Chey

Here’s the link to 10 Questions for Tim Chey, the director of The Genius Club:

Southern Vanity Article

SV: Define what this movie (The Genius Club directed by Tim Chey) —with its spiritual and political messages—means to you.

Carol Abney: What’s great about the movie is that it brings up and addresses questions of why we don’t have the lives that we want. Why is there so much poverty and illness and degradation? Why are all these horrible things happening here and in other places? So, domestic or international—to me, it’s all the same. I’ve traveled and lived in other countries. I feel like a citizen of the world. The movie is special because it’s very global.

Paula Jai Parker: I don’t think of this in terms of politics. I have been so jaded politically. I have no faith in the system anymore. It didn’t dawn on me that it could be related politically until Arch Bonnema made the speech about how real this is. With his political work in Washington D.C., with the United Nations and President Bush, he has insight into this subject that he shared with us, making it even more real. Even with 9-11, the terroristic element didn’t really hit me until he talked to us and put it into perspective. It could happen. It has happened—both terrorist attacks and geniuses being called upon to answer the world’s questions … people willing to risk their own lives in order to prove a point. In that respect, he made it relevant for me.

SV: The time line of the movie is set on Christmas Eve. Of what significance is that timing?

Paula Jai Parker: The spiritual time, the family time, the feelings that that time of year bring to people that you don’t see any other time of the year. For the attack to be planned on that day, there is a significance—something deeper to it. I don’t know what it is …

Carol Abney: Christmas—for a large majority of the population (obviously, not everybody celebrates Christmas—it’s such a special time, at least in this country. There is such a sense of family and community that to pull us out of that time to have to deal with the issue on an emotional level it intensifies what the issues were that he was bringing up. To me, the film is about building community and about humanity. And by pulling us out of that, it jabs at you.

SV: Is this movie ultimately about hope or despair?

Carol Abney: Hope! Ultimately, it’s about hope. The beauty of the melting pot of the geniuses is that they weren’t stuffy male WASPS sitting in a circle telling it like it is.

SV: Any chance for a sequel?

Paula Jai Parker: The world’s problems aren’t solved yet. The possibility of solving them has come up and the opportunity has, too. So I can see a “part two.” Just when you think it’s over they’re dragging you back in. And the next time we’d have to go to Stockholm—maybe actually go overseas … not film the movie in a basement in downtown Los Angeles! I think it would be interesting to make it more global. To bring in other countries. We were all Americans trying to solve the world’s problems as humans. There were some racist things said about Pakistani people and Iranian people because we just don’t know. I am black but I’ve never been to Africa. I have been here for four generations, so I can’t speak for what’s going on in South Africa or South America. I’m an American citizen. It’s hard for me to speak on a global level and represent my culture properly. If we did do a sequel, we’d definitely have to make it more global. Bring in other people to talk about it.

SV: All the characters in the movie have differing beliefs. How did you identify with your character’s beliefs?

Carol Abney: My character is clearly an atheist. Her religion is money. Personally, I don’t necessarily identify with that. I don’t follow one religious path, but I do respect it. I am not an atheist, but I’m also not a “label”. Intellectually I could identify, but not emotionally.

Paula Jai Parker: I loved the monologue that she spoke. Because she is a scientist it had to make sense to her. For her to believe in what her grandmother and her grandmother’s grandmother believed, it had to make sense. That’s the same with me. I had to read the Bible for myself. I couldn’t let everyone tell me Jesus did this and that. It wasn’t enough for me to hear the stories. I had to go into the Bible and read it for myself from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation, I get the message, I feel the message and I think that relates to my character. She had to read it and investigate the possibilities and I think the monologue says it all. The reality is she couldn’t believe in God until it made sense to her, to her science. That’s how I am. I couldn’t believe what my mother said until I read it for myself. I became so intrigued with religion and Jesus and the knowledge that I gained from the Bible that I am currently reading the lost chapters of the Bible. The chapters that were taken out to make the Bible more politically correct. I want to know what is missing. We’re a lot alike in that regard.

Lunch with Stephen Baldwin …

SV: Before we get into the movie, tell us about your work with “Living It”!

Stephen Baldwin: “Living It” is what I’ve been doing for the last three years. It’s not just a series of skate videos, books and magazines. It’s all growing out of a vision of trying to reach the youth culture in a more hardcore, relevant way. “Living It” was created when I saw other ministries using extreme sports as an outreach concept for speaking to kids about God and the Bible. There were a lot of people within “Christianity” that didn’t agree with what we’re doing. They thought it was too extreme. But the reality is this idea has exploded. Seems like hundreds of skate ministries have been birthed in America as a result of the “Living It” movement. Now, I’m actually moving out of my relationship with my “Living It” skate tour because I’m launching my own tour for next year called The Breakthrough Ministry. I’ll be doing the same thing that we’ve been doing on a small scale—audiences of 2,000 to 5,000 people in church parking lots—to arenas of 20,000 to 50,000 people. It’ll be great! The bottom line is, this works. We’re reaching the kids!

SV: What drew you to be part of this film?

Stephen Baldwin: I read the script and I was crazy about it. Most of the scripts coming out of Hollywood are pretty boring. They really don’t make you think. They don’t have purpose and meaning. This one had purpose and meaning. It wasn’t just about the topic—the God part of it—that a lot of movies don’t even mention. It was about viewing the different sides of issues like oil and gas, capitalism, communism. Those are issues most people aren’t talking about in movies right now. There’s no thought. This movie was very thought-provoking. I had to audition for it, but when I read the script I made a decision that said, “this is mine.”
Originally, the Bonnemas (producers) and I talked about my playing the role that Jacob Bonnema ultimately played … the Christian guy. I could have connected with that and hopefully given a good performance, but there was just something about the role of Rory that I loved. I loved his honesty, his edge, his abrasiveness. And so long as what you see at the end of this picture is that there is some kind of redemption—even potential for redemption for him—the role of Rory worked for me.

SV: What is the primary message of The Genius Club?

Stephen Baldwin: I don’t want to sound so broad in my answer, but I think the movie is about life. We live in a country where every morning, in your face is USA Today and that’s been the case with the news and other media. Now with the fast-paced rate that we receive information, we’re dealing with global pressure everyday. There are people waking up nervous about Iraq and other issues. For me, I think it’s an interesting concept that the movie addresses all these things that subliminally for us every day are stressful issues. It was so cool to me, the concept of geniuses analyzing the world’s problems and how to solve them. The movie doesn’t necessarily answer any question, it just provokes thought. It’s my hope to push buttons and get people thinking … rip the scab off of life, so to speak. Get people thinking and talking about what they really do believe. There are many aspects of the film that at the end are left open. But more than that, there are avenues into the mind of those who watch the film that will leave them intrigued. I think that’s a good thing.