“The quality of a fever dream…a mix of The Asphalt Jungle and the original Manchurian Candidate” – Ted Cox, Daily Herald

From writer-director Vito Brancato the story of an assassination attempt on JFK in Chicago one year before Dallas. Based on Brancato’s feature length screenplay, BLACKSTONE (short film) was originally broadcast nationally on PBS on the anniversary of the JFK assassination.

Chicago 1962…a plot was in place to kill the president of the United States. CIA operative Bill Ruddy and mob boss Sam Giancana lay out the plan at a secluded Wisconsin fishing cabin. The “hit” will take place at Chicago’s historic Blackstone Hotel, scheduled to host a Democrat fundraiser. The plot twists from an assassination conspiracy into a fatal love triangle involving a crooked cop, an idealistic Cuban assassin and an innocent young woman caught in the middle. Was “Dallas” really the first attempt on JFK’s life? Vito Brancato weaves together true and fictional characters with actual events to give Blackstone and eerie sense of possibility.

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY VITO BRANCATO SEAN T. MOFFITT  FRANK CALABRESE  JOE IFFLAND  DANETTE SIGUT  IVAN VEGA  BOBBY HITZ  FERNANDO HERNANDEZ  SERGIO DIAZ  VINCENT GRAMAROSA  JOIE VOLOANTE  FIORE CHRISTOPHER  BOB KOESHEL  DALE EPPERS  DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY ANDRE SHANE  SOUND RECORDING AND EDITOR MARIANNE GRECO  AUDIO POST PRODUCTION SAM GRECO ORIGINAL SCORE VITO GRECO  LIMESTONE LABS  PRODUCED BY VITO BRANCATO  RONN VRHEL © 2004, AVITOFILM