“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 (the 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