The Year Between
Logline
During the year between Clemence’s earth-shattering diagnosis of bipolar disorder and her earth-shattering comeback, she attempts to rejoin society from her room in her parents’ basement.
Alex Heller
Director, Screenwriter
Alex Heller is a filmmaker and comedian working between Oslo, New York, and her parents' basement in Chicago. Her work covers a wide spectrum of mental health awareness, bullying prevention, and the fear of dicks. Alex's upcoming work includes her first feature film, THE YEAR BETWEEN, in development with Full Spectrum Features (SIGNATURE MOVE, SXSW 2017). The story brings awareness to bipolar disorder through a comedic lens, showing a full picture of mental illness through a grotesque anti-heroine's dull adventures. In addition to being selected for the TFI Network, The Year Between was one of five projects selected for AT&T Presents: Untold Stories, the million-dollar pitch at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Alex's most recent short film HANDJOB played at the Chicago International Film Festival won Best Comedy at the CineYouth Festival. HANDJOB also won the Audience Award at the Ivy Film Festival, the world's largest college film festival. The film follows a preteen revelation that dicks can tear people apart. Alex is also currently in post-production with New York-based project BAYBERRY, a carnival-like virtual reality experience about gender identity, a collaboration with New York Times cinematographer, Julia Irwin and actor/filmmaker Lio Mehiel. Whether working in comedy, social justice, or both, Alex uses truthful, irreverent characters to tell her stories.
As a comic, Alex has opened for Jen Kober, Adam Devine, and Nick Offerman. She is the winner of StorySlam Oslo (the Norwegian Moth), and was a featured storyteller on this season of Norway's Got Talent, before she was ultimately kicked off. Alex researched Norwegian bullying prevention methods in Oslo in 2013, and has been hanging around ever since. Follow Alex on Instagram at @thementallytrillest, where she creates mental health memes and collects anecdotal video stories from her community.
Eugene Park
Producer
Eugene is a filmmaker and producer working in narrative and experimental forms. His films have screened at over 200 festivals, micro-cinemas, museums, galleries, and alternative screening venues around the world, including SXSW, BAMcinemafest, Outfest, Frameline, Cleveland International Film Festival, Chicago Underground Film Festival, Athens International Film + Video Festival, Antimatter (Victoria, Canada), DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival, and Jornadas de Reapropiación (Mexico City, Mexico).
Eugene is also the founder and executive director of Full Spectrum Features, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to diversity in film and media. Current projects include Chicagoland Shorts, an annual touring program of short films that showcases the work of women, LGBTQ, and minority filmmakers; Signature Move, a feature film produced with the support of a 2016 All Access Fellowship from the Tribeca Film Institute; and The Orange Story, a cinematic digital history project about Japanese American WWII incarceration funded by the National Park Service.
Brian Hieggelke
Producer
Brian Hieggelke is a writer, publisher and film producer based in Chicago. Described as a “civic treasure” by Robert Feder, Chicago Tribune columnist, and “one of the most respected media minds in town” by Politico, Brian Hieggelke is the founder and president/CEO of Newcity, a Chicago-based company operating in print, digital and social media environments. He also serves as editor and co-publisher.