Local Filmmakers’ Superhero Movie Competing at 2012 San Diego Comic-Con

Look out, Avengers. There’s another Cleveland-based superhero movie ready to make a splash.

Super to the Heroes, a six-minute short made last summer as part of the Cleveland 48 Hour Film Project, is set to compete in San Diego Comic-Con’s International Independent Film Festival. The festival features a wide array of genre-related films, including action/adventure, horror/suspense, documentary and more. Super to the Heroes will compete in the Comics-Oriented category and will be screened on July 13 at 11:50 a.m., PST.

Heroes was produced by Cleveland’s B-Media Productions, a team of local filmmakers led by aspiring screenwriter and producer Peter Balint.

“B-Media members come from all walks of life, all age ranges and just about every suburb in the Greater Cleveland area,” says Balint. “We’re blessed to have so many gifted and passionate individuals in our group. Everyone gave it their all to make this film as great as it could be - and in less than 48 hours. That shows on the screen, and I think that’s why we were selected by Comic-Con.”

Heroes Hits Comic-Con

Technical issues disqualified Heroes from competing in last year’s 48 Hour Film Project, though it was screened for audiences during the event. The 48 Hour Film Project challenges teams to produce a six-minute film – from concept to final edit – in less than 48 hours. Teams are assigned a genre, character, prop and line of dialogue, all of which must be incorporated into the final product.

That disqualification opened the door to a much wider audience: the nearly 150,000 attendees of the San Diego Comic-Con, including dozens of film and television industry luminaries who now use the show to launch and promote ambitious genre productions. In 2010, Marvel Studios used Comic-Con to introduce the cast of 2012’s mega-hit, The Avengers.

“I have to admit, I didn’t know much about Comic-Con before now,” says Balint. Team member Tom Loveman, a principal owner of Hot Lather Productions, another local production company, suggested entering the contest. “It’s probably good that I didn’t, or I might have been a bit more intimidated to enter our film.”

Super to the Heroes tells the day-in-the-life story of a high school super, or janitor. Except this is no ordinary high school – it’s the Cleveland Academy for the Genetically Enhanced. And – spoiler alert! ­­­– our super is no ordinary super. But maybe that’s giving too much away.

The short was directed by Trish Sgro and written by Balint, Tom Tennant and Phil Rein. It stars Samantha Berencsi, Michael Goulis, Melanie Hauer, Daniel Schumacher, Lloyd Weema and Kenny Santiago. Full credits are available on IMDb. View Heroes on YouTube.

B-Media will compete once more in this year’s Cleveland 48 Hour Film Project, which begins July 28.