Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, debuts a new Hollywood short film, “The Rusted,” as part of Canon’s Project Imagination: The Trailer, a consumer contest helmed by Ron Howard who has championed Canon’s Project Imagination creative experiment since 2011. Ron Howard and Josh Hutcherson (“The Hunger Games”) chose one winning trailer created by Mark Mukherjee, a college student in Florida, as the inspirational foundation for “The Rusted,” a psychological thriller written and directed by Kat Candler (“Hellion”) starring Josh Hutcherson and Jena Malone (“The Hunger Games”).
“The Rusted” is a film about a brother and sister’s attempt to renovate their childhood home into a recording studio, but strange happenings force them to deal with memories from their past. The global premiere of the film took place via a livestream with AOL BUILD, giving consumers everywhere a chance to experience the film, and will now be available at imagination.usa.canon.com.
“I’m honored to continue this journey with Canon, seeking inspiration from those around us and urging everyone to tap into their creative souls and bring stories to life,” said Ron Howard. “It’s truly been a delight to collaborate with Josh Hutcherson who challenged himself to star in a role that was unlike any he has done to date.”
“Working with Canon, Ron and Kat have given me a great creative outlet to flex my filmmaking muscles,” said Josh Hutcherson. “I feel so fortunate to bring the vision of Mark’s trailer to life and work alongside Jena to create this beautiful film. I’m excited for everyone to see it.”
Francesca Silvestri and Kevin Chinoy of Freestyle Picture Company as well as Josh Hutcherson and Michelle Hutcherson produced the film.
Project Imagination: The Trailer contest launched in February 2015 and was open for submissions through April 29th. Based on the concept that anything in life can be a movie, and every movie starts with a trailer, Canon invited all consumers – even those who have never picked up a camera before – to turn everyday photos and video footage into a creative movie trailer with titles, Hollywood style voice-overs and epic soundtracks. Consumers of all skill levels were encouraged to create and submit trailers of their everyday moments using Canon’s Trailer Editor tool. One winning trailer was then selected by Ron Howard and Josh Hutcherson.
The Evolution of Project Imagination
In 2011, Ron Howard and Canon U.S.A., Inc. launched Project Imagin8ion, the first photo contest in history to inspire a Hollywood short film, which resulted in the film, “When You Find Me,” directed by actress Bryce Dallas Howard, inspired by eight winning photographs.
In 2012, Howard and Canon U.S.A. teamed up again for Project Imaginat10n, the first photo contest in history to inspire a film festival. With 91 winning photographs, Project Imaginat10n resulted in the production of 10 films, five of which were consumer directed and five of which were directed by influential celebrities from five diverse backgrounds, Jamie Foxx (entertainer), Eva Longoria (actress), Georgina Chapman (co-founder of Marchesa; fashion), James Murphy (formerly of LCD SOUNDSYSTEM; music) and Biz Stone (co-founder of Twitter; technology).
Project Imagination: The Trailer is the third iteration of Project Imagination, Canon’s ongoing initiative to empower creativity in everyone. The program aligns with Ron Howard’s conviction that people’s everyday lives are visually and cinematically worth recording, bringing high quality and ease to photo and video capture with Canon cameras and lenses. Canon’s Trailer Editor is still available for consumer’s use at imagination.usa.canon.com.
About CANON U.S.A., INC.
Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions to the United States and to Latin America and the Caribbean (excluding Mexico) markets. With approximately $31 billion in global revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), ranks third overall in U.S. patents granted in 2014† and is one of Fortune Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies in 2015. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest level of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. Canon U.S.A. is dedicated to its Kyosei philosophy of social and environmental responsibility. In 2014, the Canon Americas Headquarters secured LEED® Gold certification, a recognition for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of high-performance green buildings.
About RON HOWARD
Ronald William "Ron" Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American actor, director and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later as the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom “Happy Days” for six years. He made film appearances such as in “American Graffiti” in 1973 and while starring in “Happy Days” he also made “The Shootist” in 1976, as well as making his directorial debut with the 1977 comedy film “Grand Theft Auto.” He left “Happy Days” in 1980 to focus on directing, and has since gone on to direct several films, including the Oscar winning “Cocoon,” “Apollo 13,” “Frost/Nixon,” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Ron won the Academy Award for “A Beautiful Mind” as the Director and also producer of the film. In 2003, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
About JOSH HUTCHERSON
Josh Hutcherson has quickly become one of Hollywood's most accomplished young actors. He has received many accolades including the 2012 Cinema Con award for "Breakthrough Actor," MTV Movie Award for "Best Male Performance," the Teen Choice Award for "Best Actor: Sci-Fi/Fantasy" and Logo's New Now Next Award for the "Next Mega Star." Josh is best known for his portrayal of Peeta Mellark in the highly successful franchise, “The Hunger Games”, alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth. Josh reprises his role in “Mockingjay Part 2” in November, 2015. In addition, Josh stars opposite Benicio Del Toro in “Escobar: Paradise Lost”, a drama about the notorious kingpin, Pablo Escobar.In 2010, Josh co-starred alongside Annette Bening and Julianne Moore in Lisa Cholodenko's Academy Award nominated feature film “The Kids are All Right”. Additional film credits include the animated film “Epic”, “Red Dawn”, a remake of the 1984 classic, “Journey 2: Mysterious Island”, the independent feature film “Detention”, in which Hutcherson also served as Executive Producer, an omnibus film entitled “Seven Days in Havana”, which features seven shorts directed by seven different directors, “Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D”, the first ever high definition 3-D live performance feature, “Bridge To Terabithia”, “Zathura”, “Kicking and Screaming”, “Howl's Moving Castle” and “The Polar Express”. Josh won Young Artist Awards for "Leading Young Actor" for his roles in “Zathura” and “Bridge to Terebithia”. In addition to acting, Josh is extremely involved with his charity organization, Straight But Not Narrow (SBNN). SBNN is an ally organization that prepares and trains young adults on how to become allies of their LGBTQ peer. In 2012, he was honored with GLAAD's "Vanguard Award" for his work with the LGBT community.
About JENA MALONE
As an actress distinguished by her versatility and multidimensional roles, Jena Malone continues to evolve with each new project. Malone can next be seen in The Hunger Games: Mockinjay Part 2, reprising her role as Johanna Mason, scheduled for release on November 20. Most recently, Malone starred in Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice alongside Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Joaquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin. Additionally, Malone can be seen in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, reprising her role as Johanna Mason. Malone previously starred in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Other upcoming projects include Oren Moverman's Time Out of Mind, which she stars alongside Richard Gere, and Mitchell Lichtenstein's Angelica, based on the novel of the same name by bestselling author Arthur Phillips. She was recently cast as the lead role in Dori Oskowitz's Claire, the American remake of Eric Rohmer's 1982 French pic Le Beau Mariage. Malone starred opposite Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton in the History Channel's mini-series Hatfields & McCoys, which broke cable records and became the new most-watched entertainment telecast of all time on cable. The mini-series earned an Emmy Nomination for “Outstanding Mini-Series” and a Golden Globe nomination for “Best Mini-Series”. Previously, Malone starred in Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, Oren Moverman's The Messenger, Sean Penn's Into the Wild, Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain, Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice, Brian Savelson’s In Our Nature, and Richard Kelly’s cult classic Donnie Darko.
About KAT CANDLER
Kat Candler’s award winning films have screened at Sundance®, SXSW®, Los Angeles Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, Houston Museum of Modern Art, The National Institutes of Health and on PBS. Her feature, “Hellion” starring Aaron Paul and Juliette Lewis, played in competition at the 2014 Sundance® Film Festival and was released through IFC Films. “Hellion” was a Sundance® Creative Producing Lab participant and San Francisco Film Society/Kenneth Rainin Foundation Grant recipient. Candler was recently a Sundance® Institute Women’s Initiative Fellow and second time San Francisco Film Society/Kenneth Rainin Foundation Grant recipient for her upcoming “Untitled Metal Project.” She recently completed the short film “The Rusted” for Ron Howard and Canon’s Project Imagination starring Josh Hutcherson and Jena Malone. Kat graduated from Florida State University with a degree in creative writing.
About AOL BUILD
AOL's BUILD is a live interview series like no other. Hosted at the AOL HQ in New York City and live streamed on AOL.com/BUILD, it's a chance for fans to sit inches away from some of today’s biggest names in entertainment, tech, fashion and business as they share the stories behind their projects and passions. Consumers can watch the premiere event and Q&A with Ron Howard, Josh Hutcherson and Kat Candler at AOL.com/BUILD.
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† Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office.
