Lamp Theatre to show locally produced film by P-T grads

When Brandon Keenan was a teenager growing up in Harrison City, he would take a date to The Lamp Theatre, where the price of admission was cheap and so was the popcorn.

Now 36 and living in Monroeville, Keenan will return to the Irwin theater on Saturday with fellow filmmaker Nick LaMantia, 32, of Monroeville as co-producers, co-directors and co-stars of their independent film “Body Farm.”

“It’s been a surreal experience. On my bucket list was to make a movie,” Keenan said. “Even if I did not make a dime, it was worth it.”

Keenan made the psychological thriller with fellow Penn-Trafford graduate LaMantia, through their companies, KVT Productions and Nickel 17 Films. Both also are graduates of the University of Pittsburgh.

The film had its Allegheny County premiere two years ago at The Oaks Theater in Oakmont and has been screened at about three dozen film festivals in the United States and foreign countries, Keenan said. The film has won several festival awards, including best picture, best sound, best ensemble and best special effects, LaMantia said.

What started out as a plan to make a short 12-minute film from a script he wrote in 2007, “and then put it on the shelf,” turned into a 75-minute full-length movie, Keenan said.

The film is about an investigation into a body farm where human decomposition is researched.

“The theory is the body farm has its own driving force. You will never beat the body farm,” Keenan said.

Friends and some Pittsburgh-area actors started shooting the movie in spring of 2015, Keenan said. Because this was a self-funded venture costing $35,000, Keenan said they spread 22 days of filming through December 2017.

Those involved in the film had day jobs. Keenan operated KVT Productions, which produces sports videography, corporate and commercial videos and weddings. LaMantia is a special education teacher with Armstrong School District. He has acted in 22 films and has been a producer in nine shorts and movies.

“Our biggest struggle was keeping everyone motivated and keeping everyone on the same page,” LaMantia said.

The film was shot in the Pittsburgh area, on the Youngwood Sportsmen Club property in Hempfield, and at sites in New York, North Carolina and the former West Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville, Keenan said.

For special effects, makeup artists from Tom Savini’s Special Make-Up Effects Program at the Douglas Education Center in Monessen were used, Keenan said. Some of the scenes called for making internal surgery look as gory as possible.

“I think I am very pleased with our vision, and we did it without having to compromise,” LaMantia said.

Beginning March 1, the movie will be available through digital streaming on DirecTV, Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes and Microsoft TV & Movies, Keenan said. They will earn money based on the number of times viewers rent or buy the movie, Keenan said.

“I think the jury is still out on whether it is a success, because it will depend on whether the audience will consume our product,” LaMantia said.

Keenan and LaMantia are now writing the script for a sequel. He expects the project will be a small-budget film — but with enough money to pay those working on the film.

“We’re not making the next ‘Ghostbusters,’” Keenan said.