OFFICIAL SELECTION “TRESTLES” WRITTEN BY KEVIN JAMES O’NEILL (US)

BIO:

Kevin James O'Neill Director / Writer / Producer

Kevin has been directing short film projects for thirteen years. His projects include “Clark”, “Captain Fin”, “Lean”, “Undertaking”, “Swipe”, “Perception”, “Man in the Woods” and “Resemblance”. He has also directed five music videos “Everything”, “Forgive you Much”, “Heart on my Sleeve,” “Hell in the Hallway” and “Idol’s Die”.

Kevin’s films have won Grand Jury awards in film festivals such as The Florida Film Festival, The Sonoma International Film Festival, The Orlando Film festival, The GIFF film festival, The Fort Lauderdale Film festival, The Fort Myers Film Festival, The Atlanta Film Festival, The Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival, The Charleston Black Film Festival, The Love Your Shorts Film Festival and The West Palm Beach Film festival.

Kevin worked as an actor in Los Angeles for over ten years where he appeared in over one hundred television commercials and print jobs. He has been teaching acting for the last twenty-five-years and is currently a Course Director at Full Sail University where he’s been teaching Directing to film students for over fourteen years.

Kevin has five feature scripts written that he plans to direct in the near future. The scripts are “Trestles” a true coming of age story about Kevin at age fourteen in southern California, “Flamingo Kids” where Grumpy Old Men meets Dodge Ball, “50 Hours” a feature script that was the inspiration for the novel by Loree Lough, “Thundersmack” a wild comedy about a man who escapes from a mental institution and takes over a film production as the director, “Pathfinder” a faith friendly film about a man living in the shadows of a grocery store who finds the true meaning in life, a ten-part series titled “Graces Diner” about a Diner on Route 66 that possesses mystical powers and a webisode titled “Involuntary” about a mental institution that houses people that need to learn valuable lessons or they will never be released.

“TRESTLES” WRITTEN BY Kevin James O’Neill (US) - A true coming of age story

LOGLINE: (Genre: Comedy/Drama)

In 1969, two teens took a leap of faith, broke all the rules, narrowly escaped death, fell in love for the first time and experienced the summer that changed their lives forever.

SYNOPSIS:

A man in his 50’s revisits a camping spot from his youth to reminisce and pay tribute to an old friend who taught him how to live life with no regrets. Kevin stands at the base of the Santa Ynez mountains and recalls the weekend he spent Memorial Day Weekend of 1969 and the girl that forever changed Kevin’s life.

STORY OUTLINE:

Barry and Kevin tell their parent’s that they’re staying at each other’s houses and hop a train out of town. Only once he’s on the train does Kevin find out that he’s going to jump out of the train over a Trestle that has an 80-foot drop. Barry is not the type of person that the shy and introverted Kevin would normally hang out with but, there was something about Barry that intrigued Kevin. The two meet a couple of girls that are camping at the beach and they convince them they are homeless so that the girls will get them food from their parent’s campsite. Kevin falls hard for one of the girls named Marnie. They spend the weekend building bon fires on the beach, climbing up to the Wind Caves high in the Sante Ynez mountains as Kevin learns how to be himself. It’s a weekend filled with excitement, danger and fun but it comes to an end too soon. Kevin promises to meet Marnie at her parent’s cam site the next morning but, he oversleeps. He never sees Marnie again but, he his life is forever changed by that long weekend.