Wetware, a film adaptation of Craig Nova's 2002 novel, will be directed by Jay Craven (Where the Rivers Flow North, A Stranger in the Kingdom, Northern Borders, Peter & John). The cast includes Jerry O'Connell, Aurelia Thierree, Cameron Scoggins, Morgan Wolk, Nicole Shalhoub, John Rothman, Bret Lada, Matt Salinger and Jessica Blank. It is scheduled for release in July 2017.
The movie is being produced in tandem with the Movies from Marlboro program in Marlboro College's Film & Video Studies department; and Kingdom County Productions, a 501-C3 nonprofit media arts education organization and independent film production company also based in Vermont. The hands-on film practicum is a major component of the college's film intensive program, in which 25 professionals mentor and collaborate with 31 students from a dozen colleges. Wetware will be released internationally and use professional actors, students from MFM and industry professionals.
"This is my eighth feature film and our third production through the Movies from Marlboro program. We spent eight weeks in classes, workshops, script critiques, film screenings, and pre-production before starting to shoot. Everyone is psyched to get started shooting," said Craven, who noted that students in the MFM program launched a Kickstarter campaign with a goal to raise a minimum for $48,000 by April 28 toward the $757,000 budget.
"As with every movie I've made, this tightly budgeted non-profit production will be financed by donated funds," he added. "The film's vivid characters are originals. flawed, dimensional, and, sometimes, absurd. The film will dig into fertile themes of love, work, and freedom, genetic engineering, social costs of living in a wired age, the power of music and what it is to be human in trying times. We also promise a few good laughs."