DELRAY BEACH – “The Resurrection’s” YouTube premiere will have to wait.
The movie’s principals have bigger things in mind.
“Basically the thought process is to get it into some festivals, see how we fare,” said Dean Napolitano, who wrote and starred in “The Resurrection.”
The hope is that multiple festivals accept “The Resurrection,” agreeing to show the film publicly. Ultimately, the goal is to win awards at those festivals.
“Then when you have all those things you can have a little more buzz,” Napolitano said.
Producers had hoped to release the short film to YouTube in the spring before being cautioned that doing so could prompt festivals to decline “The Resurrection.” Many festivals don’t see the value in showing a film already viewable for free online.
“That’s part of the process,” Napolitano said. “I get it. If you were going to release a comedy special on Netflix you wouldn’t put it on YouTube first.”
The film has already been submitted to film festivals in Los Angeles, Toronto, Aspen, Colo., and New Smyrna Beach, Fla. The new timeline for the film’s release has it landing on YouTube in the summer of 2023.
The Resurrection is the third film in South Florida comic Jim Patterson’s trilogy about the death of a comic and what it takes to get into heaven. The first film in the trilogy, “The Funeral,” debuted in 2020. “The Séance,” recently released on YouTube, premiered one year later.
In the finale, Patterson is a deceased comic trying to enter heaven. Before he can cross though the gates, he’s sent back to earth to help right a comic (Napolitano) struggling with alcohol and a changing comedy landscape.
More than 30 Florida comics appear in the film. Patterson held a screening of “The Resurrection” in March. There haven’t been any viewings since.
“I thought it was received pretty well at our screening,” Napolitano said. “I thought everybody got the message. I’m not inventing the wheel, here. It’s a feel-good redemption story.”
Since the screening, director Miguelito LaMorte attempted to trim the nearly 32-minute film to less than a half hour, a time many believe is more desirable for inclusion in short-film festival categories.
Producers ultimately decided against altering the film.
“It just didn’t work so we just left it at 31:50,” Napolitano said.
Amazon Prime Video, the original streaming destination for “The Resurrection,” is no longer readily available for independent films, prompting the decision to ultimately release the film on YouTube.
Patterson is already entertaining thoughts of turning the trilogy into a four-part series.
“I’ve got a title for it,” he said. “’The Second Coming’”
