WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP NEWS REPORT - 3/9/06

By JORDAN FENSTER, Editor

It's hard to believe that Mike Licisyn isn't more excited.

Still a student at Rowan University, the filmmaker and Washington Township native will have one of his films screened at this year's Cannes Film Festival, what he describes as "the biggest film festival in the world."

"I guess I'm not excited because I haven't really been thinking about it."

Licisyn's short film, "If Occurrence," will appear along with seven other short films made by Philadelphia-based directors during the festival's short film review.

The film will be in good company - the Cannes festival routinely features the best and highst-budget films in the industry internationally.

In fact, "If Occurrence" is opening at Cannes three days after the world premier of the movie adaptation of "The DaVinci Code," "in the dead-middle of the Cannes Film Festival," Licisyn said.

Though not shown in competition, the film will be screened for an audience of potential buyers - producers who may wish to take the film to the next level of exposure.

The film, which cost a total of $60 to make - "for tape stock, parking and hot chocolate because it was cold," Licisyn said, - was influenced by a "Twilight Zone" episode called "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."

In that script, a Civil War soldier escapes being hanged and journeys back to his home only to die just as he reaches his wife.

In Licisyn's homage, a pair of friends discuss what would have happened if their love lives had taken different turns. "We took that concept of 'what if,'" he said.

"If Occurrence's" entry in Cannes, along with the seven other films with which it will travel, has been sponsored by Sharon Pinkenson and the Greater Philadelphia Film Office. Some of the other Philadelphia-based films are much higher profile, Licisyn said, employing actors with considerable experience.

"I feel completely young and unaccomplished," he said.

"If Occurrence," was the official selection at the recent Garden State Film Festival, as was Licisyn's film "Township," which deals with the life and foibles of life in Washington Township.