NEW FILM: Sally's Iron Mustangs (With Screenshots)

My latest film follows the endeavors of a senior bodybuilder promoting strength for seniors in her community. Reel Nation Media members will receive updates and future screening information via email.

Sally's Iron Mustangs, Coming Summer 2022

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The Story

In February 2022, I began film production on Sally’s Iron Mustangs, a tentatively-titled, short documentary in my latest initiative to promote health and wellness after the COVID-19 crisis.

The film will follow the story of Sally Winchell, a 64-year-old bodybuilder, and nutrition buff, as she ambitiously builds strength and nutrition programs in Lancaster, PA. Her endeavors will inspire discouraged seniors to revive their passion for well-being and even compete in powerlifting competitions.

Screenshots

Sally's Iron Mustangs (Film)

Sally's Iron Mustangs (Film)

Sally's Iron Mustangs (Film)

Sally's Iron Mustangs (Film)

Sally's Iron Mustangs (Film)

Sally's Iron Mustangs (Film)

Sally's Iron Mustangs (Film)

Sally's Iron Mustangs (Film)

Sally's Iron Mustangs (Film)

Sally's Iron Mustangs (Film)

More About Sally

Sally is the wellness center director at Bright Side Opportunities Center (BSOC), a non-profit organization in Lancaster, PA, created to address the unique needs of southwest Lancaster City by offering a wide range of services and resources to provide opportunities for all. Sally is also the owner of Nutrifreak, a wellnes brand dedicated to "teaching the generally healthy population good nutrition, how to make permanent lifestyle changes, and how to live the clean eating lifestyle."

Director's Statement

Sally Winchell (Left), Abdullah Abu-Mahfouz (Right)

I believe that hardship is inborn to every human life; we are vulnerable to succumbing to pain and heartbreak. Despite this, I believe that every person has a unique strength residing inside of them. Through reflection and tenacity, we all have an opportunity to manifest our potential and reframe adversity into an opportunity for healing.

Ultimately, I want my audiences to feel encouraged by Sally’s story to become stronger and question themselves: “Have I given up on myself? What can I be doing to build myself and rise to life’s challenges?” I want my audiences to realize that, despite the growing pains it takes to rise out of a depressed state of being, there is joy, love, and happiness in the journey to manifest one’s strength. In the end, the pain for the gain is worthwhile.

What to Expect

The film is halfway through production and is expected to be submitted to film festivals and distribution platforms in June 2022. In addition, Reel Nation Media will host a “film kick-off” event in April 2022. The event will feature the first teaser trailer for the film, a Q&A with me, and open networking.

How to Get Involved

Visit the film's webpage to watch the teaser, preorder the film, register a screening, or read up on more details: www.reelnationmedia.com/sallysironmustangs

For future details on the film and kick-off event, interested audiences can become a member of Reel Nation Media for free. They will receive regular news updates and access to exclusive content.

Signing up for a membership can be done at https://www.reelnationmedia.com.

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ABOUT REEL NATION MEDIA

Reel Nation Media is an independent film production company owned and operated by director Abdullah Abu-Mahfouz. The brand focuses on “conscious media art,” authentic stories that heal its artists and audiences. In 2022, Reel Nation Media aims to produce original short films exploring personal strength and calling for empathy for the worldwide family displacement crisis.

These Artists Use Music to Heal Themselves and Women in Need (NEW mini-doc)

Written by Director Abdullah Abu-Mahfouz

Tyler Jazz, a musician, and Krisztina Szabo, a graphic designer, volunteer to play and sing Christmas music at a women's shelter. Both of these amazing artists, who have been victims of domestic abuse, use their talents to heal others and themselves.

Tyler Jazz (left) and Krisztina Szabo (right)

How To Watch

This second episode of our Reel Artist series was published on January 4th, 2021, and can be seen for free only on the Reel Nation Cinema page.

Production Story

The goal of this episode was to find a story where an artist challenged himself to accomplish an altruistic goal. I wrote this intention on my Facebook wall, and Tyler responded with what he was trying to accomplish at the Shalom House. After having a coffee with him and understanding his volition, I knew that his story deserved to be told.

Abdullah, Tyler, and Kirsztina

During filming, Tyler was open with his process; he showed me, in-depth, how he warmed up, practiced, and finished his session. Since I pretty much filmed all of this, my challenge in post-production was to find the emotional core of the story and then jettison everything else out in order to meet the 5-minute-limit this series has. Tyler’s story was so meaningful that I could have easily included more; it was difficult to delete a few great scenes.

What’s Next

Consider checking out Tyler's music and Krisztina's art at the links below:

• Tyler's music

• Krisztina's art

Donate and help shelter women and children at the Shalom House: https://shalomhouse.net/

We are currently searching for our next subject for episode 3.

If you are enjoying this series and if you’re interested in seeing more, please let me know on the Feedback Forum and make sure you’re a member at Reel Nation Media to get first news on new content and watch exclusive films for free.

Keep it Reel!

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About Reel Nation Media

Reel Nation Media was founded in 2014 by Daniel Roy Bills, Lauren Houdek, and Abdullah Abu-Mahfouz. In a world of billion-dollar franchises, binge-watching, and viral videos, they saw the lack of media art that was altogether authentic, fun, and healthy for audiences striving to be conscious and sincere with their media consumption. The motion-picture and art studio will continue to create entertainment crafted to heal and inspire audiences.

Dead ED is FINALLY Here!

Written by director Abdullah Abu-Mahfouz

Today, August 28, 2020, I am extremely proud to announce that Dead ED, the film we started shooting 7 years ago, is FINALLY here in its full potential for Reel Nation Media members to watch for free.

How to Watch

Dead ED is currently available only on Reel Nation Media. The film is free to watch after becoming a member of the site.

You can watch the film at this link: http://www.reelnationmedia.com/deaded

Listen to the incredible soundtrack by S.D. Gabor here: https://www.reelnationmedia.com/music

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The Story

The Official Trailer

Dead ED is a short film that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world when societies are trying to clean the nuclear winter and salvage any technology from their forefathers. The story follows a nuclear waster manager (acted by Adam Gibbins) and his only friend, a robot named ED (voiced by Zachary Peek) on their mission to lean the wastelands. However, their trail is picked up by a group of looters, lead by a notorious warlord (acted by Anthony Giovanni Elias), and the duo’s chances of survival fall into each other’s’ hands.

What do you do when you find out your mission is hopeless? What happens when you forsake your friends? The film asks you and the characters these questions.

The Story Behind the Story

If you’ve been following our activity, then you know Dead ED is our oldest project to date. If you’re new, then here is a short breakdown of how all this went down.

In 2013, my fellow classmates at Full Sail University and I set out to create an ambitious project that we could have a blast with and knock the socks off our audience. We knew we wanted to create an adventure story about friendship, and we were also heavily inspired by Oblivion (2013), a science fiction film that had just been released. We remixed the two into a short film script, and Dead ED was the result.

Fun fact: we chose the title when Daniel, co-founder of Reel Nation Media, saw a “DEAD END” sign missing the letter “N.”

Me (center) and my classmates on Dead ED

After the script was as polished as much as my 18-year-old, naive, self could polish, we started shooting in the spring of that year. We launched a Kickstarter campaign which made the whole endeavor possible. However, shooting was soon halted because of the workload required for school. We even made two more films (Lola Rabbit & Little Big Hero) before we returned to our production schedule. Thus, Dead ED was shot in two separate phases: before we knew anything about filmmaking and after we knew a tiny bit more about filmmaking. In June 2014, we completed production at the end of our education at Full Sail University.

This created another problem… all of our classmates and collaborators soon had full-time jobs while also be scattered across the country. Naturally, adult life after school took priority. It wasn’t until 2016 that we returned to figure out how we would complete the film without a post-production team. Our biggest problem that would take more years to solve was this:

During our time of shooting while knowing very little to nothing about filmmaking, we shot a lot of visual effects the wrong way. For example, our green screen setup was horrible. When professionals saw our raw footage, they ran for the hills. Fixing this problem would cost either a lot of time or a fortune. Being startup artists, money was something we didn’t have.

Luckily, Mitchell Sanchez, our VFX supervisor, was there to guide me in learning how to do the visual effects myself. The path ahead was like looking at the peak of Everest from its base. There was a total of 114 shots to do heavy repairs and visual effects on. The most time-consuming effect of the bunch was rotoscoping, where I hand cut the horrendous green screen out of the composition… frame by frame. 24 frames a second.

Below is a 10x speed timelapse of rotoscoping.

Long story short, the visual effects took me another 4 years to complete. I was only able to dedicate one or two hours a week because it was a student project. And boy… was I a humbled student. I learned many lessons from this adventure. Dead ED is my bittersweet achievement of both my amateur and early filmmaking career.

The next time you watch a movie with awesome visual effects, consider the countless hours, taken from nerds like me, to pull it off.

What’s Next?

Now that Dead ED is complete, we can dedicate our time and resources to fresh, original films. We are currently developing our first web series and our second feature-length documentary. To keep up to date with us and get awesome insights, consider becoming a member so that we may reach you!

In the meantime… keep it Reel :)