The word is on the street that the world of cinema as we know it 
is about to change. And what on God’s green earth is the reason 
for this oh-so-long awaited change? Is it another bill passing 
that will forever ban the “F” word from the movies? The health 
institute of America banning the sale of fatty foods at the 
theatres? Or could it be another wave of such originality that 
will remind us what it’s really like to go to the movies?

Fortunately, we get to keep our fatty foods and the raunchiness 
in our dialogues and most importantly, we get to watch the fresh 
wave of talent that will sweep across Hollywood like it did when 
Pulp Fiction came out, or Sixth Sense or Memento. This time 
around, it’s another independent film – could you expect this 
from studios – called Machiavelli Hangman. 

When a studio film has a decent storyline it does very well at 
the box-office. When a low-budget independent film has a great 
storyline it gets noticed and becomes the sleeper hit of the 
year. To exceed those levels of success and actually change 
Hollywood conventions without having a gargantuous budget, that 
independent film must be a hell-of-a good entertainment ride. 
“Not only does it thrill, it makes you think about your own life, 
not just after you come out of the theatre… but for a long time 
following,” says Jason Burman, a studio executive. “I’ve been in 
the film industry longer than my grandmother has had bad teeth, 
and that’s a long time, but even I was stunned to realized after 
seeing Machiavelli Hangman that it was possible to grab a whole 
audience and manipulate them in so brilliantly in just two 
hours,” he adds with a big grin.

Machiavelli Hangman is gaining a mass following within the film 
industry and movie-going audience. Many are already collecting 
posters and autographs from cast and crew and are awaiting a set 
theatrical release date.

“It’s one of those films that you want to watch over and over 
again; because there is so much that you miss the first time 
around. My friend told me that there was a dead cat in one of the 
scenes that it repeated three times in the course of the film, 
but I missed it all three times!” says Pete Pernelli, one of the 
audience members at the film festival.

Machiavelli Hangman had that story and it worked miracles with 
it. Although the writer-director Shervin Youssefian could 
not be reached for further comments, Julia Strumfeld had this 
to say about the project. “We’re completely blessed by the 
amount of intention we’re getting. It just comes to show you 
that nothing can stop a great script.”

While we are waiting for hopefully an early December release, 
fans of Machiavelli Hangman have already started to spread the 
word. The film is gaining so much attention as the film to 
beat in 2006, that it may be the first ever digitally shot 
motion picture to receive an academy award nomination. 

Jay-Jay Campbell is a movie reviewer. 
His current review is of the upcoming
movie, "Machiavelli Hangman".
http://www.hangmanmovie.com