Capturing Attention

HCS Tenants Danckwerts and Balen Produce Art House Musical "Dark Streets"

Capture Film International, one of the newer residents of Hollywood Center Studios, is the calling card for German-born producers Corina Danckwerts and Andrea Balen. The company develops original film and television projects, and also provides specialized services to European productions shooting in the U.S.

Its latest project is Dark Streets, currently in art house release by Samuel Goldwyn Films. Directed by Rachel Samuels (The Suicide Club), the movie is a musical with a film noir flavor about a nightclub owner (Gabriel Mann) and it has an outstanding soundtrack featuring performances by Natalie Cole, Etta James, Dr. John and Aaron Neville, among others.

"It's a very cool soundtrack for a small movie," says Balen. "Because it's a blues movie with all original music, it got a lot of blues musicians excited to be a part of it."

Danckwerts and Balen are also involved in marketing the film. As part of its promotional campaign, they produced a series of concerts featuring the funky L.A. jazz band The Toledo Show, whose lead singer, Toledo Diamond, has a role in the film.

Capture Film moved onto the Hollywood Center lot while they were doing post work on Dark Streets. The size, location and atmosphere of the lot were just what the two producers were looking for. "It's great to be on a working lot that is not so big that it's a 20-minute walk from your car to your office," Balen says. "And it's been a big hit with our European clients who love to come onto a lot."

Balen adds that having direct access to shooting stages and other production resources might prove very valuable on future projects. "Our offices are located above Stage 5 and I have imagined how fun it would be to do a shoot there, right outside our door," she notes. "In fact, I can't wait to do it."