Two young boys come to blows over religious stereotypes in comedy-drama ‘The Bus Stop

The Fort Myers Film Festival will screen a block of “Thinkers Shorts” in the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 9. Among the four films included in this block is The Bus Stop, a 14-minute comedy/drama set in a posh apartment building in New York City, where two young boys come to blues due to humorous religious stereotypes they learn from their parents.

The film was directed and edited by Justin Malone, who is also known for Blue (2014), Hurry Up and Wait (2011), and his first feature-length film, Undocumented.

Undocumented is a documentary about immigration in America. When he began filming Undocumented, Malone was 25 and broke. But as he watched kids walk out of Dallas high schools, marches taking place in downtown Dallas, Mexican restaurants popping up all over the place and the city of Farmers Branch passing laws that made English the official language of the city and fined owners who rented housing to illegal immigrants, he knew he had to make a documentary about the cultural influences that were changing the face of his hometown.

“Justin Malone began calling be two years ago and bugged me for six months to help him with this documentary about immigration,” recounts the film’s executive producer Robert Curlin. The two finally met over lunch and Curlin agreed to take on the film provided Malone narrate the documentary in order to make it more personal.

Curlin and Malone originally intended to complete the film in time for the 2008 presidential election, but as money for the project began pouring in, Malone and his film crew decided to travel to 24 other major U.S. cities in order to see what immigration battles and stories they could find outside of Texas.

And it’s that kind of sensibility and commitment to doing things right that comes through in later projects like Hurry Up and Wait, Blue and now The Bus Stop. You can see for yourself during the Thinkers Shorts block, which also includes Aftermath, Daewit and Timeless Charms.

March 6, 2017.

RELATED POSTS.

• Overview of the 7th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival
• Downloadable 2017 Fort Myers Film Festival Program Guide
• Lake O discharge documentary, ‘Black Tide,’ to open Fort Myers Film Festival
• Meet ‘Black Tide’ writer, director and producer Steven Johnson
• Read what ‘Black Tide’ filmmaker Steven Johnson has to say about his documentary
• How the Everglades, Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie got so bad
• Why you should see ‘Bubbles’
• How ‘Bubbles’ got made
• Meet ‘Bubbles’ screenwriter and maniacal clown Cesar Aguilera
• Why you should see ‘Naked Problems’
• What writer-director-sculptor AR Kara has to say about ‘Naked Problems’
• Why you should see ‘Paradise Reef’
• Meet ‘Paradise Reef’ writer and director John Scoular
• A word or two about Everglades fine art photographer Clyde Butcher
• Meet ‘Paradise Reef’ cinematographer and commentator Andy Brandy Casagrande IV
• A look back at John Scoular documentary ‘Marcus Jansen: Examine & Report’
• Why you should see ‘She Started It’ at Fort Myers Film Festival
• Meet ‘She Started It’ director Nora Poggi
• Meet ‘She Started It’ director Insiyah Saeed
• The women of ‘She Started It’
• ‘The Next Big Thing’ is dark comedy about friendship, revenge and the lust for fame
• Why you should see ‘The Radical Jew’
• ‘Radical Jew’ awards and accolades
• Why you should see ‘The Stairs’
• Why the filmmakers made ‘The Stairs’
• Why you should see ‘Three Wishes’ at this year’s Fort Myers Film Festival
• Meet ‘Three Wishes’ writer, director and producer Curtis Collins
• Why you should see ‘641 Muriel Court’