Vortex Media announced today the premiere of Titus Heckel’s award-winning feature film Chained. The dramatic thriller was filmed in Kelowna, BC, and features an all star cast including Marlon Kazadi (Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Riverdale), Aleks Paunovic (Snowpiercer, Van Helsing), Adrian Holmes (19-2, Elysium), and Roark Critchlow (Pretty Little Liars, Arrow). Chained was written and directed by Titus Heckel and produced by Rachelle Chartrand of My Precious Pictures and Chester Sit.
Synopsis for Chained
A psychological crime thriller that centers on rising star Marlon Kazadi as Taylor; a 13-year-old abused and bullied boy, who discovers and befriends Jim, a criminal chained inside an abandoned warehouse, played by Aleks Paunovic. At first, Taylor, an aspiring gardener, takes care of Jim, but after a violent betrayal Taylor begins abusing his captive in order to find out where Jim has hidden stolen money. Meanwhile, the enraged “victims” of Jim’s crime are closing in and Taylor has put the lives of Jim, his father and his beloved Nora at risk too.
Chained has been nominated for multiple awards on the international film festival circuit including two award wins from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle including Best BC Feature Film. The film recently won two awards in the Best Actor category for Marlon Kazadi and Aleks Paunovic at the New York International Film Awards where it was also nominated for Best Film and just received nominations in the Best Screenplay, Best Casting and Best Supporting Actor (Adrian Holmes) categories at the Leos Awards. The script was a semifinalist at the 2018 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting and was a winner of the Telefilm sponsored JETS Program, an international coproduction and pitching competition held during the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival. The project, along with producer Rachelle Chartrand, was one of 6 features to be chosen for the Producers Lab at the 2018 Whistler Film Festival.
Chained was made possible through the support of Telefilm Canada, Super Channel, Harold Greenberg Fund, Creative BC and Hollywood Suite and will be distributed by Vortex Media in Canada. The film debuts on VOD/EST on JUNE 15th, 2021 across Canada.