At the end of a summer that saw an unprecedented amount of college graduates moving back home and futzing around on Facebook, Class of 2011 grads Josh Luckenbach and Keaton Monger were shooting their first feature-length film in empty UVA classrooms.
Cute Kitten Video (Please Watch) is a comedy that follows two high school students and two inept security officers (played by Luckenbach and Monger) through a tempestuous first week of school. Punch gets spiked, bullies make threats, principals lose it; the generic plot is its own meta-joke, and serves as a scaffolding for one-liners, wonky puns and situational comedy. Think the witty, jokes-first ethos of classics like Airplane with a healthy dose of youtube era silliness.
As students, Luckenbach and Monger were both involved in sketch/video comedy group La Petite Teet, whose members and alumni make up most of the cast of Cute Kitten Video. Local theatre buffs will also recognize Daria Okugawa in the role of Mrs. Peacock and Howie Sheinfeld as Principal Butthole. For a preview of things to come, check out Luckenbach and Monger’s work in “Best Feet Forward,” the winner of the Audience Award in the 2010 Adrenaline Film Competition.
You can watch trailer for Cute Kitten Video on the film’s kickstarter page, and if you’re so inclined, pledge a few bucks toward production costs to keep two young directors out of debt. Eventually, Luckenbach and Monger look to screen the film in Charlottesville, and have it ready for the festival curcuit by next summer.