Mark Balunis

A cynical counselor at a crisis hotline finds himself in a life or death situation when a young man calls and threatens to kill three people and then himself.

Lex is staying at his family's house with best friend Kenny. The former is recovering from a recent suicide attempt, while the latter is trying to spend a summer apart from his husband. Screenwriter Shane is staying in the summerhouse, while Lex's overbearing actor brother and his girlfriend are staying too. Add their neighbour into the mix, who is in love with Lex, who is in love with Shane, who is in love with Kenny... and the pressure cooker is primed and ready to blow, especially with Shane writing about a family secret that Lex would much rather keep hidden.

Made for just $500 in 2000 as the first feature film under the Diamond in the Rough Films banner, "Walk-In" is a spiritual take on "My Dinner With Andre". Brandon Carpenter - committed capitalist and deal-maker - suffers a near fatal car crash on the day he is supposed to close the biggest money making scheme of his career. But the deal stalls when he is in a coma and pronounced brain dead. His wife keeps him on life support for 2 months which results in Brandon awakening from the coma perfectly healthy. It's a miracle. But is it? https://vimeo.com/125171803

Simon, an LGBTQ crisis hot-line operator, is becoming increasingly cynical over the frivolous calls he keeps receiving. It's all complaining and no actual crisis. Until one night when a young man named Danny calls in saying he is going to kill three other people before killing himself. Simon gets Danny to unravel his story of betrayal, the dark web and dangerous relationships. Originally re-titled and released as Crisis Hotline, the film-makers were not satisfied with the "slasher-movie" style marketing campaign. The film-makers have now restored the original title and extensively updated the physical elements of the film such as composing an all-new score, a sound design re-mix, a total color re-grade, a new pre-title sequence and re-edited scenes.

When the search engine he designs answers "yes" to the question "is the government of the United States evil?", a brilliant computer programmer is arrested and held in isolation. Desperate, but keenly aware of the answer's potential effect on the public, the programmer strikes a deal with his interrogators, agreeing to re-design the software in exchange for his freedom. As they search to understand why the program answered an ethical question and try to find a way to change its response, the faith and patience of both the programmer and his captors are put to the test. Suspenseful and darkly comic, S.E.R.P. is a film about coercion, innovation, and whether it is possible to do something good in the service of something evil.

"The Last Time I Saw Soap" was inspired by the hard-edged character films of John Cassavetes. The story centers on four friends as they return from the funeral of another friend who has died suddenly from a brain trauma. Throughout the day and evening, we observe these four different types as they desperately attempt to "live it up" in honor of their dead friend. However it soon becomes obvious that these people have been so numbed by virtual technology and social media that they have forgotten how to interact on a regular human level. The evening soon unravels into drunkeness, anger, and sexual hang-ups involving some ill-hired prostitutes.