Deep within a mythological world of autumn landscapes and wondrous creatures, a heartbroken young Romantic swears an oath to free his race from the omnipotent control of the otherworldly gods. But as he ventures forth on his long and lascivious path, other forces conspire with their own agendas. For when all the gods are dead, who will sit upon their empty thrones? A fantastical satire on religion, responsibility, and romance, The Romantic bends genres into a haunting tale filled with humor and horror.

For an extended synopsis, see our DIGITAL PRESS KIT

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The Romantic is the first animated feature film by award winning animator/director Michael P. Heneghan. The film showcases an original score from New York composer Nathan Terry and special effects work by Daniel Gauthier.

There was no budget.

It took three years.

It came out weird.

It is unlike any animated feature film ever made.

The Romantic will begin a festival tour in the first quarter of 2010. Check the SCREENINGS section to see if the film is playing in your area. We are currently seeking distribution. If you are interested or simply would like more information and a screener copy of the film, Michael can be contacted at:

Michael P. Heneghan
1452 Wilt St.
Philadelphia, PA 19145
(610) 724-4678
michael@michaelpheneghan.com

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To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Michael P. Heneghan. I am a writer and artist living in Fishtown, Philadelphia. The Romantic is my first animated feature film. As I write this, I am 25 years old.

I began work on The Romantic immediately following my graduation from The University of the Arts in 2002 where I had completed a senior thesis project that was essentially the first twelve minutes of what would be the feature film. I had known long before graduation that I wanted to direct a feature film for four reasons.

1) There weren't too many independent animated feature films being made each year (the number has gone up considerably since 2001).

2) Percentage wise, there weren't too many animated feature films being made for adults, and the ones being made, for the most part, I didn't like. I have always been a fan of comics, an industry that produces content for both kids and adults. I was reading a lot of Moore, Gaiman, Morrison, and Azzarello, and wanted to see the kind of stories that were appearing on the pages of Vertigo comics appearing in animated cinema. I was tired of films about talking toasters, I had grown weary of anime's tropes, and I just flat out felt unsatisfied with everything else out there.

3) I like writing characters. It's difficult (but not impossible) to go deep with characters in the short film genre. In this respect, making a feature film was easier.

4) Technology had evolved to a point where I could easily access the tools to make this happen.

And so I got to work. By graduation, the screenplay had been completed. I enlisted the help of my friends - fellow animators/artists/actors form around the Philadelphia region who agreed to work without pay to bring the film into fruition (an entire list of the cast and crew can be seen here).

This was a complete DIY effort. We operated with absolutely no budget to speak of. All the crew, including myself, worked other jobs simultaneously to make ends meet during production.

This went on for three years, during which we worked endlessly on home computers and laptops, trying to achieve professional results with consumer level equipment. New York composer/sound editor/friend Nathan Terry recorded the epic score for The Romantic almost entirely by himself in his bedroom, layering his own vocals and instrumentals track by track. The dialogue was recorded in a bathroom-turned-sound-studio that Nate setup, much to the chagrin of our patient actors.

Daniel Gauthier worked the special effects angle of the film, and anything flashy/magical you see over The Romantic's 96 minutes belongs to him. In the end I animated about 90% of the film, something I am very proud of. I never really thought of myself as an animator. I hope it doesn't show too much.

So the film is finally finished, and has been since August 09. Whew. We're sending it off to film festivals, hopefully some of them will let us in, we'll see. It's a daunting process. We didn't have any money before, and we sure as hell don't have any now. Film festivals cost money, promotional materials cost money, and so forth. We're still working day jobs, trying to save as much as we can to push The Romantic forward. It took us three years of unbelievably hard work to make the film, and now that it's finished, we find ourselves with much more toil ahead. Such is the nature of this art.

We're not sure what fate has in store for our film. I thank all of you out there who have supported us thus far, be it the followers of our blog , or those that have showed up to each of our pre-screenings. I look forward to when this film is available on DVD and on the Internet. Hopefully the wait won't be too long. I'll be writing you guys another letter when things have progressed further.

With love,
Michael P. Heneghan
2.07.2010

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