'THE OVERLOOKERS' TO BE FEATURED AT FILM FESTIVAL MORE THAN 60 FILMS PLANNED FOR VIEWING THIS WEEKEND.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Producer Stennar Strom calls ``The Overlookers'' a dark romantic comedy.

Five interlocking stories revolve around a mysterious company whose clients hire it to investigate interesting strangers they want to meet.

``You can show up at the right time and the right place and say the right thing,'' said Strom, whose Strom Film International is based in Palmdale.

``The Overlookers,'' written and directed by Canadian filmmaker Christopher Warre Smet, is one of the spotlighted features at this weekend's ninth annual Antelope Valley Independent Film Festival.

Screening more than 60 feature films, documentaries, videos and animated shorts, the three-day festival begins at 7 tonight at Cinemark Movies 1-4, 43821 15th St. W., Lancaster.

``The Overlookers,'' which was voted best feature last month at the Canadian Filmmakers Festival in Toronto, will show at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Strom says ``The Overlookers'' came about after he encouraged Smet to write a film he could make with a low budget, rather than wait on Hollywood executives' approval of his big projects.

``The important thing is just to get your work out there and prove yourself,'' said Strom, who had roomed with Smet while doing marketing work in New York City.

``The Overlookers'' was shot on location in New York City for $10,000, plus about $10,000 to $15,000 worth of props, gear, food for the crew and other items that Strom arranged to be donated.

Musician friends created the soundtrack. Toronto-based singer-songwriter Kathryn Rose, whose recent ``One Person'' video was directed by Smet, contributed two songs, plus a cover of Elvis Costello's ``Watching the Detectives.''

The feature was shot over five months in 2003 and 2004, shooting on and off as cast, equipment and locations were available.

``A lot of being a producer was me sitting in Palmdale calling all over the place and making sure everything's where it's supposed to be, everybody's got what they need,'' Strom said.

Strom acted in commercials and soap operas as a boy and moved to the Antelope Valley with his family in 1988. His mother lives in the Palmdale home he bought as a teenager with his earnings.

Strom had started learning how filming was done by watching and asking questions as a youngster while waiting for his scenes, and later worked on other projects.

``All the skills I had gotten through my whole life came together. Little did I know I knew how to produce,'' Strom said. ``I kind of knew enough about every aspect I was able to coordinate and get people together and make sure things were going right.''

Strom said his next project will be a horror-mystery-thriller titled ``Number Five.'' The script is being written.

Smet, Strom and members of the cast are scheduled to discuss ``The Overlookers'' after its 7:30 p.m. Saturday screening.

Charles F. Bostwick, [phone]

chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Hannah Dalton and Romano Orzari appear, above, in a scene from ``The Overlookers.'' At left is the film's producer, Stennar Strom.