NC at the Movies: Philip Hartshorn’s “Kleos Aphthiton,” introduced by Richard Hartshorn

My brother Philip and I have been working on films in some form since we were four and eight respectively. My show business career has gone on hold since starting the MFA program nearly two years ago, but my brother is doing a Creative Arts major at Siena College, so his output has been considerable in the past year and a half. His latest effort is a short film, around fifteen minutes, for his Ancient Epics class, which I’ve decided to share with you on Numero Cinq.  The film is called Kleos Aphthiton. It’s a period piece concerning the ninth year of the Trojan War, during which Achilles refused to fight and sent Patroclus in his place (wearing his own armor) to frighten the Trojans into believing Achilles had returned to the battlefield. My brother stars as Sarpedon; he designed the shots as well as adapting the script, doing all the fight choreography, and editing.  The narration is spoken in Ancient Greek by Michael Sham, a professor at Siena.  My personal involvement included location scouting, helping out with some dialogue, putting together one of the sets, and playing two small roles as Glaucus (on the Trojan side) and as one of the Greek Myrmidons.  The footage was filmed over two Saturdays, and we went through a large amount of sunburn and near-injury to reach the end result.