Master of the Game is great high-concept cinema. During World War II, four German soldiers and four Jewish prisoners are stranded in a farmhouse. The Nazis begin executing the prisoners, but one proposes a game: The soldiers can keep their weapons, but they must answer all his questions. He claims that he will prove that he is superior to them, and if he doesn't, they can shoot him.

"It becomes a psychological thriller," said Austin, Texas-based filmmaker Jeff Stolhand, the movie's director. "It's who is perceived to be in power, and how people automatically react to that."

The movie, which will be shown three times as part of the MidCoast Film & Arts Festival next week, had two inspirations: 12 Angry Men and a famous study that explored the power dynamics in a classroom in which blue-eyed children were told they were smarter than brown-eyed children.

The script was originally written by Uygar Aktan, a Turkish actor who first showed it to television vet Rod Hardy (The X Files). Hardy couldn't agree to do the film on the money that Aktan had raised, and the script eventually made its way to Stolhand. In some ways, it is a director's dream, because the movie came with full financing.

But when Stolhand first heard that the movie was set in one location, he said he didn't have any interest in it. Most low-budget movies choose that tact for monetary convenience rather than its importance to the story, and the result is often visually boring.

When Stolhand read the script, however, he realized Master of the Game was different, and he wanted to do it. "It's a really, really tight thriller," he said. "They're trapped there. It has to have a claustrophobic feel. They're like caged animals."

Plus, Stolhand figured that he needed to branch out after his first two movies, both comedies. "You've got to kill some people," he joked.

Stolhand and Aktan worked on re-writes, but "I had never met him in person before pre-production," he said. (Aktan produced the movie and also plays the lead role.) The two worked by e-mail until then.

Although Stolhand wasn't your typical indie-film writer-director for Master of the Game, he wasn't a director-for-hire, either. "We changed the entire setup of the film," he said. "It's a much slower setup." As a director and editor, he's also concerned with the pacing. "I look for a rhythm," he said.

Like many independent filmmakers, Stolhand has seen his budgets grow over time. His first movie cost $50,000, and his second $150,000. Master of the Game came in at under $500,000.

Technology allowed him to make the movie look more expensive, though. Master was shot on high-definition digital video, and studio people have told him that it "looks like a $3-million picture."

Austin, of course, has become a hotbed of filmmaking, something that Stolhand credits to Richard Linklater (Dazed & Confused and The School of Rock) and Robert Rodriguez (the Spy Kids movies and Once Upon a Time in Mexico). The directors "have gained great success but stayed here," Stolhand said.

The city is studio-friendly, with plenty of talented crew and cast from whom to choose. Austin's film culture has also benefited from Texas' diverse topography - "Within a few hours' drive, there's just about any terrain you could want," Stolhand said - and the city now has a movie lot. Master of the Game was shooting on the lot at the same time as Disney's The Rookie. "They let us use lots of stuff," he said.

Stolhand hopes to start shooting the $3-million thriller Confessions in the spring and has also finished a script for an action movie. Confessions is a psychological thriller in which authorities need to figure out, by the end of the night, which of a governor's three sons killed him.

Stolhand has learned from Master of the Game that no matter how good a movie is, it's not going to get studio loving without a big name attached. "The film gets a great reception, but we don't have any stars," he said of Master of the Game. He hopes to attract "two or three names" to Confessions and has his eye on Anne Archer for the female lead.He

"The ideal stop for me is in the $5-million range," he said of where he wants to end up. That budget can get studio financing and distribution, but without the pressure of a big-ticket movie.

Master of the Game will be shown at 9:30 p.m. Thursday, 7:15 p.m. Saturday, and 9:45 p.m. Sunday at Nova 6 cinemas in Moline. Admission to screenings is $7 for adults and $5 for students.

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