Know our people - Swamy Kandan

Swamy Kandan, an Indian and present resident in Philadelphia, USA, made his first feature film Catch Your Mind. He completed a professional course on Film Making from New York University and made a short film called Secondary Impacts based on Sept 11 Attacks. He is presently planning a thriller which is in pre-production stage. His Catch Your Mind is scheduled to hit the theaters in US on 19th September. The following is what Swamy Kandan has to say about his film.

“Catch Your Mind,” an independent family drama expected to motivate teens to find comfort in their loved ones and in exciting new venues like science and technology, opens Sept. 19, 2008 in select theaters in the U.S. and Canada.

Making of Catch Your Mind
Robotics, the science and technology of robots, serves as the backdrop to a film about searching for the self-confidence and life skills it takes to survive adolescence. A story about peer pressure, young love and teenage angst, “Catch Your Mind” is a must-see movie any teen or parent can relate to.
The film’s main character, Bruce, is an excellent student who was raised in a loving home. But somewhere in the middle of his search for self identity, Bruce falls into the wrong crowd and quickly finds his world has turned upside down. After Bruce loses interest in academics and falls into a self-destructive pattern of underage drinking, his mother and his childhood friend recognize his struggles and entice him to join his high school’s NASA sponsored robotics team. Then everything changes.
“Catch Your Mind” explores emotional conflict, trust and betrayal between a teenage boy and his mom. According to Alan Ostrow and Cathy Beck, high school robotics mentors who helped out with the film, the role robotics plays in the plot is anything but fictional.
Robots lined up for “action”“We’ve had a lot of kids come in, confused about where they are in life,” Ostrow said. “More than [robotics] itself, they find a place where they belong.”
This movie depicts that very world, in which a teenager finally feels at home in a place where his family, friends and mentors are his biggest supporters, and anything is possible because science and technology are celebrated.

About Swamy Kandan, Writer/Director

To maintain accuracy in the film, Kandan recruited high school robotics teams and their mentors as technical advisors. He also brought in a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center contractor and robotics field supervisor who supplied a robotics field. Real life robotics enthusiasts offered their expertise and their machines to create a competition atmosphere for filming in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Swamy Kandan is an independent filmmaker living in Blue Bell, Pa. He holds masters degrees in electronics and management and learned filmmaking at New York University. “Catch Your Mind,” Kandan’s first feature film as writer, director and producer, was inspired by his teenage son’s involvement in competitive high school robotics. This film is produced by Blossom Pictures LLC, a Philadelphia-based company that produces and distributes independent films for the international market.

For distribution information or to schedule an interview, e-mail info@sddigitalcreation.com or visit www.catchyourmind.com.