Queens is ready for its closeup

“Sour Milk” is a 20-minute film directed by Julie Yun, who co-wrote and co-produced it with Irish comedian and filmmaker Mel Hamill. The film is a sad, expertly written and directed story about a young Korean student who becomes obsessed with her one-night-stand. Queens played an important part in not only the locations but in the story as well, Hamill explained.

“When [we] wrote the story, we knew the lead character lived in Queens and we built the story around it,” he said.

“It was our only choice. Queens is where new beginnings of many lives from all over the world start in New York.” Hamill himself lived in Flushing and then Astoria.

In one of the most striking scenes, the main character, Soohee, visits a church, which was filmed in Long Island City’s New York Presbyterian Church. The church is very familiar to those who travel westbound on the LIRR, as the building is marked with the large, guilt-inducing quote “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?” Hamill said the church helped add a cold tone to the pivotal scene.

“Many people recognized the big church which is modern and cold as opposed to warm and embracing,” he said. “It overpowers [the main character], making her even smaller and lonelier.”

Hamill says that Queens, as opposed to Manhattan, has a distinctiveness that adds something to the story, and that filmmakers should take note.

“Every street corner in Queens has a unique flare to it which adds lively, realistic, colorful depths to the story,” he said. “You can stop anyone in the street and it’s a movie.”

Another film that used Queens as its backlot is “Mr. Bricks: A Heavy Metal Murder Musical.” The film is a horror-musical directed by Travis Campbell. It’s a wild ride of violence, heavy metal and old-fashioned revenge in which an ex-con tries to find the whereabouts of his girlfriend. LIC-based film studio Troma is distributing the flick.

Some of the challenges guerrilla filmmakers have to overcome include police shutting down sets due to complaints and lack of permits. Campbell, who said he moved to Queens because of its friendliness to filmmakers, noted he didn’t have to deal with that when shooting in Queens.

“Even when the cops would drive by, they wouldn’t hassle us,” he said. “In Manhattan we get stopped all the time.”

He also said that while shooting in Manhattan, pedestrians would carelessly walk through shots, ruining them.

He shot the film mostly around LIC, and used the 39th Street Bridge, which crosses the Sunnyside Rail Yards, in the finale.

“I liked filming in Queens,” he said. “You can really fake some stuff. I think it’s a world of possibility for filmmakers.”

For any new time filmmakers who might not know where to start, Campbell had some simple advice.

“Get a good story together and get some money. Be prepared and go out and do it.”

To learn more about how to see “Sour Milk,” visit sourmilk-movie.com. For more information on “Mr. Bricks: A Heavy Metal Murder Musical,” visit mrbricksmovie.com.