Zero Day

Andre (Andre Keuck) and Cal (Calvin Robertson) seem like fairly ordinary high school students. Andre is a quiet loner, and he's a bit obsessed with munitions. Cal, Andre's only friend, is slightly more adept socially. He even has a friend, Rachel (Rachel Benichak), who's a girl. But Andre and Cal have big plans. They're going to be famous one day. And they're going to teach what they see as a valuable lesson to everyone at their hated high school. Zero Day, the feature debut of Benjamin Coccio, is presented as a collection of videotaped moments leading up to Cal and Andre's planned murderous assault on their school. Cal and Andre are creating a video diary of sorts, which they keep in a safe deposit box, to be opened after their horrific deed is done. The film follows Andre and Cal as they explain their plan -- both the logistics of it and, to some extent, the motivations behind it -- and prepare for their violent act. In the interest of verisimilitude, the lead actors' families play themselves, and cast members, for the most part, were not told the larger context of their roles. Zero Day was a controversial hit on the festival circuit before being picked up for distribution. It won Best Feature at the 2003 Slamdunk Film Festival and the Audience Award at the 2003 Rhode Island International Film Festival.