filmmakers

Director, producer, editor: Jed Schlegelmilch

Cinematographer, and overall nice guy: Damon Holland

Music: Cloud Cult

Fun Facts: The movie was made for real cheap! Jed and Damon had
already owned the two cameras and tripods that were used. Jed
borrowed the mics from a friend. Most of the budget was gas money,
red bull, food, and SD cards. Jed and Damon stayed with a good friend
in Milwaukee for the Milwaukee area interviews and they stayed with
Jed’s family for the Appleton area interviews.

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Jed Schlegelmilch: was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up in Grafton and Appleton, Wisconsin.  He’s always had a passion for movies ever since he was little.  Jed attended Appleton West High School, where he started making action movies and getting much of his work shown in classes.  At that time, his favorite directors were John Woo and Sam Raimi.  Jed then went to college at UW-Milwaukee where he dabbled in film/video production but ultimately graduated with a film studies degree.  Absence/Presence is Jed’s second feature film. Jed’s first film, called “Jed and Jason’s Action Fananza,” is a film that consists of recycled footage from old Steven Seagal, Jean Claude Van Damme, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Dolph Lundgren movies.  The film is not available to the public…..yet.

Damon Holland: most of his early memories he would like to forget, but he vividly remembers watching The Empire Strikes Back in the movie theater hiding between the rows of seats thinking that Darth Vader and his mechanical breathing was going turn him to the dark side (khoooo-khaaaa). Since then Damon has had a bit of an obsession with horror films and the thrill of being scared during movies (he doesn’t actually like to be scared by reality). Damon attended UW-Milwaukee, spent some time trying to hack it in film school before deciding making films was more of a passion than a profession. Damon spends his free time pondering the beauty of life and its challenges and trying to convince himself that he is an artist that just hasn’t found his medium yet. Damon is currently an elementary school counselor that enjoys helping kids find their passions in life and ways to care for those around them.

Cloud Cult: Who are we? why are we here? where did we come from? and where do we go?  These are the main questions that Cloud Cult’s music tries to answer.  Jed turned to Cloud Cult’s music many times throughout the making of Absence/Presence, so to get the honor of incorporating their music into the film was only fitting and really made the movie feel complete.