Press

Birmingham Magazine

"A MAJOR PRODUCTION"

A spotlight on the Birmingham filmmaking community. Hear from directors, producers,actors, screenwriters, grips and more. By Carla Jean Whitley.

Need to get your film made? For our cover we put together a "dream team" of local film folks to help us with our Major Production. "...My greatest accomplishment film-wise has probably been making a living in the industry at all, much less for this long," says David Brower, director of photography, who has worked in the film business for 35 years. "...It's custom to criticize the South, but this is the place where everybody was friendly to me," explains Yuri Shapochka, director and producer. Instead of waiting for filmmaking to be resurrected in his home country, he moved to the United States, choosing Birmingham.

Photography: Beau Gustafson
Art director: Robin R. Colter
Birmingham Magazine's Website: www.bhammag.com

Examiner

Clubhouse

Ukrainian native Yuri Shapochka has traveled a long way, literally and figuratively, to arrive at his current career as a filmmaker. His new feature, “Clubhouse,” is making the festival circuit beginning with the Orlando Film Festival. As he told us, “I hope our film will be seen by the worldwide audience.”
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JustLuxe magazine

Filmmaker to Know

Indie films are blowing up and at the forefront of the dark comedy genre is Ukrainian born Yuri Shapochka. Yuri recently wrote, directed and produced his new feature-length film, Clubhouse. Clubhouse stars Tim Abell (Soldier of Fortune) and Leslie Easterbrook (Police Academy).
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B-Metro magazine

Storyteller

The film is Clubhouse, a revenge play and morality tale filmed in Birmingham and featuring Shapochka’s characteristic black comedy. Clubhouse deals with nefarious plots made against the life and property of a wheelchair-bound Iraq War vet living in his family’s magnificent old home.
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ABC 33/40

Hollywood comes to Birmingham

Inside the Clubhouse on Highland, cast and crew from Hollywood are making a movie that takes place right here in Birmingham. The film tells the story of a paralyzed Iraq war veteran who uses the house for the greater good of the community, but finds several forces working against him.
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CBS 42

Indie film “Clubhouse”

Birmingham’s historic Clubhouse on Highland Avenue is the setting for the film “Clubhouse” starring Tim Abell along with actress Leslie Easterbrook and Christopher Murray. The film is being produced by a production company Rich Street Productions in association with Shape Films.
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Birmingham News

Art imitates life

This is a story that had to be set in Birmingham. All that avarice and artifice. That crooked mayor and the conniving lawyers. The injudicious judges, the plots and the slots and way, way, way too much murder. That’s not a movie. That’s the front page of the Birmingham News.
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Long Island Magazine

Indie dark comedy

Hauppauge, NY – August 29, 2013 – The feature film Clubhouse, written and directed by award-winning Yuri Shapochka, will debut at the 30th annual Long Island Film Festival. Clubhouse stars Tim Abell (Soldier of Fortune) and Leslie Easterbrook (Police Academy, The Devil’s Rejects).
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Latino Weekly Review

Trust, passion, revenge

Spectacular lighting and photography, quirky unexpected mood shifts, and some sexy scenes keep the flick on course as Shapochka examines Southern hospitality, politics, betrayal, trust, passion, revenge and what happens when the only resort one is left with is becoming the evil one is trying to avoid.

WBHM Public Radio

Filmmakers explore the violence

In the last week, there've been at least ten reported murders in Birmingham. But while some residents try to ignore the violence and others stomach it with fear, two filmmakers explore it in a new short film called Six Blocks Wide. WBHM's Connor McCarty reports.
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Moving Pictures Magazine

The stories behind movies

Expertly directed by Yuri Shapochka, the film subtly shows how one person's individual hopes are often intertwined with the hopes of others. The way life plays out is unexpected, like a game of chess.
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FOX6

Filmmaker Goes to Cannes

What's it like to go to the glitz and glamour of the Cannes Film Festival? Yuri Shapochka knows. The Birmingham filmmaker showcased two of his films at Cannes last week. Today, he is in the FOX6 Studio to talk about his experience...
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CBS 42 News

Local Filmakers In Cannes

A couple of local filmmakers make it to the big leagues of film recognition in France. They've been selected to submit two of their short films titled "Waiting" and "High Expectations" in the Cannes Film Festival.
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The Kiev Times

Yuri Shapochka, a Ukranian filmmaker, finished his feature film, dark comedy Clubhouse which received several prestigious awards, including best feature and audience choice award from festivals in the US and Canada.
Бывший дончанин Юрий Шапочка снял в США свой первый полнометражный художественный фильм. 31 августа премьера его ленты «Clubhouse» состоится на кинофестивале в Лонг-Айленде (Нью-Йорк). В интервью режиссер рассказал о фильме. Q: Как бывший журналист, вы наверняка следите за новостями. Попадаются сюжеты, которые, на ваш взгляд, заслуживают экранизаций? A: Политика меня трогает, конечно. Я очень не люблю политику – постоянное стравливание людей по всему миру меня удручает...
Read at The Kiev Times

Die Stütze Magazine

Yuri Shapochka aus der Ukraine entführt den Betrachter in virtuelle Welten, in denen sich der selbstmordgefährdete Verkäufer eines Videospielshops zwischen der imaginären Welt der Videospiele und der Wirklichkeit verliert.