Burbank actress tests her skills behind the camera
Burbank resident Maritza Brikisak has been featured in dozens of short and full-length films over her 15-year career as an actress, but she has never really been able to call any of those productions her own.
That all changed this year when she finished her first feature film, “The Lurking Man,” a supernatural thriller drama that deals with how addiction can consume a person. The screenplay is based on a novel by Keith Rommel, who helped co-write the movie with Brikisak.
Brikisak plays a woman named Cailean, an abusive alcoholic mother who has been manipulated her entire life. Actor Dorian Gregory, who appeared on the TV show “Charmed,” plays her enabling boyfriend.
Brikisak’s project has been making the rounds to various film festivals — the Bare Bones International Film Festival in Oklahoma, the Chatham-Kent Film Festival in Ontario, Canada and Comicpalooza in Texas — and has garnered more than 70 awards.
Brikisak wore several hats during the film’s production, which included executive producer, co-writer, editor, graphic designer and lead actress.
Though the movie was shot in Los Angeles over an 11-day period, it took Brikisak about eight months to put the entire film together. However, it was not the first time she has edited footage.
Before her acting career, Brikisak said she had done some editing for an advertising company she was working for at the time. Though she had hesitations about doing the post-production work on her film, Brikisak said she was happy she went through with it and was pleased with the results.
“I love editing, and it’s one of my favorite things to do, but it’s a lot of work,” she said. “It’s definitely my baby and my film.”
Brikisak said she has been enjoying her film festival tour, so far. She is heading to Arizona for the Phoenix ComiCon on May 25 to 28 and to Ohio for the International Horror Hotel Film Festival on June 15 to 18.
A Los Angeles premiere date is still in the works, Brikisak said.
She is already working on her next project, a sequel to “The Lurking Man” called “The Sinful Man,” which is also based on a novel by Rommel.
anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
