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Chicago – It’s time to get some “Wizdom”! In the World Premiere at the same Chicago studio (CineCity) where it was filmed, the completed short will premiere on Friday, September 20th (6pm), and that screening will be facilitated by Producer/Co-Writer/Lead Actor Ashton Swinford and Producer/Director Layne Marie Williams.

Ashton Swinford is Eos, a futuristic thief and outlier living in a dystopian time to come. She lives with her sibling Vayle (Simone Brazzini) and seeks to disrupt the controlling power of “Wizdom,” a corporation who has blotted the world in permanent darkness and uses brain-attached devices to assure the population that all is well. When Eos steals a powerful hallucinatory drug, what she experiences on that drug’s trip is a threat to the power, represented and discovered by Carbon (Elizabeth Laidlaw).

Wizdom

Photo credit: Poster by Jillian Adel, Studio of Earthly Delights for Paragram Productions

Actor/Producer...

Chicago – In a sure sign that production is ramping up in Chicago once again, the pilot sci-fi film “Wizdom” – the first step in a larger project – will film in the city the week of February 21st, 2022. “Wizdom” is co-created and co-written by Ashton Swinford, who also will portray the lead role.

In a future where daylight is scarce,“Wizdom” follows Eos and Vayle, two professional thieves who live on the outskirts of a neon-lit colony ordered and dominated by the biotech corporation Wizdom. Using bionic enhancements and other posthuman biotechnologies, Eos and Vayle steal raw materials from Wizdom in order to cook up a drug that is rumored to show users visions of the future. Will the drug permanently enhance their vision and extrasensory powers? Will they survive the first dose?

Ashton Swinford for ‘Wizdom’

Photo credit: Ashton Swinford

Ashton Swinford co-created and wrote “Wizdom” with Zack Sievers, with additional...

Chicago – When we last checked in with actor and filmmaker Ashton Swinford, she had just completed her hilarious web series ”Miss Information”. She is back with a new short film, equally funny, in the white privilege satire “Basic Witches.”

“Witches” is a snapshot featuring Swinford and Sarah Aló as twentysomething city dwellers expounding on the source of their magic luck. When a fellow traveler (Vik Pandya) points out that their “magic” is a result of their social status, an incident is sure to follow. Shot in the pre-pandemic world, Ashton Swinford hesitated releasing it, realizing that the world had changed a bit, but the message remains clear.

Actor/Director Ashton Swinton (left) and Sarah Aló in ‘Basic Witches’

Photo credit: Ashton Swinford

In “Miss Information,” Swinford is a former beauty pageant queen attempting to cling to relevancy in a pandemic-era world. She is joined by Reginald Wilkins (Whitman Johnson), a golden retriever in human form,...

Chicago – Fact or fiction is a current debate in news programming, especially as people naturally digest “the news” that makes them comfortable. A new five-episode web series created by filmmaker Ashton Swinford, “Miss Information,” is a satire-oriented show that seeks to entertain and educate viewers on the bias, fake news and bot infiltration that litters social media. Click on MissInformation.TV for more details. The series debuts on October 7th, 2020, on YouTube and Instagram (@MissInformationShow).

Miss Information (Swinford) is a former beauty pageant queen attempting to cling to relevancy in a post-pandemic world. She is joined by Reginald Wilkins (Whitman Johnson), a golden retriever in human form, who serves as her reporter in the field. Guest appearances are also frequent, ranging from the notorious Q of QAnon to extraterrestrial hand puppets.

Ashton Swinton is ‘Miss Information’

Photo credit: MissInformation.TV

Over the course of its five episodes, the web series...

Chicago – It’s a special day when a filmmaker has a world premieres of a new short work, and Ashton Swinford has picked The Midwest Film Festival (Mff) – on Wednesday, August 26th, 2020 – as the showcase for her directorial debut, “Red Flag.” The Mmf is having their first event since the pandemic, and it will take place at Chicago’s new Drive-In on Throop Street, with the theme of Female Filmmakers Night. Get all the details, including ticket purchase, by clicking here.

“Red Flag” is a funny short film about dating … a topic familiar to virtually everyone. A first date turns into a farcical exchange about the relative incompatibility of a couple, although the woman in the pair seems to think it’s going well. No matter what negative element of the man’s personality emerges, the woman keeps accepting it, and the situation needs a referee. This is Ashton Swinford...