By Kathy Chouteau
Alex Zajicek began writing his first film, Sorry We’re Dead, back in 2016. Fast forward eight years, and the filmmaker is set for the Bay Area premiere of his 86-minute-long movie Saturday, Feb. 10 at 9 p.m. at SF IndieFest at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco.
For the budding El Sobrante filmmaker, who graduated from De Anza in 2011, his movie’s Bay Area showing marks the culmination of his dream of producing a feature-length film on a tight budget.
Sorry We’re Dead originally debuted at the ETHOS Film Awards International Film Festival in Santa Monica in November 2023, but its Bay Area showing has special significance in that it marks the first time the film can be seen in a theatre near his hometown.
Zajicek told the Standard in 2023 that his movie was filmed entirely in the Bay Area, with scenes in El Sobrante, Hercules and Port Costa. He said the story is about a quirky/sarcastic woman with a dream to become a filmmaker, but who is stuck shooting college lectures. As she works to emerge from her rut, she battles the impact of a past mistake and tough times with her bestie and roomie.
The lead character’s “cinematic-joke filled quarter-life crisis” ensues, according to SF IndieFest.
The film stars Sarah Lee, Anna Marie Sharpe, Davied Morales, Katherine Park and Chris Morrell and is not only written by Zajicek, but also directed by him too.
The Roxie Theater House 1 is located at 3117 16th St. in San Francisco. Tickets to the Bay Area showing, which can also be used for streaming online, are $17 and are available through Feb. 18. Check out the film’s trailer.
