Local Man Wins Awards for Short Film, Including Best Actor

Imagine having to come up with a concept for a short film, write the script, shoot, edit and finish in exactly 48 hours. That's what Yorktown resident Gary Ploski and his team members from various towns had to do last month at the 48 Hour Film Project's New Haven competition.

Ploski's new film "Objects of Time," directed by Michael Trzaska, took home several top honors. It was awarded Best Film, Best Acting, Best Directing, Best Writing, Best Editing, Best Cinematography and also received the Audience Award.

"Well that just blew my mind," said Ploski, who played the lead, about the win. "You know, the funny thing about this is that it may seem like this film only took 48 hours to make, and I was only on-set for about 12 hours, but for me it was a culmination of over 12 years of training and work."

At the competition, filmmakers pulled from a hat the category about what their short film would be about. Ploski and his team ended up with time travel. Each team was required to incorporate the same one line of dialogue, prop and character with the same biography. 

"You have just enough time to deliver before the deadline," Ploski said and added that everyone used every last minute for editing. "It's so exciting and stressful at the same time." 

The short film follows the character Matt Moreland (Ploski) as he struggles to find the truth of whether his time traveling abilities are real or just a figment of his imagination.

The film will go on to compete against the winners from other cities that participated in the 48 Hour Film Project at the Taos Shortz Film Fest in New Mexico in March 2012. In addition, 10 films from the approximately 100 cities that competed will go on to be shown at Cannes Film Festival.

Ploski is a theatre and film actor, technologist, blogger and a web series creator in the Connecticut and New York area. He has been in more than 50 shows, has done approximately 10-15 shorts films and is currently the co-producer and lead actor in an 80-minute feature film, called Rising Star.  began last year and is expected to be completed in November or December of this year. 

(Here you can watch a synopsis of the film, along with interviews with cast and crew.)

The 2008 Sarah Lawrence graduate holds an MFA in theatre, and also an undergraduate business degree from another college. Ploski said he was not interested in arts or theatre until he he saw a friend's play while still attending college in his native Connecticut. 

"Something captivated me and it broke the fourth wall," Ploski said. 

After he came back from a year of teaching English in Japan, he learned of an acting class and hasn't stopped since, he said. 

In fact, this Friday the same team that won the awards last month is going to another two-day competition in Connecticut. After having met for the first time to work on the short film for the competition, some of the challenges have been learning to work together and trusting and respecting each other, the local rising star said.

"The team worked together so well, we're going to do it again," he said. "I now know new people that I want to work with and they want to work with me on new projects and create."

Ploski said when he reads a script he allows himself to act and completely immerse himself in the moment.

"I allow my impulse to dictate what my physical manifestation will be," he said. 

Besides acting, Ploski is the assistant boys soccer team coach for Shrub Oak Athletic Club's travel team. He also hopes to find young actors he could train.

To "like" Ploski's Facebook page, click here. To Follow him on Twitter, click here.

You can also watch a trailer of the "Objects of Time" here.