Block 9-Michigan Featured

About This Program

This program presents the narrative feature, Frozen Stupid 2: Open Water, directed by a frequent participant in past Soo Film Festivals, Traverse-City-based Rich Brauer.

Frozen Stupid 2: Open Water

Director: Rich Brauer

Narrative Feature, USA, 2021, 83 min, Color, Family Comedy

The ice is long gone. Tony Norgard (Joey Albright, Escanaba in da Moonlight, Frozen Stupid) gets a call that his waterlogged vehicle is finally getting pulled out of Houghton Lake. His joyous moment, however, is shattered when he is handed a big DNR fine. He finds some fast cash to pay the tow truck guy; he can figure out a way to pay the fine later.

Then the perfect thing happens: he hears about a fishing tournament in town with a juicy prize.

With high hopes, he and his friend Sam Idleman (Wayne David Parker, Escanaba in Da Moonlight, Frozen Stupid, Barn Red) resurrect a forgotten 1960s boat he inherited from his dad (played by Ernest Borgnine in the original Frozen Stupid movie). Not surprisingly, the modern boats in the competition outflank them on every level.

Luckily, they meet up with long-time fisherwoman Stormy (Kimberly Guerrero, Hidalgo, Barn Red, Seinfeld) who offers a unique gift at the perfect time.

As in the original film Frozen Stupid, Tony stays ever buoyant, against all odds, postponing trouble, being a friend, and trying to make the best of what life throws at him.

A Q&A session with the filmmaker follows the screening.

Great Lakes connection:

The film revolves around Michigan inland lake fishing.

Cast & Crew:

Director: Rich Brauer
Writer: Rich Brauer
Key Cast: Kimberly Guerrero, Joey Albright, Wayne David Parker

Director Biography

Rich Brauer is president of Brauer Productions, Inc., an independent film and video production company he founded in 1977 after graduating with a B.A. in Motion Picture Production and Undersea Photographic Technology from Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA.

Brauer received the Michigan Filmmaker of the Year award at the 2009 Traverse City Film Festival, presented by filmmaker Michael Moore. Past recipients have been actor Jeff Daniels, writer Kurt Luedtke, and actress Christine Lahti.

Brauer has written and directed 10 feature films and hundreds of corporate, non-profit, educational and commercial projects. He enjoys supporting independent filmmakers.

He co-founded the Inland Seas Education Association in 1989 and the Maritime Heritage Alliance in 1982, where he currently serves as president. He also serves on the board of directors of COGNITION, a science and learning center in Benzie County, Michigan.

He has three adult children and 6 grandkids and lives on an old fruit farm on Old Mission Peninsula near Traverse City, Michigan.

Director Statement

I love the challenge of pulling crew and actors together to tell stories!!

More Info:

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