Director M. D. Olmos Premieres Feature Film "Splinter"

Michael D. Olmos, son of veteran actor Edward James Olmos, was a little out of breath when he called me for his interview. He was literally running late between meetings on new projects and doing promotions for his feature film, "Splinter", which has its theatrical premiere Friday, August 17th at AMC, Mann Theaters in LA. But Olmos was very polite and apologized repeatedly. I told him that is was a good thing to be in demand. He laughed, "that's true."

"Splinter", starring Edward James Olmos and Tom Sizemore, is a sand-blasted , complex, urban action-mystery with plenty of edge. Carrying on his father's activism - to save young people from a life of violence - Michael Olmos uses his film to explore the affects and consequences of urban gang violence and how anyone can get caught up in it.

The film throws the violence right into your face, exploding on the screen. But it is real. It is what we see every day in our lives. Even in suburbia we see constant images of violence, young people acting out in frustration when there seems to be no way out. Angry feelings are turned inward, destroying self or outward, destroying the world. We must face it.

"Splinter" tries to answer some of the questions we all have, most importantly, can young people raised in and around that kind of violence ever escape it for a different future. If so, how?

This feature film is Michael D. Olmos' s directorial debut. He also wrote the story. And he had a hand in the musical score. And a comic book/graphic novel that Michael Olmos publishes with his writing partner, Adrian, inspired the story. An artist in his own right, Olmos worked with Daniel Dijell designing and planning the opening credits sequence. The opening is an exciting, 3-D graphic display that has the feel of an action video game with a musical rhythm. It uses detailed images of the people in the movie and, Olmos shared with me that, "it also tells the entire back-story to the film's characters". Impressive somehow doesn't do it justice.