Palatine High School graduates bring cinematic vision to Chicago film festival

Two Palatine High School graduates are living their cinematic dream with the screening of their short film at the Chicago International Film Festival.

“Pinpoint,” a thriller filmed in Palatine and Chicago, was written and directed by 23-year-old Michael Merlino. The film was produced by his Palatine High School classmate Hannah Ignacio. Both act in the film.

The film screens Friday at 10:45 p.m. and Monday at 3 p.m. at AMC NEWCITY 14 at 1500 N. Clybourn, Chicago.

Wolfe, played by Merlino, is a driven but struggling medical student with an abnormal fascination with anatomy who clashes with an abrasive university professor.

The film focuses on mental health issues facing young men, the opioid crisis and a flawed education system. The images are unsettling, depicting a cadaver and a fentanyl overdose, but they are also whimsical, including the visual motif of a dipping bird figure. The title refers to the pinpoint-sized pupils that can indicate an opioid overdose.

Ignacio, also 23, plays a girl who lives in Wolfe's dorm hall.

“The girl's very friendly and flirty in some ways, but she is probably, out of all the characters, the most grounded,” she said during a joint interview with Merlino in Palatine recently.

Ignacio handled most of the producing, finding free locations through her network of connections in Chicago, including friends, neighbors and contacts from DePaul University.

Both Merlino and Ignacio credit Nick Hostert, a teacher in Palatine High School's Art and Media Department, as their mentor. Both met him as freshmen.

“He stuck with us and supported us all the way through senior year, and even now, we're still keeping in touch with him,” Merlino said.

The high school's art and media department has a track record of preparing students for creative careers, including one graduate currently working on a Netflix series in California. Hostert said what set the two apart was their willingness to submit their films to local film festivals.

“I'm very thrilled for them,” Hostert said. “It's great to see them pursuing their passion and really taking the opportunity to have their work seen on a bigger stage.”

Merlino and Ignacio studied film at DePaul but dropped out after two years.

“We didn't feel the environment was very supportive of our goals with filmmaking,” Merlino said.

They then began work on “Pinpoint” and moved to Los Angeles.

As they pursue their dreams, Merlino works as a freelance editor and director. Ignacio does acting, much of it as an extra.

Merlino cites directors David Fincher and Darren Aronofsky as his main influences. He is drawn to movies dealing with sociopathy and psychotic characters. Ignacio is attracted to films dealing with coming-of-age and Asian American themes. Both share a Filipino heritage.

The medical scenes were shot at a dialysis clinic in Chicago, with friends from Palatine High School and DePaul donning lab coats as extras. Merlino's father Ken cooked chicken, rice and salmon to feed the group. His mother Rose allowed filming in her Palatine apartment.

Both parents acted in the film, as did Ignacio's father Edwin, who played a doctor. The film's special effects include an autopsy cadaver prop created using Styrofoam and leather, carefully painted to resemble a human body.

Merlino and Ignacio previously took part in the festival's CineYouth Program, which is sponsored by the organization presenting the Chicago International Film Festival.

“It's meant so much to us since high school. We've always dreamed of being able to show a film there,” Merlino said.