2002 Great Lakes Independent Film Festival

Einstein's Playground

Category: Narrative Short  16min 54sec
Director: Mathew Heckerling

Einstein’s Playground is a short film about an obsessive physicist, Dr. Pettincourt, who steals the brain of Albert Einstein hoping to discover the secrets of the universe. When Einstein dies, Pettincourt steals Einstein’s brain, thrusting him on a journey into the Surreal world of Relativity. With the help of a young guide, Pettincourt learns to face his fears, let go his inhibitions, and discover the magic of his own imagination.

Principal Cast:
Michael Adler
Rebecca Reese
Robert Towers
Morgan Luci
Charles Cooper
Jack Donner

Director: Mathew Heckerling
Originally from Stamford , CT. , Matthew Heckerling earned a degree in literature from the University of Michigan .  He then went on to earn a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California ’s School of Cinema-Television.

While intent on directing, Matthew also has a strong background in photography and cinematography. He has had a gallery exhibition of his abstract still-life photography and he works regularly as a director of photography. He received the Bush Memorial Cinematography Scholarship at USC in recognition of his outstanding work.  One of the films he shot screened at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.