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Sundance latest stop for native Cincinnati filmmaker

Andre Hyland, who's been making "movies" since he was 10, may be finally getting the recognition many people think he deserves.

The Indian Hill High School and University of Cincinnati graduate now lives in LA, making films, writing comedy, and acting. Hyland learned his film Funnel had been accepted into theSundance Film Festivaljust after two of his pilots for Comedy Central were rejected.

"So it's nice to finally get something public. It's an accomplishment or whatever," said Hyland, who notes that Funnel will be shown at Sundance in January. " It's (Funnel) going to be there with an audience that is there to watch films and they're not going to be checking their phones. They're not going to be looking at pop-up ads. They're going to be watching my film and enjoying it."

Hyland is known for his over-the-top roles like the short film Safe Place in which he plays a holistic new age therapist to Breaking Bad's Bob Odenkirk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-EbA7OInDc

Hyland says in Funnel he plays a character more like himself. In the 7-minute film his car breaks down and he has to go to a gas station to get a funnel. All the while he talks about his observations to a friend on his cell phone. Odenkirk liked the production, filmed in Milford, Madeira and Kenwood, so much he lent his name to it.

During the filming, a Kenwood Towne Centre security guard kicked him out of the parking lot, but Hyland said it was the nicest way he has ever been thrown out of someplace. Regardless, Hyland said he had just enough footage to be able to use it.

He hopes his next venture will be a low-budget independent feature.

Ann Thompson has decades of journalism experience in the Greater Cincinnati market and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her reporting.