Hunger (2001)

A sensitive writer from a small town faces spiritual crisis as he tries to make it as a Hollywood screenwriter. Charlie Pontus (Joseph Culp) wanders around Los Angeles torn between his efforts to sell a screenplay and find his next meal. His natural optimism keeps him afloat as he walks the tight-rope between his love for the beautiful, exotic Ylayali (Kathleen Luong) and his desperate connection to The Chief (Robert Culp), the Hollywood producer who has the power to give life or take it away. Stubbornly refusing to relinquish his principles, he sinks deeper and deeper into spiritual crisis, finally confronting God in a Jobian showdown. Ultimately, the story illustrates the difficult balance between artistic integrity and the commercial necessities of Hollywood. This "towering portrait of an artist's indomitable spirit" is based on "Hunger" (1890), the first existentialist novel ever written and the greatest work of Norwegian Nobel laureate, Knut Hamsun. This is the first digital feature to be based on a classic work of literature. Shot guerrilla-style on the streets of Los Angeles, it was made entirely independently for a budget of only $10,000.