East Coast Premiere / USA / 2025 / English / 97 min / Drama, Crime, Thriller, Action
Director, Writer, Producer: Robert Benavides Jr; Producers: Peter Mavromates, Kenneth Colom, Juan Rivera, Lee Comanche; Director of Photography: Robert Benavides Jr; Editor: Robert Benavides Jr; Composer: Noah Lifschey.
Key Cast: Kenneth Colom, PJ King, Becca Scott, Charlie Glackin, Alanna Forte, Ronnie Lee, Charlotte Benesch, Charli Burrnet, Jon Chavira, Dale Sloan, Kyler Coffman, Monique Sleeper, Aundre Dean, Nassim Nadery, Juan Amador, Hector Navarro, Jesse Ray, Johnny Diaz, Derek Mikula, Dorian Dane, Drew Moore.
Contact: ballisticdigital@gmail.com
Van, a small-town hustler with big-city dreams, signs on as the wheelman for what should’ve been a clean, one-point-five-million-dollar score.
But after a violent crash flips the getaway, Van wakes up in a body bag—money gone, presumed dead, and marked for it.
Betrayed and left for dead, every breath becomes a fight for survival as Van navigates the deadly fallout tearing through the streets of Kill City.
Lady V—mob boss, mastermind, and queen of the underworld—wants her money back and sends her relentless enforcer, Glock, to hunt it down by any means necessary.
Now, every lowlife, grifter, and gun-for-hire in Kill City wants a piece of the score.
The city’s lit up, the heat’s on, and Van’s caught in the crosshairs of chaos.
No rules. No allies. Just one shot to make it out alive.
This isn’t just about the money anymore—this is payback, Kill City style.
KILL CITY: Dead On The Money is a bold, unapologetic film specializing in hard-hitting, dialogue-driven neo-noir and crime thriller.
It’s inspired by the gritty storytelling of Pulp Fiction, the stylized mayhem of Sin City, and the razor-sharp character work of Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown, our films deliver a high-octane mix of violence, wit, and cinematic swagger.
Director Biography – Robert Benavides Jr
RBJ is a versatile and seasoned talent in the film industry, having collaborated with some of the most influential filmmakers of his generation. His career began at Silver Pictures, where he interned in the development office under Susan Downey. He soon moved into production, working on Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, starring Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, and Michelle Monaghan.
RBJ then joined the legendary Dino De Laurentiis Company, working closely with Dino De Laurentiis, Martha De Laurentiis, and Raffaella De Laurentiis. There, he gained invaluable experience on international productions such as Hannibal Rising, The Last Legion, and Virgin Territory. His time with the company immersed him in the complexities of film producing—from contracts and studio negotiations to international film sales.
During his tenure, RBJ played a key role in developing Barbarella alongside Robert Rodriguez, James Bond screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood, and production designer Patrick Tatopoulos—further establishing his credibility in high-profile development.
RBJ’s expertise expanded further through his work with visionary director David Fincher on the Oscar-winning film Mank, where he collaborated with Academy Award-winning production designer Don Burt.
His production experience spans across acclaimed television and streaming projects, including I Am the Night with Patty Jenkins, Good Girls Revolt with Dana Calvo, and Netflix’s Unbelievable, created by Susanna Grant and Lise Cholodenko.
More recently, RBJ has contributed to major studio projects, collaborating with Mark Friedberg on Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King and with Todd Phillips on Joker: Folie à Deux. He also worked on Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon Parts 1 & 2.
RBJ holds a B.A. in Cinema and Television Arts from California State University, Fullerton, and studied film production and screenwriting at Brooks Institute. He also spent time studying film and literature in Florence, Italy.
A lifelong cinephile, RBJ draws creative inspiration from cinematic icons such as Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean-Luc Godard, and François Truffaut, as well as from the bold storytelling of 1990s indie auteurs like Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Steven Soderbergh.
Director Statement
My name is Robert Benavides Jr., and I am the writer, director, and producer of KILL CITY: Dead on the Money. It’s an honor to submit my film to your esteemed festival.
KILL CITY was born from a place of raw instinct and deep love for the crime fiction genre. When the pandemic hit, like many others, I was at a crossroads. I had $7,000 in my pocket, one camera, two lenses, and a burning need to create. So instead of heading back to Los Angeles after wrapping another production, I drove into the desert.
I checked into a room at a small roadside motel called Motel 66, grabbed a bottle of whiskey and a carne asada burrito from the taqueria joint across the street, and stared at a blank screen. I didn’t start with a structure—I just wrote for the love of it. What came out became KILL CITY.
Over the course of three to four months, a small band of passionate actors from L.A. and I ventured into the desert on weekends, building this story one frame at a time. It was guerrilla filmmaking at its core: run-and-gun, fueled by creativity and commitment.
KILL CITY is gritty, raw, and unfiltered—a portrait of a small desert town caught between L.A. and Las Vegas, where gangs, crooked cops, and broken dreams operate under their own rules. It’s a world of classic cars, cool dudes, and femme fatales, all vying for power in a landscape forgotten by time.
My stylistic approach draws inspiration from the French New Wave—Godard, Truffaut, Rohmer—and American indie icons from the 90 as Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Steven Soderbergh…Much like Breathless, I shot handheld, with natural lighting, long takes, and a desire to let scenes breathe. The visual tone of KILL CITY leans into the atmospheric weight of No Country for Old Men, using shadow and texture as narrative tools, pulling viewers into a place that’s as dangerous as it is hypnotic.
If I had to describe KILL CITY in one feeling, it would be The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm”—moody, mysterious, and untamed.
Thank you for considering KILL CITY: Dead on the Money. It was a labor of love, built from the ground up with the help of an incredible team, and it would mean the world to share this story with your audience.