Filmmaker:Steve Brechtel

Genre : Drama

The survivor of a landmark head injury seeks sanctuary from undesired fame, meddling doctors, religious influences and mental distress when he leaves for a foreign land. He soon realizes he must still conquer each of these issues if he wants to live a meaningful remainder to his precarious life.

The story begins with Phineas Gage arriving in Valparaiso, Chile in 1852, hired by an American stage coach company. His presence in Chile isn’t as anonymous as he’d hoped when he learns a conspiring American businessman, a Harvard doctor, and his Chilean girlfriend (a prostitute he meets in a brothel) are still keeping tabs on his activities in a foreign land. The present, past (flashbacks), and future (visions) combine to tell the story.

Gage reaches within to find meaning and fulfillment in his life despite having a severe handicap (psychological damage, head trauma). He seeks sanctuary from various antagonists: undesired fame (P.T Barnum), meddling Harvard doctors (Dr. Bigelow, Dr. Warren, phrenologists), religious influences (Church conversions, his own faith) and mental distress (personality changes). Gage leaves Chile in 1859 for San Francisco to be with his family.

NO LONGER GAGE is based on REAL supporting characters and REAL events. Unlike historical documentaries and previous tales of Phineas Gage, this story is truly unique in that it fills the 7-year void of what may have happened with a fantastical story exploring faith, love, betrayal, psychological torment, human will power and recovery – with the medical debate of the time (phrenology) as the back story and motivation for its antagonists. Best of all, the audience will learn something about an actual, often overlooked event of the past.

Vote!