Actor Jackson Rathbone, left, and Kirk Sullivan of Saranac Lake stand on the set of “City of Dead Men” in Medellin, Colombia. (Photo provided)

SARANAC LAKE — Saranac Lake native and director Kirk Sullivan will release his first feature film “City of Dead Men” Friday, and he credited the community for helping him reach this point.

The film is a psychological thriller about a young American man named Michael, who is traveling in South America when he runs out of money in Colombia, Sullivan said. Michael, played by Diego Boneta, ends up living with a group of radical misfits in an abandoned hospital with a haunted past.

The film, which also stars Jackson Rathbone of “Twilight” fame, becomes a survival tale as Michael tries to fit in with his new lifestyle.

“Hopefully, it’s an entertaining, engaging 90-minute thrill ride, with a little edge and psychological horror, that film fans should enjoy,” Sullivan said.

Executive producer Brad Furman, who Sullivan had interned for while attending film school at the University of Southern California, recommended Sullivan as a director to the Colombian producers of the movie, which is entirely funded by Colombian investors.

Furman has directed films such as “The Lincoln Lawyer” and “Runner Runner.”

Sullivan said the producers flew him down to Medellin, Colombia to shoot the film for approximately three months and it was the biggest film production ever made in the city at that time.

“I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to direct,” he said. “My philosophy, especially as a young filmmaker who wants to be a feature film director, is if you have the opportunity to direct a feature film, you should jump at it.”

Sullivan worked with the movie’s writer Andrew Poston to instill his vision into the screenplay and although he had never tackled the horror genre before, he was up for the task.

“I would like to be a filmmaker who straddles the line between genres, and so I hope this film demonstrates my ability to do that,” he said. “I don’t want to be considered a horror director for the rest of my career by any means, but I think this film has facets of different genres within the film itself. I was excited to embrace that challenge of creating a film in the horror genre and hopefully, horror fans are happy with the material.”

He added the making the film was not without difficulties as with any independent movie, funding, timing, and production problems will arise.

“It was a tremendous experience, but making any film is complicated,” Sullivan said. “There are many challenges from financial limitations to disagreements about story or performance. One of the biggest jobs as director is to navigate all of those challenges and to lead the crew and the entire team through the process as smoothly as possible, while always trying to maintain and protect your vision of the film.

“One of the things I’m most proud of is how I was able to keep my composure and move forward every day, trying to make the best film possible,” he said. “With a very talented cast and a very hard-working and diligent crew, I was very proud of what we were able to accomplish in Colombia.”

He said the movie will be playing in 10 markets in the United States, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta and Toronto. The movie will also be available on video-on-demand, Amazon and iTunes.

With the release of his feature film and his current career, Sullivan said he owes a lot to the village.

“I can never emphasize how important Saranac Lake has been for me as a community that has always embraced my work, always encouraged my creativity and always inspired me to aim for the stars,” he said. “Saranac Lake is my home and will always be my home. I can’t say enough about the amount of love I have for Saranac Lake and the Adirondacks.”

Sullivan said when he was starting out making films and had no budget, the Lakeview Deli would cater his shoots, the police department would shut down streets, the fire department would let him use their crane for shots, local stores would lend him wardrobe and local houses and businesses would allow him to shoot using their properties.

“The community gave me the opportunity to learn about filmmaking in a way I think is very rare, unique and special,” Sullivan said. “It’s something I really cherish and I’m very proud to have grown up in Saranac Lake.”

He said his dream is to get himself and his career to a point where he can live and raise his family in Saranac Lake, while maintaining a career in Hollywood.

Sullivan is currently working on several screenplays and is developing his next feature film as a director, reaching out to investors to get that off the ground.

He discovered his love for filmmaking after his father, Fred Sullivan, director of “Cold River” and “The Beer Drinker’s Guide to Fitness and Filmmaking,” passed away when he was 14.

“When I began playing with the cameras and making films with my friends, I had a great time,” he said. “I just really enjoyed it. It felt very natural to me to be creating movies and it was something that the more I did it, the more invigorated I became with the process, with the idea of being a feature film director and creating a career as a filmmaker.”

From there, Sullivan went to film school, interned for Furman, bounced around production jobs, worked as an assistant to producer Joel Silver, and made a short-film “The Come Up,” which he said kick started his career.