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| Cover Photo by Matt Rose/Asheville Scene |
Written by: Tony Kiss
Movie
Making in the Mountains. Asheville Citizen-Times: Scene Magazine.
To be sure, Asheville has landed
its share of big-budget movies. Think of
the Oscar-winning “Being There,” (1979) or the romantic epic “Last of the
Mohicans” (1992) and, in March, the futuristic adventure “The Hunger Games.”
Even some local independent films,
like Chusy Haney-Jardine’s “Anywhere USA” (once known as “Asheville, the Movie”)
got some big attention in 2008 when it won a special jury prize at the Sundance
Film Festival and compliments from director Quentin Tarantino.
But beyond the glitzy Hollywood
productions, there’s plenty happening in moviemaking here. On any given weekend, local filmmakers are
grabbing their equipment and scripts, pulling together their cast and shooting
short films – even features – mostly for love of the art.
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| Photo by Matt Rose/Asheville Sce |
Those filmmakers are really just
hoping for a little appreciation and exposure at events like this weekend’s Asheville
Cinema Festival.
“It’s a thing I have to do,” said
Asheville filmmaker Katie Damien. “If
you love it, you will do it regardless of how much money you make.” Like most
local filmmakers, she has a day job, working in creative services at
WLOS/Channel 13.
Damien’s short fiction film “Second
Parent” has won the Cinema Festival’s Prestige Subaru Film Competition for
local filmmakers and will be screened Saturday at 1:15p.m. at Asheville
Community Theatre. (Damien will also
speak at the afternoon event, “Short Films for Women by Women.”)
Her
movie is about a same-sex couple and what happens to the family after one of
the partners dies. “I wouldn’t have made
it if it hadn’t been for the competition,” Damien said. “You only have so much time to do what you
want to do. You are not getting paid,
and this kind of competition is good for filmmakers.”
It
turns out she will get a little cash out of the contest – a first-place prize
of $500 (the second-place winner receives $250 and the third gets $100; all
will be screened at the Cinema Festival.)
Nine short films, none more that seven minutes long, were entered into
the Prestige Subaru Competition, said Asheville Cinema Festival executive
director Wyman Tannehill. The competition
is about “supporting the filmmaking scene,” said Tannehill. (The local Subaru dealership is the presenting
sponsor of the entire fest). “I think
the filmmaking community here is very diverse,” he said. “Not only in the age of filmmakers but in the
type of films that people are creating.
You find people downtown shooting on some street corner or in a back
alley.”....
My next epic PSA for the YWCA of Asheville will be coming out soon... I hope. This one involves some major special effects with breaking glass, which I'm told is one of the most difficult things to animate. I have everything shot for the PSA and it's pretty much together, but getting the FX work done is proving challenging. I've had some great actors and locations to work with, even the gang of middle school kids really impressed me with their performances and enthusiasm. When it's done, it's going to be awesome!
