Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
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Two independent films – one a short, and the other a feature – are set to be screened at the Fine Arts Theatre on Oct. 14 and 16. Local filmmaker Paul Schattel directed both. It’s exciting to see more great work hitting the big screen.
The short, written and produced by Jamie Parker, is called Men of Persuasion. Here’s a tidbit of what Jamie tells me:
This past spring, I wrote and produced a short film that was directed by local filmmaker Paul Schattel. We’re going to be premiering it in front of Paul’s latest feature film Alison at the Fine Arts Theatre on October 14th and 16th. We shot the film in Asheville and it was made lovingly by some great local talent. I was wondering if you would be willing to view the short and do a little write up on your site if you like it?
We’re getting ready to push it out on the festival circuit so this is going to be its first public test run.
The cast and crew worked really hard and everyone is pretty proud of what we made.
And here’s a bit about Alison, the feature film, from a press release:
Starring Lauren Fortuna, and directed by award-winning filmmaker Paul Schattel, Alison is the story of a 30-something pregnant woman who begins to sense that something is wrong – wrong with her life, with her marriage, with herself. Told in a prismatic, non-linear style that shifts in time from present to past and back again, the movie follows Alison as she tries to make sense of her impending condition; she abandons her husband and moves into a derelict motel, hoping to find some sense of where she’s headed, and why she’s been where she been. In this way, she struggles to work out the all-too-slight difference between freedom and self-destruction.
Shot digitally in the summer and early fall of 2008 around Asheville, North Carolina, Alison is told with intelligence, restraint, and most importantly, a great deal of heart. Working without a shooting script, the actors jumped into their roles by improvising and finding similarities between themselves and their characters. Honesty was the buzzword on the set: honest performances, honest direction, honest writing. Even the lighting was kept honest, and the result is that Alison exhibits an emotional authenticity that most movies don’t have – an intimacy that is captured only with a small cast and crew on an unnoticed set.
Hooray for Schattel and all his peoples! Hope you pack the Fine Arts.