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Film festival features movies with ties to Virginia

April 6, 2006 12:50 am

By KATY HERSHBERGER

Virginia is the new Los Angeles.

Or so say the members of George Mason University's Friends of Film, which will present the inaugural Piedmont Filmmakers Festival in Warrenton this weekend.

The festival will showcase the cinema of Virginia, featuring movies made by filmmakers from the state's scenic Piedmont region, as well as films about the area.

"When we founded this thing we realized to our surprise how many filmmakers there were--really successful professional filmmakers--in the Piedmont area," said Amy Gerber, executive director of Friends of Film. "What we wanted to do was come up with a festival that showcases those filmmakers' work. It's really a way of opening the area's eyes to the filmmakers already in this area."

The Piedmont region may be popular for filmmaking because of the beauty of its landscape, said Bonnie Matheson, president of the board of directors for Friends of Film.

"It's probably the most attractive place in the United States if you like hills and trees and streams," she said. "It's not desert and not a beach, but it's absolutely, positively gorgeous."

Director Ron Maxwell, who is also on the Friends of Film board, surveyed the region for locations to shoot his major motion pictures "Gettysburg" and "Gods and Generals." After getting to know the area, Maxwell moved from Los Angeles to Rappahannock County three years ago.

"It's a place obviously rich in heritage and history," he said. "It's not an exaggeration to say it's a cradle of American liberty, as far as Virginia, from the Potomac River down to Charlottesville."

Since many people in the region have already seen his Civil War films, Maxwell said, he will show one of the movies he made in his youth--"Verna: USO Girl."

The 1978 film, which will be followed by a discussion and reception Saturday night at the festival, stars Sissy Spacek as Verna, a USO performer who falls for an American soldier, played by William Hurt, during World War II. The film earned Maxwell an Emmy nomination for best director.

Maxwell is not the only member of the board of Friends of Film who is also a filmmaker. Gerber will screen her documentary "Public Memory" on Sunday.

The hourlong film analyzes American memorials and how Americans remember tragedies such as Sept. 11 and the Trail of Tears.

"What I did is go all over the U.S. tracking down top experts, getting them to talk about how we as a culture remember these things, and are we doing it well," she said.

Two more Piedmont-area documentaries will be shown Saturday afternoon.

Director Mickey Stern tells the story of the Wright brothers' quest to make the first aircraft and documents the Wright Experience's re-creation of the historic flight in "The Wright Brothers: First in Flight." Much of the filming took place at the Wright Experience's Warrenton shop, where the group evaluates and flies a reproduction of the famous 1903 aircraft.

Chris Lofft, the film's producer, noted the prevalence of movies related to the region.

"I don't know what you'd have more of--stories to tell about the Piedmont area or filmmakers from there," he said.

Cameron Yates' "14 and Payrolled" follows three Virginia House of Delegates pages as they work in Richmond. The 14-year-old pages work from 9 to 5 running errands for House members, then complete their regular schoolwork at night.

Yates, who is from Culpeper, also observed that Virginia is a popular place for filmmaking.

"A lot of films are being shot in Virginia," he said. "Just trying to get all these resources together [at the film festival] is a great thing."

The festival works to pair beginning filmmakers with established ones by screening student short films on Sunday afternoon.

Stewart Hopewell's short, "Misfortune," is an eight-minute thriller set in a Chinese restaurant. In it, a man receives a cry for help hidden in his fortune cookie by his waitress, and he must decide how to save her from being held hostage in the restaurant.

The film was screened at the Sundance film festival in 2004 and won an award from Trigger street.com, actor Kevin Spacey's online project that showcases new filmmakers.

Hopewell, who grew up in Warrenton, is glad to see that film is being highlighted in the region.

"The fact that my small town and this small area has a film festival is fantastic." he said. "Growing up here it was hard to find filmmakers to talk to and get advice from."

Audience members will have a chance to meet and mingle with filmmakers during discussions and receptions at the three-day festival, which kicks off tomorrow.

The festival will close with a performance of an adaptation of the score of Maxwell's epic "Gods and Generals," performed by the Piedmont Regional orchestra. Maxwell will recite Civil War-era poetry during the conclusion.

Unlike large international film festivals in Charlottesville and Washington, organizers want to keep the Piedmont festival small.

"There's not intention or even desire to make it a big film festival," Maxwell said. "We intentionally want to keep it local, provincial and small. We think that's the value of it."

Friends of Film's Matheson said she anticipates a rise in filmmaking in the area.

"I think it will be a whole new industry, I hope, for Virginia."

To reach KATY HERSHBERGER: 540/374-5000, ext. 5617