Appalachian Film Festival

APRIL 2006

Official Site:  http://www.appyfilmfest.com/

PICS

Appalachian Film Festival schedule - AND DAVID LEE STEWARTS REVIEWS (I REVIEWED THESE FILMS AND POSTED THEM AFTER I SAW EACH ONE. - THERE'S A LIBRARY UP THE STREET WITH INTERNET ACCESS.)

Thursday, April 27

Noon-12:30 p.m. -- "Serene" young filmmaker 
12:30-12:45 p.m. -- "Making of the Yellow Boat" young filmmaker 
1-2:30 p.m. -- "Walking with Freedom" documentary 
2:30-4 p.m. -- Hank Cohen's Workshop on Making Movies for Television 
4:15-4:30 p.m. -- "Farming for the Future" short 
4:30-4:50 p.m. -- "Kriya" short 
5-5:30 p.m.-- "80 Windows" short                               (WELL DONE SHORT FILM)
5:45-7:30 p.m. -- "Confinement" feature                       (KICK ASS SCI-FI ACTION - SLIGHTLY BIASED REVIEW - DOESN'T COUNT)

8-9 p.m. -- "River Voices" documentary 
9:15-9:30 p.m. -- Music Video Competition 
9:30-10:45 p.m. -- "Marcus" feature                            (TIGHTLY MADE THRILLER.  GREAT ACTING!  PRETTY GOOD STORY!  SEVERAL THINGS COULD HAVE MADE IT BETTER/MORE BELIEVABLE.  

1.  DON'T HAVE YOUR CREEPY BAD GUY ACT LIKE A CREEPY BAD GUY AROUND EVERYONE ELSE THE WHOLE TIME. - BELIEVABILITY STARTED TO DROP.
2.  TOO MUCH "LETS GO IN THE OTHER ROOM AND ARGUE"  OR THE OBLIGATORY "LETS GO IN THE OTHER ROOM AND HAVE SEX" WHILE THE REST OF THE GANG HANG OUT IN THE NEXT ROOM.  SOUND TRAVELS.  AND FOR ME THE BELIEVABILITY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THE SITUATION THEY WERE IN DROPPED MORE AND MORE AS THIS STUFF KEPT HAPPENING.  I KEPT THINKING TO MYSELF, "PEOPLE DON'T BEHAVE LIKE THAT."

WITH THAT SAID.  THIS WAS STILL REALLY GOOD AND I'M EXPECTING IT TO TAKE THE #1 SLOT. )

Friday, April 28 
10:30 a.m. to noon -- Roger Sherman's Workshop: Anatomy of a Perfect Documentary 
12:30-1:30 p.m. -- "Down in the Old Belt" documentary 
1:30-3 p.m. -- Apple Workshop 
3:15-3:30 p.m. -- "UTA" short                                 (SUPER-WELL-DONE SHORT.  SHOULD WIN BEST SHORT.  BEAUTIFULLY SHOT.)

3:30-4 p.m. -- "I See a Star" short                           (FUNNY SHORT)

4:15-5:15 p.m. -- "Crossings" documentary               (PBS MATERIAL. - WELL DONE.  I'M AFRAID OF BRIDGES NOW.) 

5:30-7:30 p.m. -- Editor's Cocktail Party 
8-9:30 p.m. -- "Big Foot" feature               (TYPICAL STRAIGHT TO VIDEO "HORROR" FILM.  LOOKS PRETTY BUT NO SUBSTANCE.  STANDARD ACTING.  BORING CAMERA WORK.  BAD ACTION.  LOOK AT BLOCKBUSTER/HOLLYWOOD VIDEO AND YOU'LL FIND SEVERAL ROWS WITH THIS TYPE OF STUFF.  WILL PROBABLY GET AN AWARD.)

9:30-11:15 p.m. -- "Lake Forest" feature               (SUCKED.  THIS WAS A HARD ONE TO MAKE IT THROUGH.  IT WOULD HAVE WORKED BETTER IF IT WAS 30 MINUTES BUT 105 MINUTES!  COME ON GUYS!)

Saturday, April 29 
10-11:30 a.m. -- Workshop: Selling Your Idea to Hollywood
11:45-12:45 p.m. -- "Stonewall City" young filmmaker 
1-2 p.m. -- "American Chain Gang" documentary 
2:15-3 p.m. -- "Forgotten Stars" short 

3:15-5 p.m. -- "Cross Eyed" feature                     (WONDERFUL.  VERY ORIGINAL AND UNIQUE.  IT'S TOUGH TO DO A COMEDY.  ADAM PULLED IT OFF.  THE AUDIENCE WAS ROLLING IN THE AISLES.  SHOULD TAKE 1ST PLACE BUT WILL LIKELY GET 2ND.)

6-7 p.m. -- Guest film, Roger Sherman's documentary "Rhythm of My Soul: Kentucky Roots Music"

2006 Winners

BEST FEATURE FILM

1st Place: Marcus by Johnathan Ruggiero. A troubled young man returns home for Christmas in an attempt to reconcile with his sister. Her alleged boyfriend shows up and turns the holiday dinner into a dark, disturbing night of violence and terror.

2nd Place: Cross Eyed by Adam Jones. Tired of the chaos in his life, Ernie, a cross-eyed writer tries to force a good day to happen by kidnapping everyone who makes him miserable.

3rd Place: Bigfoot. by Bob Gray. The story of a clever, murderous monster living in the marshes and woods of Northeast Ohio. The creature is a victim of deforestation and urban sprawl and he is fighting back. Click here for more details.

BEST DOCUMENTARY

1st Place: Down in the Old Belt: Voices from Tobacco South by Jim Crawford. From Jamestown to they Buyout, we see the rise and fall of tobacco in Virginia in the words of those who lived the culture -- the farmers. Click here for more information.

2nd Place: American Chain Gang by Xackery Irving, profiling the experiences of the prisoners and officers of the recently revived male chain gang and the world's first female chain gang. Click here for more information.

BEST SCREENPLAY

1st Place: "Northern Latitude" by Steven Zawacki. Mary must overcome a scheming sister, bigoted father, Thomas' spineless friends and two Machiavellian villians, in this story of love, betrayal, faith, blackmail, passion, assassination ... and worse. Set in Scotland at the end of the 17th Century, an age of deadly intolerance and soaring ideas. Based on a true story and as current as today's headlines.

2nd Place: "Goodnight Pigdog" by Adam Jones,. Rusty strives to care for his mentally-handicapped brother Tucker, whose only concern in life is how to be the best pirate. But when the bank threatens to foreclose on the brother';s house, they have to find a solution. Rusty's answer is practically. Tucker's answer is piracy.

BEST SHORT FILM
tie

Forgotten Stars. by Richard Keel. A mocumentary about ventriloquist Jerry Boyd and his partner, Delbert Schwartz. This whimsical tale covers the ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies of one of America's best, and least remembered, ventriloquist teams. Click here for more information.

UTA by Kim Spurlock. An elderly German woman faces her troubled past in order to prevent a young boy from repeating her mistakes. This is a story about the complexities of reconciliation and people's ability to forgive.

BEST YOUNG FILMMAKER

1st Place: Serene by Joe Ensley. Into the separate worlds of a college couple, we examine their desire to find themselves within social expectations as they travel dark paths of addictive tunnels.

BEST MUSIC VIDEO

1st Place: Strange and Sane by Anthony Samancy, featuring Viola.

By the time the awards ceremony started I knew that CONFINEMENT was competing with BIG FOOT for third place.  It looks like the better picture quality and bigger budget paid out.  BIG FOOT took home the award.  Congrats to the BIGFOOT folk and the rest of the winners.  And ADAM...I love you man!