VISION FILM FESTIVAL-2006

**NEWS RELEASE**

2/13/05 

For Immediate Release                     Contact: Sandra R. Eubank, President
Chair/ Program Director
(540) 562-1713 Hotline
(540) 309-7555c
Email: SandraEubank@cs.com
Web Site: www.blueridgeswvafilm.org

                                                           Margaret Sue Turner Wright, Vice President/ Art Director
(540) 520-3171c
Email: artzysuzi@hotmail.com

The Vision Film Festival-2006 April 20-22, 2006 

ROANOKE -The Blue Ridge-Southwest Virginia Film Office Incorporated
announce their uncoming Vision Film Festival guests, new Host Hotel, new
locations for screening of feature films, short films, documentaries, and
animation competitions as well as workshops and panel discussions. CALL for
ENTRIES deadline extended to March 1, 2006, visit our web site
www.blueridgeswvafilm.org for more information or call the film office hotline,
(540) 562-1713.
 
The 2006 Vision Film Festival will Salute our Nation’s MASH Units incooperation with the Bedford , Virginia ’s National D-day Memorial. Our non-profit organizations will honor our service men and women who have given so much of themselves as they fought to save soldier’s lives in Iraq , Desert Storm , Korea , Vietnam , and two World Wars. In keeping with our theme, The 2006 Vision Film Festival Committee and the Blue Ridge Southwest Virginia Film Office Incorporated will honor our Special Guest Star, William Christopher, Father Mulcahy of the hit television show M*A*S*H. Mr. Christopher will be presented The John Payne Lifetime Achievement Award at our fourth annual Film Festival Awards/Animation Gala, which will held at Roanoke City’s historic host hotel, TheHotel Roanoke on Saturday evening April 22, 2006. Former recipients of this prestigious award are Academy Award winning actors Patricia Neal and Mickey Rooney. At our 2005 event we honored one of Roanoke ’s own, David Huddleston.  
William Christopher starred on M*A*S*H for eleven years. He made his television acting depute as Pfc. Hummel on Gomer Pyle , U.S. M. C. Mr. Christopher has appeared in numerous television and film productions including the academy award-winning film, The Fortune Cookie, and such television shows as
 The Andy Griffith Show, Hogan’s Heroes, Murder She Wrote, Love Boat, and Mad About You. William and his wife Barbara, co authored a book about raising their son Ned who has autism entitled, Mixed Blessings.
 
William Christopher will join the panel discussion, “Fiction verses Reality: MASH the Untold Stories” with Doctor Robert Lewis L. Keeley, Patient Services Medical Surgical Services at Carilion Health System and Doctor James S. Cain, E.A.C.P. of Valley Nephrology Associates on Friday, April 21, 2006 in the Shenandoah Room at
 the Hotel Roanoke and at Hollins University on Saturday, April 22, 2006.
 
The Vision Film Festival 2006 event, will premier films such as No Retreat From Destiny, a Lion Heart FilmWorks production by the award winning writer and director, Kevin Hershberger from Richmond , Virginia . Kevin will return and chair the screenwriter’s workshop and producer panels for the fourth year. Two Fireflies,a dramatic/comedy produced by Mabel Vixen Productions in Purcellville , Virginia and Midnight Film’s director and screenwriter, Adam Meyers. Professor Roger Wilson, of Virginia Western Community College, co starred and served as Executive Producer on the production. Roger will serve on our Producer Panels.
 
 For the science fiction/ horror fans, the Vision Film Festival 2006 event will showcase a David Steward Production entitled, Confinement, filmed on location in and around Charlottesville , Virginia . Darkstone Entertainment’s John Johnson will return as we showcase his latest films shot in Virginia . The feature film Skelton Key, a comedy/honor film and Bayne, a dramatic short film. Cullen Studios in Roanoke ,Virginia will showcase their short film, The Visit, a puppet tale of the unusual and two feature length films entitled, The Dead Have Risen and Super Badass. Charles Cullen will give his expertise on how he has developed his unique style as a producer/director. John Birmingham Productions located in Roanoke, Virginia will showcase their first horror/comedy film, Crazy Animal, produced and directed by
 John Birmingham. Triple Sticks Productions from New York presents a M. David Lee III hilarious comedy about couples that decide to try, “Speed Dating” in his latest film, Slow Down…You’re Dating Too Fast!  Short films award winning producer Lis Anna from Asheville , North Carolina and her film company, Out Of The Way Productions, will present at our Vision Film Festival, The Joy Café. Caroline Moore of Lynchburg, Virginia composed the
 Orginial scored music. Caroline chaired our first Composer panel at our 2005 event. Lis Anna will serve on our producer panels. Sail Away Productions located in Nokesville , Virginia and produced and directed by Tom Basham, returns with  his short film, The Santa Train, “He does have a red nose, and just look at that belly…he must be…” Submitted from Toronto , Canada , is a short film by Ganymedia Incorporated entitled, The Offering, a dramatic film about the progression and the passing of life written, directed and produced by Paul Lee originally from Hong Kong . From Oxbridge, Maine comes a comedy short story of social discomfort, Faux Pas, directed by Dawn Anderson who makes her movie debut at our Vision Film Festival. From Salem , Virginia comes a short film by
 SubCreations Productions, Song of the Lesbian Pirates, depicts a pair of hapless but determined artistes…as they embrace their fate as the second coming of Gilbert and Sullivan with, kinky, inept opera about lesbian pirates complete with animated scenes that add to their story telling. SubCreations Productions also weaves a story about love in their short film by Ben Snyder, Watermelon Honey  which shows how much of what we do is in us to begin with. More to be announced!
 
In our documentary category, from Swinging Gate Productions, LLC located in Roanoke, Virginia, Down in the Old Belt: Voices from the Tobacco South, produced, written and directed by James P. Crawford. From Peculiar Productions located also in Roanoke , Virginia is a documentary produced, edited and directed by Janet
Lubas, This Will Hurt for a Minute: The Charles E. Cullen Story, A Tale of Savage Independence . From Studio City , California , Dektor Films presents two Documentaries, Fat Cake and Do You Want the Elephant Music? The
 producer/director, Leslie Dektor, began his career as a still photographer in Johannesburg , South Africa . He immigrated to the United States where he has directed several documentaries, and has produced hundreds of television
commercials, garnering 12 DGA nominations and winning director of the year  twice. Roanoke ’s O. Winston Link Museum will have two documentaries showcased, one from Freehold, New Jersey by Burgess Productions David Dwayne Burgess, O. Winston Link Living History, and from WDBJ Television Incorporated, Ted Stone, What A Picture I Got. More to be announced! 

Workshops and panel discussions will be held on Friday, April 21, 2006, at the Historic Hotel Roanoke’s Shenandoah Room and on Saturday, April 22, 2006 at  Hollins University . “How Do I Become Published?” panel discussion will be chaired once again by national publisher Alexander Books’ founder and CEO Ralph Roberts. Author Stephen Michael Shearer; will introduce his book, Patricia Neal:  An Unquiet Life, which is the first biography of the actress in nearly twenty years,  following Neal’s personal memoir, As I Am, penned in 1988. Patricia Neal was the first recipient of the John Payne Lifetime Achievement Award at our first Vision Film Festival in 2003. Alexander Books will unveil Sandra R. Eubank’s first book, Room 409, a collection of short stories about ghostly events in Virginia hospitals
 wonderfully illustrated by artist Anne Bell. Sandra’s over 35 years of hospital nursing in the Roanoke area and her professional writing skill come together in this collection of well-crafted short stories that both thrill and chill. Vicki L. Holt joins the publisher’s panel this year with her latest book, Vengeance Is Mine. Dragonslair Studio in New Jersey , adapted the novel to audio-play format, and have recorded it for CD and cassette release. More to be announced!
 
Casting Directors workshops will be conducted by Anne Chapman, Casting Director for LionHeart Film Works, in Richmond since 2000. Anne has cast for such films as No Retreat From Destiny, Wicked Spring, Punchline, Three Men and a  Baby, Mosquito Coast , When Harry Met Sally, and Uncle Buck to name a few.  Joining Anne will be Jeanne Boisineau, also based in Richmond , Virginia . Jeanne has cast for such films as Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, Terrence Malick’s The New World , Ridley Scott’s Hannibal, Boys on the Run, Dancing in the Fire,  Minority Report, and many regional and national television, radio and print spots.
More to be announced!
 
Judges for the Vision Film Festival competition include Chairman Klaus Phillips who is a graduate of the University of Texas where he obtained his Ph.D. He is a Professor of German and Film at Hollins University in Hollins , Virginia where he also serves as the director of the graduate program in screenwriting and film studies as well as founding director of the Hollins Film and Censorship, and Introduction to Film as Art. Professor Phillips has chaired the judging committee for the Vision Film Festivals over the past three years.  Jason Brown returns this year as a judge and is a filmmaker and teacher at the University of North , Carolina at Greensboro . With a Master’s Degree in screenwriting and Film Studies from Hollins University , Jason has taught at Concord University and West Virginia State University. More to be announced!
 
Animation is a new competition area for the Vision Film Festivals. We are pleased to announce an animation work coming as far away as Datong , Shanxi China entitled, Balance, from the Bough Animation Company.
 
 David Baker, founder and director of the Kalamazoo Animation Festival International will be this year’s Special Guest Animator. David is an award winning media producer, animator and educator. Additional Animation Judges will be; Ramin Zahed, Editor in Chief of Animation Magazine and Online Editor/Writer Ryan Ball, graduate of Radford University and former resident of Salem , Virginia . From the Academy Award winning visual effects company,
 Tippett Studio, which is well known for its 3D digital animation including Disney’s Dinosaur and Hollow Man, Mr. James Brown, Lead Animator will represent  Tippett Studio. Paul Moldovanos, The Clay Man, is an Animation-filmmaker, cartoonist, sculptor, comedy writer and designer living in Vancouver , BC will also serve as an animation judge. Nancy Jacobs of Bent Image Lab located in the New York office is noted for 3D animation and mixed media who’s clients include Kellogg’s, PBS, SNL, and Cartoon Network to name a few. Local judges include Richard Moore, owner/animator from Cendrick Enterprises in Salem , Virginia and in Roanoke , Virginia , Jamal Millner, President/Animator at M3: Grafixs and Animations, a division of Millner Multi Media LTD and Dave Socky of Hodag Video Productions. 

The Vision Film Festival-2006 event is sponsored by: The Blue Ridge-Southwest Virginia Film Office Incorporated, the Virginia Film Office, The City of Roanoke ,  City of Covington , Roanoke County , Cox Communications, RVTV Channel 3, RP Publishing, Prime Living Magazine, Toon Boom, Oakey’s Funeral Service,Kroger, Colonial Downs , Valley Metro and Smart Buses. 

Venues for showcasing the Vision Film Festival-2006 events are Consolidated Theatre Valley View Grande 16, Buchanan Theatre in Buchanan , Virginia , O. Winston Link Museum Theatre, Hopkins Planetarium of the Science Museum of Western Virginia , and Hollins University Theatre.
 
The Volunteer Sponsorship organization for the Vision Film Festival-2006 event will be the SIGMA CHI fraternity, ETA LAMBDA chapter at Virginia Tech, in honor of their brother, William Christopher, our Special Guest Star. More to be Announced!