2009

FEATURES

DARK ROOM THEATER
North Carolina Premiere
Friday, 10pm          
Fine Arts Theatre - Lower
Dark Room Theater is a double feature in the vein of “The Twilight Zone,”about ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary, usually supernatural, situations, using both ironic and comic twists. Director/Producer/Writer/Editor: Benjamin Pollack  Cinematographer: Jason Rawsant  Cast: Alejandro Patino, David Stanford, John Capodice, Kaleo Griffith, Kay D'Arcy, Keith Blaney, Nicole Feenstra, Richard Tyson, Rick Cox, Robert Costanzo, Rose Rossi

DEADLAND
North Carolina Premiere
Saturday, 7pm           
Diana Wortham Theatre
Intertwined within its sci-fi action-thriller roots, at its core Deadland is a story of hope set in a post-apocalyptic world.  After five years of searching, survivor Sean Kalos stumbles upon proof that his missing wife may still be alive in the new United Provinces.  World War III's nuclear strikes on the U.S. set the nation back 200 years, and hope is all but lost when every survivor of the war is infected by a fatal nuclear plague.  What was designed to be the new rebirth has become martial law, and the Officers of the Province wield their power with cruelty. When Sean crosses them, he finds himself in the middle of a personal war, and his quest for his wife inspires hope in a land that has forgotten the meaning of the word.  Director: Damon O’Steen  Producer: Gary Weeks, Brian Tee, Jamie Millhoff  Writer: Gary Weeks  Cinematographer: Reuben Steinberg  Cast: Gary Weeks, Brian Tee, William Kah, Harrison Page, Emily-Grace Murray, Cullen Douglas, Chad Mathews, Philip Boyd, Branden Waits, Davis Neves, William Colquitt, Tony Weeks, Jason-Shane Scott, Tara Frix

IN/SIGNIFICANT OTHERS
World Premiere
Friday, 4pm            
Fine Arts Theatre - Lower
A multi-narrative drama that navigates through the different lives of one city’s residents, each of whom is connected to the same local homicide investigation.  Characters include an Iraq War vet returned home to an emotionally disturbed wife, a new father living in the shadow of a successful older brother, a sister caught up in a web of addiction, and a cameraman who attempts to exploit the reality behind all of their stories, or at least his version of them.  Director/Producer/Writer:   John Schwert   Co-Producer: Jason King   Associate Producer: Katie Weaver   Editor: John Schwert, Katie Weaver  Cinematographer: Kenneth Wilson  Cast: Aerli Austen, Andrea Powell, Ashlee Payne, Brett Gentile, Brian Lafontaine, Burgess Jenkins, Calvin Walton, Carver Johns, David Sherrill, Gretchen McGinty, Jeremy Decarlos, Mark Scarboro, R Keith Harris, Scott Miles, Tiffany Montgomery

LAID OFF
World Premiere
Friday, 4pm               
Diana Wortham Theatre
Mike Lagante, a disgruntled recent graduate with a mundane office job and a difficult girlfriend, is torn between dealing with the pressures of growing up and hanging on to his irresponsible glory days.  Upon getting laid off from his job and subsequently dumped by his girlfriend, Mike decides to use his severance package to fund one last summer of freedom.  Mike and Jimmy’s summer is filled with the constant partying that they were in search of, but they soon find that everything comes at a price.    Director/Editor: John Launchi   Co-Producer/Executive Producer: John Launchi, Justin Ryan, Michael Ryan, Patrick Murry, Shawn Rogers   Executive Producer: C.J. Moebius   Cinematographer: John Launchi, Justin Ryan, Shawn Rogers    Cast: Aaron Glaser, Andree Vermeulen, C.J. Moebius, Danielle Sialiano, Domenic Alberto, Don Giovenello, Gregg Lauterbach, Harold Field, Hilary Greer, Jeff Rundlet, Jennifer Bartels, Jennifer Liss, John Launchi, John Sialiano, John Launchi Sr., Libby Kelly, Lydia Hensler, Matt Carmel, Michael Ryan, Mike Lamb, Mike Brady, Nicholas Steele

SOLID COUNTRY GOLD
North Carolina Premiere
Saturday, 6:30pm   
Fine Arts Theatre - Lower
Jon Stringer likes to do two things:  4-wheel drive and play country music with Festus and the White Trash Band.  When his career at the textile mill comes to an abrupt and unexpected end, he decides to give music a shot.  The band includes his best friend/bass player Hagan, who makes a living playing online poker, his brother/lead guitar Robert who owns a small garage, a meth-addicted drummer named Brett, rhythm guitar player Brandon who knows one chord, and a harmonica player named Rhett who doesn’t seem to know when to stop.  With a tenacity paralleled only by their lack of talent, Festus and the White Trash Band take their unique sound from the rust and kudzu of South Carolina all the way to the footlights of Nashville.  Director: Ronnie Gunter  Producers/Writers: Hayne Griffin, Ronnie Gunter  Cinematographer: Hayne Griffin  Cast: Jon Stringer, Matt Hagan, Robert Stringer

THE TWENTY
World Premiere
Friday, 1pm        
Fine Arts Theatre - Lower
Carty has struggled with his drinking and the blackouts that attend it for as long as he can remember. Now sober, he attempts to pull himself out of the gloom and into a more normal life. But when he discovers a message written on a twenty-dollar bill an obsession begins. An obsession that leads him on a journey into a Lynchian landscape of shame, rage, and pain. A journey that forces him to reflect on his own life and, perhaps, to catch sight of the shadowy person he has imprisoned for all these years in his drunken state of mind. But will the experience of looking at the man in the mirror set him free or send him over the edge into never ending darkness?   Director/Producer: Chopper Bernet   Writer: Walter Spring   Editor: Tamara Maloney   Cinematographer: Alison Kelly   Cast: Chopper Bernet, Clancy Brown, John Wesley, Laraine Newman, Laura Jordan, Lisa Darr, Rodney Scott, Stephanie Niznik

WAR STORIES
World Premier
Friday, 7pm            
Fine Arts Theatre - Lower
For Tim Curtright, life in his quiet suburban hometown of Derby, Kansas seems painfully ordinary. For him, his gay best-friend, Austin, and girlfriend, Laura, life consists of a series of school, dances, and the occasional party. Unbeknownst to them, a dark secret lies just beneath the surface of the quiet Kansas community that will change their lives forever. When Tim is assigned a research project for school, he decides to write about the Gulf War. Having grown up believing that his father, Ben Curtright, died while fighting in the war, Tim is stunned to discover that his father might still be alive and in turn goes in search of the truth. With his mother Emily Curtright standing in the way, can Tim and his friends break through a generation of lies and secrets and discover what really happened to his father?   A thrilling, mysterious, and provocative adventure, War Stories challenges viewers to ask themselves just how well they know their family’s past.    Director/Executive Producer/Writer: Lee Whitman   Assistant Director: David Riff   Editor: Grant Warman   Cinematographer: Lee Whitman   Cast:   Danielle Wolverton, Eric Metz, Jay Sanderson, Mark Ayesh, Michael Brenton Gordon, Sara Hammond