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Friday, May 14, 2010

48-Hour Film Fest is Back

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Friday, May 14th, 2010 at 8:48 am

There’s something about seeing your neighborhood used as a film set that makes you feel like you’re living a special life.

That’s one reason I loved living in NYC so much. In New York, as soon as you step outside–as soon as you look out the window, even–you’re not just living your regular mundane life; suddenly, instantly, you’re a character in a greater story.

That’s just one thing that makes the Hampton Roads 48-hour Film Project so cool: for one weekend of filming, and another weekend of screenings, our cities in Hampton Roads are where cinematic stories worthy of the big screen unfold. The 757 is a place where movie magic happens.

When your world becomes a film set, we all become potential heroes and heroines. Anything feels possible.

Plus, the way the event works is just plain fun. On Friday night, the teams get a character, a prop, a line of dialogue and a genre that must be incorporated into the movie. 48 hours later, the film has to be in the can, as they say. Then it shows at The Naro, one of the coolest theaters I’ve ever been to. Fun, yah?

We spoke with William Dresden of Idyl King, winner of Best Of Hampton Roads in last year’s festival, about the most cinematic spots to film in the 757, VA tax incentives, and being a baller at Cannes.

AltDaily: Not only did your film, Sea of Trees, win last year’s contest, but you’ve had some amazing success with the film since then, yes?

Yeah, it’s great that Keith and Jeff, the producers of the Hampton Roads 48 Hour Film Project, are able to do the competition a little earlier this year. It opens up the opportunity for students to compete, which we’re always supportive of. As for the success of Sea of Trees, its been amazing. We were able to screen it with the best of the best from around the world, and had the privilege of being one of the top five films overall. This led to our being selected to screen in Cannes, France at the Cannes Film Festival.

What’s your best Cannes story?

Personally, it would have to be back in 2006, when Sacha Baron Cohen was introduced as Borat, on the beach, in a lime green mankini, smiling innocently as it hoisted his fame to ever higher levels. Haha.

I’m envisioning you living a scene from Entourage. Let me have this vision. You guys are ballers now, right?

That’s the dream. Haha. Now, if only we could find an agent as good as Ari Gold. (That’s Jeremy Piven’s character for those of you who don’t know the show.)

A still from the super-spooky "Sea of Trees."

All right, so we at AltDaily are unabashed supporters and admirers of the 48-hour Film Project. What’s your best pitch to local creatives to encourage them to sign up a team?

If you want to have a wild weekend that you might or might not remember, depending if you choose to waste precious time sleeping, meet great talented local people and have a shot at winning a professional HD camera or even going to Cannes, you should sign up. Plus you get to make a movie. It doesn’t get any better then that.

I’ve never done it before. I imagine it’s a completely insane (and insanely creative) 48 hours. Tell me about the highs and lows of the production process.

Well, for us, the thought of not knowing what genre you will receive until the night of the competition is a little daunting, but I’m sure some people love this part of the process. We have a small group of friends that we have been making movies with for years, so it is always nice to have an excuse to come together and make another one. The process would probably seem insane if you spent the day with one of the filmmakers. You’re in “Go! Go!! Go!” mode for 48 hours straight. But for most people who do this, it’s a passion, like playing music, so it rarely, if ever feels like work.

As a Hampton Roads filmmaker, what would you say are, say, the five most cinematic spots in the 757?

As seen in films. (Photo | cbbt.com)

Oh, that’s a tough one. Ok, here it goes. In no particular order. (1) The Battlefields of Yorktown. (2) The Chesapeake Bay Bridge. (3) Assateague Island, Eastern Shore. (4) Nasa Langley. (5) Colonial Williamsburg.

There are so many really great estates and plantation houses as well as waterfront and historic locations. It’s hard to name the most cinematic ones, because I think that decision starts to become a personal preference.

What’s a location in Hampton Roads you’ve always wanted to use but haven’t gotten a chance?

Nasa Langley. My partner Grayson and I both have a childhood fascination with that place. I’m still determined to film in one of the wind tunnels some day.

I’ve got to get political for a hot second. What’s your take on the state of Virginia giving tax credits to productions shot here? In short, would that be a good or a bad thing?

Definitely a good thing. A tax credit of some kind is better than no tax credit at all. If Virginia chose not to offer a reasonable tax credit, producers would in turn take their movies to southern states that do, like Georgia and Alabama, both of which have very competitive tax credits. So this is definitely a good thing for the future of feature filmmaking in Virginia.

Anything you’d like to plug?

With our film screening in Cannes this week, it’s hard to say what will happen to Idyl King next. We will definitely be producing at least two short films this year for the festival circuit. There is also the potential we will be starting pre-production on one of our feature-length screenplays. I wish I could tell you about the one we are pitching for the Le Pitch Competition, which will be broadcast on the French Television ShortsTV channel (SKY CHANNEL 342), but its a secret until the 20th. It’s called Roach Motel. We’re going to have to leave the rest up to your imaginations…for now.

The event will be held June 4, 5, and 6 this year, with screenings at the Naro again on June 9 and 10, plus awards and “Best Of” screening on Saturday, June 12th. Click here for more info or to sign up.

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  • BK | May 14, 10 @ 10:06 am

    The “Best Of” screening last year was one of the coolest events I’ve been to in Norfolk — just a lot of talented people getting together to recognize each other and hopefully help grow the scene in the 757. Really collegial and a lot of fun.

  • BFG | May 15, 10 @ 3:33 pm

    People don’t realize that VA (esp. Hampton Roads) is a hotbed of aspiring filmmakers, and this only helps showcase the talents. I participated in 2007 and ’08 and had a blast, and would like to do it again this year. I definitely encourage local filmmakers (and even those who aren’t) to give it a shot!

    As for the tax incentives, I definitely agree that VA needs to get on the ball with that, which they have tried to do in the last year or so. There’s been quite a few movies that have been set in HR but are shot in other states because of the available incentives…the revenue that the region and state could pull in, not to mention to reputation this area could gain as a great film base, could be unbelievable!

  • Grant Cothran | May 17, 10 @ 10:49 am

    This sounds awesome!

  • Bob Acron | May 18, 10 @ 12:02 pm

    I wonder if a purely animated piece is excluded from the fest

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ABOUT THE WRITER
Jesse is the editor in chief of AltDaily, and he's going to take this bio seriously, but not so seriously that he's going to continue in the third person. I've been involved with a bunch of local projects and civic groups in various roles, including: Hampton Roads, The Canvas; Art | Everywhere, Street Performance in Norfolk; Survive Norfolk; Hampton Roads Pride/Out in the Park; Bike Norfolk; re:Vision Norfolk, and such. I originally came to Norfolk as a Perry Morgan fellow in ODU's creative writing program. Before that I bummed around quite a bit, writing stacks of books that never got published, hitchhiking, couchsurfing, riding the Greyhound up down and back across this country. Some of my favorite jobs and volunteer gigs have included working on organic farms in Ireland; being first mate on an old sail boat in Holland; working at a long-term home for young men in South Africa; being a journalist and high school teacher in New York and California; washing dishes in Yosemite National Park; teaching English in DC and swimming in Florida; and interning at ESPN in Bristol, which was much less cool that you'd want it to be. My career highlights have been having three of my op-eds run in the New York Times, and being the executive producer of a six-part docu-drama on BET. Because school is cool I have three master's degrees (ODU for MFA, NYU for magazine journalism, University of Connecticut for secondary English education). I live in Norfolk because I believe in its potential. Email your ideas or nicely couched criticism to jesse@altdaily.com.
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