MEET THE FILMMAKER: Laerke Drews - LAURA IN ACTION

As we get nearer to the festival, we will be featuring the various filmmakers whose work will be screening throughout the festival.

Introduce Yourself: My name is Laerke Drews, and I am a student of film.

How did you become interested in filmmaking? I had never considered being a filmmaker before I took a class in filmmaking in high school at the age of 18. I had wanted to be a lawyer or a researcher, but when I began working on my fist timid student film project, a whole new world of possibilities seemed to open itself to me. Ever since childhood, I have had a great appreciation of art, but I had never before considered becoming an artist myself. Though I love painting, sculpture and the novel, I always thought that it must be frustrating for the artists that their work is exposed to, and appreciated by, so comparatively few people. But when I made my first film, I realized that films can be art as well. And whereas the other arts, that I love, play a comparatively minor role in most people's lives, film is the most appreciated and most dominant art form today. So, that which made me become interested in filmmaking, is the fact that art is very important to me in my own life, and that by making films, I can create art to myself as well as to an audience, who can actually use and appreciate the art that I create in their everyday lives. That, to me, is very motivating.

Tell us about your inspiration and vision for the film: With 'Laura – in Action', I wanted to create a film in which (1) the protagonist is passive, and (2) a central part of the plot unfolds within the protagonist's mind—all of this without the film ever ceasing to be entertaining to watch.

(1) 'Laura – in Action' tells the story of a passive girl who learns how to act. At a first glance, this premise seems incompatible with an exciting, causal plot, simply because passivity is boring. But passivity is a widespread phenomenon: very many people who seem to be active, actually avoid acting towards their real goals because acting requires that one takes chances and risks. Passivity is thus as widespread as it is harmful, and difficult to rid oneself of—and for this very same reason it is intriguing when someone succeeds in taking action. 'Laura – in Action' is thus an attempt to dramatize the passivity and the happy circumstance that it is possible to act.

(2) The decision to act instead of being passive is a decision that takes place within the mind of a human being. But to show a person who is merely deciding something is boring on film—unless the audience understand exactly what the decision is about. Therefore, I wanted to let the audience have access to Laura's thoughts and feelings. To achieve this, I used the technique of mixing real life action with animation, and because I wanted to communicate Laura's emotions and thoughts clearly, comprehensively and visually, I choose the style of classic cartoons, which traditionally dramatize their stories clearly and visually through physical action. By making Laura a cartoonist, I wanted to make it probable that her thoughts would materialize as cartoons, thereby tying the outer circumstances to the Laura's thoughts and feelings. My intention was thus to create a film where the protagonists' inner life is as concrete, and as visually expressed, as her 'real' life.

What were some of the biggest challenges in making and completing the film? I wish I could say that the only challenges in making the film were the artistic challenges of making the film just right. Luckily there were plenty of such challenges, and lots of wonderful, brain wrecking work had to be done to find the very best solutions in a great many different areas.
However, the greatest challenges unfortunately came from the low budget of the film. But these challenges are inevitable in low budget filmmaking, and while they must be accepted as a fact, they are not important. What's important is the film itself.

In the spirit of Jackson, what's your favorite Western? High Noon (1952), because of its beautifully effective simplicity.

LAURA IN ACTION, writen and directed by Laerke Drews, will screen in Student Voices III at 4:45P, Saturday, June 7th at the Center For the Arts, Studio 4 and Sunday, June 8th at 10:15P at the Center for the Arts, Studio 4.

MEET THE FILMMAKER: Brad Isaacs - HAVE DREAMS, WILL TRAVEL

As we get nearer to the festival, we will be featuring the various filmmakers whose work will be screening throughout the festival.

Introduce Yourself: My name is Brad Isaacs. Woody Allen, Milos Forman and John Schlesinger are the folks whose movies inspired me to direct. I think every director has his/her Cuckoo's Nest or Midnight Cowboy, stories told so powerfully it makes you want to do something of equal influence. Good luck.

Tell us about your inspiration and vision for the film: I wrote my script after taking a five-month road trip. My old dog Duke and I drove through the South, by the many apartments, houses and schools where my childhood was spent. Although I had (and still have) very loving parents, they were young and not ready for parenting at some level. They split when I was a tyke and my youth was spent bouncing back and forth between them and two years at a military academy during my fifth and sixth grades. Anyway, during the car trip the part of my childhood that was rudderless and lonely was fairly overwhelming. So I wrote a story about it and made up the rest.

What were some of the biggest challenges in making and completing the film? You need a lot of serendipity to get a 'small' movie like this made. Then you need even more serendipity during the filming and post process for your movie to be any good. I got some great breaks and some shitty ones, just like everyone else. I look at the final cut now and see lots of things I could've done better. But I also see moments that are truly magical. Most of that credit goes to the cast.

One thing I do know is that with our schedule and budget, the movie wouldn't have had a chance if we didn't have two amazing kids playing the leads, Cayden and AnnaSophia. They understood the story, disappeared into their characters and were brilliant. Any critical or financial success this movie achieves is because of them.

In the spirit of Jackson, what's your favorite Western? Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.

HAVE DREAMS, WILL TRAVEL, written and directed by Brad Isaacs, will screen Friday, June 6th at 4:15P at the Teton Theatre.

MEET THE FILMMAKER: Preston DeFrancis - THE BIG PRODUCTION

As we get nearer to the festival, we will be featuring the various filmmakers whose work will be screening throughout the festival.

Introduce Yourself: Hi there, I’m Preston DeFrancis. I’m originally from Wheeling, West Virginia, but I’ve lived in Los Angeles since I came out to the USC School of Cinematic Arts for my MFA in Film/TV Directing. I’m really excited that the Jackson Hole Film Festival is giving me a chance to visit such a beautiful part of the country.

How did you become interested in filmmaking? For as long as I can remember, watching and making film and television have been what I am most passionate about. As a young child, my favorite books were about movies, and I started taking piano lessons because I wanted to learn to play movie themes. It seemed natural to me to want to be a part of the filmmaking process. Unfortunately, there is virtually no film industry in West Virginia, and I felt that my dream was out of reach. Instead, I went to college to study a technical field. While an undergraduate, I was inspired by film professors and film professionals that I met to pursue filmmaking as a career; this led me to pursue my graduate degree in film.

Tell us about your inspiration and vision for the film: I have always been fascinated by the idea that different people can perceive a single event completely differently. I decided to explore that idea to humorous extremes in THE BIG PRODUCTION. The heightened nature of the comedy gave me the opportunity to allow each character’s personality to color their viewpoint so much that each one tells his or her side of the story as a completely different film genre. I loved the idea of having a single film that contains literally five genres. We were determined to make each genre distinct, each with a unique writing style, lighting scheme, and soundtrack.

What were some of the biggest challenges in making and completing the film? As a young filmmaker, mastering one style is difficult, let alone five. Yet we really tried to make every aspect of each genre true to that genre’s conventions. For instance, we actually shot the Sitcom portion of the film with multiple cameras and added a laugh track. We went so far as to shoot on four entirely different media: 35mm film, Super 16mm film, high definition video, and even standard definition video. Dealing with the different needs of each genre and format was incredibly difficult, but also an incredible learning experience and is, I think, what helps to make the film unique.

In the spirit of Jackson, what's your favorite Western? Clint Eastwood’s revisionist Western Unforgiven has been my favorite since I saw it as a teenager.

THE BIG PRODUCTION, directed by Preston DeFrancis, will screen in Student Voices I at 7:15P, Friday, June 6th at the Pink Garter Theatre and Sunday, June 8th at 9:45P at the Pink Garter Theatre.

MEET THE FILMMAKER: Hart Bochner - JUST ADD WATER

As we get nearer to the festival, we will be featuring the various filmmakers whose work will be screening throughout the festival.

Introduce Yourself: Hart Bochner, writer and director of JUST ADD WATER.

Several years go, I was acting in a film on location in and around Bakersfield, CA. Nearing the end of the schedule, the company packed up and headed two hours east, deep into the isolated, baked Mojave Desert to a dot on the map called Trona. It was, without question, about the strangest place I’d ever seen. I was immediately fascinated by its contrasts: a community surrounded by startling beauty, now in decay amid severe toxic waste.

Trona has been a mining town for over one hundred years, and its people and landscape have paid a heavy toll. Once proud and prosperous, the place is now all but abandoned. What few residents remain are either too nostalgic to leave, prisoners of the welfare state, or, more insidiously, purveyors of Meth. Though I’ve traveled the world, I’d never seen this kind of poverty and bleakness before. And what I found most startling was that it lies less than three hours from Los Angeles.

We only shot a couple of nights in town, but it had firmly been etched into my psyche. How could a place like this exist in America? How could a town be so forgotten? And where was the Superfund Cleanup crew?

Then a few years back, on my way to Death Valley, I revisited Trona, wondering if what I remembered was more imagination than reality. But it was actually worse: more decay, more deadness, more of what I’d been so moved and disturbed by before. Coincidentally, I was at that time mulling over a script idea, something I could sink my teeth into and direct myself. Walking through the abandoned neighborhoods, I let my mind wander. And then it hit me: A love story set in hell, a hopeful-yet-off-kilter romantic comedy, in contrast to everything the eye could see. If along the way it took a look at the social and environmental issues that beset the town, so be it. For my protagonist I envisioned the average Joe, a man who set personal dreams aside to provide for his family. Through events that ultimately upend his life, he would rediscover his purpose, and begin to dream again, for himself and community.

Today’s Trona reflects nothing of its distant hey day. Neighborhood children live and play in rubble. Teen boys, with nothing to do, look for trouble. Many of the girls are pregnant. Gone is America’s first indoor mall. Ditto the Ford Dealership (‘Drive a Little/Save a Lot’), the proud community where the folks in Ridgecrest used to come to shop and dine., Today’s Trona endures fallout from the Manson Gang (who actually lived there), and domination by general anarchy. The one sign of productivity is the looming monolithic Borax plant, droning 24/7 as it spews mucky effluent everywhere, garnering Trona the distinction of having the worst air and water quality in the U.S.

And so, with these notions ruminating in my mind, I headed back to L.A. and started writing. Nine months later I had a script and a meeting with Jersey Films, Danny DeVito’s company. Danny quickly joined our enterprise, and he would become a loyal friend in a lengthy process to make this film.
With financing eventually secured, we suddenly had a scant four weeks to prepare. Since the film was ingrained in my head, I felt this truncated prep was viable. But there was a key issue. Being Canadian, I could’ve headed north of the border and saved some money. As a DGA PAC Committee member, I was hell-bent to shoot locally, supporting our unions and workers. And Trona had everything I needed. It was the only place to shoot this film. Case closed.

When we moved up to location, the residents opened their homes to us. I was careful not to look like we were taking over. One of the benefits of shooting in a near-abandoned town is that you can’t really disturb that much. Whenever possible, we hired residents for production jobs, background, etc. We housed the company twenty-two miles west, in Ridgecrest, a growing naval town (yes, there’s a naval base in the middle of the desert).

On the first day of principal, a little boy, perhaps nine years old, attached himself to the production. From that point on, he became our fourth AD, complete with walkie-talkie. Little Matthew was more than a novelty; he knew the ins and outs of the town and helped us no end. With Matthew on our team, more locals followed, and my producers Robin Bissell and Clifford Werber alerted the caterer to always have plenty of food on hand for anyone who needed a meal. It was the least we could do.

I was well aware of how personally moved I was by my own experience with Trona. What I didn’t know was how the company would react. Had I overestimated my sense of the place? But from the outset, the cast and crew felt similar awe. As time went on, neighbors and the company became one. One of the actor’s and his wife adopted a local abused child. My 1st AD regularly returns, picking up Matthew and his siblings, taking them on jaunts to Disneyland. Others return just because.

That’s the thing about Trona. While we may have made a tiny mark on the town and its people, they clearly made a bigger imprint on us. And while the experience on any given film never ensures a positive outcome, I am so proud that it enriched the lives of those I brought to it.

JUST ADD WATER, written and directed by Hart Bochner, will screen Sunday, June 8th at 5:30P at the Center for the Arts - Studio One.

MEET THE FILMMAKER: Samuele Romano - CAMILLE E MARIUCCIA

As we get nearer to the festival, we will be featuring the various filmmakers whose work will be screening throughout the festival.

Introduce Yourself: I was born in Milan but I now live in London, where I studied at the London Film School. Since graduation, I've worked on different projects, from short films to music videos. At the moment, I spend lots of time walking around my neighbourhood looking for my next story.

How did you become interested in filmmaking? Since I was a teenager, I've always been intrigued by storytelling, and movies seemed to me the simplest way of doing it. Obviously, once I got into it, I realised it was probably tougher.

Tell us about your inspiration and vision for the film: When I started writing the script, I decided to look for a simple story, developing it in a short span, and to focus on its characters. That's also what I kept in mind as I was shooting: being simple and direct.

What were some of the biggest challenges in making and completing the film? Directing a ferret and hiding in the trunk.

In the spirit of Jackson, what's your favorite Western? Once Upon a Time in the West, by Sergio Leone.

CAMILLE E MARIUCCI, written and directed by Samuele Romano, will screen in Student Voices II at 1:45P, Friday, June 6th at the Pink Garter Theatre and Saturday, June 7th at 10:15P at the Pink Garter Theatre.

MEET THE FILMMAKER: Peter Ricq - GLITCH

As we get nearer to the festival, we will be featuring the various filmmakers whose work will be screening throughout the festival.

Introduce Yourself: My name is Peter Ricq, I'm the director of GLITCH. I live in Vancouver but was born and raised in Montreal.

How did you become interested in filmmaking? I became interested in filmmaking at an early age. I watched the same movies like Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, 2001, Ghost busters over and over again, It was just a nice escape from reality. When I knew that I could one day do my own films as a living, I decided that was it.

Tell us about your inspiration and vision for the film: This is a graduate film that I did in my last year in University. I had done comedic films before and so this time I wanted to tackle another genre. I really enjoy science fiction and Phillip K. Dick style suspense stories. I had this story in mind for a while and now I finally had the time and experience to do every scene the way I envisioned it.

What were some of the biggest challenges in making and completing the film? Animation takes a lot of time to do, just drawing it all and hoping to make it on time was challenging. I would work on this film for 6 to 11 hours everyday , even weekends. It wasn't esay and you've got to be dedicated and not easily distracted from all the great parties that you may be missing out on and the girlfriend telling you that you're not spending enough time with her.

In the spirit of Jackson, what's your favorite Western? I haven't seen many but I'd say "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" was fantastic.

GLITCH, directed by Peter Ricq, will screen in Student Voices III at 4:45P, Saturday, June 7th at the Center For the Arts, Studio 4 and Sunday, June 8th at 10:15P at the Center for the Arts, Studio 4.

MEET THE FILMMAKER: Kohl Glass - DER OSTWIND

As we get nearer to the festival, we will be featuring the various filmmakers whose work will be screening throughout the festival.

Introduce Yourself:My name is Kohl Glass and I am a filmmaker from Mesa, Arizona. I studied film at Brigham Young University where I made the award winning short films, The Promethean, and The Fisherman and His Wife. As my final project as a student I wrote and directed Der Ostwind which played at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

How did you become interested in filmmaking? I became interested in becoming a filmmaker once I realized the huge impact movies had on me even as a little child. I didn't know it as I was growing up, but I loved hearing stories and I loved dreaming up stories. Once I recognized that in myself filmmaking seemed like the only choice. The stories I dreamed up the most were about airplanes and their pilots. I was crazy about aviation and still am today. So it is no surprise that given the opportunity I made an aviation film.

Tell us about your inspiration and vision for the film: Der Ostwind is a short film about honor, arch enemies, and redemption set in the skies of WWI. It's everything I love, and I feel so blessed to have been able to make this film.

What were some of the biggest challenges in making and completing the film? Der Ostwind took three years of actual production to complete. When we started we faced a huge learning curve. We knew that we had the capability to make the film, we just didn't know how. Figuring it out was a probably our biggest challenge.

In the spirit of Jackson, what's your favorite Western? On top of being an airplane freak, I'm also a western fan, thanks to my dad. My "Favorite Western" title is actually split three ways between The Good The Bad The Ugly, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, and Lonesome Dove.

DER OSTWIND, directed by Kohl Glass, will screen in Student Voices III at 4:45P, Saturday, June 7th at the Center For the Arts, Studio 4 and Sunday, June 8th at 10:15P at the Center for the Arts, Studio 4.

MEET THE FILMMAKER: Paul Yates - ONION UNDERWATER

As we get nearer to the festival, we will be featuring the various filmmakers whose work will be screening throughout the festival.

Introduce Yourself: Ahoy everyone. I am Paul Francis Sanchez Yates...sometimes known as Schaumgummi.

How did you become interested in filmmaking? I started making super 8 films and one of the first things I did was I wanted to imitate how you would appear and disappear, like on "Bewitched." So I would have my mom stand in the backyard and I figured out that if you stopped the camera, had her walk off and continued to film in the same spot it would look like she disappeared, so I would have her snap her fingers, appear and disappear all over the yard and that was the day I realized I was a filmmaker. Then I saw STAR WARS and that was that.

Tell us about your inspiration and vision for the film: Honestly-I dreamt the whole film one night and woke up and told my girlfriend, she cried...and that day she broke up with me.

What were some of the biggest challenges in making and completing the film? This film was from a dream...but obviously inspired by real events. When I was in undergrad 4 of my filmmaker friends drowned in 3 unrelated incidents...One was named Tara(also the name of he lead in ONION UNDERWATER) so while making this film I was very sensitive to their spirits.

In the spirit of Jackson, what's your favorite Western? My two favorite westerns are:
THE MAN FROM LARAMIE and WINCHESTER '73.

ONION UNDERWATER, directed by Paul Yates, will screen in Student Voices II at 1:45P, Friday, June 6th at the Pink Garter Theatre and Saturday, June 7th at 10:15P at the Pink Garter Theatre.

MEET THE FILMMAKER: Craig Saavedra - SHERMAN'S WAY

As we get nearer to the festival, we will be featuring the various filmmakers whose work will be screening throughout the festival.

Introduce Yourself: Los Angeles native Craig Saavedra comes to directing from the executive suite, having held various positions in development and production at numerous production companies before donning a director’s hat for 1999’s TV movie RHAPSODY IN BLOOM starring Penelope Ann Miller, Ron Silver and a teenage Michael Shulman. In 2006, after focusing on writing, Saavedra teamed with a now-adult Shulman to form Starry Night Entertainment. He considers SHERMAN’S WAY his feature directorial debut.

How did you become interested in filmmaking? My dad was a terrific storyteller, filling my head as a boy each night with tales from around the globe. He was very visual in his descriptions of faraway lands, exotic peoples and adventures that a middle child of seven could only dream about while stuck in suburbia. When I was around 11 or 12, he came home from his job at Sears with a box full of discarded Super-8 cameras and asked if I wanted them. It wasn’t long before I turned our back yard into a back lot, complete with an entire western town – saloon, jail, you name it. My brothers and I built the street with a forced perspective and placed the smallest kids in our neighborhood at the end, and the biggest kids closest the camera. At one point our collection of sets included a log cabin and a pirate ship with a 30-foot mast. Eventually, I even filmed some of the stories my dad had told me.

Years later, after saving up to buy my own top-loading VCR, I began devouring every movie I could rent. The local video store was my film school. It was also where I learned that most of my father’s bedtime stories were not original, and in fact mere retellings of the films he saw at the movie palaces that lined Broadway in the downtown Los Angeles of his youth. “It’s not the story” he’d say, “It’s how you tell it that makes a film unique.”

I entered the film business as a story reader for a big producer, then ran a post-production facility and eventually landed at a job in development. My entrée into directing came via producing, not a typical route. But extremely valuable when attempting to direct a tightly financed independent feature.

Tell us about your inspiration and vision for the film: My partner Joaquin, (who incidentally was our DP) and I have an adopted son, so I was looking to do a story dealing with unconventional fatherhood. When Mike (Shulman) and I formed our production company just after he graduated from Yale, the story we ended up developing more closely resembled our odd-couple relationship than a father-son story, but still managed to deal with issues of fatherhood.

Visually, for better or worse, it’s not a splashy piece. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s beautifully shot, but the material didn’t call for a heavy-handed directorial flare. Which totally sucks because my first directing effort was a TV movie, so I really wanted to break free from conventional coverage and be overtly cinematic, but ultimately, I had to serve the story, which didn’t call for anything of that sort.

SHERMAN’S WAY is probably more mainstream, more “studio” than most indie fare. I hope to challenge myself a little more, break free from my comfort zone, with my next picture. Who knows? Maybe I’ll do an incestuous, Lesbian love story set in a Parisian mime community during the first World War. That screams for edgy visuals, don’t it?

What were some of the biggest challenges in making and completing the film? Time. As with many indie films, the small budget doesn’t necessarily hinder you with lack of equipment, or rawstock or the tools needed to manufacture the film, but rather a shooting schedule that prohibits you from getting all the coverage you need, and in a comedy, coverage is essential. We had three weeks of prep. Three weeks to crew up, lock locations, design and build sets, shop for wardrobe, assemble equipment, etc. And in the middle of our prep, our UPM took time off and got married. It’s a miracle we finished on time and on budget. Of course all I see on screen is what I didn’t get. I’m just thrilled audiences are responding so positively to the film.

In addition, we didn’t cut as we shot. Our editor Chris Gay was still at AFI wrapping up other projects, so when he was finally brought onboard, he had to play catch up with tons of footage. Plus, he was a one-man editorial team since we couldn’t afford any assistants. That put a lot of pressure on him, but he handled it brilliantly.

In the spirit of Jackson, what's your favorite Western? I love the genre so it’s a little hard to narrow it down. I just saw RED RIVER on the big screen, which was a treat. And THE SEARCHERS, of course, is a classic favorite. I also love THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE. But if I had to boil it down to just one, I’d have to say George Steven’s SHANE is my absolute favorite western. Maybe it’s the unconventional casting of the somewhat short Alan Ladd that had me identifying with him. Or his surrogate fatherhood to little Joey. Or perhaps the stunning, yet accessible cinematography and locales that made it stand out from so many cookie-cutter westerns of that era. Unlike others in the genre, the film’s success seems to lie in the dimensional characters and it’s deliberate pacing rather than mere action. Whatever the case, it’s a film that I can watch over and over and never feel that it’s overly dated. Although, inexplicably I can’t help myself from crying out “Shane! SHANE!” every time Ladd’s character exits a scene. Go figure.

Sherman's Way will screen at 7:00 PM on Friday, June 6th at the Center for the Arts - Studio One and at 12:30P on Sunday, June 8th at the Center for the Arts - Studio One.

Meet the Filmmakers: Marc Dole and Zack Pike - ENDURANCE CHALLENGE: Mordred's Isle Episodes 1 & 2

As we get nearer to the festival, we will be featuring the various filmmakers whose work will be screening throughout the festival.

Introduce Yourself: Marc: Marc Dole Founder of Hatchling Studios and Executive Producer and sometimes Writer, Director, Editor. Father of 4 teenage girls, Husband to a woman that has more energy than the Energizer Bunny. Zack: I'm Zack Pike, a writer and director here at Hatchling Studios.

How did you become interested in filmmaking? Marc: I grew up on the Stooges and Chuck Jones Cartoons. When I was 14 I borrowed my grandmothers video camera and started making stop motion transformers films, then took computer programming classes in High School and was able to marry the 2 interests and fortunate to be able to make money at making commercials to support my addiction to storytelling. Zack: I've always been an animation nut. When I was a kid, I was always in line on opening night for any Disney Movie. I still am for all the Pixar films. And I've watched more Saturday morning cartoons than anyone has a right to. In college, I realized that I could actually create my own animations, and I've never looked back.

Tell us about your inspiration and vision for the film: Marc: in 2005 we started full production of our film "The Toll" and in 2006 when we were ready to release it, we knew we needed more content to release on the web because we saw the growing consumption of online media. Zack: Marc called me one day and said we needed something that was fantasy based for TV. I think reality TV's format (the random interactions, personal interviews, and ridiculous "challenges") make it a great format for spoofing anything. As for the Fantasy, I grew up with my nose to the nerdy grindstone. I loved almost anything Fantasy – games, books, movies, you name it. Between myself and the other geeks at the office, we're a never-ending wellspring of useless fantasy knowledge.

What were some of the biggest challenges in making and completing the film? Marc: Getting the right cast and crew together and fitting the desire for a great project into the time and budget that fits is always tough no matter how much you love the idea. Getting our favorite voice actor, Billy West, to sign on was the lead into pushing forward. Zack: It's hard to cram 12 characters into 5 minute episodes and give them all a sense of character. Certainly some come across stronger than others in particular episodes, but we want them all to stand out as competitors and not just part of the crowd.

In the spirit of Jackson, what's your favorite Western? Marc: Blazing Saddles Zack: The Magnificent 7

Endurance Challenge: Mordred's Isle Episodes 1 & 2 will screen at 8:00 PM on Thursday, June 5th at the Center for the Arts - Studio Four and at 3:45P on Saturday, June 7th at the Center for the Arts - Studio Two.

Meet the Filmmaker: Rocco DeVilliers - THE FLYBOYS

As we get nearer to the festival, we will be featuring the various filmmakers whose work will be screening throughout the festival.

Introduce Yourself: My name is Rocco DeVilliers. I produced and directed a picture called THE FLYBOYS. I wanted to make the kind of film that I would have loved as a twelve-year-old, but would still watch and enjoy as an adult.

How did you become interested in filmmaking? I became interested in filmmaking when I saw JAWS at the age of 5. I was lucky enough to grow up watching the films that Spielberg and Lucas were making 30 years ago. After STAR WARS and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK I was hooked for life.

Tell us about your inspiration and vision for the film: My grandfather, Don Novas, was a crop-duster in Blackfoot, Idaho. I have very fond memories of spending summers with my grandparents and playing at the local airport with my cousins. We would play in my grandfather’s Twin Beech and make up all kinds of adventures. That was the inspiration for THE FLYBOYS.

What were some of the biggest challenges in making and completing the film? Some of the biggest challenges involved shooting an action film with minors on a low budget. Working with kids has many challenges. The hours they can work per day on the set are limited. We also had to do a lot of stunt work on the picture. I wanted to shoot this film the old-fashioned way – with real stunt men performing real stunts. I wanted to avoid CGI and special effects work as much as possible. Everything you see in the film was done for real.

In the spirit of Jackson, what's your favorite Western? I love the American Western and the values that are often portrayed in them. I have many favorites, but I’d have to say my top 3 are: LONESOME DOVE – Incredible cast. Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones were fantastic. THE SEARCHERS – John Ford’s masterpiece. Brilliant cinematography. John Wayne was at the top of his game in this film. THE COWBOYS – Another classic. John Wayne with a bunch of kids on a dangerous cattle drive: What could be better.

THE FLYBOYS, produced and directed by Rocco DeVilliers, will screen at 10:30 AM, Saturday, June 7th at the Teton Theatre.