heraldsun.com: Festival shows results of tough = choices

Festival shows results of tough choices =

By Rebecca=20 Bailey : The Herald-Sun
chh@heraldsun.com
Nov 16,=20 2007 : 9:14 pm ET

CARRBORO = -- "We=20 have music videos this year," said Jackie Helvey, who, with = Nic=20 Beery, founded the Carrboro Film Festival. "There's a movie = made up=20 entirely of old Westerns clips. We have a little bit of = history, a=20 lot of humor, a good selection of documentaries -- a great=20 film-filled day."

Sunday's=20 festival offers several award-winning films -- including a = student=20 Oscar winner -- in a lineup of 27 shorts, shot and edited by = local=20 talent. "We have all genres," said Beery. "Hang out for five = minutes=20 and there's something completely different." =

The level of talent and creativity in this = year's 100=20 submissions made the selection process tough, Beery said. = The judges=20 considered programming in their decisions, looking for a = balance of=20 comedy and documentary in the "absolute best" of the films.=20

"Great camera work, = script,=20 acting, lighting, music, editing -- all play a part in a = fabulous=20 film," Helvey said. "We always hope for fabulous."=20

Award-winning films = include Sean=20 Overbeeke's "Christmas Wish List," which won the top prize = in Los=20 Angeles' Student Academy Awards this past June. A second = Overbeeke=20 film, "Skip Rogerson, Extreme Walker," opens the festival. = It was=20 submitted through YouTube, but a high-quality film-reel = version will=20 be shown for the festival.

Another=20 multi-award winner in the festival is Gorham "Hap" Kindem's = music=20 video, "Talk Straight," featuring the music of local band = The Old=20 Ceremony, the UNC women's soccer team, cuts from the movie = "Bend it=20 Like Beckham" and footage from the efforts of Carolina For = Kibera.=20 Student volunteers' work in the impoverished suburb of = Nairobi=20 includes a youth soccer program and an HIV/AIDS program and = clinic.=20 The lyrics of Old Ceremony's "Talk Straight" suggested to = Kindem a=20 connection to the HIV-education program "Straight Talk."=20

"It just came to me," = said Kindem,=20 whose video won the Gold Award at the Everglades = International Film=20 Festival in South Africa this past September as well as a = host of=20 additional honors. "The lyrics of 'Talk Straight' could be = used for=20 a different purpose, and I saw soccer as a central tool to = link up=20 Chapel Hill, Kenya and England."

One young artist, 15-year-old Kelley = Katzenmeyer of=20 Durham, is on her way to an action-filled future. In = addition to=20 making two short films featured in Sunday's program, she = edited the=20 local Movie Maker's class film submitted by Melissa Lozoff's = advanced class. "She'll be at UCLA," said Beery of = Katzenmeyer.=20 "We're really proud of her, and we're crazy about Melissa."=20

Katzenmeyer, whose work = with Movie=20 Makers helped her attend a summer film program at the N.C. = School of=20 the Arts, took a break from shooting her current movie to = talk about=20 "Reflect" and "Beyond the Trees." Both are narrative = fiction, shot=20 with a handheld video camera. The two-and-a-half minute = "Reflect"=20 came out of this past summer's work at NCSA, while "Beyond," = an=20 experimental two-minute mood piece, "just sort of happened: = it's=20 very different -- that's why I like it." =

She and her sister Krista were practicing = running shots=20 for another movie when they came up with a plot involving = the trees.=20 "I shot it, and Krista acts in it," said Katzenmeyer. "We = weren't=20 sure what we were doing ... It sort of became something I = like a lot=20 because of the cinematography. And the music." The original = electric=20 guitar score is by Alex Hardy, a fellow student from the = School of=20 the Arts.

"The = Unfortunates,"=20 edited by Katzenmeyer, came out of Lozoff's 20-week class in = which=20 13-19-year-olds wrote and shot films created specifically = for=20 sending to festivals.

"It's so=20 sweet. It's one of the best we've ever done," said Lozoff of = the=20 story of two high school students who get beaten and = bloodied, and=20 end up having the best day of their lives. Viewers may = recognize UNC=20 Hospitals in one scene. "We always shoot on location," said = Lozoff,=20 who even took her crew to Wilmington for the beach scenes.=20

Audiences Sunday will = have the=20 chance to vote for their favorite documentary and favorite=20 narrative; and a panel will select "Best K-12" and "Best = Emerging"=20 films to comprise the four "Kay Kyser Achievement in Film" = awards.=20 New this year are the eight craft awards for directing, = lighting,=20 cinematography, script writing and other skills. Custom-made = sculptures by Carrboro artist Mike Roig, "all made out of = little=20 I-beams," said Beery, will be presented. =

Again, the choices will be tough. "With this = quality of=20 talent," said Beery, "I'm blown away."=20

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