Mark your calendars for a cinematic tour de force; the debut of the Wake Forest Film Festival on March 28, 29, and 30, 2019.
This inaugural event aims to spotlight passionate, creative and thought-provoking movies by some of today’s most promising and accomplished local, national, and international filmmakers.
The festival will engage audiences with films of all lengths and genres that include short and feature, documentary, horror, animation, narrative and student.
This festival is intended for both the general public and film professionals. Screenings and related activities all take place at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre, located at 405 S Brooks Street, Wake Forest, North Carolina.
A Films Day Pass is available for Friday, movies only, at $10 per person. A Friday+Saturday movies-only pass is $20 per person.
Ticket packages may be purchased via www.etix.com. Or, call the Box Office at 919.435.9458.
The Saturday, March 30, 2019 happenings includes movies and master classes. The latter are free but require separate registration. Links are provided below.
See film festival information at www.wakeforestrencen.org/event/wake-forest-film-festival.
2019 Wake Forest Film Festival Schedule
Opening Red Carpet Reception: Thursday, March 28, 2019 (6-7pm)
Featured Movies: Thursday, March 28, 2019 (6-9:30pm)
FOXES
Filmmaker: Tristan Taylor
Category: Short (14:48)
Brothers and their girlfriends meet for dinner. After a testy exchange, the men’s roles of big-brother- caregiver and little-brother-in-need-of-guidance must evolve—for the stakes are life itself.
Homecoming
Filmmaker: Tom Hodges, Jennifer Blair
Category: Short (6:30)
When a college sophomore returns home to share some important news with his parents, things don’t go exactly as he expected…until they do.
Yadvi
Filmmakers: Gauri Singh, Jyoti Singh, Vick Krishna
Category: Feature (1:47:00)
Based on a true story of a Princess in India. Her journey of strength and courage and living with dignity, at times where women hardly had any freedom.
Featured Movies: Friday, March 29, 2019 (3-9pm)
Burning Grief
Filmmaker: Roger Barker, Mike Donaghy
Category: Short (4:22)
Three sisters deal with grief in their own different ways during a journey to a heritage railway station.
Vinyl Dinosaurs
Filmmakers: Michael and Cindy Salerno
Category: Documentary Feature (47:00)
After becoming intrigued by her grandmother’s old records, a young woman discovers a new world in old vinyl as she goes digging for “vinyl dinosaurs”—vintage records of great music from the past. On her journey, she meets a community of record lovers who help keep the past the alive and rocking.
GRIT
Filmmaker: Charles Wilson
Category: Short (11:19)
After a long day’s work, a young teacher returns to find his home has been burglarized. When he discovers his relation to the culprit and their motive, he resorts to rogue tactics in order to save a loved one spiraling down a deadly path.
Smoke’s Last Thought
Filmmaker: Miranda Javid
Category: Animated Short (16:15)
A wisp of smoke rises through Los Angeles. She celebrates her life—and mourns her imminent demise.
Greece
Filmmaker: Sarah Deakins
Category: Short (15:28)
On a rainy afternoon in a British nursing home, a woman struggles to make a last connection with her seemingly catatonic mother.
Hot Questions
Filmmaker: Al Julian
Category: Short (8:32)
During a criminal interrogation, the tables are turned in a shocking manner.
The Spectrum
Filmmaker: Angeline Bryant
Category: Student Feature (45:00)
The Spectrum follows the perspective and imagination of Garrett, a seventeen year-old boy with Autism Spectrum Disorder and his journey to find independence.
Fallen
Filmmaker: Emily Lawton
Category: Animated Short (4:04)
A leisurely bus ride turns into a flood of happy memories for an old woman.A leisurely bus ride turns into a flood of happy memories for an old woman.
The Session
Filmmaker: Al Julian
Category: Short (10:19)
In a room full of killers, someone is bound to snap.
FOXES
Filmmaker: Tristan Taylor
Category: Short (14:48)
Brothers and their girlfriends meet for dinner. After a testy exchange, the men’s roles of big-brother- caregiver and little-brother-in-need-of-guidance must evolve—for the stakes are life itself.
Homecoming
Filmmaker: Tom Hodges, Jennifer Blair
Category: Short (6:30)
When a college sophomore returns home to share some important news with his parents, things don’t go exactly as he expected…until they do.
Wilmington on Fire
Filmmaker: Christopher Everett
Category: Documentary (1:30:00)
A massacre kept secret for over 100 years. Now the truth will finally be revealed.
Master Classes: Saturday, March 30, 2019
Master Classes are held at the Ren Center, 405 S Brooks Street, Wake Forest. All classes are free but registration is required. Spaces are limited.
Everything You Need to Know about Script Writing in 60 minutes (11am-noon)
Presenter: Tony Daniel
This workshop is an overview of writing scripts for film and television. Participants will discuss structure and format, and talk a bit about the business of screenwriting. Tony Daniel is the coauthor of horror film Flu Birds seen on the SyFy Channel, and Chiller Channel film Beneath (directed by Larry Fessenden) in addition to other scripts for film and television. He taught scriptwriting at the University of Texas at Dallas and several of his former students are cutting the rug as television staff writers and movie screenwriters in Hollywood and beyond. Daniel is also a highly regarded science fiction novelist, the author of ten novels, and many award-winning short stories.
Register at www.cognitoforms.com/RenaissanceCenter1/EverythingYouNeedToKnowAboutScriptWritingIn60Minutes.
Women in Film (1-2pm)
A discussion with Natalie Bullock Brown, Mindy Fuller and Gauri Singh.
This discussion features three professional filmmakers who will share their valuable experiences, and successful creative work in film. The panel will share the obstacles they have faced, give insights into what to do to be successful, as well as give advice on the nuts and bolts of what makes a woman pass hurdles in the film industry.
Register at www.cognitoforms.com/RenaissanceCenter1/WomenInFilmADiscussion.
Your Indie Film: Make It Happen (2-3pm)
Presenter: Rob Underhill
Got a story to tell? In Your Indie Film: Make It Happen we cover all stages of production from that concept doodled on a napkin at the coffee shop to showcasing your finished narrative film to your peers, to the possibilities of your work globetrotting the world and beyond.
Rob Underhill is a Raleigh-based film & media director, producer, editor, writer. His feature films & more than 50 short-films have received over 100 awards, showcased at over 200 screening engagements worldwide, including CANNES & Academy-qualifying film festivals like ST. LOUIS & SEATTLE.
Register at www.cognitoforms.com/RenaissanceCenter1/YourIndieFilmMakeItHappen.
Featured Movies: Saturday, March 30, 2019
The Graveyard Shift
Filmmaker: Tom Radovich
Category: Short (16:36)
On his first night on the job, a night watchman in an office complex sees a ghost on his surveillance feed. When the ghost goes on a rampage, the same surveillance cameras prove his only chance to survive.
Radio Lune
Filmmaker: Pierre Gaffié
Category: Short (Time TBA)
Sibyl is dealing with her decision to end things with Loic, with whom she just spent the night after 5 long years of being apart. How will she handle this moment of weakness? What else can happen on such a night? While on her way to work as a late night radio host, she is suddenly confronted with an even more unsettling event. Then, while on the air, she takes the heart-rending testimony of a listener she must also find a way to guide. Maybe the pull of the full moon will help Sibyl make all the right decisions…Translation (English):
Sibyl is dealing with her decision to end things with Loïc, with whom she just spent the night after 5 long years of being apart. How will she handle this moment of weakness now? What else can happen on such a night?
While on her way to work as a late night radio show host, she’s suddenly confronted with an even more unsettling event. Then, while on the air, she takes the heart-rending testimony of a listener she must also find a way to guide. Maybe the pull of the full moon will help Sibyl make all the right decisions …Sibyl is dealing with her decision to end things with Loïc, with whom she just spent the night after 5 long years of being apart. How will she handle this moment of weakness now? What else can happen on such a night?
While on her way to work as a late night radio show host, she’s suddenly confronted with an even more unsettling event. Then, while on the air, she takes the heart-rending testimony of a listener she must also find a way to guide. Maybe the pull of the full moon will help Sibyl make all the right decisions …
Looking In
Filmmaker: Cameron Mitchell
Category: Horror Short (12:05)
Clark, a young man with a history of mental illness, meets Haley, a girl dressed in white who may be real, a ghost, or a figment of his imagination – which would indicate that Clark is not done with his problems after all. Haley insists that people Clark trusts killed her, and that he may be next. Yet can Clark trust his own mind?Clark is at his church when he meets Haley, a girl dressed all in white. Clark thinks she may be homeless, and she scares him when she disappears. Clark soon begins acting strangely – missing time, seeing things that might not be there. His past history of mental illness is called into question, but he is adamant that he is okay. Haley insists that the people he works with killed her, and Clark struggles with the idea that she might be telling the truth. Everyone around him says she isn’t real, but what if she is?Clark is at his church when he meets Haley, a girl dressed all in white. Clark thinks she may be homeless, and she scares him when she disappears. Clark soon begins acting strangely – missing time, seeing things that might not be there. His past history of mental illness is called into question, but he is adamant that he is okay. Haley insists that the people he works with killed her, and Clark struggles with the idea that she might be telling the truth. Everyone around him says she isn’t real, but what if she is.
Clark is at his church when he meets Haley, a girl dressed all in white. Clark thinks she may be homeless, and she scares him when she disappears. Clark soon begins acting strangely – missing time, seeing things that might not be there. His past history of mental illness is called into question, but he is adamant that he is okay. Haley insists that the people he works with killed her, and Clark struggles with the idea that she might be telling the truth. Everyone around him says she isn’t real, but what if she is?
Hunters and Gatherers
Filmmaker: Andreas Ramm
Category: Short (14:59)
Two survivors of riot and strife roam a post-apocalyptic urban landscape seeking gear and sustenance. What they find is a clue to what happen that may spell their doom – or their ultimate salvation.The year is 2044. A violent conflict permeates throughout the country. Various zones are ridden by chaos and terror. To put down riots, the regime sends troops but does not shy away from biological warfare. The wind seems to carry the toxic substances to every corner of the region.
Virtually indifferent to this, an off-track sniper unit prowls one of the recently embattled zones. Haggard, yet thinking themselves safe, they wander through the streets and rows of houses of the war stricken metropolis. Their aim is to make contact with the rest of their unit. In this forlorn world, they become aware of the consequences of their actions only late. The line between good and evil has become unclear. The battle is hopeless and there is no end in sight. Because war is hell and it has imprisoned mankind.
Warren County: Birth of a Movement
Filmmaker: Michael Pearce
Category: Documentary Short (27:40)
In the early 1980s, the citizens of Warren County, North Carolina, sparked the birth of the environmental justice movement when they protested the state’s dumping of PCB contaminants in local soil.
Our Horizon
Filmmakers: Jack Szynaka, Nikki Conero
Category: Animated Short (6:32)
Holding in his heart the power to give life to all living things, a magical forest creature finds himself running for his life from a power hungry intent on capturing the heart and taking the magic for himself.
Yellow
Filmmaker: Sarah Deakins
Category: Short (33:46)
Ten characters each experience a crossroads in their lives on one seemingly ordinary afternoon in an art gallery.
Union Bound
Filmmaker: Michael Davis, Harvey Lowry
Category: Feature (1:43:00)
Based on a True Story and the actual diary of a Union Soldier: Sargent Joseph Hoover went to war to preserve the Union. After being captured and sent to a prisoner of war camp, he understood what it was to be kept against his will. Together with a friend he escaped and aided by slaves made it to freedom.
Awards Ceremony: Saturday, March 30, 2019
After Cinema Soiree (9pm-midnight)
Held at Unwind On White, 153 S White Street, Wake Forest, NC
Source: Catherine Gouge, Wake Forest Renaissance Centre
