Monday, March 31, 2014

Bradley Hutchinson - Final Thoughts

Some final thoughts from filmmaker Bradley Hutchinson, who recently completed touring his film Barzan on the Southern Circuit:

While riding on a 4am shuttle from Athens to the Atlanta airport I am trying to find words to describe the last two weeks I have spend on the Southern Film Circuit. In between the perils of travel and sickness I have met a lot of genuinely engaged and passionate lovers of film. Whether in Gallatin, Tennessee or Louisville, Kentucky or Augusta, Georgia or Hanceville, Alabama everyone in the audiences were amazingly receptive to our film.

For Gallatin and Louisville our films Executive Producer Cassidy Dimon joined the tour. Both of these screenings went really well, the staff at both venues were great and both Tennessee and Kentucky are really interesting places for something who has rarely been outside of Washington State. Cassidy and I went to the Mammoth caves on one of our driving days and if you ever get a chance to go there... do! It is amazing.

After Cassidy and I wrapped up the Louisville screening she had to head home. At that point co-director Alex Stonehill and our film's reporter/producer Sarah Stuteville joined me for the remained of the tour. They are the production team that went to Iraq and conducted all of the interviews so they added a lot of first person experience and stories to the rest of the Q&As. Creatively the three of us were the core that made the film so we spent a lot of our time talking about the experience over the last two years of making the film the pitfalls and the successes. By the end of our final week I think we really felt like the Southern Film Circuit was a big part of our general feelings of accomplishment and success. Our final screening in Winder, Georgia was particularly good in part because the audience really seemed to love the film but also because we had a fantastic moderator for our Q&A Mr Christopher Childs. He asked some great questions that got us talking about this film and saying things I don't ever remember saying in a room full of people.

Now back in Washington State going through pictures and writing this I can't help thinking that my experience on the Southern Film Circuit is one that I'll carry with me for the rest of my life. There really is nothing else like it that I know of and that is something to have a lot of pride in.

So thank you to all the people at the Southern Film Circuit who manage and facilitate it, thank you to all the venues and the people who run them, and of course thanks you to all the people who came out and watched our movie.
-Bradley Hutchinson

For all of you who missed the chance to see Barzan on the Southern film Circuit look for it on Amazon, iTunes and other VOD services starting in June 2014.

Alex and Sarah at Wallace State

Winder Screening

Bottomless Pit inside Mammath caves

Cassidy and Brad

Clifton Center in Louisville

Mammath Caves sign

Palace Theater Gallatin

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