On the Road with Chris Eska & "The Retrieval'

We have a few updates from filmmaker Chris Eska, currently touring his film The Retrieval on the Southern Circuit:

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Suwanee, Georgia
My tour began with a little taste of home since the City of Suwanee partners with the Texas theater chain The Movie Tavern, which serves real food while you enjoy the film.  Toni Shrewsbury, Adam Edge, and Lynne DeWilde all greeted me at the swanky bar inside the theater, and their Suwanee hospitality woke me up from my non-stop travel daze.  After the screening, the discussion was lively--every single person in the audience asked at least one question and we actually ran out of time!  It was a perfect kick-off to the trip, and it has me excited for more.

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Madison, Georgia
The trip from Suwanee to Madison went far beyond the suburbs of Atlanta into what reminded me of the rural South of my youth.   I was compelled to stop more than once to take photos along the scenic back roads.  Driving into Madison felt like coming home since I also grew up in a Texas town of about 5,000 people full of beautiful late 19th century homes and historical markers.  The screening took place in the incredible Madison Morgan Cultural Center, which is a large converted school house from the 1890’s.  Thanks to Rebecca Bonas for coordinating and to the African American Museum for sponsoring the reception!  Over 50 people stayed for an extended Q&A that also delved deep into my previous works and what it means to be an indie filmmaker.

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Hapeville, Georgia
It seemed like I was driving back into Atlanta, but Hapeville is a unique small town that just happens to be surrounded by the sprawl of the city.  It was a beautiful spring day with blossoming trees and the city of Hapeville hosted an outdoor reception (complete with live music) that really brought out an impressive crowd—over 70 people including the mayor!  The screening was on the grounds of a beautiful city park inside a renovated church from 1895, complete with intricate woodwork and real pews.  This made me initially feel like a preacher droning on at the beginning of the post-film discussion, but once the floor was opened to questions, the audience became very engaged with curiosity and many thoughtful comments.  It was a truly wonderful end to the Georgia leg of my tour, and I hope to come back soon.

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Lake Charles, Louisiana
From the moment I stepped on the plane, it felt like I was entering another country.  When I arrived in Lafayette and began driving to Lake Charles, southern Louisiana did not disappoint:  Zydeco and swamp pop on the radio, endless marshes, French language, green as far as the eye can see, and joyous people.   Before the screening, I stopped by the Downtown Crawfish Festival to hear some live Zydeco, see a crawfish eating contest, and get my picture taken with Miss Crawfish!  The screening at Banners at McNeese was also a huge success, and I enjoyed hearing about local life and history in Lake Charles as much as the audience enjoyed hearing about filmmaking.

Jan Krawitz - Suwanee, GA

The latest update from Jan Krawitz, touring her film Perfect Strangers on the Southern Circuit:

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I began my Southern Circuit tour on Monday, March 17. I've flown tens of thousands of miles in my life, but had an amazing moment of synchronicity as I boarded my plane in San Francisco to begin the tour. As everyone staggered down the aisles with their luggage, the captain made an announcement: he implored us to settle (especially) quickly because we were on a tight schedule and had to get in the air immediately. The plane was carrying a heart for transplant in Georgia so time was of the essence! Since my film, Perfect Strangers, is about an altruistic kidney donor who decides to find someone in need of a kidney, I marveled at this coincidence and felt that the transplant (and secondarily, my circuit tour) would have a successful outcome.

I am thrilled to be invited to a Southern Circuit tour for a second time. In 2005, I screened Big Enough (my documentary about dwarfs), to attentive audiences in the Carolinas, Mississippi, and Alabama. This time, I will be travelling through Georgia and Louisiana and I welcome the opportunity to do community-based screenings in mid-sized towns. The first screening in Suwanee, Georgia was such a great event that I can only hope the next five will sustain the momentum. My host, Toni Shrewsbury (Department of Economic and Community Development in Suwanee) and Alex Edge (Downtown and Business Development Manager) met me for dinner before the screening. Our conversation was primarily focused on the film as they had so many questions about the issues it raised. I was amazed at all of the details they had retained from the film and joked that they must have watched it only the day before (which wasn't the case)…

The screening was held at a place called the Movie Tavern. Someone had the brilliant idea to repurpose a former Publix supermarket and turn it into a beautifully designed multi-screen movie theater. Perfect Strangers screened in optimal conditions (food ordered at your comfortable seat and impeccable projection) to an audience of about 40 people who almost filled the intimate theater space. Following the film, Alex led with a few questions to get the ball rolling, but the baton quickly passed to the audience. They were curious about how Ellie (the film’s main subject) and I connected, what were her motivations, how she feels about what she did several years out, etc. About midway through the robust discussion, my host Toni asked if anyone in the audience had a personal relationship to the subject matter. It was a daring question and I appreciated her asking it. Sure enough, several individuals shared their stories including one woman who received her brother’s kidney 26 years ago and is doing great … and a second woman (whose husband had already asked several questions) who is on dialysis and has been on the wait list for a kidney for three years. There was a nice balance of questions between those focused on the issues raised by Perfect Strangers and those focused on the filmmaking choices. We cut off the conversation after 45 minutes of discussion when the theater personnel came in and asked us to vacate for the next screening. Ever onward to Madison, Georgia…..

George Gage- Georgia and Louisiana

The latest update from George Gage, touring his film Bidder 70 on the Southern Circuit.

I started out in Hapeville, GA, which is a cute little town. It is unbelievable that only a few miles out of Atlanta it’s almost seems like a throwback to the 1950’s. The venue was a cute little white church with a white steeple. I was met by a nice host, Allen O’Brien, who was very enthusiastic about having my film, Bidder 70 there. We had a good screening and a good crowd, and a very engaging Question and Answer session. All in all, my residency in Hapeville was very successful.

Then I went on to McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana. It was actually a small crowd. I was a little bit upset because at McNeese college, where the venue was, there’s an art program. Usually we get the local art students and social activist types attending the screenings, but I don’t think there were any students here, and I was disappointed. I just hope that young people and future generations start coming out to events like this and start coming out to movies because you can’t get the whole message by going on Facebook or streaming it online. When you have that one on one with the director or the protagonist of the film, I think you get so much more out of it. Again, the host, Ladonna McKnight was very nice.

Robert Redford wearing
a Bidder 70 hat on the set
of his 2012 film,
The Company You Keep.
Source: FlynetPictures.com

Something funny happened at this screening. I usually sell merchandise after the movie, including Bidder 70 hats, which Robert Redford made sort of famous by wearing it everywhere. This gentleman came up to me and I said asked how much it was to buy a hat. His wife said, "Oh he has so many hats!" and this gentleman agreed with her, and began to put the hat back on the merchandise table. But then, I just picked the hat back up put it right on his head and said, "Well now you have one more; that will be 20 dollars." And amazingly enough, he reached into his pocket and gave me the $20! I've learned that sometimes when the crowds are slim you have to push a little bit!

George Gage at the Movie Tavern

From Lake Charles, I then went on to the city of Suwanee, GA. The evening started out with a very nice dinner at Outback Steakhouse, with our host, Tony Shrewberry and Councilman Dan Foster. Dan took some really nice pictures of the theatre, which was called the Movie Tavern. The theatre is very interesting because it’s a dinner theatre, so people can sit at a table and watch the movie with a fresh cocktail and food as they enjoy the movie. Again, we had a nice crowd and a good Q&A session.

George Gage at the Movie Tavern

My next stop on the tour, in Alexandria, Louisiana was tough. The movie was screened at a giant venue. The theatre had 1,200 seats, and the audience was small. One member of the audience drove all the way up from New Orleans to see the movie! In fact, he’s going to be there again tonight to see the movie again! My next stop on tour, and where I’m reporting from now, Lafayette, Louisiana, has been great so far. I just had a radio interview at NPR (National Public Radio), which will hopefully reach out to the college students in the area. I really tried out to shout out to them. I said, “It’s really important that we get young people in the theatre. It’s important that young people get the message of Bidder 70 and the message of Timothy DeChristopher.” I've been very optimistic that we’ll have a nice crowd tonight that will include college students as well as what seems to be our average age group, which is people around age 55 or 60.

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[Update from the following day] - Well I did get some people to the screening in Lafayette because of the interview on NPR. There were quite a few mature people there that heard the interview and were inspired to come see the film. But again, no young people came, even though Lafayette is the city that the University of Louisiana is in. On a brighter note, there were a lot of members there from the Sierra Club. During the Q&A not only were the Sierra Club members very actively participating in questions about Timothy DeChristopher’s actions and Bidder 70 and everything else, they also got a discussion going of some of the local issues here in Lafayette, about some issues important to Louisiana and the Sierra Club. It was an inspiring, mature “round table” type discussion. The venue itself in Lafayette was an old historic building with excellent projection equipment. The surrounding area was really interesting! The buildings were like little museum pieces! The building where we actually held the screening was a really cool venue. 

Hope you find this report interesting and that something exciting will happen tonight in Madison!  

John Beck - Harvest Blog #2

An update from John Beck, currently touring his film Harvest:

(photo of me outside Movie Tavern)

We had an amazing screening in Suwanee last night. I think the Q&A lasted at least as long at the film.

Big thanks to Toni Shrewsbury and the gang with the City of Suwanee and the staff at the Movie Tavern for such warm hospitality.
(Did I mention you can order Kobe beef sliders and martinis by pushing a button on your seat at this theater?)

We had a great discussion about immigration and worker's rights and I even gave a few bottles of 2011 Foppiano sauvignon blanc (that's harvested in the film) to those who correctly answered trivia questions. One was a pregnant woman who promised not to uncork the bottle until after she gave birth.

My hat's off Adam Edge - the only person to ever notice that the grape grower in the film (Wayne Rogers) who loses 80 percent of his grapes to wild hogs - is sitting at a bar with a stuffed hog above his head in his final scene in the film. As a tribute to Adam, I stopped off at the Good Hope General Store and snapped this photo:

For Adam

I also took photos of cotton fields and thought about how in many ways cotton and grapes are similar - just as cotton was once king in this region, grapes are the dominant monoculture in Sonoma and Napa counties in Northern California.

When I rolled into Madison, the hotel clerk said, "It's a lot like Mayberry." The small town I live in - Benicia, in the San Francisco Bay Area - I like to call it "Mayberry by the Bay," so I feel right at home.

I'm looking forward to the screening at the Madison Morgan Cultural Center tonight. Come on out, I'd love to meet you. They're doing a tasting of Sonoma County wines afterward (6 reds and 6 whites) and local cheeses.

John Beck

An update from John Beck, who starts touring his film Harvest on the Southern Circuit this week:

I just landed in Atlanta last night and I have to admit I'm noticing a biggie-size theme already.

Hertz upgraded me to an SUV (note the selfie in front of the Chevy Tahoe). The Artmore in Midtown upgraded me to a two-story suite with full kitchen.

Is this what they call Southern hospitality?Toni Shrewsbury with the City of Suwanee has offered to take me out to dinner before the screening of my film "Harvest" tonight at the Movie Tavern and a family in Alexandrai, LA has insisted on putting me up while I'm screening there.

I grew up in Tallahassee, so it's not like I haven't spent time in the South before. But maybe I've been on the West Coast too long?

I know I've only been in the Eastern time zone for less than 24 hours, but this is nice - thanks everyone!

Looking forward to touring the Southern Circuit and kicking it off with tonight's first screening in Suwanee - see you there!

Bending Sticks Tour: The Georgia Leg

From Kenny Dalsheimer:

Penelope and I split up our Southern Circuit Tour into two - I’m taking the Georgia leg, Penelope heads down to Louisiana for the second week.

First stop was the town of Suwanee, GA. Screening Bending Sticks in a town actively celebrating sculpture and public art felt just the right way to start the tour. Some of these historic structures have been redeveloped and repurposed, and I’d love to learn more about the history of settlement here and the lives of the buildings that line the tracks. The city moved it’s Downtown, City Hall and created a hugely popular green space to the other side of the tracks a mile or so from Old Town.   Old Town Suwanee grew up on the other side of the train tracks a mile or so away from the newly developed Downtown. Dick Goodman, who did a great job facilitating the Q&A and serves as Mayor Pro Tem and Councilmember, shared a bit about the cities commitment to public art and pointed me to the sculpture exhibition circling the green and the glistening, reflective sculpture hanging inside City Hall.

I hiked with my wife Marybeth around Arabia Mountain on a break enroute to Madison.

The drive to Madison took me outside the sprawling Atlanta metro area across the Georgian Piedmont country. Many Madison homes, shops and structures escaped the burning and destruction during Sherman’s March to the Sea. We screened at the historic Madison-Morgan Cultural Center. This beautiful red brick bldg. has had life as a school, a library and now a cultural and arts center. As was true in Swanee, I appreciated the commitment of city leaders to repurpose this bldg. over the years to support learning and the arts. I also loved the art benches and sculptures on the front lawn.I first took in the cultural history exhibit on the first floor and then wandered through the various exhibits. Oliver Hardy entered first grade here in 1998 when the building was home tow the Madison Grammar School. I wonder if he got in trouble for playing the class clown at this young age. I couldn’t help but make a connection between the beautiful theater here and a film about sculptures made from baby wood. This unique theater is a celebration of wood, “The “woodwork, heart of pine floors, wainscoting, the beaded board of the apse-shaped ceiling, the shutters, seats and scones are all original.”

Heart of Stone begins in Suwanee

First stop was Suwanee, GA where the savvy directors brought together a diverse packed house! How lucky to start the tour with Toni & Lianne, both giving hugs and smiles. They treated me to dinner at Ipolittos, a delicious Italian restaurant in town. They showed the legendary southern hospitality.What an intelligent and enthusiastic audience and a diverse mix of people asking probing questions.
The film brought hope to the audience as one person capable of making a difference. Not unlike the "helpers" in Boston helping others to save lives.
Thank you Suwanee for bringing the film!

- Beth Kruvant

The Dunderheads 2013 Tour has begun on the Southern Circuit

It's good to be back in the South!
I love the courtesy and beautiful speech patterns.
Woke up this morning after arriving at 10:30 last night and getting to bed at 2:00 AM.
Midnight dinner at "Steak and Shakes".  We decided it was too late for one of the delicious looking
shakes, but the warm hospitality from the waitresses for a couple of tired, addled looking travelers
was a great welcome to Georgia
Bruce Stubblefield, the Producer of "Misadventures"  got up early to go to the Movie Tavern theater
in Suwanee to set the sound, color etc. with the projections on our Blu-ray so we can have the best possible
screening tonight.  A film producers job is like Mom's,  "never done."
In the weeks before our arrival, we've been communing by email and facebook with many of our Southern Circuit venues.  People are excited about seeing the film.
There is a genuine hunger in this country to see independent films when people are given a chance to see them and that makes the intense struggle to make them seem worthwhile.
There would be basically no filmmaking on an artistic and informative level without the participation of
the audience.  It takes both sides to create this special experience.
Deborah, Director "Misadventures of the Dunderheads"

My Education Begins: Suwanee

My education begins

I know so little about the southeastern U.S., when I was preparing to leave for 10 days on the Southern Circuit  I wondered what I might learn. For example, although I’ve changed planes many times in Atlanta, I’ve never left the airport, never set foot on Georgia soil.

My education began at dinner in Suwanee, my first Southern Circuit stop, before TRUST screened.  Hearing that my next stop would be Madison, Georgia, Toni Shrewsbury, Special Project Coordinator for the City of Suwanee, pointed out that in the Civil War during his March to the Sea, Union General William Sherman burned Suwanee to the ground, but spared Madison because its architecture was too pretty to burn.

TRUST screened at the Movie Tavern, a brand new 8 screen multiplex that was once a Publix grocery store.   This is Suwanee’s first year of hosting the Southern Circuit and working with the Movie Tavern, they did a couple things to attract audiences – one that was quite successful was offering a season pass to the whole series.  Reaching out to groups connected in one way or another to a documentary’s themes didn’t work nearly as well as reaching out to people who wanted to see independent films. 

After a break for brownies and fresh fruit, the discussion with the audience was lively, in part because the moderator Cherie Heringer, who has an arts background, was curious about the filmmaking and about the Albany Park Theater Project (APTP), the subject of TRUST, and set the tone with some very good questions.  Someone in the audience wanted to know how we managed to keep our subjects, the teenage APTP members of APTP so relaxed in front of the camera.  I told them David Feiner, APTP’s founder and director kept the ensemble members engaged with what they were doing and Dan Gold, the TRUST Director of Photography, is so good at quietly being in the right place at the right time with the camera, the APTP-ians just didn’t pay that much attention to me and my crew.

APTP member Marlín & filmmaker Nancy Kelly

I also told them about how APTP auditioned me and Kenji when we approached them about making a documentary about them and their process.  This was March, 2004.  Kenji and I came to Chicago, showed one of our films (Downside UP www.downsideupthemovie.org) to the company and then sat in the APTP circle with the company members and David and Laura, and answered their questions.  One of the questions was “Will you film us when we make mistakes?”  I stood up, made believe I was looking through a video camera and asked her to make a mistake.  She fell off her chair.  I leaned in as if I was getting a close up.  I said, “See, if you make a mistake, we’ll keep filming.”  Everyone laughed.  The next day, David and Laura told us the company had decided to invite us in to make a film about them.

Of course, none of us knew that we’d spend the next six years trying to find the story of TRUST, none of us knew that Laura, who had ovarian cancer, would die in 2007. We stopped filming in fall 2006 because Laura was so sick and we didn’t resume filming until 2008 – it took that long for David and the company to grieve and rebuild the company.  Our first shoot, in May 2008, Marlín, who became the center of TRUST, attended her first APTP event, a recruiting workshop at her high school.  

Nancy, Cherie and Toni

It was a lot of fun to screen TRUST at the Movie Tavern and to meet the people interested in independent film who came out on a Monday night to see it.

Drivers Wanted: Update 1 On The Road with Joshua Z Weinstein

You know how hard it was for me to get down here after Hurricane Sandy? Ask Ibe my livery cab driver from Nigeria, he went to a gas station at 6 am, waited 3 hours, but the station ran out of gas. Then he went to another gas station, waited for 2 hours, was 10 cars away, and the cops told Ibe he was on the wrong line.  Then he waited 3 more hours and did not get gas. Finally at the 4th gas station, after a total of 11 hours, he got $30 of gas.

"We are used to this in Nigeria. But it is better in Nigeria because if you have money you can go always bribe your way to get gas faster." 11 years ago before he came to the US, Ibe watched the WWF. He loved watching strongmen. "In my country there was a lot of violence." WWF was an escape. "We had all the VHS tapes of wresting, and we would laugh until the end. It was a real life action movie." I could not believe it but Ibe thought the WWF was real. He claims "people in Africa thought it was very legitimate, like the Olympics." Now driving a taxi he needs to be a strong man too. "It's risky, I am always facing the front, and don't know what is happening in the back. Some wrestlers would pray to god, making a cross with their hands on their chest. When I drive, I do that too."



Watch a video of the Mighty Igor, Ibe's favorite wrestler.
"Once he hits you with his head, you are done."


3 years after Flying On One Engine played the South Tour, we are back. Not owning a car there is an enjoyment of pushing down the gas, and blowing by strip malls, road kill, and speed traps. My first stop was Suwanee, a town that did not want another big box store so bad that it raised its own taxes, allowing it to buy the property and turn it into a park. Bravo Suwanee! Next was the Historic Greek revivals of Madison, folklore claims it is the only town in Georgia that Sherman did not burn down. I got a behind the scenes tour of one of Georgia's oldest homes, where I learned about the whistling entrance. The whistling entrance was the door where the slaves entered and brought your dinner, and you knew your slave was not eating your food because no one can whistle and chew at the same time. Just writing that upsets me.



Now I am back again staying with Jim at the Lattice and trying to track down cab drivers. Will update you about my findings on my next post. Hope to see you in Montgomery at the Capri tomorrow!

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South Arts staffer attends inaugural Southern Circuit screening in Suwanee, GA

Last week I attended the first inaugural Southern Circuit screening for the city of Suwanee at their beautiful screening venue, The Movie Tavern, in Suwanee, Georgia. This was not only the first Circuit screening for this community, but they also kicked off the tour for filmmaker Christopher Rufo and his film, Age of Champions.

A buzz was in the air as we all settled in to the plush seats of The Movie Tavern. I was more comfortable than I would have been in my own living room! As the film began, the crowd quickly warmed up to the warm-hearted comedy and memorable characters. Laughter peeled through the room during one scene as Senior Olympics Gold Medalist, Bradford Tatum, reminded his wife to include handsome among his many attributes. In short, everyone had a great time.

After the film, everyone hung around to hear from the filmmaker. Director, Christopher Rufo, talked about where the characters are now and his own experiences and thoughts as a filmmaker. We were all very relieved to hear that Earl finally won his gold medal. We also discovered that there was a fellow senior athlete among us who had competed in basketball against one of the film's subjects, The Tigerettes of Baton Rouge. She reported that they are indeed as tough, if not more so, than the film portrays. Her presence prompted Rufo to remind the audience that while the film's subjects are extraordinary, there are many such extraordinary senior athletes living in communities all over the United States.

Finally, as the crowd filed out to head home or to join Rufo at a reception that followed the screening, this arts agency staffer felt glad that such a wonderful film and filmmaker would be continuing on to many communities to share the laughter and the joy that I had experienced tonight.

12/13 Tour Partners Announced!

2012/2013 Southern Circuit

Tour Partners

We are very happy to let everyone know that the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers will be coming to the following communities and venues throughout the 2012 and 2013 tour months:

Arts Council of Central Louisiana | Alexandria, LA

Capri Theatre | Montgomery, AL

City of Miramar | Miramar, FL

City of Suwanee | Suwanee, GA

Clemson University | Clemson, SC

Dare County Arts Council | Manteo, FL

East Carolina University | Greenville, NC

ETSU Mary B. Martin School of the Arts | Johnson City, TN

Greater Gallatin, Inc. | Gallatin, TN

Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art | Charleston, SC

Hapeville Association of Trade & Tourism | Hapeville, GA

Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts | Auburn, AL

LSU Union Theater | Baton Rouge, LA

Lucas Theatre for the Arts | Savannah, GA

Madison Morgan Cultural Center | Madison, GA

Morris Museum of Art | Augusta, GA

Presbyterian College | Clinton, SC

Stage Aurora Theatrical Company | Jacksonville, FL

The Arts Council, Inc. | Gainesville, GA

Tupelo Film Commission | Tupelo, MS

University of Southern Mississippi | Long Beach, MS

Western Carolina University | Cullowhee, NC

Winder Cultural Arts Center | Winder, GA