Preview: Colony Film Festival

Fact Box

Friday events

6 - 6:05 p.m.: Introduction.

6:05 - 6:15: Music Video Sequence.

6:15 - 7:05: Turning Point (45 mins.), PG.

Peter A. Fields, producer/director, of Stow.

Max Jordan, a hot-shot talent agent from Akron, is ready to hit the big time by establishing his own agency in LA. Because he is consumed with his desire to succeed, Max has grown into a distant, self-involved man. He is willing to sacrifice anything, including his relationship with his fiancee, in order to advance his career. Max's life soon takes an unexpected turn, however, when, after seeing a news report about a hit-and-run involving a child. He fears he may be the one responsible. In an effort to right his wrong, Max decides to aid in the boy's recovery. A paternal bond forms between Max and the boy, who is an orphan.

7:05 - 7:45: Flight to India (35 mins.)- PG

Lindsay Bonilla and Peter A. Fields, producers; Peter A Fields, director, Stow.

Young Lea and older brother Adam are expecting an uneventful afternoon as their mother prepares to leave them with a new babysitter. But when Lindsay shows up at the door, her eccentric appearance suggests that their day is about to get interesting. Upon learning that Adam is in a bad mood due to friend troubles, Lindsay is reminded of a story she learned while living in India. While Leah is eager to hear it, Adam says stories are for babies. His negative attitude prompts Lindsay not to tell the story, but to take the children to India to experience it for themselves. Turning their living room into an airplane and drawing the children's unsuspecting friends into the adventure, Lindsay whisks them away to India through the power of imagination and brings the famous Indian folktale, "The Monkey and the Crocodile," to life with the help of items from her unusual traveler's bag. In the process she teaches Adam an unforgettable lesson about true friendship and everyone a lesson in the power of stories.

7:45 - 7:55: Velveteen (4 mins.)- PG

Miles Allen, director, of Roscoe, Ill. - short film, student, Huntington University

Mark and Alex's father has just died. Alex heads back to his hometown for the funeral. On the morning before the funeral Alex and Mark reminisce about their father, both with very different experiences. This is their story.

7:55 - 8:20: The Poetry Machine (22 mins.) PG-13

Satish More, director, of Columbus - short film, local/student, Ohio University

Jesse is a linguistics student but loves designing contraptions and words. He decides from his early childhood that he will be a linguist. Jesse believes that he lacks "the selfish gene" that is essential for survival in the world. As a "selfless person," Jesse is perceived as a pushover. He attends a required poetry class. He hates poets and poetry but is urged by his professor to attend again the next quarter. He meets Ellen, who seems to like him but does not like his decision to pursue linguistics. She tells him he has creative abilities which will make him a complete person. Jesse says that poetry is a mechanical process and people give undue meaning to it. Ellen challenges Jesse to prove it. Jesse takes up the challenge and sets off to build a "Poetry Machine" to prove Ellen wrong.

8:20 - 8:30: Break

8:30 - 8:40: Uninvited (3 mins.) PG

Andy Hall, producer/director, of Marietta - short, local

ATV news-package describes a frightening incident at Marietta College.

8:40 - 11:15: Arctic Son: Fulfilling the Dream (2 hours, 35 mins.), PG.

Jean Aspen and Tom Irons, producers and directors, from Homer, Alaska - documentary.

In the spring of 1992 author Jeanie Aspen, daughter of Alaskan adventurers Constance and Bud Helmericks, set out with her husband, Tom, their 6-year old son, Luke, and friend Laurie for 14 months alone in Alaska's remote Brooks range. Flown into the wilderness, the four strive to gain a foothold before winter reclaims the land, a hundred miles from the nearest other people. The following summer they face a perilous 600-mile downriver canoe journey back to the world they left behind.

Approximately 11:15: Colony Tour

Saturday events

11 - 11:10 a.m.: Second Shift (5 mins.) - PG

Adam Stover, director, of Given, W.Va. - short/student, West Virginia State University

A devoted wife is kidnapped by a man with evil intentions. Will her loving husband be able to save her in time? A tribute to the silent film era and to West Virginia itself, this short film has fun with silent film cliches with a wink, not, and a thrill or two along the way.

11:10 - 11:25: Camelittle (10 mins.) PG

Ashley Griffis, creator/writer/director; Ryan Etter, creator/producer/head animator, Athens - short, local/student, Ohio University.

Camelittle is a boarding school set in medieval times where children go to learn their certain trade, such as: knights, princesses, peasants and so on. However, some of the children don't want to be what they are supposed to, so they fight against stereotypes and obstacles to follow their dreams. This is the first 2-D animated children's show produced entirely by students at Ohio University.

11:25 - 11:45: Father(s) (16 mins.) PG

D. Erik Parks, writer/director, of LaVergne, Tenn. - short.

A self focused father, having an incredibly bad day, is forced to re-evaluate what truly matters in life.

11:45 - 12:45 pm: 50,000,000 Tribute Fans Can't Be Wrong (1 hour), PG

Casey Watterworth, producer, of Monroe, Mich. - documentary.

A documentary about how the hobby of being a celebrity impersonator became the profession of being attribute artist, and the fans who flock to their shows.

12:45 - 1 : Break.

1 - 1:15: The Mission (11 mins.) R

Fabio Ortega, writer/director/producer, of Glendale, Calif. - short.

Alex Corvanni, 24, is frustrated with being at a really low point in his life. He's a college dropout, he has a baby, lives with his girlfriend and just got laid off from his job. Out of desperation, he lets his devious friend Freddy talk him into going on a paid mission that would require Alex to deliver a van full of cargo to a location. Certain information is kept from Alex and it's implied that he's better off not knowing what's being carried in the van. Alex has a feeling that he's involved in something illegal and although he wants to retreat, he's already made a commitment and he needs the money. What is he getting himself into?

1:15 - 1:30: You Didn't See This (9 mins.) PG-13

Brandon Hetzler, director/writer of Pickerington, Ohio - short.

"The Office" meets James Bond in this silly spoof about a documentary film crew that follows a bumbling secret agent as he attempts to save the day.

1:30 - 3:40: The Other House (2 hours) PG

Amy Abercrombie, producer; Steve Fetsch, director, of New Marshfield, Ohio - feature length, local.

A love story is set in 1885 in Walpole, New Hampshire between the beautiful Ruth Holden from Augusta, Georgia and dashing architect Eliot Windsor from Boston. When Ruth learns that Eliot has entered a competition deviously, she is torn between her love for him and the truth. But the truth is not easily unearthed, and two villains and an attempted murder grow the intrigue in this historical drama.

3:40 - 4: Break.

4 - 5 : Scott Cain, workshop, "Let There Be Light."

5 - 6:30: Dinner break.

5 - 5:30: Tour of Colony.

6:30 - 8 : The Passageway (1 hr 18 mins.) PG-13

David Jeffries, producer/director of Euclid, Ohio - feature length, local/student, Ohio University.

Mae is a struggling actress trying to work her way up through television shows like "Doctors in Love" and "American Hospital." When her mother, Peggy, is diagnosed with terminal cancer she splits her time between L.A. and Ohio as caregiver along with her father, Al. Six years later, Mae finds herself in the same situation when Al is diagnosed with cancer. The issues, the love and the unsuspected are all brought to light through the struggle of Mae and her parents each coping with death in their own way.

8 - 9: John Ross, keynote speaker, "Indie Filmmaking."

9 - 9:15: Break.

9:15 - 10:20: Hitting the Wall (64 mins.) PG-13

Jack Skyyler, director/producer/writer, of Locke, N.Y. - feature length, student, Wells College, Aurora, N.Y.

Mitchell Burbank is an athlete attending college on an athletic scholarship. He is only 12 hundredths of a second from making an Olympic qualifying time; when a torn Achilles tendon takes his life, as he knows it, away from him. At the end of 'his rope,' Mitchell meets and begins to bond with Victoria, a suicidal woman recently diagnosed with cancer. Defying his doctors, Mitchell returns to the track in a desperate attempt to regain the respect of his coach and the speed necessary to qualify him for the U.S. Olympic track team. Hope, love, and despair build a story of purpose and pride in life. (Based on a true story.)

10:20 - 10:35: Post Traumatic (12 mins.), R

Jason Swarr, producer/director, of Chandler, Ariz. - short.

War is hell. When a Special Forces mission goes terribly wrong, one man's survivors' guilt overpowers his soul, forcing him to question what's real and what's an unhinged reality.

10:35 - 10:50: Awards.