While at The Indie Grits Film Festival in Columbia, South Carolina, I was impressed by the crew from Shadows and Light and their Canon 7D camera. They were lugging this huge DSLR HD camera around and getting some interviews from the film makers at the festival. They caught me for an interview right after my screening of “Chiefland.”
They took the audio from our interview and put it on their podcast. The sound is pretty good for a DSLR camera and a handheld microphone. I definitely felt like I brought a lot of my excitement about our doc to the interview. My favorite quote “We were there at that one point in the universe.” To listen to their in depth podcast about film and fads go to
www.shadowspodcast.com. If you would like to skip to our interview, we are exactly 41mins into the Podcast. Thank you to Pierce, Woody, and Matt for posting this interview.
The Trailer for our documentary “Chiefland” was featured on the front page of the International Documentary Associations web page. It is a great honor to be featured right next to Food Inc. Hopefully this gave us some face time with some big names. Time will tell.
Behind the scenes of the Indie Grits Film Festival in the War Room. All the film makers had to sign their names on the poster. Shameless plug of our mug in the foreground
It was a magical night in Columbia, SC. People were crowded outside the Nickelodeon Theater and the scene was rife with anticipation. The house was packed with independent film enthusiasts. We opened the festival with our documentary “Chiefland” at 6pm. There were two films after ours “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “American Jihadist.”
It was an honor to play in front of “American Jihadist,” which was an intense film that was thick with religion and violence. The movie hit home for me because I am currently working on a documentary about gangs in schools called Chasing Ghosts: Fighting Gangs in Schools. Both of these documentaries have the basic theme that some people are violent and need to vent, but let’s get back to the festival.
After the screening there was a nice Q & A where I got a chance to thank Andy Smith and Larry Hembree for having us. Also, I thanked Isaac and Andrew for picking me up from the train station. After the Q & A I headed outside to get the people’s reaction. They were very excited to have seen the film and a lot of people compared the twist at the end to “getting hit by a train” because the it was such a shocker! We even had the chance to do a little interview with some local podcasters. They shot the interview with the new Canon 7D HD DSLR. I hope they post it so I can see how I look in 1080i! I tried to suck in the gut and get rid of the double chin, but we shall see.
After our films, there was a brief reception next door at the Immaculate Consumption, and then I started the second half of the films. The second half of the programing at the festival was dedicated to music videos and music documentaries. At first, I was not too excited to see music documentaries because I thought they would be the typical rockstar train wrecks. I was surprised by both “Slopdog Millionaire” and “We Fun.” “Slopdog Millionaire” had a big surprise when one of the band members decides to urinate on his friends who are on the ground and of course drunken chaos ensues. “We Fun” was really interesting because it documented an entire music scene that I did not even know about. Evidently, in Atlanta there was a whole scene of area bands like The Black Lips, Mastadon, and Deerhunter who were playing in peoples basements and at their house parties. The documentary was filled with these packed basements with air ducts and water heaters as backgrounds. It was like the bands had moved from the garage to the basement! I grew up listening to grunge bands so it was really cool for me to see that they had moved to the basement. Mark my words, there is a great possibility that bands could go into the attic and there will be a whole new movement in music. I can only describe these Atlanta bands as mellow punk with a popular feel. In the real world, I would have never listened to them. Now that I have watched the documentary, I am on the look out for this interesting sound that came out of the basements of Atlanta.
To end the night, there was a concert across the street by the local band Mercy Mercy Me who starred and urinated in “Slopdog Millionaire.” It was an amazing experience to watch their documentary and then see them live. I cannot think of a better way to end the opening night at the Indie Grits Film Festival. I feel empowered and renewed with my new knowledge of religion and music. Now I can hang with the kids and enjoy their music instead of being an outsider who does not understand what kids are up to these days. Thank you Indie Grits!
The sun was setting when the train arrived at the Winter Park Amtrak station. At the station, I met a couple who were going all the way…. To Washingtoon, DC. Got on the train, got my seat, and sat down next to a strange lady with a red sweater. Nice Lady. Good Lady. She was a fragile looking Latin woman who appeared to be afraid of crackers. I tried my best to avoid her , but she was right next to me with nothing to divide us.
Eventually, I work up the courage to walk three cars back to the “Snack Car.” While trying to maneuver my way amongst the jittering cars I notice that almost everyone is asleep and wrapped in a white blanket or watching movies on their laptops and mini-DVD players. It was a train sub-culture and this was not their first rodeo. Finally, I make it to the “Snack Car,” and it is not as glamorous as I had hoped. There are several small white tables surrounded by two person booths. Some people have decided that the “Snack Car” is a better place to sleep. I grab some chips and get out before the scary guy with the crooked teeth sipping Budweiser tries to fondle me.
After surviving the snack car, I finally make it back to my seat where the little Latin lady in the read sweater is taking a nap. I try to keep quiet, but then a gentleman on my left offers me a shot of whiskey. At first, I declined, but then I find out that he is in the army and will be leaving for Afghanistan. So I said “cheers” and down it went. He started the conversation with talk about these bombs call Moab bombs that have just been approved for use in Afghanistan. He says they are only one step down from an atomic bomb. These bombs weigh about 20,000 lbs and contain 7,000 lbs of C-4. The man in the army tells me that one lb of C-4 will take out an entire block. Also, he tells me that we have more troops In Afghanistan than Iraq. After my second shot, I notice that the army kid is getting along very well with a gentleman in front of me who is a marine. They talk for awhile and then step outside to smoke a cigarette. When the return, the Marine in front of me hands me a cheeseburger. Who can so no to our boys out there fighting for us? So now it’s a whiskey and cheeseburger party. I put my headphones on and listen to Alicia Keys’ new album, but the rumbling of the train and the 11 o’ clock hour has me in a trance. Slumber overwhelms me.
“Next stop, Columbia South Carolina,” says the train conductor as I start to wake from my uncomfortable, sporadic, and sitting up in a train sleep. It’s 3am and we still have an hour to go.
We had arrived in Columbia, but the Latin woman was confused about where we were. I told her in Spanish “Estamos en Columbia,” and she finally smiles and thanks me. I get off the train and walk over to the station. I am greeted by Andrew and Isaac, who I wave at since I recognized Andrew from some Facebook pictures that were posted, and they yell “Wooohooooo.” Right away we are old drunk friends meeting at the train station at 4 O’ Clock in the morning. We get in their car and are whisked away into the Columbia night scene. We make our way to Larry Humbree, Executive Director of The Nickelodeon Theater, house where I will stay.
In my room there are two toy trains. Finally I can rest until our big opening tonight at the Nickelodeon.
The Director, Getting ready to ride the train in Winter Park.
Leaving today for the Indie Grits Film Festival in Columbia, SC. We thought it was poetic to take a train to show our doc about a cowboy who’s bull riding career gets derailed by a train. We will be the opening movie on Wednesday night! Train leaves at 7pm and arrives at 4am in Columbia. Our documentary starts at 6pm in Nickelodeon theater.
It’s official. We are set to play “Chiefland” opening night at The Indie Grits Film Festival! This is the fifth year for this highly prestigious southern film festival. The Director, Gabriel Tyner, will be taking a train from Orlando to Columbia, SC to show off this wonderful documentary about a cowboy finishing his dreams of bull riding after a tragic train accident.
Welcome to the official webpage for Chiefland the movie.
Ten years after a train accident derailed his bull-riding career, Chris Wilson returns to the sport a changed man. Determined to pick up where he left off, Wilson pushes his body to the edge in an attempt to have one last shot at his dream. Director: Gabriel Tyner Producer: Christopher Ramsey
Chiefland will be debuting at the March FilmSlam at The Enzian Theater, March 14th at 1pm. Admission if $5 and there will be several other shorts to watch. For more information go to the Enzian’s website at www.enzian.org