Three films by University of Central Arkansas filmmakers are among the 65 chosen for the inaugural Little Rock Film Festival this weekend.
?The Old Gray Lady: Arkansas?s First Newspaper,? a 90-minute documentary about the history of the old ?Arkansas Gazette?, will play at 12:45 p.m. Sunday at the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, 1 Chamber Plaza in downtown Little Rock (374-2001).
?The Cleaner,? a three-minute Arkansas short, and ?One Night Under the Carmine Bridge,? an eight-minute Arkansas short, will show at 5:15 p.m. Friday at the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce and at 4 p.m. Saturday, also at the chamber.
?Even though UCA’s Digital Filmmaking program is new, we have some major entries in the Little Rock Film Festival,? Dr. Joseph Anderson, chair of the UCA?s Department of Mass Communication and Theatre, said. ?In the future we should have even more.?
?The Old Gray Lady?, directed by UCA alumnus Kevin Clark with Anderson as executive producer and Donna Lampkin Stephens, a former sports writer for the ?Gazette?, as producer, traces the newspaper from its birth in 1819, 17 years before Arkansas became a state, through its coverage of the integration of Central High School, when it became the first newspaper ever to be awarded two Pulitzer prizes in one year, to the newspaper war with the ?Arkansas Democrat? that led to its death in 1991.
Academy Award-winning actress Mary Steenburgen lends her voice to the telling of the long and proud history of The Old Gray Lady, one of the most progressive and literate newspapers in America.
“I feel honored to have been able to tell this story,? Clark said. ?As an independent filmmaker, you’re always concerned about having creative control over a project, and I was very concerned about that with this one because I had to have a non-profit on board in order to receive some of the grants, but I could not have asked for a better working relationship than what I had with UCA and Dr. Anderson.?
?The Cleaner,? directed by film professor Mike Gunter and starring UCA physical plant employee Jeff Mclain, is about a janitor who carries taking out the trash a bit far.
In ?One Night Under the Carmine Bridge?, co-directed by UCA alumnus Stu Hiltenbrand along with Neal Bryant, a lonely drifter?s despair comes to a breaking point as he wrestles with guilt, doubt and regret. UCA students Jeremy Drake and Shua Miller were heavily involved in production, Drake as a camera operator and Miller as the primary actor.
Question-and-answer sessions with the filmmakers will follow both ?The Old Gray Lady? and ?One Night Under the Carmine Bridge.?
The festival will run through Sunday in the Historic RiverMarket District in downtown Little Rock. A festival pass, allowing entry to all public screenings, parties and panels, is available for $20. Individual tickets are available at the door for a suggested donation of $5.
