
{"id":1307,"date":"2007-11-15T07:46:56","date_gmt":"2007-11-15T15:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2007\/11\/15\/film-festival-ready-for-action\/"},"modified":"2007-11-15T14:00:56","modified_gmt":"2007-11-15T22:00:56","slug":"film-festival-ready-for-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2007\/11\/15\/film-festival-ready-for-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Film Festival ready for action"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/alexastill.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/alexastill.jpg\" height=\"174\" width=\"260\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Photo courtesy of Carrboro Film Festival<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>By Susan Dickson<br \/>\nStaff Writer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>From the looks of Chapel Hill filmmaker Todd Tinkham\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s latest project, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d think he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been in the movie-making business for decades.<\/p>\n<p>But Tinkham \u00e2\u20ac\u201d whose short film will be shown in the second annual Carrboro Film Festival \u00e2\u20ac\u201d has spent most of his life working with at-risk kids and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t start making films until a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My parents died when I was around 40, and they were great people, but they never lived the life they wanted,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Tinkham said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They never lived their dreams.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d always wanted to write and direct films,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he continued. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What was I waiting for?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><!--more--> In 2005, Tinkham shot his first film. He submitted it to ten festivals and was accepted into all of them.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, the film played in more than 30 festivals, including the Vienna International Short Film Festival.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That was so much fun that I decided to keep doing it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Tinkham said.<\/p>\n<p>Tinkham has now shot 17 short films that have played in more than 200 festivals around the world.<\/p>\n<p>His short film titled Alexa will be shown in the third block of the Carrboro Film Festival on Sunday. [see schedule below].<\/p>\n<p>The film stars 12-year-old Alexa Phillips, a Carrboro resident and a seventh grader at Culbreth Middle School.<\/p>\n<p>In the movie, a young girl swims in a backyard pool on a sunny summer day. The seemingly normal suburban afternoon takes an eerie turn when the cameras follow Alexa underwater, where the pool becomes a pond and she encounters another young girl, played by 12-year-old Anna Allen.<\/p>\n<p>The four-and-a-half-minute film \u00e2\u20ac\u201c with sexual undertones and themes of death \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is certainly geared toward viewers older than the young actresses.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I did tell the parents up front that there would be sexual undertones,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Tinkham said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think the kids, as actors, understand that this is going to come up sometimes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Phillips didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to mind the film\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s creepy elements.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I thought it was interesting to work with the darker side,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually scary to be in it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The film was, however, scary for some viewers.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Honestly, my parents were pretty freaked out when they saw it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Phillips said. But regarding her acting, she added, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re really supportive.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Tinkham initially wrote Alexa as an experiment while he was shooting underwater scenes for another film.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It turned out that the experiment was such a good five-minute film that I decided to edit it \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and put it out there,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Tinkham said.<\/p>\n<p>He found Phillips and Allen through Movie Makers, a year-round movie-making and acting camp for 6 to 19 year olds. At the end of each Movie Makers session, the students screen their movies, and Tinkham sometimes attends the premieres.<\/p>\n<p>For his next projects, Tinkham\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trying something a little different, with two feature-length films due to come out next summer. One of the features, a horror movie called Ghost Bride, features both Phillips and Allen.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m really excited,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Phillips said, adding that she plans to continue with acting as long as she can.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a tough business. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really tough to get in, and once you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in it it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tough,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something I stay passionate about, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d love to stay involved.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>As for Tinkham, he says he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll continue to make films, both feature-length and short.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m done with shorts,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sometimes I get bored and write something and say, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcLet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just make it.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>A regional festival<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Although Tinkham didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a film in last year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s festival, he attended the event and was more than impressed.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Last year when I attended, I was simply amazed at the level of the quality of film,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The festival \u00e2\u20ac\u201d which is sponsored by a number of Carrboro businesses and the Town of Carrboro and coordinated by a committee of volunteers \u00e2\u20ac\u201d drew more than 80 submissions this year.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We will accept films from anywhere and they can be made at any time,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d festival committee Chair Nic Beery said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I love about this festival \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s accessible to everyone.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The festival has only two rules: Films must be no longer than 20 minutes and filmmakers \u00e2\u20ac\u0153had to have touched their toe in Orange County,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Beery said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a regional festival.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>This year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s festival features 27 films, including documentaries, comedies, dramas, social commentaries, music videos and more.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the real deal,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Beery said, adding that the festival has something for everyone. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t love a particular film, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be over in 10 minutes. I pretty much guarantee you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll like more than you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Beery, who is a filmmaker himself, said the committee solicited submissions simply by setting up tables at Weaver Street Market and at the Carrboro Farmers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Market.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are a grassroots effort,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Word spreads fast.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The word spread far too \u00e2\u20ac\u201c filmmakers from as far away as Florida and Canada have work in this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s festival.<\/p>\n<p>Spreading the word and getting community support have been easy, Beery said.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Carrboro is so cool in promoting the arts,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The town has been wonderful with helping us put it all together.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>What was difficult, he said, was selecting the films.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There were a lot of very good films,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Beery said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was tough.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Doors open at the Century Center at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, with a welcome by Beery at 2:05, followed by the first block of films. Tickets are $5 and kids 10 and under get in free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo courtesy of Carrboro Film Festival By Susan Dickson Staff Writer From the looks of Chapel Hill filmmaker Todd Tinkham\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s latest project, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d think he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been in the movie-making business for decades. But Tinkham \u00e2\u20ac\u201d whose short film will be shown in the second annual Carrboro Film Festival \u00e2\u20ac\u201d has spent most of his life&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}