Sideshow Atlanta

Following the two-hour Mason Dixon screenings, McDowell announced Dixie’s awards:

Outstanding Actress – Kate Panabaker, Moondance Alexander
Best Foreign Film – Pulse
Best Comedy – The Metrosexual
Best Screenplay – To be announced in a week or so
Outstanding Story – Pulse
Best Documentary – Beyond the Call
The Peach Fuzz award for best law enforcement in a film (McDowell apparently once considered becoming a police officer) – Rogue 379
Best Animation – Snapshots
Best Comedy Short – Mr. Extion
Best Short – Partially True Tales of High Adventure
Mason Dixon award – The Street Cleaner
Best Feature – Moondance Alexander
Outstanding Achievement in Directing – Kevin Sullivan (of Anne of Green Gables fame)

Photo by Jacob Clark

Perpombellar Productions’ The Street Cleaner, starts out like a slasher flick – a mysterious driver picks up a prostitute, only to drug her and lock her in a solid steel-walled cage in his basement. This is the point at which a few viewers typically exit the theater, says Executive Producer Eric Nauert. But the movie, filmed in Savannah, actually takes a turn in a completely different, completely un-clichéd direction, ultimately telling the story of a lonely, guilt-ridden father’s effort to save an anonymous self-destructive young woman, unable as he was to save his own daughter. The movie is told largely via flashback, explaining the man’s back story piece-by-piece as the main plot unfolds chronologically. Bill Oberst, Jr. turns in an emotionally intense performance as the father, amplified by his lack of spoken lines. The actress who plays the prostitute, Karry McLean, gets most of the camera time and makes good use of it too, especially in the skin-crawling heroin withdrawal scenes. The originality of Director Nathanial Nauert’s story and intensity of his direction, compounded with Obertst, Jr.’s and McLean’s strong acting, come together to produce an emotional, thought-provoking film in The Street Cleaner, deserving of the 2007 Dixie Film Festival’s Mason Dixon award for the best submitted short film produced in Georgia.

To read and see more about the film, visit http://www.thestreetcleanermovie.com.
To read more about Perpombellar Productions, visit http://www.perpombellar.com.

Photo by Jacob Clark

Dixie’s strongest local component was the two-hour Mason Dixon screenings, comprised of short films from across the state. The showings were pretty diverse too, from comedy (Mr. Extion, Ricky Cooper, Burying Daniel) to drama (The Street Cleaner, Hoopla), live action to clay-mation (Snapshots). All of the films were shot for next to nothing, money-wise, with the most expensive reported film, The Street Cleaner, boasting a robust $4,000 budget. Other films were produced on similar multi-hundred and multi-thousand dollar budgets, such as James Magglioca’s Ricky Cooper at $500, and Burying Daniel’s $200. Hoopla, which was filmed on the director’s friend’s property and featuring very little props, cost all of $50.

Including the Mason Dixon screenings, 18 Georgia films were shown at this year’s Dixie, and many considered the state’s showing to be a sign of positive things to come for Georgia’s film industry. “There are more films coming from the Southeast region, more so than 5 years ago even. It isn’t New York or L.A. or Chicago, but there’s talent here,” said Ricky Cooper lead Chris Burns. But Burns does see room for improvement, citing the festival’s format in which most of the festival’s local films were screened together in bunches, rather than throughout the festival. “It’s like you’re at the kid’s table,” said Burns, expressing his desire to see local films interspersed throughout festivals, allowing local films to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with non-local productions.

Photo by Jacob Clark

The first day of the 4th annual Dixie Film Festival was fairly slow. This year was the festival’s first year being held in Athens, moved because festivals tend to do better in small, artsy towns said Executive Director Randy McDowell, and most of the festival’s RSVPs didn’t want to brave Atlanta’s Friday traffic, proving that you can take the festival out of Atlanta, but you can’t take Atlanta’s plan-disrupting traffic out of the festival. Several films were shown, though, and some producers and directors, such as Mr. Extion’s Barry Battles and Griffin Hood, made the trip up on Friday.

Saturday started quietly, with an hour-long filmmakers’ meet-and-greet on the Lyndon House patio, at which time filmmaker’s took the opportunity to network with one another. After that, though, the festival went into full swing as most of the crowd headed over to the Carmike in anticipation of the festival’s most anticipated arrival – James Best, 40+ year film veteran best remembered as Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane on the Dukes of Hazard. Best, who now lives in North Carolina, arrived with his wife Dorothy for the East Coast premier of Moondance Alexander. Best’s son-in-law, Michael Damian, directed the film while his daughter, Janeen Damian, who the film is loosely based on, wrote the script.

The feature proved to be a solid, well-produced family film about a young girl overcoming adolescent insecurity through competing in a horse-jumping competition against snooty middle school-aged girls from school.

While the film didn’t have any local connections, Best did express affection for independent films. “If Hollywood would listen to independent filmmakers they’d start making money,” said Best. “Anyone can make a re-make.”

More information about the festival can be found at www.dixiefilmfest.com.