Pass the popcorn!
A small troupe of dedicated volunteers are bringing into focus a passionate valentine to the magic (and mystery) of movies, both contemporary and classic, with the Highlands Cashiers Film Festival – unspooling September 18-21 at Highlands Performing Arts Center.
You may be glancing at those dates and asking, “But Luke, we’re here in June – why are you spotlighting an event that’ll be held in September?”
That’s an easy one – tickets for the screenings and the panels and the celebrations go one sale July 1 and believe me, this thing is going to be Big!
“Join us for four unforgettable days, including competition film screenings, workshops, emerging filmmakers, and panels with acclaimed industry presenters and award-winning professionals,” says Alison Knapp, who with Darren Whatley is pulling together this massive endeavor. “We will showcase all genres, including features, documentaries, shorts, and international films.”
If you’re as big a film buff as I am, you’re going to be astonished at the richness of the lineup – screenings of classics like 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood, restored to its brilliant widescreen Technicolor glory; and the Gregory Peck-Audrey Hepburn romantic comedy Roman Holiday, introduced by Catherine Wyler, the daughter of its director/producer William Wyler; and new masterpieces like the darkly humorous Ghostworld, introduced by star Illeanna Douglas, unforgettable as Roberta Allsworth – balanced by lively seminars led by saucy Film Freak Central critic Walter Chaw; Robert Hoffman on the world of Technicolor; Plateau-resident and Oscar-winner Wesley Wofford on Hair and Makeup; Steven Poster, the cinematographer of the unforgettable Donnie Darko; and Art Director Bill Brzeski on his work on Matilda and Stuart Little 2.
(In a lovely bit of Plateau synergy, Brzeski’s presentation will be preceded by a series of songs performed by the young actors of last month’s Highlands Youth Theater’s Matilda.)
(In another strange resonance, Ms. Wyler is the producer of 1990s Memphis Belle, the Hollywood version of her father’s extraordinary documentary Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress. Both films told the story of a legendary B-17 piloted by Capt. Robert Morgan, an Asheville native who used to visit Highlands.)
Whether you’re a Saturday-night-at-the-cinema kind of fan or a passionate student of the art of film, there’s a place for you in the middle of the event-filled four days of the Highlands Cashiers Film Festival.
Tickets for the festival and the parties and special events staged around it go on sale July 1 at highlandscashiersfilmfestival.com.
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