The Saint Croix Courier

St. Stephen, NB

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2005 November 2

Island movies at festival

DEER ISLAND — Old Sow Film Productions will have four of its movies shown at the Silver Wave Film Festival in Fredericton, Nov. 2 to 6.

The films, Talk to Me About LNG, CSI: Jerusalem, The King Has Left the Building and Bad Alice will be shown during the festival, which was formerly known as the Tidal Wave Film Festival.

Talk to Me About LNG (2005) is a 30-minute documentary about the liquefied natural gas (LNG) proposals in Washington County, Maine and their potential impact on Charlotte County. Fishing, transportation, tourism and environmental concerns are explored as Jeff Combs, local pastor and filmmaker, tries to understand how these proposals would have an effect on his community on Deer Island.

The documentary contains interviews with Deer Island fishermen, Quoddy Bay LLC project manager Brian Smith, St. Andrews Mayor John Craig, Passamaquoddy tribe members and local business owners in St. Andrews, Campobello and Eastport. The documentary also uses maps, pictures and footage from the Town of St. Andrews information meeting on Aug. 22.

In CSI: Jerusalem (2005) a team is called in to investigate a tomb only to find out that the body is missing. The team discovers a conspiracy that threatens to shut down the investigation before they can find out the truth. It was shot in the spring of 2004. Not only did the youth (who were in Grades 7 and 8) serve as the cast, they were also the film crew. Writer/director/producer Jeff Combs was the only adult on crew. The youth served as camera operators, dolly pullers, light technicians, script supervisors, sound recordists, assistant directors, production assistants and clapper loaders.

The cameras are consumer level Mini-DV cameras, the dolly was a wheel chair, the lights were shop lights, the sound recording gear was bought on eBay and the props were either borrowed or bought at the dollar store. It was previously screened at the Creation Arts Film Festival in Edmonton, Alta., where it was awarded the Best Student Film award for 2005.

The King Has Left the Building (2005) has been filming for a few years. This improvised short imagines David as the King of Rock and Roll rather than the King of Israel. The stories of King David's triumphs and tragedies are shared by band mates, fans and archive footage.

The loud noise and light from a nine-year-old girl's closet is only the first disruption that mysterious stranger Alice brings from her cartoon world. Alice is determined to have fun even if it means somebody else will get into trouble. Bad Alice (2005) has a cast of only one girl (playing two roles) and a Grade 7 and 8 film crew.

Talk to Me About LNG will be screened on Saturday, Nov. 5, at Noon, at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre (732 Charlotte Street, Fredericton) as part of the Atlantic and Beyond (Social Issues) Documentaries. CSI: Jerusalem, The King Has Left the Building and Bad Alice will be screened at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6, at the Playhouse (686 Queen Street, Fredericton) as part of the New Brunswick Student Showcase.

For tickets and information contact the Silver Wave Film Festival <www.swfilmfest.com> or the New Brunswick Filmmaker's Co-operative <www.nbfilmcoop.com>.