Film festival

By Jaime North
The Danville News

May 03, 2008 06:56 am

— DANVILLE -- Several locals can soon stake claim they shared the same movie screen as Sienna Miller and Jessica Biel, as well as Danny Glover and David Arquette.
A locally-filmed movie "Left/Right," written and produced by Danville native Matt Wolfe, will be among seven feature films and more than 30 short features presented this weekend at the Charleston International Film Festival. The 96-minute flick premieres today right after "Nosebleed," which stars Arquette.
Several other films featuring Hollywood stars will be shown this weekend, such as "Camille" starring Sienna Miller and James Franco, "Bamako" starring Danny Glover, "Stiletto" starring Tom Berenger and Tom Sizemore, and "Hole in the Paper Sky" starring Jessica Biel.
"The main thing is to try and circulate a buzz for the film at the festival," said Wolfe, whose brother Todd, 35, helped film and produce the movie. "No one knows who I am or my brother, or even who my cast is. So when you can surround yourself and be mentioned in the same vein as Seinna Miller, James Franco and Jessica Biel, it can only help."
A collection of locals played key roles in the film, as didmany Danville hot spots like Pappas, Mulberry's, Studio Brick and the Danville High School gym. Among the locals in the movie are Sean MacKenna, John Bisordi, Joe Rogers, and Van Wagner.
"All of the cast members are friends, or friends of friends," said Wolfe, 32, who now lives in Fayetteville, Ark. "The cool thing is everyone I asked for help committed 100 percent. We got a lot of support from the community and local businesses. To that, I am very grateful."
The brothers, who grew up on East Front Street, spent 15 days in 2006 filming the movie, most of which was shot in Danville. Having the opportunity to showcase the film, produced for less than $100,000, at the festival is an honor, according to Wolfe.
"It's interesting to know a lot of these films were done anywhere in the $4 million to $5 million range," Wolfe said. "Making the movie was truly one of those thing I always had an interest in doing. My brother has been involved in music and video his whole career, so everything fell into place. It just took time for technology to come around where it was somewhere affordable and didn't look like we were running around with a (VHS) video camera."
Wolfe described the movie as a coming-of-age comedy that follows D. Ray Morton, a small-town have-not who has grown up to be a conspicuous, big-city socialite. After a human resource audit reveals an overstated educational background, Ray loses his job, gaudy paycheck, and in turn, his identity. In an attempt to salvage his career and self-worth, Ray returns home to check the boxes on his resume. While there, Ray comes to find out that his obituary, not his resume, will be the true measure of his worth.
"Everybody has moments in their life when they find themselves doing something they really don't want to do," Wolfe said. "(Ray) is in a place where he is falling in a rut, where society tells him he can't quit his job because he has a mortgage and other responsibilities. He can't go back to do things he initially wanted to do earlier in life, but it took him getting fired to remind him of who he really is."
The movie will play at the Little Rock Film Festival later this month, but Wolfe said he would love to show "Left/Right" locally.
"To come back home and show it would be special," Wolfe said. "I would love to show it at a small theatre, set up a donation and give the proceeds to charity."
For information, visit www.leftrightthemovie.com or www.charlestoniff.com.
E-mail comments to jnorth@thedanvillenews.com.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.