SUTTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia FILMmakers Festival, celebrating its 20-year anniversary, will be held in Sutton’s Elk Theatre the weekend of October 4, 5 & 6, 2019.
Welcoming West Virginia filmmakers screening for this first time this year: Harrison Reishman, Cory Warner, Kim & Mai Spurlock, Justin Prince, J.D. Belcher, Josh Stewart, Christopher Rollinson, Mike Ruben, Michael Tuthill, and Laura Holliday.
In addition to WV films, the festival will be screening films from U.S.A., Hungary, Canada, Albania, Kosovo, France and Spain. 15 of the 24 films screening are WV FILMmakers.
The festival will begin Friday, October 4 at 8:00 p.m. at the historic Elk Theatre in Sutton. Opening night of the festival kicks off with a series of four short films followed by the opening night feature Cornered: A Fighter’s Story by J.D. Belcher about a boxing club in the hills of Appalachia.
Following the screening the FILMmaker After Party & Comedy Jam kicks off at 10:30 p.m. at the Elk Hostel with host Nate Cesco.
Saturday, 10/6, screening schedule starts at Noon at the Elk Theatre. Not to be missed:
Lily. Artist, fugitive, trailblazer…the incredible true story of Lily Renée, who escaped Nazi-occupied Vienna as a teenager, and went on to become one of the true pioneers during the Golden Age of comics.
Elvis Walks Home . Mickey Jones is marooned in the Balkan wars – carrying a guitar and wearing an Elvis Presley jumpsuit. His world tour kicks off by entertaining the British troops, but when the military police discover he is an Albanian they try to arrest him. So Mickey flees. He meets a group of refugee children trying to get to the United Nations camp. They hold him at gunpoint; Mickey claims he is a UN doctor and will lead them to UN. Mickey has a choice; does he follow his Elvis dreams, or does he sacrifice them to save children whose only dream is to stay alive?
Back Fork Saturday night feature film by WV Native, Josh Stewart, making his directorial debut. Producer Robert Tinnell / FILMmaker of the Year 2011. Starring: A.J. Cook, Josh Stewart, Agnes Bruckner. When the strain of tragedy was too much for a young couple in Appalachia, prescription pills became the medicine to ease the pain.
Following the screening the FILMmaker After Party begins at 11:00 p.m. with live music by Bo McMillion at the Landmark Studio for the Arts.
Sunday, 10/7, screening schedule starts with three WV documentaries: Renew Wheeling, The Last Gallows: John Morgan, and Welcome to Mullens, WV; followed by short narratives and a music video in the final screening group of the festival.
Not to be missed on Sunday, 10/7, is the 4pm feature documentary ‘Mountains + Movies’ – Celebrating 20 Years of the WV FILMmakers Festival. The film includes interviews with festival co-founders Kevin Carpenter and Steve Fesenmeier, Academy Award nominated documentarian, and 2018 FILMmaker of the Year, Elaine Sheldon McMillion, and former West Virginia Film Office Director, Pamela Haynes.
Also interviewed are FILMmakers of the Year: Daniel Boyd (Paradise Park, Chillers), Robert Tinnell (Back Fork, Feast of the Seven Fishes), Chip Hitchcock, Jacob Young and Russ Barbour and WV filmmakers David Smith, Patrick Felton, Ben Berry and Lisa Tignor. The documentary is produced by Caitlin Renée Campbell and Cathy Hyer.
The FILMmaker Festival awards, West Virginia FILMmaker awards, Impact Award and FILMmaker of the Year will be announced at the awards reception on Sunday, October 6, at the Landmark Studio for the Arts at 5:15 p.m.
The FILMmaker Festival would not be possible without the support of our generous sponsors: Café Cimino Country Inn, Landmark Studio for the Arts, Elk Theatre, Town of Sutton, Elk Hostel, Sutton Moose Lodge 825, Elk Motor Court, Shentel, Braxton Convention and Visitors Bureau, Microtel Inn & Suites of Sutton/Gassaway, Premier Bank, Inc., TSG Consulting, and Mountain Craft Productions.
Tickets, schedule, hotel accommodations and festival information available at: www.wvfilmmakersfestival.org.
