Until the much-anticipated Crescent Theatre opens its doors this summer so we can see more obscure cinema offerings, Mobile’s film community (yes, we have one!) gathers at the screenings for the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers. This exciting and prestigious series continues Tuesday, April 29 with “Willow Garden and Other Short Films” by Jim Havercamp. While many of the films shown have been documentaries, “Willow Garden” reimagines the ghastly American murder ballad of the same name as art cinema, set in 1740s Northern Ireland and shot in an expressionistic, film noir style.
The film is based on a stage play by Don Henderson Baker, which develops a back story for the grisly song in which the protagonist describes stabbing, poisoning and drowning his love with little explanation as to why. In the play, the troubled singer is embodied by an overzealous Scottish Protestant Lord, John E. McCorkle. Ensnared in a deadly love triangle, a young man must decide whether to follow his heart or his father’s twisted advice.
Based in Durham, N.C., Jim Haverkamp is a filmmaker, freelance video editor and teacher at Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies. Haverkamp co-directed and co-edited the documentary feature “Monster Road” which is currently screening on the Sundance Channel.
In addition to “Willow Garden,” Southern Circuit attendees will also have a chance to see “Last Pack, “No Money Down” and other short films from earlier in Haverkamp’s career.
His short narrative and documentary films have screened at over 100 film festivals around the world, and “Willow Garden” received both the Tupelo Film Festival’s Best Short Drama Award and the Appalachian Film Festival’s Best Short Film Award. He will be on hand at the screening to discuss his work and answer questions.
The opening short for this event is Elizabeth Strickler’s “Moth to Light,” a horrific coming of age story. Caught between the domestic world of her mother and a dark force luring her to the garden, Muriel contemplates what to do with the baby her mother dotes on and whose origins are unknown.
The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is really catching on around here, I am happy to say, with about 180 people packing historic Bernheim Hall for the last event. Anyone shortsighted enough to suggest that the public library isn’t a good place to hang out and meet others interested in watching noir updates of murderous Appalachian ballads-and independent film in general- please come and learn otherwise.
In addition to the up and comers showcased in the Southern Circuit, the public library has a variety of film series for kids, families and grown-ups at Bernheim Hall in the main branch downtown and at other branches.
May 13 at 6:45, adults can see Julian Schnabel’s acclaimed “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” which tells the true story of a magazine editor who suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed except for his left eye. He blinked out this memoir of his transformed interior world, and artist Schnabel’s film version won the best foreign film Golden Globe award and was nominated for four Academy Awards.
May 20 at 6:45, the library is showing the film version of the incredibly popular and beloved “The Kite Runner,” directed by Marc Foster. Other family films coming up include “Freaky Friday” and “Enchanted” at various branches in May, and films throughout the summer, which will be welcome news when it sinks in that the little ones will be around all summer. Visit www.mplonline.org for full schedules at all branches.
Contact Asia Frey at afrey@lagniappemobile.com.
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