Cucalorus screening response

          On Sunday, November 16^th, Kevin and I met up and attended the showing of the documentary Happy Valley. The film was directed by Amir Bar-Lev (who was not in attendance at the event). I hadn’t heard or read anything about the film, apart from a short plot summary, prior to the screening. The documentary’s focus was the 2011 Penn State scandal involving renowned assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky, and legendary head football coach, Joe Paterno. The narrative was created through primary interviews with Jerry Sandusky’s adopted son, Joe Paterno’s wife and sons, and a former Penn State student (and former Penn State football fan) who had attended the university during the scandal. There was also plenty of footage from Penn State’s campus and community, as well as found footage of news broadcasts and television interviews incorporated throughout the film to help shape the narrative and a set a tone for the documentary.

            In terms of professionalism, access to locations, range of pertinent interview subjects, and overall quality, I thought the film was very successful. These elements were combined well to produce an emotionally and visually effective film. It was a timely piece, and looked and sounded great (which is probably why Cucalorus labeled it a “premium” screening, and admission was $15 instead of $10). Kevin and I seemed to be the college student minority in the audience, as most attendees appeared to be around retirement age. A handful of audience members were actually decked out in Penn State garb, and did the “WE ARE—PENN STATE” chant right before and after the screening.

            The only part of the film I didn’t think was quite as effective as it could have been was the ending—like, literally the last few seconds before the credits began. There were, I think, two or three “updates” at the end of the film and only one (from what I remember) was about an interview subject; the last update was about Sandusky’s adopted son, Matt, and then the text cut away to Matt building something in his garage while his kids played around him and a quirky, upbeat bluegrass-type ballad played through the credits. I wasn’t sure what the filmmaker was trying to make the audience think/feel with this ending, but it felt like a bit of an odd departure from the tone of the rest of the film. Overall, I did enjoy the film and was glad I had the opportunity to see it.

Festivals to Submit to

DC Independent Film Festival (FREE)

http://dciff-indie.org/

This festival attracted us because it welcomes work from student filmmakers. It offers free submissions for students (who submit before the early bird deadline), which is awesome, and it welcomes short docs (like ours!). It also helps that it’s not too far from us (Washington, DC), so shipping expenses for our film—and potentially future travel expenses (; —wouldn’t be unreasonable.

Indie Grits Film Festival ( REGIONAL)

http://www.indiegrits.com/submit/film-submissions/

This regional festival seeks films that reflect an element of the Southeast. Since Kevin and I live in the Southeast and our film takes place in the Southeast, we figured this could be a good outlet for us. The fest welcomes doc shorts and student films, so it’s great for us. Located in Columbia, SC, this fest is one of the closest ones to us that we’ve found.

The Winnipeg Real to Reel Film Festival

http://www.winnipegfilmfestival.com/

This festival is located in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada), which sounded interesting to us. It welcomes doc shorts, and seeks films that don’t depict nudity, sex, profanity, or violence. A headline from one of their festival posters read, “Cool. Clean. Compelling.” Our short doc is definitely family friendly and is an example of depicting “real life through reel stories,” in accordance with the motto on their website.

 

DIY Film Festival

http://diyfilmfestival.blogspot.com/

The DIY fest takes place year round—which means there is no deadline for submissions—so it’s definitely one to bookmark. They take student submissions, and follow the “do it yourself” philosophy, asserting on their website that “great art can be created without large expenditures.” We definitely didn’t have much of a budget for our film, so I’d say we fit this model. They screen their films year-round in LA, which sounds pretty cool.

Documentary Edge Festival

http://documentaryedge.org.nz/

This fest takes place in New Zealand—which, of course, is appealing on its own. Just by the title alone, we can see that it seeks docs (and, according to their website, doc shorts). Even better is that they are open to student submissions.

Rooftop Films

http://www.rooftopfilms.com/

This fest screens their selections on the rooftops of buildings in NY—how awesome is that?! They seem like a pretty progressive festival that is looking for all types of films. They take doc shorts, and their submission fee is a very reasonable $13.

 

Mini Cinema: Short Film Experience

http://minicinema.tv/submit-film/

This festival runs from January to September, “with a different screening of films every 2 months,” according to their website.  They take all types of shorts, including docs, so that’s good for us. The submission fee is low and they take .MOV files, so a bonus is that we would save on shipping! The fest is in LA, so our film could get a lot of good exposure with audiences there.

Bios of/questions for 3 (of the 6) experts Kevin and I will be interviewing

*Side note: This may be obvious, but (just clarifying) these questions are designed with the assumption that the audience knows nothing about the subjects (so, ideally, the order of my questions is poised to let the subjects introduce themselves,  and I’m not taking the biographies into account since the audience will not have read them).

Debbie T. Baile

 

Debbie is the owner and founder of the Dance Theatre of Jacksonville (DTOJ), which has been in business for over 30 years. She has taught dance of all types to all ages. She has mentored many young students and has stayed a part of many of their lives (and their families’ lives) from childhood to adulthood, including Kayleigh Jewell (our main subject), who was seven years old when she first had Debbie as a dance teacher. Debbie has watched Kayleigh grow and mature as a dancer and as a person over the years.

 

Questions for Debbie:

1.      When did you establish the Dance Theatre?

 

2.      What is the Dance Theatre’s mission statement or philosophy?

 

3.      How long have you been a dancer?

 

4.      What is it about dance that appeals to you or inspires you?

5.      How long have you been a dance instructor?

6.      What is your favorite thing about teaching dance?

7.      How long have you known Kayleigh Jewell?

8.      How would you describe Kayleigh’s attitude as a dance student?

9.      How would you describe Kayleigh’s personality?

10.  In what ways have you witnessed Kayleigh grow over the years, both as a dancer and a person?

 

 

Erin Warpole

 

Erin is the business manager of the Dance Theatre of Jacksonville, and has held that position for the last 14 years. This is her twenty-fifth year at DTOJ. She started out as a dance instructor, then began helping in the office because a secretary was on leave at the time. She eventually gave up teaching to help manage the growing business because she had previous experience from owning two of her own dance studios prior to coming to DTOJ. Like Debbie Baile, Erin maintains relationships with many of the students at DTOJ and has enjoyed being able to witness their growth as students and as people. Erin remembers Kayleigh as a young student, and has followed her throughout her dance life. She also became friends with Kayleigh’s mother (another one of our interview subjects) in the process.

Questions for Erin:

1.      What is your position at the Dance Theatre?

2.      How long have you been with DTOJ?

3.      In what other ways were you involved with DTOJ before taking on your current position?

4.      What is your favorite thing about working at DTOJ?

5.      What is it about dance that appeals to you or inspires you?

6.      How long have you known Kayleigh Jewell?

7.      How would you describe Kayleigh’s dancing or dancing talents?

8.      How would you describe Kayleigh’s personality?

9.      How did you become friends with Kayleigh’s mother, Karie?

10.   In what ways have you witnessed Kayleigh and her mother act as a support system for one another?

 

 

Rebecca Chisholm

 

Rebecca is a seventeen-year-old dance student at the Dance Theatre of Jacksonville, and has been dancing since the age of 3. At DTOJ, she studies (or has studied) nearly all forms of dance. She is part of the Protégé Competitive dance team at DTOJ, which is considered a group of some of the most talented dancers that attend the dance studio. She has also donned leading roles as the Snow Queen and the Sugar Plum Fairy in annual DTOJ stage productions of The Nutcracker. Rebecca aspires to be a professional dancer after college. She worked with Kayleigh Jewell over the years at DTOJ until Kayleigh went off to college, and has had to work hard not to be overshadowed by Kayleigh’s legacy.

 

Questions for Rebecca:

1.      How long have you been dancing at the Dance Theatre of Jacksonville?

2.      What forms of dance have you studied at DTOJ?

3.      What form (or forms) of dance is your favorite, or one(s) that you practice most often?

4.      How long have you known Kayleigh Jewell?

5.      In what areas of dance have you practiced with her?

6.      How would you describe Kayleigh’s personality?

7.      How would you describe Kayleigh’s dancing or dancing talents?

8.      What did you learn from Kayleigh over the time you danced with her?

9.      How has dancing impacted your life?

10.  What is it about dance that appeals to you or inspires you?

 

Documentary Research

Our documentary is going to focus on The Dance Theatre of Jacksonville (DTOJ) in Jacksonville, North Carolina. It is owned by Debbie Baile (who started the business 30+ years ago), and managed by Erin Warpole. Creating an opening montage, we are going to take footage of dancers from different age groups/experience levels based on classes DTOJ offers, such as: rhyme, rhythm, & motion and baby ballet (for toddlers); beginning tap, ballet, jazz, and hip-hop (for children); lyrical, jazz, junior hip-hop, intermediate tap, and intermediate ballet (for adolescents and teens); and advanced jazz, hip-hop, tap, ballet, lyrical, and protégé for more experienced dancers. Our main focus, however, is going to be on one particular dancer, Kayleigh Jewell.

Kayleigh attended DTOJ for 12 years, starting at age 7. She is now 20 and is entering her junior year of college at East Carolina University in Greenville. Kayleigh is considered one of the most talented dancers to come out of DTOJ, and is experienced in multiple types of dance including ballet, pointe, lyrical, protégé, and modern. Though Kayleigh is widely regarded by her peers and mentors as a lovely person and a skilled, hard-working dancer, she has had her share of struggles. A few years ago, her dad left her family, putting Kayleigh in a financial predicament with the question of if she would be able to afford to go to college. Her mom also battled with cancer in the wake of this difficult time. Having to make the difficult decision of mapping out her future, Kayleigh has since decided to pursue a career in dance education, which she is studying, in addition to psychology, at ECU. Though she has lacked the finances to seize professional opportunities some of her other peers have been able to participate in (such as performing in New York City, Los Angeles, in theatres, on talk shows, etc.), she is a “hidden gem” in a sea of talented dancers, and her merit should not go unnoticed.

The teacher who worked closely with Kayleigh throughout her years at the Dance Theatre is Debra Becerra, a 34-year-old with 31 years of dancing experience and 16 years of teaching experience. I have included both Debra’s and Kayleigh’s biographies below, taken from the Dance Theatre website (http://www.dancetheatreofjacksonville.com/):

 

Kayleigh’s bio:

Kayleigh-Anne Jewell started dancing at Dance Theatre of Jacksonville at the age of seven and continued dancing there for twelve more years. During her time at Dance Theatre, she was a member of their competitive dance teams as well as performed in their annual Nutcracker production. Kayleigh-Anne is currently at East Carolina University earning her BFA in dance education and BS in psychology. While at ECU, she has had the opportunity to participate in numerous dance shows and has had the opportunity to work with several guest artists such as John Magnus from the Joffery Ballet, artists from River North Dance Company, and Lauren Edson. Kayleigh-Anne also teaches during the school year at Kinston Dance Academy. She teaches ballet, modern, and lyrical for all ages and works with their competitive dance team.

Debra’s bio:

Debra Baile Becerra began dancing at the age of 3 at DTOJ. She started dancing competitively at the age of 6 years old. She studied under Desiree LeFebvre, Bridget Stone, Larry Payne and, of course, Debbie T. Baile, her mother and owner of Dance Theatre of Jacksonville.

She started assisting dance teachers at the age of 13 and started her dance teaching career at the age of 18. Under her direction, students have won regional and national honors at various competitions.

As a dance teacher, she has won choreography awards, top score awards, technical awards. DTOJ students and staff won the “Super Sport” award for good sportsmanship four times and the “Class Act” award at NYCDA for the most age appropriate choreography.

Debra has a deep passion for innovative and fresh choreography and instilling new concepts into her choreography. Debra also choreographs and directs the DTOJ Musical Theatre productions. For the past three years, she was hired as the choreographer / co-director of Broadway Junior Musical at DeLalio Elementary School in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

Debra continues to educate herself on dance styles and improve her dance skills by attending conventions, workshops and master classes.