It's Premiere Season

Last night, I went to the premiere of Across the River, written and directed by U of M Graduate Student John Harvey. It was a short film, but very action packed. Local radio personality/former kiddie show host(Joe Cool) Dennis Phillipi and his broadcast partner Ric Chetter were the Grim Reaper and the Soul Eater. The plot revolves around a young man who has just died and bargains with the Grim Reaper to allow him to stay on Eartht to tie up some loose ends. If a soul remains earthbound for too long, the Soul Eaters begin to hunt them down. It was cool to see broadcast partners as mortal enemies..nice touch, John! Fellow actor/blogger Jon "Sparky" Sparks has a role as the father of the recently dead character. It was a very dramatic scene. I was impressed. Harvey did a lot with a little. Of course, that seems to be the motto with independent filmmaking. Yet another impressive film, considering the fact that it was made with no money. Hopefully, Hollywood will start noticing when several Memphis area feature films become the talk of film festivals nationwide. Maybe then our state legislature will vote to give tax breaks and incentives to production companies wishing to film in the state of Tennessee. This independent film actor certainly hopes so. Be easy, readers