Filmmaker Profiles

The Venues

Pack Place Education, Arts & Science Center

2 S. Pack Square

The nonprofit Pack Place Education, Arts & Science Center is strategically set in the heart of beautiful downtown Asheville. This bustling complex includes the Asheville Art Museum, Colburn Gem & Mineral Museum, Diana Wortham Theatre and The Health Adventure. An Asheville landmark, Pack Place offers meeting rooms and creative spaces for hosting special events. Surrounded by the scenic beauty of Western North Carolina’s mountains and featuring unique museum shops, Pack Place is a short stroll from many galleries, restaurants and other amenities.

Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place

Inside Pack Place

The Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place boasts exceptional acoustics and sightlines, making it the premier performance space in all of Western North Carolina. It is within walking distance of many shops and restaurants.
Seats 500

Asheville Community Theatre and 35below

35 E. Walnut St.

Asheville Community Theatre’s long history of artistic excellence continues as it strides into the new millennium. Voted “Best Theater Group in Western North Carolina” many times by readers of both the Asheville Citizen-Times and Mountain Xpress, ACT remains an institution committed to providing quality entertainment at a reasonable price. Although it’s best known for large-scale musicals, ACT also offers classic comedies and dramas, contemporary pieces and children’s theater productions in both its Mainstage Auditorium and black box theater, 35below. For more information, call (828) 254-1320 or visit us at http://www.ashevilletheatre.org.

Theatre seats 399, 35below seats 40

Fine Arts Theatre

38 Biltmore Ave.

Located in the heart of Asheville’s Art and Entertainment District, The Fine Arts Theatre offers two screening rooms with state-of-the-art sound and projection. The recently renovated Deco Theatre provides a stylish retro backdrop for first-run art and independent films. With matinees, evening and weekend late shows, you can always fit a visit to the Fine Arts Theatre into your day. Call (828) 232-1536 for current shows and times or visit the theater’s Web site at http://www.fineartstheatre.com
Lower theater seats 240, upper theater seats 75

YMI Cultural Center

39 S. Market St.

The YMI Cultural Center is an Asheville landmark, conveniently located close to City Hall, Pack Square, Pack Place and many art galleries and other cultural attractions. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the YMI has served Asheville’s African-American community since it was established in 1892 as the Young Men’s Institute. It houses numerous collections and artifacts, including a core exhibit that focuses on the history of African-Americans in Western North Carolina. The YMI presents annual cultural events, such as Asheville’s Goombay Festival, a Kwanzaa Celebration, an Evening of Jazz and the Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration.

Blue Spiral 1

38 Biltmore Ave.

Blue Spiral 1, founded in 1991 and part of New Morning Ltd., presents the works of Southeastern artists and object makers in elegant and spacious surroundings. The 15,000-square-foot gallery spans three floors that are connected by an open stairway. The changing exhibitions of sculpture and paintings, objects and photography are either discipline-based or developed around fascinating themes. This premier space is also home to the estate of Will Henry Stevens (1881-1949), whose oil paintings and pastels drawings are included in major museum collections and significant private collections throughout the United States. Gallery hours are Monday - Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sundays (May - October), noon-5 p.m.

See you at the movies!

How lucky are Asheville cinephiles? This fine, movie-loving city has not just one but two film fests coming its way.

The Asheville Film Festival, now in its sixth year, features four days of movies and events in the heart of downtown. There are feature films, documentaries, short films, the latest movies by famed directors, receptions and much, much more.

Down in the River Arts District, the Asheville Rejects Film Festival is also holding its annual bash, drawing from some movies that the city fest passed on.

The winner between these dueling festivals is you, dear reader, as you can sample the delights of both, see whichever films tickle your fancy, rub shoulders with movie-industry veterans.

Of course, we’ve got all the details, including the story on the movies, our critics’ picks, schedules, film summations and anything else you need to find your way around both events.

So buy a ticket, grab some popcorn, find a seat and enjoy.

Homegrown cinema: The local-film block

The Asheville Film Festival will spotlight local movie-making with a block of short films, trailers and works-in-progress from area production companies. The fun starts at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 8, at the Fine Arts Theatre.

(And don’t miss more local fun before the block: At 6 p.m., local designers Paul Olszewski and R. Brooke Priddy present The Fashion Machine, a multimedia fashion show, in the corridor between the Diana Wortham Theatre and the New French Bar.)

The featured works on the local-film schedule include:

Harmony With Nature
A brief look into how traditional Cherokee ways show a means for living a fuller, healthier life today.
Director: Adam Taylor

On the Down Low
Director: Thomas Oliver
A narrative short film on kayaking shot here in WNC.

The Day Carl Sandburg Died
Director: Paul Bonesteel
A feature-film length documentary in production. This film has become a co-production with The American Masters series and WNET in New York.

The Pier
Director: Paul Bonesteel

Shoe Shine Man
Director: Jaimie Byrd
A short documentary about a 69-year-old shoe-shine man who lives and works in Birmingham, Ala. He shares his ideas about money, race, class and life in the South.

Skin
Director: Paul Olszewski

Coal River and Wander Down: Trailers for these two forthcoming Asheville films

See you at the movies!

How lucky are Asheville cinephiles? This fine, movie-loving city has not just one but two film fests coming its way.

The Asheville Film Festival, now in its sixth year, features four days of movies and events in the heart of downtown. There are feature films, documentaries, short films, the latest movies by famed directors, galas and much, much more.

Down in the River Arts District, the Asheville Rejects Film Festival is also holding its annual bash, drawing from some movies that the city fest passed on.

The winner between these dueling festivals is you, dear reader, as you can sample the delights of both, see whichever films tickle your fancy, rub shoulders with movie-industry veterans.

Of course, we’ve got all the details, including the story on the movies, our critics’ picks, schedules, film summations and anything else you need to find your way around both events.

So buy a ticket, grab some popcorn, find a seat and enjoy.

The Forgotten Future

Hundreds of years in the future, our world has ended and all that’s left of humanity has embarked for a distant, new planet. But the journey is endless, taking countless generations to complete. It’s here, in the middle of the voyage, that everything is about to change. The film tells the story of Vega, a lonely young boy struggling to find his place in a futuristic world much bigger than he is. Led only by a dream, Vega comes to question his new world and discovers that humanity has lost something very important along the way.

The Double

Meet Steven Roberts, a self-assured psychologist concerned less with his family and more with the promotion of his new book, ironically titled Deepening Our Connection to Others. Indulging his new fiancée’s whimsical interest in the psychic art of astral projection, he participates in a series of mental exercises designed to cultivate the abililty to separate consciousness from the physical body. It’s an idea Roberts doesn’t take seriously until his airplane develops engine trouble ...

Soul Mates

Barry is a couples therapist with a lot of heart and no talent. He goes on a blind date only to find out that his date is Claudina, a strange old hag with a curiously over-active libido. After a series of strange paranormal events, Barry must rely on his shoddy couple-therapy skills to make it through the night with his body and soul intact.

Scaredy Cats

Two friends traveling through a dystopian landscape are suddenly confronted with peril when they meet a drifter who tests the strength of their friendship.

Mr. Crooked Spine

In this UNC-Asheville student film, hand-drawn animation helps make Mr. Crooked Spine humorous and surreal. Mr. Crooked Spine (the character) tells the tale of his childhood, explaining how he ended up with such a curiously shaped body. Local film.

The Gallery

Alex, a teenager with a wallet-full of cash stolen from his father, decides to run away from home and search for his childhood crush in Los Angeles. His obsession with fine dining and fine art quickly drains him of cash and he begins to grow desperate as his dreams decay.

More filmmaker profiles for 2007 will be announced as the prescreening process continues.
Keep an eye on current news for announcements.