• Chautauqua 2015, America at the Movies, will be held Monday, June 15, to Thursday June 18, in the Morris Pavilion at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa. Each evening, a scholar in full costume and makeup will bring a film icon to life through a first-person monologue. The audience will then have a chance to query the character, after which the scholar will step out of character to discuss the subject and field questions from a critical, modern perspective.
Scholar performers include George Frein as Orson Welles (Monday, June 15), Charles Pace as Gordon Parks (Tuesday, June 16), Leslie Goddard as Mary Pickford (Wednesday, June 17) and Larry Bounds as Walt Disney (Thursday, June 18). A musical program will begin at 7 p.m. followed by the featured program at 7:30. Suggested donation: $4 per night or $12 for the series. avl.mx/14q
• The Asheville Parks and Recreation Department’s 2015 season of Movies in the Park continues Friday, June 12, with a screening of The Goonies. The movie starts at dusk on a giant screen on the Pack Square Park stage.
Attendees are invited to bring a chair or blanket, and food and beverages will be available at the park. Upcoming titles in the free monthly series are Surf’s Up, A Major Ocean Picture (July 10), Despicable Me 2 (Aug. 14) and Into the Woods (Sept. 18). All movies are rated PG. avl.mx/g6
• On Thursday, June 11, WNCW director of programming Joe Kendrick and Moonlight Mile Productions’ Tony Preston will wrap production on their documentary on Asheville country/roots band The Honeycutters. Footage from the band’s recent shows at MerleFest, the Willow Tree in Johnson City, Tenn., and The Double Door in Charlotte accompanies a performance at an invitation-only session on the final day of shooting.
The film is the second half-hour episode in Kendrick and Preston’s Southern Songs and Stories project, an exploration of Southern music and culture. To cover crew wages, editing, mastering and other costs, the filmmakers have launched a $6,400 IndieGogo campaign that also goes through the 11th. avl.mx/14p
• Asheville actor Italo Medelius is in the cast of “The Girl from Carolina,” a 10-episode Web series that debuts Monday, June 15. Medelius plays JD, a “mysterious, business-savvy young weed dealer,” according to press for the production. The “redneck comedy noir” series centers on Ferrari Thunderbird “Ferra” Taylor (Breanna Foister) as she makes her way across the Upstate “with a giant Thermos of beer, doggedly setting things straight.” In each episode, Ferra “tackles a new low-rent mystery” with the help of “her good-for-nothing friends to dish out vigilante justice.”
The series comes from Greenville, S.C.-based Well Dang! Productions. Episodes will be released on Well Dang!’s YouTube channel. avl.mx/14n
• Call of the Ancient Mariner by Western North Carolina filmmaker David Weintraub makes its Asheville debut at The North Carolina Arboretum on Thursday, June 11, at 6:30 p.m. Winner of the Best of the Festival award at the Charleston Film Festival in April, the documentary looks at man’s eternal love affair with sea turtles. It was shot throughout the Southeastern U.S. and features original music by WNC artists.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with Weintraub and leading local conservationists such as Trudie Henninger of the arboretum’s turtle program and Savannah Trantham, resident turtle expert for the WNC Nature Center. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased through the arboretum website or by calling 665-2492. avl.mx/14o
Send your local film news to ae@mountainx.com
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