Screen scene: Local film news

THE RIVER WILD: Asheville residents Charlotte, Bill, Izzy and Megan Torgerson pose on their Star Inflatables raft. Bill's film On the French Broad River will screen at the Queens World Film Festival in New York City in March. Photo courtesy of Bill Torgerson

The Media Arts Project and Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center present the Frame + Form | Screen Dance Festival, Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25. The festival highlights dance created specifically for film and video. The festival’s screening component takes place Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. and includes the 1986 BBC documentary Points in Space — a collaboration by Black Mountain College teacher/choreographer Merce Cunningham, composer John Cage and filmmaker Elliot Caplan — and a collection of international contemporary shorts curated by Sara Baird and Constance Humphries of The Media Arts Project. The following day, from 1 to 5 p.m., Baird and Humphries facilitate a screen dance workshop in which a maximum of 10 participants will create original movement, document it on video and edit the footage. The resulting pieces will be screened at the end of the workshop. Tickets are $15 for the screening, $40 for the workshop or $50 for both. blackmountaincollege.org

• The North Asheville Public Library’s Western Film Series concludes Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 6 p.m. with McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Free and open to the public. avl.mx/1d0

• Two episodes of the Asheville-based satirical web series “Transplanting” will screen at the Richmond International Film Festival on Wednesday, March 1. Episodes 2 and 4 from the series’ first season will be part of the Virginia festival’s Web Series Spotlight. The showcase takes place at the Byrd Theatre at 1 p.m. avl.mx/3ea

• Asheville filmmaker Bill Torgerson’s On the French Broad River has been accepted to the Queens World Film Festival in New York City. The film will screen on Sunday, March 19, at 10:30 a.m. in the Zukor Theater at Astoria Kaufman Studios. The 75-minute documentary follows the journey of Torgerson, his wife, Megan, and daughters Charlotte and Izzy as they raft 147 miles from Rosman, through class III and IV whitewater rapids, to Tennessee’s Douglass Lake. The film incorporates environmental themes related to water quality and best management practices within watersheds while also focusing on the river, the people who use it and the social and political issues surrounding it. Interviewees include representatives from environmental organizations RiverLink and MountainTrue as well as experts in the fields of biology, wildlife conservation and geology. avl.mx/3e9

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About Edwin Arnaudin
Edwin Arnaudin is a staff writer for Mountain Xpress. He also reviews films for ashevillemovies.com and is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA) and North Carolina Film Critics Association (NCFCA). Follow me @EdwinArnaudin

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