In the most respectable of efforts, I can rally to acknowledge reporter Edwin Arnaudin’s recent article in the Mountain Xpress, “Flickers of Light: A Look Back at the Asheville Film Festival’s Brief, Exciting Run” [Nov. 17] about the failed efforts over the years of the Asheville Film Festival.
My invitation is to turn your lens in another direction. Our town is full of filmmakers, talented, inspired artists, actors and skilled technicians in this industry. Two active, annual film festivals worth noting are the long-running Asheville 48 Hour Film Project, with hundreds of participants and many award-winning efforts from directors — and musicians, as well, from Music Video Asheville, also with hundreds of inspired fans.
All told, the number is in the thousands of those inspired by and who make local film and video productions. The medium of the screen has indeed been democratized by technologies like our phones and streaming services, but make no mistake, the love of film and video production is alive and thriving in our town.
Do we need an actual Asheville Film Festival? It’s a great invitation to explore, and it clearly just needs a commitment to leadership and a budget. As for fans, well you can trust, there are thousands of locals here who would applaud the effort.
— Trey Scott
Hendersonville
Editor’s note: Thank you for your feedback. Regarding Xpress’ coverage, our writers have covered the local film scene over the years, including in a July 21 piece, “Hub Incentives: Filmmaker Transplants Discuss Working in Asheville.” The newspaper’s regular Screen Scene column is on hiatus because of limited space and a lack of regular events due to pandemic restrictions.
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