WINSTON-SALEM – University of North Carolina Television (UNC-TV) will air seven student films from the North Carolina School of the Arts in May and June.

The films will be screened as part of North Carolina Visions, the state’s only small-screen showcase for North Carolina’s independent films and videos. The critically acclaimed program, now in its 13^th season, showcases the richness and diversity of independent cinema in the Tar Heel State. The series opened on May 3 and airs every Saturday at 11 p.m. through June 21.

The NCSA films that are screening as part of North Carolina Visions are: SPRINKLER, airing May 17; KILROY WAS HERE, airing May 24; THE TRAGEDY OF GLADY, airing May 24; TWILIGHT, airing May 31; LITTLE GIRL LOST, airing May 31; THEY’RE COMING, airing June 7; and MANIAC DU JOUR, airing June 7. 

The films were created by students enrolled in the School of Filmmaking at NCSA. NCSA student films represent seven of the 23 films airing on North Carolina Visions this season.

For interviews with some of the filmmakers, visit: www.unctv.org/ncvisions/interview.html

A synopsis of the NCSA student films follows:

• SPRINKLER (11 p.m. Saturday, May 17) – SPRINKLER is the story of two scarecrows who escape from their posts, run away from their farm, and discover both adventure and life beyond the cornfields. Director Brett Haley made his first feature film at the age of 16 using a VHS camera and no crew.  He has continued to make a feature film every summer since.  Brett graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking in June 2005 with a concentration in directing.  SPRINKLER was Brett’s 4^th year film.
• KILROY WAS HERE (11 p.m. Saturday, May 24) – In France during World War II, an American pilot hangs helplessly from his parachute, tangled in a massive tree.  He is soon discovered by a group of orphaned children who have been forced into primitive and feral means in order to survive the war. Separately, the pilot and the children fought for different causes in the same war. Now together, they forge a connection that transcends language – and their cause becomes one. KILROY WAS HERE won the FujiFilm Audience Impact Award at the 2006 Angelus Film Festival. This award is presented to the live-action film whose compelling story, imagery, content and technical excellence delivers strong emotional audience impact. This film was also awarded the Act One Award for Outstanding Screenplay, another 2006 Angelus Film Festival Award. Writer/Director Charles Boyles is a graduate of the NCSA School of Filmmaking. His first viewing of Steven Spielberg’s JAWS when he was nine years old imprinted an indelible passion for filmmaking. This ardor evolved through multiple forms of visual arts (mainly animation) until he received his first video camera (which he never set down) as a gift while in middle school. With a number of directorial credits to his name, KILROY WAS HERE is the first short film that he both wrote and directed.
• THE TRAGEDY OF GLADY (11 p.m. Saturday, May 24) – Gladys is like a morbid Girl Scout. She’s always prepared … for the worst. Misunderstood by her teachers, parents, and peers, Gladys depends most on her relationship with best friend, Claire, for support. But when Claire experiences the loss of her parents, she begins to grow away from Gladys. In an attempt at the deepest kind of empathy, Gladys seeks out a tragedy of her own to reconnect with Claire. She takes to the streets armed with her beloved Polaroid camera, photographing the subjects that now interest her most – decaying buildings, a lone weed in freshly cut grass, road kill. This search for the dark side of life only serves to push Claire away more. Just when she decides to change her ways and make amends with Claire, Gladys gets her tragedy. THE TRAGEDY OF GLADY beautifully explores the deep but fragile bonds of an adolescent girlhood friendship torn apart by a tragedy they cannot equally share. THE TRAGEDY OF GLADY has screened at numerous festivals domestically and abroad, most recently, at the Munich International Festival of Film Schools where Karrie Crouse was one of three nominees for Most Promising Young Director (November 2005). THE TRAGEDY OF GLADY won the award for Best Cinematography at the 2005 FESTCINE International Film Student Festival in Valladolid, Spain (November 2005); was named Best Student Film at the Asheville Film Festival (October 2005), screened at the prestigious Next Reel International Student Film Festival at NYU (September 2005), won Best Amateur Short at the Real to Reel Film Festival (July 2005), and won the Audience Choice Award at the STARZ! First Look Film Festival (April 2005). Director Karrie Crouse graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, concentrating in directing, from the North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking in June 2004. Karrie is an avid reader, a gifted photographer, and considers herself both a writer and director. Karrie currently lives in New York and is studying for her Master of Fine Arts at Columbia University.
• TWILIGHT (11 p.m. Saturday, May 31) – TWILIGHT is an experimental narrative short film that uses poetry, images, music, dance, and sound to weave together a delicate multi-character story. Director Jason Dickason, an award-winning photographer in his hometown of Stillwater, Okla., graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in directing in June 2005. TWILIGHT offered him the opportunity to explore the boundaries of typical narrative structure and work with a variety of actors, non-actors, and artists.
• LITTLE GIRL LOST (11 p.m. Saturday, May 31) – A teenager deals with her ailing mother, her needy younger sister, and a desire to improve her situation in life, with tragic results. Director Phil de Courcel is an award-winning filmmaker from Paris, France, who has been making films since he was a young child. Phil graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts in 2005 with a BFA in directing. He has directed numerous music videos, as well as dozens of short films. He is currently directing his first feature film.
• THEY’RE COMING (11 p.m. Saturday, June 7) – During an alien invasion, seven individuals trapped in a diner learn that they are more of a threat to each other than the threat from outside. Director Scott Kyger, before attending the North Carolina School of the Arts, traveled the world as the son of an Air Force officer, eventually graduating from high school in exotic Sumter, S.C. He plans to write, produce, and direct the short film, ARE WE NORMAL, MR. NORMAN? based on the stage play of the same title.
• MANIAC DU JOUR (11 p.m. Saturday, June 7) – In the near future, reality television is at its cultural and financial zenith. The smash hit, pop culture phenomenon “Maniac du Jour” is imported from Britain to the United States as a means of radically revolutionizing an already booming business. In this show, an ordinary, mentally stable man is selected as the “Maniac” and is given 24 hours of government-granted immunity from the law. The “Maniac” is free to murder anyone in the span of one day without any legal retribution, which is then broken up into 24 primetime episodes. The film documents the manner in which the producers attempt to manipulate the “Maniac” into committing murder for the sake of ratings. Filled with drama, comedy, violence and action, MANIAC DU JOUR is a scathing satire on pop culture, television and the media. Director Marc Freshman was born and raised in lower Manhattan. After graduating from one of the top high schools in New York City, Marc attended the North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking, where he earned a BFA in directing. Afterward, he moved back to New York, where he wrote a feature script, MANIAC DU JOUR (based on his senior thesis film of the same title), which landed him a manager and an agent at CAA. The feature script was then optioned by the producers of THE LAST SAMURAI. They are currently packaging the film in the hopes of shooting in the coming year. Influenced by his love of Japanese films, Marc wrote a feature-length script called HOOLIGAN, a revenge epic that centers around two Yakuza mercenaries who come to New York to track down the highest-paid killer in their syndicate. HOOLIGAN was Marc's debut feature, and was recently sold to the Japanese film market. Marc's newest project, PROPAGANDA, is a futuristic, post-apocalyptic New York thriller about a Lower East Side gang that inadvertently gets entangled with assassins from the Irish Republican Army. Marc will be shooting three scenes from this feature script on 35mm in the hopes of gaining financing to shoot the feature. This project is currently in pre-production, and he is still casting and searching for interested producers, costume designers and art directors.

An arts conservatory of international renown, the North Carolina School of the Arts was the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the nation. Established by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, NCSA became part of the University of North Carolina in 1972. More than 1,100 students from middle school through graduate school train for careers in the arts in five professional schools: Dance, Design and Production (including a Visual Arts Program), Drama, Filmmaking, and Music. Maestro John Mauceri, founding director of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, is chancellor of NCSA. For more information, visit the School’s website at www.ncarts.edu.