Park Circle Films will screen Selected Shorts from The Rural Route Film Festival on Saturday, March 31, 2012, at 8 pm. Festival director, Alan Webber, will be on hand to introduce the films and to answer questions afterwards. You can find out more about the festival on their website.
Alan Webber, was born and raised in Elkader, Iowa, and has been making films and videos since age 16. He obtained his M.A. in Media Studies from the New School for Social Research while apprenticing under director Hal Hartley, and in 2002, he co-founded the RRFF.
Webber’s writer/director/editor credits include: Adventures of the Brooklyn Hipster Superhero, Day is Done, and Hawkeye Fever, along with narrative music videos for rock bands. He has completed a feature-length script about teenage angst in rural Iowa, and through 2008-2009 traveled around the world screening the RRFF while taking photos, video, and blogging.
We are delighted that he he took some time out to answer a few questions for us.
Can you give us a brief history of the Rural Route Fim Festival (RRFF) and what made you decide to put one together? I was just out of grad school, working on industry films and making my own films, and I happened to meet a fellow Iowan, Mike Schmidt, who had similar aspirations. We both wanted to represent where we were from--the unique characters and landscapes--and we also had some dissatisfaction with the festival scene through our own experiences.
How did the RRFF come to be based in New York City of all places? That's where I moved after college.
What has been the most rewarding thing about running the RRFF? All the incredible places I've gotten to go to because of it - I've shown films on all 7 continents and met filmmakers from all over the world over the past 9 years.
Where is the most interesting place that you've held a screening? Probably either on a boat to Antarctica, or on the side of the road to the passengers of a crammed communal van that broke down in the middle of the Sahel in Mali, West Africa.
What do you hope that viewers will take away from the festival? Most of all, I hope that viewers take away the education and enjoyment of learning about and or taking in a story about a unique culture that is normally not depicted in the movies.
Have you been to Charleston before? I haven't. I look forward to eating some barbecue and seafood, as well as checking out the beach and architecture.
