The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

October 4, 2008

Beckley filmmakers show at festival, offer alternative views

Audrey Stanton

Who says West Virginia culture has to be limited to the stuff of tradition?

Or that film has to cost a fortune, make money, have an agenda, or even have a narrator, for that matter?

Certainly not Scott McClanahan and Chris Oxley. The latest creation of the two Beckley filmmakers was on tap for the big screen Saturday night at the West Virginia Filmmakers Film Festival in Sutton.

“Our films offer an alternative view. West Virginia culture doesn’t have to be about coal or grandma’s quilts or dulcimers and public figures,” Oxley said.

Holler Presents, the name of their production company, is West Virginia culture, the two say. It’s just not of the traditional variety.

For instance, their festival feature, “Spring 1386,” is about an Iranian-born American with West Virginia ties who returns to Iran for the first time since he left there in 1979.

“We encouraged him to take a camera and get as much footage as possible,” Oxley explained.

Tom Attar did get plenty of footage, and after piecing it together and shaping the film with interviews, Holler Presents had a nonfiction, nonnarrative, experimental film packed with “everyday life.”

“It’s the opposite view of what we usually see (from Iran),” McClanahan said.

Does it have a message?

“I hope not,” McClanahan said. “It should reach people more on an emotional level.”

“Like a painting,” Oxley added.

It’s like a “punk rock documentary,” they said.

“That music is personal in nature, so why can’t you make films about everyday reality?” Oxley said.

Holler Presents wants to do more than make the films; it wants to share them.

“It’s not something we made to sell to someone. It’s something we made to share with someone,” McClanahan said. “Film doesn’t have to be a commodity. It can be an art form.”

Oxley and McClanahan show their work free on their Web site, www.hollerpresents.com. The site currently hosts an earlier production titled “Preacher Man.” Shortly after the festival, online visitors may also view “Spring 1386” and, coming soon, “The Education of Bertie Mae McClanahan.” (Bertie Mae is Scott’s dog.)

“The new film festival is one-on-one, on your lap, on your computer,” Oxley said.

The two expect the online film genre to continue growing.

“Technology has flattened out the playing field,” McClanahan said. “You don’t have to be a trust-fund kid (to make a film).”

In fact, they added, their films typically cost “tens of dollars” to make.

Check them out at www.hollerpresents.com.

— E-mail: bnaudrey@register-herald.com

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