From the Canton Repository: Shooting a 30-minute dramatic film at 10 Canton locations in just six days during muggy August on a $20,000 budget presented plenty of challenges for Ryan Covert.
“It’s extremely exhausting,” said Covert, a 2004 Hoover High School graduate. “You have to work triple time, and stretch every cent as far as you can. Filmmaking is ridiculously expensive, so it’s all smoke and mirrors, making a low-budget film look like it’s not low-budget.”
Funded by grants from Arts in Stark and Quest Recovery Services, “White Room” is intended as an educational piece to provoke thought and discussion.
“It about this all-star basketball player named Jimmy who turns to cocaine and other drugs after his father dies. It’s about his downward spiral,” said actress Julia Dixon, 17, a junior at Green High School. “I play his sister. Our mother is an alcoholic, and I’m the only one who can do anything.”
Covert, 28, directed, co-wrote and co-produced “White Room.”
“Is it in the genre of an after-school special? Yes,” he said. “But we do our best to bring art back to the table. It’s an art film and also a help film.”
Admission is free to the screening of “White Room” and other short films at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Lions Lincoln Theatre. Due to strong language, drug use and violence, “White Room” is not recommended for viewers under age 17 unless accompanied by a parent.
Read the remainder of the article on the Rep's website. Andrew Rudd will be attending the screening and would like those interested to see it with him. e-mail him directly at arudd@malone.edu
