The Indie Memphis Film Festival ended last weekend, but the local film scene isn’t taking any time off. After debuting for two screenings at the Paradiso in June and returning for two more screenings at Studio on the Square in July, the impressive local film Daylight Fades will get a full, one-week run at Paradiso starting Friday, October 29th.
The film is the latest and best feature from director Brad Ellis and his Old School Pictures crew, two-time past winners of the “Hometowner” award for best local feature at Indie Memphis. Working with longtime collaborator Allen Gardner, who scripted and co-stars, and a host of other talented local artists and craftspeople, perhaps most notably cinematographer John Paul Clark (who also shot the soon to be nationally released The Grace Card), Ellis has created a vampire-themed relationship drama polished enough that it would look at home in theatrical distribution or on cable.
The film also makes great use of Memphis locations, with an ultra-modern South Bluffs house turned into a compellingly nonstereotypical vampire’s lair and the Young Avenue Deli never looking better.
Screenings of Daylight Fades will be preceded by a trailer for Open Five, the latest work from local filmmaker Kentucker Audley. Audley joined Ellis as a two-time Indie Memphis “Hometowner” winner last weekend, when Open Five took the top local prize at the festival. But that’s not all it took. Open Five also won the overall jury prize for best feature at the festival, an award judged by former New York Times critic and At the Movies host Elvis Mitchell and freelance New York-based critic Aaron Hillis.
The film, a collaboration between Audley and musician Jake Rabinbach (of Jump Back Jake), is an intimate depiction of two twentysomething girls from New York City palling around Memphis with two twentysomething guys (Audley and Rabinbach, playing versions of themselves). Shot by indie stalwart Joe Swanberg, the film captures a certain strain of young Memphis while ably balancing its travelogue aspects with its more personal story.
Open Five is currently streaming for free on Audley’s website (kentuckeraudley.com) and will have a full-week New York run in late November.
Other Indie Memphis “Hometowner” winners were Sarah Fleming’s Training Wheels for best short film and G.B. Shannon’s Que Sera, Sivad for best animated or experimental film.
