Film grew more roots in Northwest Arkansas this year. The feature-length “Gordon Family Tree” was filmed inSeptember in Northwest Arkansas, according to Cassie Self, one of the producers of the film.
About 95 percent of the movie was shot in and around Fayetteville and West Fork. The other 5
percent was shot on interstate
highways because part of the film
is a road trip from Los Angeles to
Arkansas.
The main character in the story is Freemont Gordon, who is from a very prominent family, all of whom have had success and fortune.
“He is a successful architect, but he is just not truly fulfilled,” Self says.
He ends up on a road trip that becomes a journey of self exploration, and he discovers he loves working with his hands. He builds treehouses for families or underprivileged people, creating them anonymously and signing them “free,” she says. After different events, he ends up back in Los Angeles without knowing he has become famous across the country as the treehouse builder. He discovers his true calling, Self adds.
Ryan Schwartzman plays Freemont Gordon. He was raised in Fayetteville and then moved to Los Angeles, where he met wife Jennica, who is also in the film. Both are filmmakers, and Schwartzman wrote and produced the film in addition to appearing in it. “Gordon Family Tree” was largely based on his personal experiences, Self says. One of the characters is based on his dad, who was a builderin the area and was very connected to the community. It a familyfriendly film, and it shows a positive promotion of Arkansas, she adds. The film portrays Arkansas “as the kind of place anybody would want to be.”
The film features actors Corbin Bernsen and Richard Karn, who played Al in “Home Improvement.” Many of the other cast members were hired locally, Self says.
The film will have its first festival cut ready by spring 2013, and it will be sent to the Sundance Film Festival, South By Southwest, Toronto International Film Festival and others, she says.
Self says Arkansas is an amazing place to make films, and since this film was shot, she has seen a few new projects surface because filmmakers are finding the support they need in Arkansas. She adds that film is one of the only industries that comes in andhelps promote local businesses, gives business to the community, spends money in the community and doesn’t “leave a negative footprint.” The more that happens in Northwest Arkansas, the more people here will benefit, she believes.
Schwartzman and his wife came to Northwest Arkansas in 2011 for the Offshoot Film Fest, which is put on by the Seedling Film Association. They met a lot of people and “realized what a great area this was for film,” Self says. That’s how they ended up back in Arkansas to produce this film, she adds.
“We wanted to see more filmsmade here, so we wanted to bring more filmmakers here so they could see how beautiful it is and how the community of artists embraces filmmaking,” Jason Suel, executive director of the Seedling Film Association, said in an Oct. 5 What’s Up! article.
The Offshoot Film Festival also grew this year. It included a short film called “Carlisle’s Secret,” which is about a young boy who moves in with his father, a magician, after his mother dies of cancer, according to the Oct. 5 article. The film was written by Steve Snediker and was shot in Northwest Arkansas. Suel said in the article that the short films this year were spectacular.
“The other thing we’re excited about every year are the local films.
Every year there’s so much growth in quality - and ‘Carlisle’s Secret’ is a prime example. The fact that it was made locally, with local talent, is just exciting,” Suel said.
Snediker said in the article that he found the talent he needed because of the community that’s growing in Northwest Arkansas, and film festivals like Offshoot help inspire more to join that community.
An international film festival also stopped in Fayetteville in September.
Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour brings films from the 36th annual Banff Mountain Film Festival to some 390 communities in 35 countries around the world. The Community, a religious organization, sponsors the Fayetteville showings, according to a Sept. 14 article in What’s Up!
Self, one of the producers of “Gordon Family Tree,” says other film projects are in the works in the area and will be shot locally next year. One of these is “Greater: The Brandon Burlsworth Story,” which is produced by Brian Reindl and directed by David Hunt. It is based on the life of Brandon Burlsworth, a walk-on for the University of Arkansas football team who became an NFL draft pick, she says. It will be shooting in May, she adds.
“That’s going to be a really big one for Northwest Arkansas,” she says.
Whats Up, Pages 14 on 12/28/2012