The MAP is presenting the Daniel DeLaVergne Spirit Award at this year's Asheville Film Festival.This annual award was created to honor expedition filmmaker, Daniel DeLaVergne. The award is to recognize and honor filmmakers whose work explores pushing the limits of our minds and hearts by artistically expressing true Spirit. These films unlock the vast potential of the human spirit or nature and enable us to view films that display courage, integrity and hope, taking entertainment to a unique level. The winner will also receive $500 donated by the MAP. For more information, visit www.ashevillefilmfestival.com
Space is the Place! The Moon Europa Film Festival Party
posted: October 17, 2006
Moon Europa, recently voted Asheville's Best Locally Produced Film, hosts a VIP Film Festival party to celebrate completion of principal cinematography and receipt of the Inaugural Daniel DeLaVergne Media Arts Advantage Fund Award created by the Media Arts Project and AdvantageWest.
Moon Europa is an independent, community-based science fiction film project. The film addresses themes at the intersection of humanity, nature, and technology with a unique vision which could only come out of the cultural renaissance of Asheville. Moon Europa represents a new wave of independent digital filmmaking.
Festivities for the Friday, November 10th event include:
8-11pm Space is the Place - Moon Europa Film Festival Party @ Cafe on the Square (VIP list/ invitation or $20.00 at the door)
Premiere of the newly released and unseen Moon Europa trailer
Free food and beverages provided by Cafe on the Square and the French Broad Brewery
Meet the cast and crew, including award-winning Director, Chris Bower
Raffle and Silent Auction
Ambient DJ & Video
11:00-11:30pm Djinntana FirePlay directed by Draven Arcane, star of Moon Europa (free to the public/ Pack Place downtown) Fire spinning, modern primitives, pirates, and more!
11:30-2:30am After Party Benefit @ Mela Indian Restaurant ($10.00 at the door) with DJ's, Bellydance troupe Baraka Mundi, and live space video mix by VJ Welkin
Hosted by Cafe on the Square
VIP After Party hosted by Mela Indian Restaurant
Sponsor List The Media Arts Project, French Broad Brewing Company, Studio Chavarria, Djinntana Fireplay, Baraka Mundi, Flood Gallery, Cafe on the Square, and Mela Indian Restaurant
Southern Circuit: Tara Wray's Manhattan, Kansas
posted: October 12, 2006
The Media Arts Project (MAP) presents Tara Wray as part of the Southern Circuit tour of independent filmmakers at The Fine Arts Theatre on Biltmore Avenue in Asheville, NC, on November 6, 2006 at 7pm. This event is $5 for non-students and free to UNCA and WCU students with ID.
Director Tara Wray fled her childhood home of Manhattan, Kansas after her mother, in a mentally unstable state, threatened to kill her when she was 19 years old. "My mother was my entire life," she says, "But, we were always running from her demons, both real and imagined." Her mother's undiagnosed emotional and mental state terrorized Wray for years.Following five years of estrangement, Wray knew it was time to go back with her camera.
Manhattan, Kansas delves into the complicated ways family members connect with each other. In the same way that everyone tries to forge relationships with their parents or siblings, Tara Wray desperately wants to connect with her mother. The Film Society of Lincoln Center writes, "Wray's film articulates the moment we truly see ourselves removed from our parents and see who they are beyond the world they created for us." According to the Independent Feature Project, the American representative of the Cannes Film Festival, "This intimate and engaging documentary acknowledges that love abides, even when forgiveness is not always easy or possible."
Tara Wray was born and raised in "The Little Apple" of Manhattan, Kansas and has since relocated to "The Big Apple" itself. Wray took her first plunge into film work, without the formal training of film school, by making Manhattan, Kansas. Knowing the risks she took for her documentary were great; she asserts, "You have to trust your guts and surround yourself with people who know what they're doing and are willing to help you out."
Created by the South Carolina Arts Commission over thirty years ago, Southern Circuit takes independent filmmakers on a journey into communities across the South. Chosen by a panel of experts for the quality of their work, the filmmakers screen their recent films for local audiences. Produced without studio backing and struggling to secure a distributor, many of these films would never be seen on a screen in this area of the country without Southern Circuit. The program also encourages audiences to interact with the filmmakers during receptions and post-screening discussions.
Southern Circuit is a program of the Southern Arts Federation, a not-for-profit regional arts organization making a positive difference in the arts throughout the South since 1975. Southern Arts Federation is supported by funding and programming partnerships with the National Endowment for the Arts, private foundations, corporations, individuals, and the state arts agencies of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Liquefaction: A Geek and Artist Mixer
posted: October 9, 2006
A Joint Event of The Media Arts Project and Meet the Geeks
Date: Tuesday, October 24th, 2006
Time: 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Location: The New French Bar Courtyard Cafe,
12 Biltmore Avenue
Cost: Free Admission,
Free Food,
Cash Bar
RSVP to director@themap.org
Learn more about the collaboration of geeks and
artists helping to effectively discover, analyze and communicate
ideas and insights by unlocking data, improving networks &
communication, and developing new tools for working together.
Demonstrations will show how geeks and artists can help each other to
build new businesses and create mindblowing art (think new photoshop plug ins, better quality video compression and more). Computers will be on
hand to create interactive collaborations with "processing", a language that both artists and geeks can love. Come join the discussion and spur new ideas.
, recently voted Asheville's Best Locally Produced Film, hosts a VIP Film Festival party to celebrate completion of principal cinematography and receipt of the Inaugural Daniel DeLaVergne Media Arts Advantage Fund Award created by the Media Arts Project and AdvantageWest.
