Thursday, March 06, 2003

Wilmington – The short film Conversation with Kafka will premiere at 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 18, in the Warwick Center Ballroom at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Adapted from of Franz Kafka’s first short story, Conversation with a Supplicant, the film is the story of a conflicted young writer and his artistic obsessions with many mistresses. The premiere is free and open to the public.

Directed by UNCW professor Renee Vincent, the film was shot on location in Kafka’s homeland in Prague, Czech Republic, as well as in Wilmington. Vincent said the film was made possible by partnerships across the UNCW campus, involving many departments, students, international programs, honors programs, UNCW alumni, and professionals and vendors in the community and across the nation. Vincent also received a research reassignment award and a summer research initiative from UNCW’s College of Arts and Sciences to produce the film.

Former UNCW student Marie Caudell wrote the script from her own German translation of Kafka’s story. Joe Dunton from Joe Dunton & Company International Inc. of Wilmington provided the camera equipment at a discounted price.

Eastman Kodak Co. donated the film stock for the project and featured the film in their national magazine In Camera.

In shooting the film, Vincent and her team experimented with innovative technology. They used a 16mm camera with 2.35 Research Anamorphic Lenses, which are meant to be used with 35mm cameras. This camera and lens combination allowed for filming in cinemascope, which gave the final product a wide screen, larger than life feeling, said Vincent. This technology reflects 25 years of research by Dunton, a member of BSC (British Society of Cinematographers).



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A trailer of the film can be viewed at www.conversationwithkafka.com. To contact Dr. Vincent, call (910) 962-3403.