Thursday, June 15, 2006

By Walter Zaykowski, Marketing and Communications Intern

Wilmington, NC -- Dave Monahan, assistant professor of film studies at University of North Carolina Wilmington who specializes in screenwriting and editing, along with several students, has directed and produced a short film that is receiving national and international attention. The film, RINGO, an "Experimental Musical Western" featuring John Wayne and Roy Rogers, will make its Wilmington premiere at the Cucalorus Friday Night Films series at 7 and 9 p.m., Friday, June 23.

The evening's program "Local Film Nite: Wilmy films made by Wilmy Folks," will spotlight recent films by Wilmington filmmakers and will be hosted by Jengo's Playhouse located at 815 Princess Street downtown Wilmington. Admission is free.

The day after its hometown premiere, RINGO will screen as part of the Los Angeles Film Festival. The LAFF, held annually for 10 days in June and July, showcases the best of American and International cinema. This festival has an attendance of over 60,000 and features over 175 narrative films, documentaries and shorts selected from over 3,000 entries and is presented by Film Independent and The Los Angeles Times.

RINGO is "found footage" experimental film, an established style in the world of avant-garde cinema, but one unfamiliar to most movie audiences. To make RINGO, Monahan and UNCW film student Brendon Murphy and recent graduate Richard Wiebe edited together shots and images culled from over 27 public domainWestern feature films. In addition, multiple images were often composited, a "digital collage" technique in which figures or objects are combined with backgrounds or elements from separate shots. All of this digitally manipulated footage was then set to the 1964 story-song "Ringo." The result is a new, unique narrative film composed entirely of footage from previous works.

The film tells the story of an ill-fated friendship between ruthless outlaw, John Wayne, and righteous lawman, Roy Rogers, whose performances were created by scavenging serial westerns each made in the 1930s and 40s. Film Studies students Josh Woll, Philip Mozolak, Jacob Rudolph, Daniel Thornbury and Christopher Bowen served as sequence and assistant editors on the project.

Over the past nine months, RINGO has screened at the following film festivals and venues:

Hanoi Cinemateque, Hanoi Vietnam, 2005

Santa Fe International Film Festival, Santa Fe NM, 2005

Cinequest International Film Festival, San Jose CA, 2006

Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor MI, 2006 (Honorable Mention Award)

Athens International Film & Video Festival, Athens OH, 2006

Winnipeg International Film Festival, Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada 2006

Seattle International Film Festival, Seattle WA, 2006

Los Angeles Film Festival, Los Angeles CA, 2006

Ann Arbor Film Festival Tour (national screening tour to universities,

theaters and museums), 2006

Milwaukee Underground Film Festival, Milwaukee, WI 2006

Rural Route Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, New York NY 2006

For more information contact Dave Monahan, 910.962.7544 or at monahand@uncw.edu.