Monday, February 15, 2010

The University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Lumina Theater will host a screening and panel discussion on the short film Two Hours in the Dark at 7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 25.
 
Two Hours in the Dark depicts a critical event in the life of famed director Frank Capra that triggered his transition from directing screwball comedies to socially conscious dramas like It’s a Wonderful Life. Director Chip Hackler, an assistant professor in UNCW’s Department of Film Studies, will participate in a question-and-answer panel after the screening, along with co-producer Terry Linehan, editor Jonathan Stanley and actor Eric Paisley.

Filmed in Wilmington using a largely local cast and crew, the 35-minute film is based on a dark period in Capra’s life when the director spiraled into a deep depression after winning the Oscar for It Happened One Night. Hackler based the script on a story told by Capra’s family.

The film won the Fiction Juried Screening Award from the University Film and Video Association (UFVA) and has screened at the Cucalorus Film Festival, the Asheville Film Festival and with Frank Capra's classic It's a Wonderful Life at UNCW. It has been accepted to be shown at the Charleston International Film Festival in April.

The screening is free and open to the public. The event is co-sponsored by UNCW Presents and the film studies department. For more information about the film, visit www.twohoursinthedark.org.

Media contact:
William Davis, UNCW marketing and communications, 962-2654 or davisw@uncw.edu