CAPTURE film project reels in Kansas City as a partner/competitor
Chattanooga’s film community outreach has begun. CAPTURE Chattanooga, the community filmmaking project that began two years ago, has found a second city to participate. The only requirement for participation was a gigabit internet connection and, as luck would have it, Kansas City, Missouri was one of the first places Google began offering internet speeds comparable to GigCity. The first in a marriage of ideas was born, one that will hopefully spread across the county.
CAPTURE began as an invitation for amateur filmmakers to work with industry professionals over the course of 48 hours to create something truly innovative: short films with a common theme and the honest purpose of film celebration. Editors and musicians and filmmakers came together to compete while enjoying the pursuit of creation.
“This is our third year producing CAPTURE. The collaboration between community, editors and musicians is extremely exciting and compelling. Now, we have CAPTURE expanding into Kansas City. Two Chattanooga creative teams will compete with two Kansas City creative teams. The stakes of city pride on top of creative competition will make it more exciting than ever,” says Zachary Cooper, CAPTURE Project Director for the Association of Visual Artists (AVA). “CAPTURE combines artistic talent, video and filmmaking technology with the power of fiber optic connectivity in each city.” An additional venue had always been in the plans. AVA had a vision, one that wasn’t limited to just the Scenic City.
“CAPTURE was developed from the beginning to be site-specific, yet also transferable and replicable. It can be true in multiple places,” says Anne Willson, AVA’s executive director. “With the very generous support of several foundations, the project has been incubated and tested for a couple of years. Now in its third year, we are absolutely thrilled to join with Kansas City for 2015.” Kansas City will have just completed their celebration of technology with Techweek Kansas City, so CAPTURE will fall right in line with the theme of developing technology having a significant and inspiration role in the visual arts. All of the videos submitted to CAPTURE will be edited and scored professionally, then shown simultaneously in both cities on Sept. 20.
“CAPTURE will challenge people in both cities to take their cameras and smartphones to the streets to film up to four 30-second clips that give a window into their community,” says Jason Harper, of KC Digital Drive. The KC Film + New Media Office are supporters and sponsors of the CAPTURE event.
“We could not be more excited to accept the CAPTURE challenge from our friends in Chattanooga,” says Stephane Scupham, KC Film Commissioner. “This contest is an opportunity for Kansas Citians to bring together our vibrant arts and tech communities to showcase the dynamic culture of cities."
As exciting as the event is in itself, however, the inclusion of Mark Covino as guest juror for CAPTURE is particularly important. Covino, as many will remember, is the director “A Band Called Death,” a 2012 documentary about the discovery of a lost Detroit punk band that was playing the music long before punk took the world by storm. The inclusion of Covino this year continues the theme of unsung artists.
Unsung artists are what make CAPTURE such an innovative and powerful event. Anyone with a digital video camera or smart phone can participate and become part of something extraordinary. Without the participation of Chattanooga’s own unique talents, the event would never take shape. Given that this year is a competition between cities, and Chattanooga has half the population of Kansas City, we are definitely the underdogs. We’ve proven that we can vote in an online poll. We should prove we can take the next step. Support local film.
CAPTURE happens Friday, Sept. 18 - Sunday, Sept. 20. More information can be found at capturefilmproject.org