Be INTIMATE over film in 2017
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Happy New Year, dearest readers and discerning enthusiasts in the downstate region of Champaign-Urbana, Illinois! We hope you plan to spend a nominal portion of your attentions in 2017 with us here at C-U Blogfidential and our shared neighbors who continue to do their part to push indigenous film culture into the limelight. Both are represented handily in the embedded episode of ALMOST INTIMATE, an interview series produced and hosted by DeShawn Hill of HD Productions Media in Champaign, so we’re going to keep today’s holiday posting short and encourage you to segue into a viewing as soon as you can! Although we’ve talked before about INTIMATE, the run of which you can sample at the HD YouTube channel, we’re singling out the most recent entry uploaded on Friday, December 23, since it features a candid one-on-one between Hill and humble CUBlog editor Jason Pankoke. We discuss the topics you might expect to be addressed, including C-U Confidential and the New Art Film Festival, but also go into Ye Ed’s personal background, experiences, and philosophy leading up to his current slate of activity du C-U, his reflections on the MICRO-FILM era, what he likes to watch as of late, which current releases he believes should be recognized in the unfolding awards season, and more! This is a side rarely broached by reporters and fellow media makers who wish to share our story, so we appreciate the invitation from Hill to have this conversation and believe it illuminates the “why” of what we have doggedly attempted for more than a decade. We also think it could be the last or almost-last ALMOST produced in town by the ambitious and steadfast Hill, who plans a move to Los Angeles this month to take a sophomore stab at entering the entertainment industry as a California resident. He has a narrative short in the works titled DAUGHTERS, a self-described “heart-stopping thriller” shot within the past few weeks on C-U soil and featuring William Rose II, Kris Wilcox, Victoria Odom, and Shauna Miller, as well as recent producer/director/editor credits on the dramatic short MY CHILD, starring Nicole Busch and Tracy Payne (who also co-produced and wrote the original screenplay) in a cautionary tale of drug abuse, murder, and an infant born addicted. In addition, Hill contributes essays on movies to the Film Inquiry on-line magazine. You can keep tabs on HD Productions Media by visiting their Web site, just relaunched at midnight according to their Facebook, and help us wish Hill the best of luck in moving forward with his career plans.
~ Jason Pankoke