4 ARTICLES

TEMPLE GRADUATE STUDENT'S FILM GAINS RECOGNITION

Publication: THE TEMPLE NEWS
Published: 10/30/2007
Page: --
Headline: TEMPLE GRADUATE STUDENT'S FILM GAINS RECOGNITION
Byline: EMILY GLEASON

Sam Holdren, a 28-year-old Temple University film and media arts graduate student in the MFA program, is establishing a name for himself in the film industry.

Holdren, the writer and director of the short comedy film "Audition," has won several awards for his latest project including Best Student Short Film and Best Regional Film at the 2007 Bluegrass Independent Film Festival. The 20-minute movie will be screened at the Delaware Valley Film Festival Nov. 2.

Holdren attained his Bachelor of Arts in English: Professional Writing with a Theatre Arts minor from West Virginia University (formerly known as West Virginia College) in May 2002. He also has a Bachelor of Science in communications in May 2001.

He has directed two other award-winning short films; "Unexpected Aphrodisiacs" in 2001 and "Blah" in 2002.

His current film stars Todd Waters, who plays William H. Ashe, a 30-year-old "momma's boy" with the emotional maturity of a teenager. Ashe is consumed with becoming a famous actor and believes whole-heartedly in superstitious "signs," a practice he picked up from his mother.

Throughout the film, Ashe overcomes obstacles and rejection with inextinguishable hope for the future. He redeems his immature behavior with his innocence and unmistakably good intentions.

"I wanted the challenge of taking a character that could be very unlikable … who could potentially offend the audience, and hopefully illicit some empathy for him," he said.

Making a comedy that actually has an impact on the audience is a difficult task, Holdren said. The casting of Ashe's character was a key ingredient in the film's success and Waters impressed Holdren during his audition for the role.

Holdren recalls that when Waters came in to audition, "I couldn't help but smile. He had the energy in his eyes that I wanted for William Ashe," Holdren said, adding that Water had that a soft, "Baby Huey" look.

Holdren stressed the importance of matching an actor's personalities to their roles, opening up room for the character to evolve naturally.

Despite a brief role in the film, another notable actor in "Audition" was Brian Yeshion, a Temple student who was shot and killed in his North Philadelphia apartment in June 2005.

In "Audition", Yeshion plays the role of a college student who Ashe approaches in the bar of The Windsor Hotel. A photo of Yeshion is shown during the credits of the film in memorial.

Although Holdren did not work personally with him, he said members of his crew described Yeshion, a communications major, as a nice guy, who had ambition for himself.

Holdren said he felt it was important to honor the time that Yeshion dedicated to "Audition", however small.

"He was part of the puzzle," Holdren said.

As for other aspiring filmmakers at Temple, Holdren said it's important to "let go and let people into the process."

"When it's all done, you have people to share it with," he said.

He advocated the importance of teamwork, and explained that he avoided acting as a "jack of all trades" when working on "Audition"

The "Audition" production team included some of Holdren's friends and colleagues from Temple. Holdren also enlisted the help of undergraduate film and media arts students, many of whom he taught in the past.

Filmmakers and actors from Holdren's hometown of Charleston, W.Va.., also contributed to the project, as Holdren traveled to back home to shoot the final scene of the movie.

"I consider this movie "Audition" as my audition too," Holdren said. "This is my warm up. It's not going to be the last thing I ever do."

For more information on Sam Holdren and "Audition" go to www.auditionmoviesite.com.

Emily Gleason can be reached at Emily.gleason@temple.edu

LOCAL FILMS HONORED AT FILM FESTIVAL

Publication: GRAFFITI
Published: 10/10/2007
Page: 21
Headline: LOCAL FILMS HONORED AT FILM FESTIVAL
Byline: TONY RUTHERFORD

Do you view life as a daily “audition” by selling yourself, taking on new roles and attempting to win approval?

Sam Holdren, an M.F.A. candidate in Temple University’s Department of Film & Media Arts, has along with Joseph W. Nig [sic: Ng], now an M.A. candidate in Media Studies at West Virginia State University, collaborated on the screenplay for “Audition,” whose main character William Ashe equates a drifting ‘everyman’ looking for success and a whole lot of hope.

The short screens at 7:25 p.m., Oct. 12 in the Landmark Studio of the Arts, Sutton, W.Va., as part of the West Virginia Filmmakers Festival. It has previously been honored as Best Student Short Film and Best Regional Student Film at the Bluegrass Independent Film Festival, La Grange, Ky.

The Winfield, W.Va. native [sic: South Charleston], began principal photography in November 2004 but the film took two years to complete with scenes shot in Philadelphia and Charleston, W.Va.

“When you’re a student film on a limited budget, it tends to slow down the process,” Holden said. However, aside from financing, graduate school and teaching delayed completion as well as “music, visual effects and sound editing É (they) always take three times longer than you expect.”

However, their character Ashe has hit a meaningful chord with viewers. Essentially, he’s a 30-something loser living at home with his mother who believes in “signs” and has an insatiable spirit.

“People like William Ashe have not found their way in life just yet, but a person with the spirit of William Ashe will go on forever despite naive mistakes or failures,” Holdren explained. “Some people see it for the dark comedy, but it’s gratifying when regular people, colleagues or anybody else sees your work and gets it on a human level.”

How did Nig [sic: Ng] and Holdren formulate the character?

“As folks in the Charleston-area who have seen the film are certainly aware, many qualities of William Ashe are unquestionably inspired by a good friend of ours. This includes the energetic personality and external traits; however several of William’s experiences belong to Joe and I. The actual audition is my own experience auditioning for a movie. But as we were writing the screenplay, we decided that a character like our friend would be more interesting and watchable through all of the absurd things that happen. It’s an abstraction, not a biography.”

So, on the way to the theatre in the big city for a major moment, William suddenly finds himself sidetracked and caught up in murder mayhem and mistaken identity. Not unlike curves, detours and uncomfortable so-called growth opportunities in everyone’s journey? “You ask actors to come and try to create some sense of natural behavior in an unnatural environment and then judge them for it while also trying to maintain natural behavior,” the writer/producer said. Sounds like how many of us often try to adapt and conform to environments and relationships that we willingly or unwittingly stumble into?

Thus, despite the hyperbole of circumstances, he represents anyone struggling along life’s path.

“In practically every sequence, William is auditioning. Everywhere he goes, and for everyone he speaks to, he is constantly selling himself,” Holdren said. “He’s trying to make his mother proud by successfully doing something, anything.”

Aside from the Sutton screening, “Audition” has been shown at Huntington’s Appalachian Film Festival, Muskogee, Oklahoma’s Bare Bones International Film Festival, and Springfield, Illinois’ Route 66 Film Festival, and next month in Hatboro, Pa. at the Delaware Valley Film Festival. Check other upcoming showings at auditionmoviesite.com.

Although Holdren has his thesis mostly on his mind, another short film of his, “Play” will be shown at the inaugural Rockport Film Festival in Texas. Visit: www.playmoviesite.com. While studying at West Virginia State University, he won the West Virginia International Student Film Competition for “Unexpected Aphrodisiacs” (2001) and “Blah” (2002). On his 2008 slate, “The Paradigm Shift,” a short drama, and he recently worked as the line producer Huntington native and NYU graduate student Kim Spurlock’s “Roy G. Biv.”

About the festival

Two films with Huntington, W.Va. roots will screen during the 2007 West Virginia Filmmakers Film Festival, Friday, Oct. 12 in Sutton, W.Va. at the Landmark Studio of the Arts.

Back in June 2006 just after Warner Bros. left town, Mandy Sherwood, a Huntington native, began shooting her no budget “Sixteen to Life” at locations around the city, including venues like the Keith Albee, Frost Top Drive Inn, the former C & O Piano Bar and Daniello’s Pizza.

Featuring rock music, skateboarding, teenage angst, after-school jobs and dingy music clubs, “Sixteen to Life” follows two girls dealing with family and peer issues. Shelly, the daughter of a local rock musician, has been pressured into guitar playing; Amy, a straight-laced Pakistani girl has a love for music and must fight her fiercely conservative step-father for independence.

As part of the rite of passage, the film’s two leads Sarah (Heather Newhouse) and Amy (Sarah Plata) participate in the competition in which the title song, “Sixteen to Life” is featured. Three bands took the stage at the Piano Bar: Darism Drive, Broken Heart Transistor and Dog Spit.

Writer/director Sherwood, whose parents often provided a ‘catered’ dinner for cast and crew, patterned the production after John Hughes’ “Sixteen Candles.” Sherwood wants her film to appeal to both teens and 30-somethings, as it updates the concepts and perspectives of “Sixteen Candles.”

In addition, David Smith’s “Maneater,” which has screened at both Marshall University and the Appalachian Film Festival, will be shown.

WV NATIVE WINS AWARDS AT FILM FESTIVAL: NEXT SCREENING AT ANNUAL SUTTON FESTIVAL

Publication: HUNTINGTONNEWS.NET
Published: 10/4/2007
Page: Online
Headline: WV NATIVE WINS AWARDS AT FILM FESTIVAL:
NEXT SCREENING AT ANNUAL SUTTON FESTIVAL
Byline: HNN Staff

Sutton, WV (HNN) – The short comedy "Audition" – directed by award- winning filmmaker Sam Holdren – will screen as part of the 2007 West Virginia Filmmakers Film Festival on Friday, October 12, 2007, at 7:25 p.m.

”Audition” and Holdren recently received awards for Best Student Short Film and Best Regional Student Film at the Bluegrass Independent Film Festival in La Grange. KY. Other screenings of the film so far include the Appalachian Film Festival in Huntington, WV; the Bare Bones Int. Film Festival in Muskogee, OK; and the Route 66 Film Festival in Springfield, IL; and next month, the film will screen at the Delaware Valley Film Festival in Hatboro, PA.

"Audition" is an absurd character study about William Ashe, a man who believes in signs. William, an aspiring actor, travels to the big city to audition for a movie and gets sidetracked by murder, mayhem, and mistaken identity.

"Audition," says Holdren, "is a dark love-letter to people who haven't quite found their way in life just yet." Holdren, an M.F.A. candidate in Film & Media Arts at Temple University in Philadelphia, began co-writing the film with friend and current-West Virginia State University graduate student Joseph W. Ng back in July 2004, and then spent the next two years crafting the final product, involving crews in both Philadelphia and Charleston.

With assistance from the West Virginia Film Office, one sequence of the movie was shot in Charleston back in March 2005, and involved local film and theatrical artists/performers. Holdren is a West Virginia native, a graduate of Winfield High School, and a double-graduate of West Virginia State University.

The short will screen at the Landmark Studio of the Arts in Sutton during a screening block that also includes the feature-length films: "Maneater" by David Smith and "16 to Life," by Mandy Sherwood.

More information, along with a trailer, is available at www.auditionmoviesite.com.

CITY NATIVE'S FILM TO SCREEN AT FESTIVAL

Publication: THE CHARLESTON GAZETTE
Published: 04/19/2007
Page: 15D
Headline: CITY NATIVE'S FILM TO SCREEN AT FESTIVAL
Byline: BILL LYNCH
lynch@wvgazette.com

Filmmaker Sam Holdren talks excitedly, gushing about his 20-minute film "Audition" that's being shown at noon today at the Appalachian Film Festival in Huntington. Sitting at a table at Capitol Roasters on Summers Street - across the street from the Capitol Center Theater, which served as the location for the last scene in his film - Holdren says that he can't help but be proud of how things have worked out.

"This is coming home to me," he said.

Holdren was born in Charleston, graduated from Winfield High School and from West Virginia State College. For the last few years, he's studied film at Temple University.

His film "Audition," co-written with friend and W.Va. State classmate, Joseph Ng, follows 24 hours in the life of a painfully eager, pathologically earnest actor named William H. Ashe. Ashe has traveled to Philadelphia to audition for a part in a film. Very quickly, the unbelievably optimistic Ashe is out of his element and wanted for murder.

"It's a very dark comedy," Holdren said. "But there is a certain level of absurdity that makes it work, I think."

The story came from a back-and-forth dialogue between Ng and Holdren, a scenario that Ng pitched and Holdren didn't buy until they injected a mutual friend into the scene. Ashe is somewhat based on that mutual friend, a Charleston actor who is said to be a bit intense.

"He's got an energy to him that constantly gets him in and out of trouble," Holdren said of the friend. "Part of William Ashe is that guy, but a lot of him is also Joseph, and I can see me in William Ashe, too."

Todd Waters, who portrayed Ashe, didn't actually know that the character was based on a real person until late in the filming. Holdren introduced the two while the film crew reshot scenes in downtown Charleston.

"It was a surreal moment for everybody," Holdren said.

Holdren says that he's glad to get the chance to screen his film at the Appalachian Film Festival and hopes to eventually screen it in Charleston. In the meantime, he's submitting the film to other festivals and working on his next project.

"'Audition' is my warm-up."

The Appalachian Film Festival runs through Saturday at Huntington's Keith-Albee Theater. It closes with a 6 p.m. Saturday screening of "Two Tickets to Paradise," an independent film by D.B. Sweeny ("The Cutting Edge") starring himself, John C. McGinley ("Scrubs") and Paul Hipp as three friends on the verge of a midlife crisis who take a road trip to a Marshall University football bowl game. For a complete listing of events, visit www.appyfilmfest.com.

To contact staff writer Bill Lynch, use e-mail or call 348-5195.