The Expecting Goodness Short Film Festival provides opportunities for building a film community between amateurs and professionals in the Upstate South Carolina region. Through community gatherings, workshops, lectures, and the concluding film festival during which the completed films will be screened and awarded prizes, the project's mission is to generate enthusiasm for film, educate the community on numerous aspects of the industry, and celebrate the literature and film of our great region. 

Expecting Goodness is a collection of twenty Southern short stories by both established and up-and-coming authors who remarkably share the same hometown of Spartanburg, SC. The collection, edited by long-time fiction editor of The Atlantic magazine C. Michael Curtis, is the inspiration for the film festival, the first of its kind in Spartanburg.

Seven filmmakers will each use a different story from the collection as inspiration for a 5-10 minute short film that will then be shown on the Festival night, March 24, at The Showroom. 

Project schedule:

January 11, 2012 at Midnight: Registration deadline

January 14, 2012 at 7pm: Launch Nite

January 28, 2012 from 5-9pm: Film Fan Night
Location: The Showroom
This evening will bring together filmmakers, producers, actors, screenwriters, and all involved or interested in filmmaking in the region. It's one grand networking night and opportunity to make connections for filmmakers involved in the Expecting Goodness Short Film Festival and beyond. From 5-7pm, the public is welcome to meet many of the filmmakers taking part in the festival and even sign up to help on a film. From 7-9pm, the public is invited to learn about the film industry from area professionals, including screenwriting, starring in a film, applying to film school, the history of film, and more.

February 4, 2012 from 11am-5pm: Heroic (re)Production community film workshop
Location: Steve's studio above The Showroom
In this workshop participants will reproduce an exciting and engaging scene from hero-movie history, while learning the production side of creating moving images.  Skills will be covered in lighting, audio, and camera work with ample opportunities for heroic acting.  This will be a day-long workshop, so come for an hour and learn one aspect of the production or stay all day and learn them all.  At the end of the workshop, a video will be cut of all scenes recorded throughout the day of the various acting heroes.  It should be pretty interesting and heroically fun.

March 24, 2012 at 7pm: Expecting Goodness Short Film Festival

Location: The Showroom
$5 entry at the door. Details to come!

Cash awards will be given in the following categories:

• Audience Favorite ($500)
• Best Film (Juried) ($500)
• Best Editing (Juried) ($250)
• Best Actor/Acress (Juried) ($250)
• Best Cinematography (Juried) ($250

Meet our judges:

The Filmmakers:

Porter Blackman, filmmaker of Norman Powers's "A Touch of Blue" (on the HUB-BUB Blog)
Porter Blackman attended Spartanburg public school through the sixth grade, when he left to attend schools in the Northeast. It was during junior high school and high school when he realized he had a passion for visual arts and filmmaking. He originally went to the College of Santa Fe to study film but graduated with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Studio Art. Studying psychology has given him a good understanding of human personalities and behaviors, which helps him with his storytelling.

Andrew Doughman, filmmaker of Michel Stone's "Expecting Goodness" (on the HUB-BUB Blog)
Andrew Doughman is a journalist at the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, where he covers religion and health. He grew up in Seattle, where he enjoyed hiking up snowy mountains, guzzling coffee, gallivanting across lakes in kayaks and other stereotypical Northwest activities. Because it's rumored to rain all the time in Seattle, he also enjoys indoor activities like reading and writing.

Abe Duenas, filmmaker of Kathryn Brackett's "Girl Talk"
Abe Duenas is a seasoned short filmmaker. Abe has written and directed 10 short films and many more commercials. He has recently made his mark in South Carolina, receiving a grant from the SC film Comission to produce his film "The Lot" in 2011.

Adam T. Gordon, filmmaker of Susan Tekulve's "The Nipper"
Adam T. Gordon is from Gaffney, SC. He is 25 years old and he has a passion for photography. Growing up he used to reenact entire movies with his cousins; making their own props and small sets. Adam is currently working with USC Upstate's ASUN.TV as a cameraman.

Jason Kruczynski, filmmaker of Jeremey Jones's "Where is William, Now?"
A former resident of Brooklyn who grew up in GA and considers Oslo his favorite town in the world, Jay is a curious soul trying to find the best in every situation. He enjoys being involved in music, art, and of course travel.

Wade Sellers, filmmaker of Lou Dischler's "Lola's Prayer"
Wade had the same kind of childhood so many other filmmakers have had- parents had a 8mm camera- spent his allowance at K-Mart on film- invited all of his friends over to the house on Saturday to make a movie. While attending music school and working as a delivery boy in Atlanta, he was walking downtown on a delivery and saw huge lights, and semi trucks- he thought he'd take a look (if you have a box of office supplies, you can get in anywhere). He began working in the film biz carrying heavy equipment from one place then taking it back to the other place about 17 years ago. He has produced and directed 10 short films of his own and shot many other features and short films for other filmmakers over the past 15 years. He currently lives in Columbia, SC and owns Coal Powered Filmworks.

Chris White, filmmaker of Thomas McConnell's "A Proof for Roxanna"
Chris White hand-makes nano-budget, artistically ambitious films for friends. Trained as a theatre artist and screenwriter, Chris aims for Criterion Collection quality through an organic, improvisational process. Chris lives in the Upstate of South Carolina (USA) with his wife and writing partner, Emily, and three children: Gibson, Whitaker, and Harriet.