A Feast of Film, TV Events Rolling In

Here with another month left of winter, we are shaking the frost and heading into the Great Indoors with a feast of films and film events around West Virginia. Here’s a look at just a few of the incoming events. Don’t forget to check out our web site at www.wvfilm.com and connect with us if you’ve got a project wanting to shoot here in the Mountain State, are putting together an event, or wanting to connect with fellow creatives and filmmakers.

Dopesick Author, Screenwriter, Producer Beth Macy at Marshall

The Marshall Health Network and City of Huntington present journalist and best-selling author and screenwriter Beth Macy at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22 at the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center. Macy will discuss her latest book Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America’s Overdose Crisis – as part of the new Masters at Marshall Distinguished Speaker Series.

Macy is a Virginia-based journalist who writes about outsiders and underdogs. Raised poor in a small Ohio community, she is the award-winning author of three New York Times bestselling books examining rural communities left behind by corporate greed and political indifference. Her first book, Factory Man, explored the aftermath of globalization and won a J. Anthony Lukas Prize. Her second book Dopesick was short-listed for the Carnegie Medal, won the L.A. Times Book Prize for Science and Technology, was described as a “masterwork of narrative nonfiction” by the New York Times, and was adapted into a Peabody- and Emmy Award-winning Hulu series. Macy was an executive producer and cowriter on the show.

Tickets are $76.49. Call the Marshall Artists Series Box Office at 304-696-6656 or visit ticketmaster.com. Tickets may also be purchased at noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at the? box office in the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center.

A Night of Musical Magic?

The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame has produced a new documentary, “The Meteoric Weekend: Winston Walls Meets Steve Ferguson April 1993.” Shot and edited by Jacob Young, the film captures the magic of two incredible nights of music when NRBQ founder and guitarist Steve Ferguson sat in for two nights with the iconic Hammond B3 organ player Winston Walls, who played with everyone from George Benson,? Al Green, and The Pointer Sisters to Charley Pride,? Ike & Tina Turner, and Dionne Warwick. Footage of the two nights (shot by Young on film) was found a couple years ago, edited and then released last year by the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. Walls was posthumously inducted into the hall in 2023.?

?The free screening is sponsored by Michael Lipton and the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, and will take place at Foundry Theater, on the second floor of Huntington City Hall, 800 5th Ave. Huntington.

?Go online at https://www.foundrytheater.org/ to find out more details about The Foundry, which hosts a monthly Open Screen Night for regional filmmakers, as well as the annual Appalachian Film Festival, set for April 26-28.

O Pioneer Screens in Buckhannon And in Charleston

The award-winning contemporary WV documentary O Pioneer, which premiered at CineQuest in California last year, and screens in March at the Big Ears Fest in Knoxville, will screen in the home town of one of its subjects on Friday.?

?The Colonial Arts Center in Buckhannon will hosts a screening on Friday, Feb. 23. Get there early - at 6pm for music with Tim and Aeliza Hibbs (the father and daughter musical duo featured in the film).? O Pioneer screens at 6:30 p.m. with a Q&A to follow.

Tickets are $10 and available at the door or at this link - https://e.sparxo.com/1002974154599063552

Created by Coat of Arms (out of Helvetia, WV) O Pioneer follows three West Virginians - a blacksmith, a seamstress and a hospital chaplain - as they creatively navigate hardship and call us to champion the pioneer within.

Film Panel to Be Part of Arts in Our Communities

O Pioneer’s creators – Jonathan Lacocque and Clara Lehmann will be representing Coat of Arms and O Pioneer at the annual Arts in Our Communities Conference at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28 at the WV Culture Center in Charleston on the WV State Capitol Grounds.

Jonathan and Clara will participate in a "Filmmaking in West Virginia" panel that also includes Marshall filmmaking professor and filmmaker Tijah Bumgarner; Justin Litton, owner of Mountain Craft Media and founder of the Mountain Craft Film Festival, as well as myself - Dave Lavender, who helps run the newly established West Virginia Film Office within the West Virginia Department of Economic Development ?

?O Pioneer will also play at the Conference at 2 p.m. in the WV Culture Center theater. There will be a Q&A following the screening.? Use this link to register for the conference and watch the O Pioneer for FREE with us. Register at https://wvculture.org/arts-in-our-communities-conference/

ABC’s What Would You Do? Airs Charleston Episodes?

?At WV Film Office we're celebrating the kick-off of the 16th season of the iconic ABC News hit hidden-camera TV show, "What Would You Do?" with Hall of Fame journalist and host John Quinones. WWYD that premiered Sunday, Feb. 18 on ABC. We're stoked to announce that for the first time in the show's history - they came to WV to film. In fact, there's four upcoming episodes that will feature locations within the heart of our Capital City of Charleston. Episode 2 (Sunday, Feb. 25) features Black Sheep Burrito and Brews; Episode 4 on March 14, features Black Sheep and Capitol Market; Episode 6 on March 31 features Capitol Market; Episode 7 on April 7 features Black Sheep and Episode 8 on April 21 has Black Sheep in a montage.?

Of note for this production was that a number of Marshall University students studying film were able to work as production assistants on the episodes and that it was a bit of a homecoming for Nashville resident musician (Tommy and the Ohs), and on this job - location scout/manager Tommy Olivierio, who grew up on the Ohio River in western Kentucky, but whose family is - yes, those Oliverio’s up in North Central WV. Here’s hoping that WWYD comes back again to other parts of our Mountain State to capture some more kindness from strangers in their much beloved series.?

Find out more about the show at https://lnkd.in/ePmXpnFE and watch WWYD at 10 p.m. Sundays, and streaming the next day on Hulu.

Tickets On Sale for the WVIFF Oscar Party?

Limited tickets are on sale now for the annual West Virginia International Film Festival’s annual Oscar Party. Join WVIFF patrons on the red carpet for a live viewing on Sunday, March 10 of the 96th Academy Awards at their annual Oscar Party with food, live music by Dalchord, games, and more.

Dress in your best Red Carpet attire OR whatever you are most comfortable in. Your best evening attire and extravagant accessories are encouraged, but casual dress is still sure to impress.

This year’s event will be hosted at Taylor Books, located above our Floralee Hark Cohen Cinema by WVIFF.

At 6 p.m., they will open the doors and welcome you to walk the red carpet. They’ll stream the 2024 Oscars' Red Carpet, followed by a large screen viewing of the 96th Academy Awards ceremony, kicking off at 7 p.m. Enjoy door prizes, a cash bar, popcorn, food, music by Dalchord, and more.

Tickets are $35 early bird until Feb. 29; $45 March 1 until the event. WVIFF “Director” & “Double” Members get ONE FREE admission. WVIFF “Producer” Members receive TWO FREE admissions

(learn more about our membership options). Connect with the WVIFF and get tickets at? https://www.wviff.org/