Having received international media coverage and national honors since its April debut, “Followed,” a short film shot last year in Macon, is returning home.
The Macon Film Festival will sponsor the Macon premiere of “Followed” on Thursday evening at The Edge 14 Macon theater.
“(We wanted to make) sure that the people who were in the film get to see the film before we take it out everywhere, and that was really important to me,” director James Kicklighter said. “That all these wonderful extras and all the supportive people in this town that have really helped to make this film happen, it was very important to me that they would be among the first people to see it.”
The 20-minute short film made its world debut in April at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth in Seattle, winning an audience award.
The film is “a different take on the zombie genre,” which is supposed to make viewers think and reflect on their own lives, the 22-year-old Kicklighter said.
“(‘Followed’) really is about becoming a member in the global community, becoming a member of your local community and not just thinking that the things that we do only impact ourselves,” Kicklighter said. “(I hope) when you walk away from ‘Followed,’ you walk away asking yourself: What is my place in the world? Where am I? And how do I affect other people?”
So far, the film has received positive reviews, he said.
Author Will McIntosh, whose short story was the basis of the film, is happy with the product, Kicklighter said.
“That’s the greatest compliment that I could ever receive,” he said. “Even if nobody else likes it, the author cried when he watched, so we feel like we accomplished what we needed to do.”
Kicklighter said his production company is just getting started promoting the film and will continue through the fall.
Having directed projects across the United States, as well as in Ethiopia and Italy, he said “Followed” is the biggest project he’s ever directed and he hopes to continue to build on that in Georgia.
“Georgia has so many opportunities for filming,” said Kicklighter, highlighting Macon’s community support, talent base and film locations. Scenes for “Followed” were filmed at local coffee shop Killian’s Place, Mercer University, the SoChi Gallery, Washington Park and Wesleyan College.
Kicklighter, a Georgia native, said he plans to continue producing films in Georgia for at least the next few years.
His company, JamesWorks Entertainment, is currently raising money to produce three feature films and a feature documentary over the next three years.
All the films are set in the South, he said, and JamesWorks plans on shooting all of them in Georgia with perhaps another filming in Macon.
“We really have made the conscious decision to stay in the state for the next two years and see what happens,” Kicklighter said, adding that there is potential for Georgia to be more than a film destination, but also home to a new film industry. “We said, ‘Let’s be part of the solution and not part of the problem. Let’s see if we can make it work.’ So if we can raise the money we want to raise in the next few months, we have full intentions of staying in the state and producing and helping to create that infrastructure that the state can support.”
With studios being built in Atlanta, Savannah and other Georgia cities, Kicklighter said, “We have the supplies, we have the resources. We just need to keep the talent.”
Following the screening Thursday, there will be a question-and-answer session with Kicklighter, screenwriter Mark Ezra Stokes, producer Kasey Ray-Stokes and members of the cast.
The film is the American debut of Australian actor Erryn Arkin (“Home and Away,” “CIA: Crime Investigation Australia”), and also stars Edith Ivey (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), Sylvia Boykin (“The Tenant”), and San Francisco’s Abigail de los Reyes.
Ivey and Macon actresses Boykin and September Carter are scheduled to attend the Macon premiere.
The night also will include a 2011 Macon Film Festival Winners Showcase, hosting screenings of “Taste,” “Swing,” Inkblots,” “The Desperate,” “Kavi” and “Bright.”
The free event starts at 7 p.m. at The Edge 14 Macon, 245 Tom Hill Sr. Blvd.
To contact writer Caryn Grant, call 744-4347.
