Greenville SC-based filmmaker Emily Reach White announced in an interview on Monday that CINEMA PURGATORIO (COMEDY 2014) will launch its initial screening on June 1, 2014 in Columbia, SC. The world premier is scheduled to then move on to the Tryon Theatre in Tryon, NC. White was interviewed on Monday in Tryon at the “station”, home of the Polk County Film Initiative.
The film (a movie within a movie) was shot at unique locations in Greenville, Columbia, Charleston and Folly Beach and portrays the story of a young married couple struggling to be successful in the film industry. The financially strapped film makers decide to produce a movie on a shoe-string budget and submit it to a 48-hour film festival in Charleston, SC where they expect actor Bill Murray might be a judge. The hook is that the couples believe that Bill Murray might closely identify with a character in the film named Nick Teasle (played by Lavin Cuddihee) an over-extinguish, B-movie, commercial motion picture actor.
On a long-shot the film crew sets up shop at a Folly Beach (Charleston, SC) vacation home where elements of the purgatory begin to manifest itself with the cast and crew as they struggle to bring their movie to competition quality. The cast and crew also follow a long-shot dream that perhaps Bill Murray, himself, might make a cameo appearance in their short film. It is unknown, as of the date of the interview, whether the film production company actually made contact with Bill Murray who is known for his works Groundhog Day, Ghost Buster and most recently The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).
According to the film makers, Chris and Emily Reach White: “CINEMA PURGATORIO is also their first comedy. Inspired by their own experiences as no-name, no-budget independent filmmakers, CINEMA PURGATORIO represents the couple’s most ambitious film to date — though it is still crafted with the kind of homemade genius the couple has become known for in recent years with their award-winning short films GOOD LIFE (2010) and DOBRA OJCA (2012) and their features TAKEN IN (2011) and GET BETTER (2012).
Though produced for very little money by Hollywood standards ($50,000), the film is stunning to look at, and the acting (which features two Columbia-based actors in addition to actors from Greenville, Los Angeles, New York, Austin, and Nashville) is exceptional.
‘Since we basically poke fun of ourselves and our film making endeavors in CINEMA PURGATORIO, Chris and I feel nervous when we screen in front of a live audience,’ says Emily, ‘Premiering in Columbia (SC) puts us more at ease — we’ve had nothing but great experiences here.'”
According to the Western North Carolina Film Commission | Advantage West, North and South Carolina have become sought after commodities for the Hollywood film and cinema production industry because of the sheer cost of doing business through tax credits alone and also the rich inventory of available assets (sights, actors and crew).
