The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 156, No. 74, Ed. 1 Saturday, November 14, 2009 Page: 3 of 11
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Saturday, November 14, 2009
Wni JBastrop SJduertiser • Page A3
Local film aims high
BY TERRY HAGERTY
Assistant Editor
The writer and director
of a locally made horror film
is awaiting word on the ap-
plications she filed asking
for her film to be shown in
two prestigious national
film festivals.
Carolyn Banks, founder
of the local non-profit Up-
start, wrote and directed
"Invicta," and recently gave
an update on the film's sta-
tus.
"We have entered 'In-
victa' in the Slamdance
film festival (Utah) and
the South By Southwest
(SXSW) festival, both of
which require that the mov-
ie not have been (previous-
ly) shown publicly," Banks
said.
The SXSW film festival
n Austin is widely attend-
ed by film distributors from
Los Angeles and New York,
as well as international lo-
cales.
"These festivals are
where the film distributors,
who get a movie out into the
world, go to purchase the
films for TV and theatrical
distribution," Banks said.
"It will be a while before we
hear if we've been accepted
by either film festival, but
we're hopeful."
But Banks said whether
her film is accepted or not
for showing by Slamdance
or SXSW, she will likely
have a special Bastrop pre-
mier in January.
An ivestment
Banks and a mainly lo-
cal crew have spent the past
two years working on the
film.
"Everyone thought I was
crazy," Banks said about her
commitment to the film,"
largely because I spent ev-
ery cent of 401k funds I
amassed while working as
an editor for a Blue Cross
Blue Shield publication.
But the weird thing is, I did
it ust before the economy
crashed, so that taking the
money all out beforehand
turns out to have been a
smart thing."
While the movie took
just weeks to shoot, post-
production took nearly a
year, Banks said.
"Overall I have about
$50,000 invested in this
film," Banks said. "In stan-
dard movie terms, that isn't
a lot of money, but in Caro-
lyn Banks' terms, it's a for-
tune."
And because "Invicta" is
about people plagued by fire
ants, post-production in-
volved significant computer
animation as well.
"Not cheap," Banks add-
ed.
Banks said that al-
though she had done a num-
ber of short films before, she
was "a novice at filmmak-
ng. When I budgeted, I was
thinking only of production,
paying the actors and crew,
feeding them, renting lights
and sound equipment. I
knew about editing and
such, but I thought it would
take less time and cost far
less than it did."
The story
What is "Invicta" about?
"The logline is Love and
greed and fire ants mix it
up in rural Texas,"' Banks
said with a laugh. "It's
about people, of course. The
fire ant thing, to my mind,
s just a vehicle for the story
about people. There's Cory,
a young wife uprooted from
Manhattan by her husband,
ly;
Staff photo by Terry Hagerty
Carolyn Banks monitors "Invicta" footage with (standing, left to right) assistant editor Stephanie Watson, script
supervisor Jennifer Warwick, co-producer and star Jessica Gardner, steadicam operator Andrew Barrera and
cinematographer Mike Willey.
Evan. He wants to return
to his Texas roots. Cory is
deeply unhappy. And then
there's a dowdy researcher
who falls for Evan even
though he's married. So
it's a love triangle story at
heart."
But weren't we talking
"horror" story here?
"I call it 'horror-trala!'"
Banks said. "A blend of hor-
ror, humor and real human
feelings."
Banks said a local pro-
ducer-director, Michael
Waxman, who works on
the Texas-filmed TV show
'Friday Night Lights' saw
an early cut of "Invicta" and
was impressed.
Jessica Gardner, Banks'
co-producer, plays the char-
acter Cory in the film. "Orig-
nally Jessica was just going
to act in the film," Banks
said. "Then she stepped up
and did lots more. For one
thing, she edited the whole
movie single-handedly. And
she shot a lot of it."
As the film credits roll
at the end of the "Invicta,"
Banks thanks a number of
people. The name of the last
person thanked reads, "And
above all, literally, Victoria
Annabelle' Kengerski,"
"That's my mom," Banks
explained. "She was in her
90s and she died right after
'Invicta' finished shooting.
She left me enough money
to pay for post-production.
I almost felt as though she
planned it, because she'd
been remarkably healthy.
Then she, as we say here,
'up and died.' So I'll never
know whether she would
have liked 'Invicta' or not."
Library does not need to check out new system
BY CYNDI WRIGHT
Editor
Although the Texas
State Library and Ar-
chives Commission has
selected a new statewide
nterlibrary loan system,
the Bastrop Public Li-
brary's director says they
are happy with the sys-
tem they have and have
no plans to change.
"OCLC (Online Com-
puter Library Center) is
what we use and that's
what we will continue to
use," said Mickey Duvall.
The new system TSLAC
has selected, WorldCat/
Navigator platform, is ac-
tually a product offered by
OCLC, according to Peggy
Rudd, TSLAC director
and state librarian.
"The WorldCat/Navi-
gator platform offers a cus-
tomized, comprehensive
solution that will be easy
to implement in all sizes
of libraries, plus it will be
a great benefit to all Tex-
as library users because it
allows them to see materi-
als available throughout
the state and not just at
their local libraries," Rudd
said. "We look forward to
working with OCLC and
the library community to
mprove library services
to Texans."
According to Duvall,
the current program al-
lows local library users to
not only borrow books lo-
cally, regionally and state-
wide, but also nationally.
"There are hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of li-
braries that participate in
this system," he said.
Duvall said t Is hard
to pin down what kind of
books are mostly request-
ed through the system.
"It varies a lot," he
said. "Fiction, non-fiction
and micro-film for geneal-
ogy research."
And it may come as a
surprise to those who have
not used an inter-library
loan lately that there is
now a charge - but it's not
for borrowing the book.
"We charge $2 per book
for the postage to have
t sent here and then to
send it back," Duvall said.
"It just got to be so much
(money)."
He said readers can
expect to wait anywhere
from a week to 10 days
to receive their requested
material, and that both
public libraries and aca-
demic libraries are on the
system.
For the new program,
the Texas State Library
and Archives Commission
will cover the annual cost
to operate the interlibrary
loan system, which is pro-
vided free to Texas public
libraries and their com-
munities. A pilot program
for the new service will
begin in January. TSLAC
is accepting nominations
for participating libraries.
TSLAC will begin phasing
n the service statewide
starting September 2011.
"We may eventually
migrate to the new sys-
tem," Duvall said.
Help your neighbor get
the tax benefits from the
2009 Economic
Stimulus Plan! ^
Volunteer to help br ng
federal tax dollars [into your
local community!
Become an IRS-Certified tax preparer
Screen residents for federal tax
credits and benefits
Learn to prepare returns on
professional software
■ Earn CPE credit, if e gible
Volunteer n a supportive
environment!
To learn more, attend our
nformational session!
Where: Bastrop Public Library
1100 Church Street
When: Tuesday, Nov 17
6pm- 7:30pm
E-maif: Karen.Crisp@foundcom.org
or call 512-247-8608 to sign up!
COMMUNITY
TAX CENTERS
A program of Foundation Communities
Bastrop Pregnancy Resource enter
Grand Opening Event
and
Open House
Jennie Brimhall and Celeste Hoffman, founders of Bastrop
Pregnancy Resource center, would like to invite the
community to attend our Grand Open ng.
We will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony on
Fr day, November 20th at 5:30 pm
and an Open House on
Saturday, November 21st from 9:00am to 3:00pm.
We are located at 1109 Church Street.
Bastrop Pregnancy Resource Center is a non-profit
organization dedicated to help ng pregnant
women, teens and fam 5es
in Bastrop County.
Please join us and come find out
what we are all about.
his advertisement brought to you by:
^ First State
Bank
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Wright, Cyndi. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 156, No. 74, Ed. 1 Saturday, November 14, 2009, newspaper, November 14, 2009; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth252631/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.