Founded in 2003 by the late Timothy Gruver, the Tallgrass Film Festival is a program of the Wichita Association for the Motion Picture Arts (WAMPA), a non-profit 501©3 arts organization dedicated to entertaining and enlightening audiences from America’s heartland by showcasing the very best in independent cinema, including foreign, documentary, experimental, retrospective and premiering films.
4th ANNUAL WAMPA FILMMAKER ACADEMY
SETS SIGHTS ON NEXT CROP OF KANSAS FILMMAKERS
October 31, 2007, Wichita, KS- The Wichita Association for the Motion Picture Arts (WAMPA) announced that the fourth installment of its film production class will begin on November 13th, and will run for 4 weeks. From pre-production to post production, the class will divide students into groups and taught how to produce their own short film. Those short films will then be voted on over the summer, and will serve as the official trailers for the 2008 Tallgrass Film Festival, (October 23-26th, 2008). The short garnering the most votes will be screened before the Opening Night Film and as part of the Timothy Gruver Spotlight on Kansas Filmmakers.
“The “WAMPA Filmmaker Academy” has become an integral part of our mission, and success,” said WAMPA Board President Dan Gray. “We’re excited to have many new faces, of all ages, join the film class, and are proud of the work that our alumni have gone on to create.” This year’s Tallgrass Film Festival featured works by alumni Dave Riff, Erich Rumback and Del Torkelson.
The class will again be taught by taught by Mark Oldham of the Wichita based production company No Coast Media. Oldham is an award winning Director of Photography (2003 Daytime Emmy “While You Were Out, 2004 BAFTA {British Academy Award} “Four Minute Mile). He also directed the short films Chiropath, and All Down But Nine, both from the WAMPA Filmmaking class, which had their world premier in the Timothy Gruver Spotlight on Kansas Filmmakers in 2005 and 2006, respectively.
“The WAMPA class is full of the amount of hands on experience a learner chooses, and welcomes the new student as well as the more experienced,” said 2006 class member Joyce Markley. Markley, from Wichita, was one of 32 students who participated in the production of All Down But Nine. "There is no question that the experience I gained through the WAMPA film class gave me the confidence and competence to make a no-budget film, and to send it to festivals," said Riff, who participated in the first WAMPA Filmmaking Class taught by Timothy Gruver in 2004, and whose short film Hush won an award at the Phoenix International Film Festival.
The class will meet for nine (9) sessions, every Tuesday and Thursday (excluding Thanksgiving). Enrollment fees for the filmmaking class are as follows: $200 early-enrollment. $250 day-of enrollment. For High School and College Students: $100 early-enrollment and $125 day-of enrollment. For more detailed information, and to enroll, please e-mail: moldham@mac.com, or visit www.tallgrassfilmfest.com.
Founded in 2003 by the late Timothy Gruver, WAMPA, a non-profit 501©3 cinema arts organization, is dedicated to educating, entertaining and enlightening audiences from America’s heartland. The WAMPA Filmmaker Academy is supported by WAMPA, No Coast Media, and Rule Productions Studios.