Culture
OU-Produced Nancy Cartwright Doc To Be Screened At Athens Film Fest
By: Chealsia Smedley
Posted on:
Nancy Cartwright: The Voice of Success, a documentary directed by Andie Walla, assistant video producer at Ohio University Communications and Marketing (UCM), was selected to screen at the Athens International Film Festival.
The film, created by a mostly student staff, will screen Monday, April 15 at 11:15 a.m. at the Athena Cinema in uptown Athens.
In addition to the Film Festival screening, UCM will host two additional screenings, taking place Tuesday, April 23 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the Baker University Center Theatre. After each screening there will be a question and answer session with Cartwright via Skype.
"It's just such an honor that she can take time out of her busy schedule to spend even 15 to 20 minutes connecting with Ohio University students," said Walla. "It just shows for us that she really values what we did for her and that she really wants to give back to the Ohio University community, and I think that's really special."
In June 2012, Nancy Cartwright, Ohio University alumna and the voice of Bart Simpson, gave the commencement speech at the 2012 graduation ceremony. Walla and her staff, which includes one recent graduate and 11 students, began making the documentary for Cartwright.
The end product, Nancy Cartwright: The Voice of Success, follows Cartwright's commencement speech as she shares her knowledge with the graduating class. The crew also followed her to Dayton, Ohio, as she was inducted to the Dayton area Broadcast Hall of Fame and learned more about her history by speaking with people who knew her at the start of her career.
"So we got a whole backstory, as well as talking about her time here at Ohio University. She wasn't here for the full four years, but how she got started and her connections," said Walla. "So it kind of snowballed into this whole big project."
When Walla formed her staff, she drew from her multi-camera production class in the School of Media Arts and Studies and also worked with student interns at UCM.
Eric Tiu, a sophomore video production major, worked as a production assistant for the documentary. He said it was his first time working in such a professional atmosphere.
"As a freshman, it really exposed me to a more professional side of video production, something that can't be experienced in a lecture hall," said Tiu. "Not only did I have an amazing experience working on this, but now I have my name on an Ohio University documentary."
Erin Riordan, who is now a graduate student in the School of Media Arts and Studies, worked as the head editor of the film. She had taken editing classes as a student, but commented that working on the documentary was her "first real world job."
"This experience was my jumping off point as a professional editor. And I couldn't ask for a better opportunity to work with a better crew on a better documentary about a better individual," said Riordan.
Since students played a significant role in the creation of the documentary, Walla said that the second screening is for them.
"They worked so hard on it last year, and now it's finally the pay-off, to have an opportunity to show off their work."