Screenwriting student Haley Reed will be premiering her first film, “Vigil,” Saturday evening at the Nolan Center. Filming for the project took place in Wrangell during the summer, using a local cast and crew.
Production was kept to a small budget, with between three and twelve people working on it at any one time, using personal equipment.
“Overall, I think scheduling worked out pretty well,” Reed said. After filming ended she took the film back to the University of Loyola-Marymount in Los Angeles for editing help. Though she was unsure about the work after her original cut, “with this newest cut I’m very pleased.”
“It’s a short film,” she explained, about six minutes in length. “Vigil” explores how alcoholism, domestic violence, love, loss and loneliness play in people’s lives.
“The purpose of the film to me was to bring my love of film to Alaska,” she said, setting the story in her hometown.
“This process has really been enlightening to me,” said Reed. For one, the project helped identify where her interests lie in the art form.
“I am first and foremost a screenwriting major,” she explained, with an interest lying more within production design. For her next project she would like to go a step further and make use of sound.
“It was something I was a little surprised I was able to do,” she said of the film. It was not undertaken alone, and Reed was thankful for the efforts given and the advice she received from her project collaborators. “A lot of hard work went into this with a lot of people.”
Doors at the Nolan Center will open Saturday at 6 p.m., with “Vigil” taking the screen an hour afterward. A discussion of the film will take place afterward.
Reed did not seem too nervous about the upcoming premier.
“I’d really enjoy sharing it with Wrangell,” she said.
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