For more information on the VAF Studio please contact Shelley Keeton at 602-909-8092.

For more information about the A3F Film Challenge or to buy tickets, visit www.thea3f.net.

Victory Angel Films had a successful exhibition at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA. They took over 20 films to sell and worked on acquiring films for distribution as well as looked for quality co-production partners. Co-Founder Laurie Love stated, “ AFM was a huge success and a great investment upon our companies part to show our presence in Hollywood as well as around the globe.” Victory Angel Films is proud to have solid relationships with established distribution companies to put their products out on the market globally.

Partner Dominic Ross notes, “We have implemented two new labels for our wide array of content, Fallen Angel our Horror Film label and Undertaker which is a label for our B Cinema.” He also adds, “our local facility offers a resource to the novice filmmaker to the professional.” VAF can provide exceptional color grading, 3D, roto-scoping, motion tracking, animation and more. Their post-production facility will bring your product to life with their state of the art equipment. 3D, After Effects, Davinci Black Magic Resolve System, Pro Tools 5.1 Studio, ADR Isolation Booth, 64”Flatbed printer, Green Screen Wall. VAF touts their facility as, “A one-stop post-production shop.”

For more information on Victory Angel Films products and services please contact: Brian Skiba at 818.456.2922, brian.skiba@victoryangelfilms.com or view our website www.victoryangelfilms.com

The festival will be held at the Scera Center for the Arts in Orem, Utah (745 South State Street). The screening date of our film will be announced no later than Tuesday, January 10.

We hope you’ll enjoy the festival experience and look forward to seeing you at the 11th Annual LDS Film Festival 2012.

By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com

— “Sweetwater,” filmed in and around Cleburne earlier this year, will likely have a local showing either in October or January, the film’s writer and producer Kim Hughes said Wednesday.

“I know a lot of people have been asking and wondering when and if the film is coming out, and if we’re going to show it here,” Hughes said.

Hughes said she hopes to screen the film at the Cleburne Conference Center and should have a better idea of when that can happen after Oct. 1.

“The director [Brian Skiba] has entered the film into the Sundance Film Festival,” Hughes said. “They only accept screenplays that are exclusive and haven’t been shown anywhere else. If it gets accepted, we’ll have to wait until January. If not, we can show it in October. Of course, I’m naturally hoping they accept it.”

Although Hughes penned several other stories and screenplays, “Sweetwater” marks her first produced work.

Hughes and Skiba met on a flight in late 2010, a chance meeting that led to actors and film crews spending six weeks in Cleburne several months later.

Hughes and her husband Kent Hughes, a plastic surgeon practicing in Cleburne, produced the film, which stars Dean Cain, William Katt, John Savage, Holly Lynch and Ashley Wilkerson.

Those connected to the project described it as a tale of friendship, loss mixed with the search for the cure to cancer and the breaking down of racial barriers.

Several area residents feature in the film as well, as do a number of Cleburne locales.

Hughes, while “Sweetwater” was still filming, said she is already working on new scripts and added that she hopes to film another movie in Cleburne someday.

By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com

— “Sweetwater”, a movie filmed in and around Cleburne earlier this year, should be set to premiere in July, said Kim Hughes, writer and executive producer of the film.

“That’s the date we’re shooting for,” Hughes said while addressing Thursday’s luncheon of the Cleburne Rotary Club.

Hughes screened two clips, one shot in the Wright Plaza Building, of the film, which stars actors Dean Cain, John Savage, Holly Lynch and Dallas playwright and actress Ashley Wilkerson in addition to several local residents who served as extras.

Cast and crew members set up shop at the Liberty Hotel for about six weeks in February and March while filming in the area.

Hughes describes the story as a search for the cure to cancer coupled to a story of friendship and the breaking down of racial barriers.

The hope, Hughes said, is to screen the film at the Cleburne Conference Center.

“But at lower than regular movie ticket prices,” Hughes joked. “Those are outrageous.”

Hughes said she subsequently learned that another film by the same name, about a basketball player, is also presently in production.

“I’m hoping that one’s a big hit,” Hughes joked. “That way, maybe a lot of people will come see our film by mistake.”

Hughes said she and her husband, Dr. Kent Hughes, cashed in an IRA to fund the film. A project that marks Hughes’ first produced screenplay, although she’s been writing screenplays and other works for several years.

Hughes, in March, said her 2010 New Year’s resolution was to see one of her screenplays produced by year’s end. A resolution she managed to realize, but only just.

A chance meeting with director Brian Skiba during a November flight last year led to the project’s fruition, Hughes said.

Skiba — who along with Laurie Love owns Arizona-based Victory Angel Films in addition to having directed several films — loved and agreed to film the script, Hughes said.

Hughes, a Cranfills Gap resident, said she and her husband love the people and the homey atmosphere of Cleburne. That, Hughes said, played a large role in their decision to film most of the movie here. The cast and crew members likewise fell in love with the town once they arrived.

Once completed, Hughes said she plans to enter the film in film festivals such as South By Southwest and Sundance in hopes of finding a distributor.

“It’s kind of a catch-22,” Hughes said. “This was the lowest budget movie I could make and get my foot in the door. You have to have an agent to work in the movie business, but you have to have had something produced to get an agent. But I like independent writing, wherever that may take me.”

Hughes several times credited God for inspiring her writing, and the Sweetwater project.

“It’s been an awesome experience,” Hughes said. “Whether there’s more, or just this one movie, it’s been great.”

All the same, Hughes said she hopes to produce more films. Hughes said she recently finished a comedy, a larger-budget film, that she’s hoping to convince Will Ferrell to star in.

That film will also be Texas-based, Hughes said, though not necessarily in Cleburne.

Still, with three other screenplays in varying degrees of completion, Hughes said she hopes to film another project locally in the future.

By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com

— “Hollywood comes to Cleburne,” exclaimed Laurie Love, owner of Arizona-based Victory Angel Films.

Beginning this weekend, a “whole slew of out-of-towners” will hit Cleburne with cameras and equipment to begin filming “Sweetwater,” Love said.

Several crew members already arrived in town early last week to scout and lock down film locations.

About 90 percent of the movie, produced by Trumpet Productions in association with Victory Angel Films, will be shot in and around Cleburne, Love said.

Set in modern day, Love describes the film as the story of two young girls searching for the cure for cancer, and mending their relationships along the way. Writer and producer Kim Hughes adds that it’s a medical drama with the underlying theme of breaking down racial barriers.

Hughes — who lives in Cranfills Gap with her husband, Dr. Kent Hughes, a plastic surgeon practicing in Cleburne, and co-producer of the film, said this is her first screenplay to be produced, although she’s been writing screenplays and books for several years.

“This is the first film I’ve been involved with,” Kent Hughes said. “But it’s great; I want to support my wife’s dream. Which Kim’s dream, she’s written three screenplays, is to see one of them make it to the screen.”

A bit of serendipity moved that dream along last year when director Brian Skiba noticed Hughes working on a screenplay during a flight. One thing led to another and Skiba, who’s worked with Love on several films, agreed to direct “Sweetwater.”

At the Hughes’ suggestion, Skiba and Love scouted and fell for Cleburne.

“It’s been amazing so far,” Love said. “Everyone’s been really nice, genuinely friendly. Cleburne’s a very film-friendly town.”

Unit Production Manager Amanda Mahan agreed.

“We haven’t got a lot of nos in what we want to do as far as filming,” Mahan said. “Which is a change from Phoenix.”

Shooting the film should take about six weeks, Kim Hughes said.

Cleburne Tourism Director Carl Watson said he first heard about the group’s plans to film in Cleburne about a week and a half ago.

“We’re excited they chose Cleburne,” Watson said. “We’re going to be working closely with them and the city as far as permits, and any help they need.”

That help includes the need for extras, possibly a chance for local aspiring actors or actresses, Assistant Director Barker White said.

Watson joked that he’s happy to help the crew out, but that he has no desire to see himself on the silver screen.

“That’s alright,” Watson said, pointing to his hair. “I’ve got enough silver already. I don’t need anymore.”

Those less camera-shy are encouraged to e-mail White at sweetwatertxextras@gmail.com.

The e-mail should include your name, e-mail and phone contact information, a recent picture and height and weight measurements.

By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com

— Kim Hughes just made it.

“My 2010 New Year’s resolution was to produce a film by the end of the year,” Hughes said. “And it happened, one month short of 2011.”

Which explains the trailers parked in front of the Liberty Hotel these last two weeks, and film crew members scurrying about Cleburne to shoot Hughes’ screenplay “Sweetwater.”

Cranfills Gap resident Hughes — her husband, Kent Hughes, a plastic surgeon in Cleburne — penned several stories and screenplays before “Sweetwater,” her first produced work, came to be.

The film deals with friendship, loss, a search for the cure to cancer and the breaking down of racial barriers, to hear Hughes and others connected to the project tell it.

While the likelihood of Hughes’ resolution probably seemed long-shot folly at best circa Jan. 2010, it just goes to show that dreams sometimes do come true.

In a too-good-to-be-true twist of fate, like something straight of a Hollywood movie, Hughes found herself aboard a November flight seated next to one Brian Skiba.

Skiba, the director of “Sweetwater,” operates Victory Angel Films, a production company in Arizona, with Laurie Love. The couple met at Arizona State University and went on to produce several films. Between the two they act, direct, produce and write, make the coffee and walk the cast member’s dogs for all I know.

Hughes and Skiba just happened to be working on screenplays during that fated flight — it’s a unique writing format, both said. Kindred spirits and all, they got to chatting. E-mails were exchanged, and Hughes dispatched “Sweetwater” Skiba’s way.

Skiba and Love loved the story.

“Brian’s employed by another company as well where he reads scripts,” Love said. “He tells them if their script, if made into a movie, can make money or not. He basically will be the guy that says yes or no. You can read through 50 scripts, and then there’s one.”

The depth of Hughes’ script proved the kicker, Skiba said.

“The story was extremely solid, and the idea was amazing,” Skiba said. “You can’t beat a story line that has the whole thriller aspect, and then you’ve got drama. It was very compelling.”

Hughes, being new to the script writing game, writes more in the style of a novel, Skiba said. Which makes no difference.

“Her ability with the English language is good, very specific, good writing,” Skiba said. “Formatting, I can take or leave it. I’ve read scripts that were perfectly formatted, grammar is perfect, but they’re garbage.

“Then I’ve seen scripts where you see the errors and stuff, but you’re really into the story. If the story’s good, errors can be fixed.”

Soon after, the Hughes’ formed Trumpet Productions to produce “Sweetwater” in association with Victory Angel Films. Kim and Kent serve as executive producers on the movie.

Both claim a life-long love of movies both for art and fun.

“Kim likes character films with lots of development,” Kent Hughes said.

It’s all about the details, Kim said.

“Love to watch movies from a director’s eye,” Hughes said. “Try to figure out how they directed the shots, made the decisions. I’m thankful for Indie films; that’s where the true film lovers are. But then we also like to go to [Cleburne movie theater] Cinema VI when it’s cold and gray, and just watch a good movie.”

Action

Love, Skiba and others set up shop in the Liberty Hotel about three weeks ago to scout locations in and around Cleburne. Hulen Park, Wright Plaza, The Retreat, an old house on North Anglin Street and other locales eventually made the cut. Some scenes were shot outside Johnson County though the bulk of the film remained Cleburne-based. Soon enough truck loads of equipment and some 40-plus crew members followed.

A boon for local eateries.

“We’ve fed probably 80 people a day for seven, eight days now,” said Angela Reynolds, co-owner of Lemon Sisters Cafe & Bakery. “All of them have been so sweet. It’s been a pleasure getting to know and hang out with them.

“Robin [Mullen, Lemon Sisters’ other co-owner] set up the props, tablecloths, dishes and stuff for a shoot they did inside Wright Plaza.”

With the crew came the stars. Dean Cain, guy in the TV show “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” showed up. Cain previously starred in the Skiba-directed “Dirty Little Trick.”

Cain remained in Cleburne but a few days, flying in to film his part and just as quickly flying back out, presumably on an airplane, though the guy being Superman and all …

Actor William Katt — “Greatest American Hero,” “Carrie,” tons of other stuff — came and went just as quick.

The veteran

Actor John Savage stayed in town a bit longer. A man of many roles including: “The Deer Hunter,” “The Onion Field,” “Godfather III” and “Do The Right Thing,” Savage spent much of the 1980s residing in South Africa to fight against apartheid.

While I won’t pretend to have understood much, most, of what Savage chattered on about during a recent sit down in the Liberty lobby, he’s certainly a very engaging and interesting character. Shame he wasn’t in town longer.

His professed affection for Cleburne seemed genuine.

“Oh yeah, he loved the town,” Liberty Hotel Manager Ron Lindsey said. “He was out just walking all over the place, going into the feed store and places like that just to see what was there and talk to the people.”

Chaf-In Restaurant and the Comic Boxx being two of Savage’s local favorites.

“He looked around, bought the graphic novel on [Gen. Pat Cleburne], was real interested in that, bought some comics for his grandkids,” said Janice Savell, Comic Boxx co-owner.

Savage said he hopes to return someday.

“Love sharing the experience of peoples’ lives and history,” Savage said. “One of the greatest things about my work. We need to know more about our history. That’s why I love this little town. I just get the sense of great heritage here.”

The film marked Savage’s first trip to Cleburne, but not to Texas. Long ago, he filmed a movie in a town that begins with A.

Amarillo, maybe Abilene, I propose.

“Oh gosh, I’ll remember,” Savage said. “I want to say A, A, Galveston! That’s it.”

An apparent fond memory for the actor.

“Got put in jail,” Savage said. “I’d flown in from Hungary, was in the hotel, tired from the film. I wanted a beer, called downstairs for a beer.

“They said, ‘Oh, we can’t do that. We’re too busy right now. Just come on down.’

I said, ‘Well, I can’t. I’m really not dressed.’

‘Just come as you are.’

‘Alright.’

“I came down as I was …naked!

“Only took about two minutes for me to get a standing ovation, police and sheriffs taking me away. And this poor Hungarian producer thinking he could just ask them to stop because he’s a producer. Finally, I convinced him that if he wanted to share a cell with me, you know.

“That was a long time ago. I was much younger then, don’t drink anymore.”

During this Texas stop Savage, fortunately, didn’t bolt au naturel through Liberty’s lobby screaming for suds.

Unfortunately, neither did Ashley Wilkerson or Holly Lynch.

The ingenue

Dallas’ own, Ashley Wilkerson — “Make sure you specify I was born in Lubbock, Texas, but Dallas is my home” — makes her big break in Cleburne as well.

“This is my first feature film,” Wilkerson said. “I’ve done some short films, but nothing of this magnitude.”

Actually, she’s a bit more accomplished than that, having shot several commercials, Subway, Choice Hotels, etc., as well as a solid background in live theater.

Wilkerson recently received a grant to write and perform a one woman show about a Texas woman on death row, which she will tour this summer.

Wilkerson’s look and personality attracted the film’s producers to her, Love said. The layers and complexity of her character attracted her to the role, Wilkerson said.

A bit star struck perhaps, but having a ball, Wilkerson said, adding that everyone associated with the film is working hard to make it succeed, and that she’s just enjoying her opportunity.

“And, scene,” Wilkerson chirps with a courtesy, bouncing off to do, whatever it is budding movie stars do.

The starlet

“So you’re hot girl from upstairs, with the glasses and all, the girl from 4E in the State Farm commercial?” I asked Holly Lynch.

Which gets a yes and a laugh. One of 45 or so commercials Lynch appears in as well as guest spots on “Cold Case,” “CSI,” “Entourage” and other shows.

“Not really,” Lynch said when asked if she gets recognized from her commercials. “I did a music video for John Mayer [“Your Body is a Wonderland”], which was so popular I got recognized for that quite a bit. That was weird.”

The offer to star in “Sweetwater” came out of nowhere, Lynch said.

“I was on vacation with my family and got a call from my agent telling me to check my e-mail,” Lynch said. “I read a lot of scripts and would say 70 percent, if not more, are [Naughty word alert! Remove all children from the room]. This story was very compelling, something we can all relate to.”

Several local residents won roles as extras in the film. Lake Whitney resident Cindy Glass went one day just to watch the movie being filmed, but wound up on screen delivering a couple of lines.

“I was a little nervous about memorizing lines,” Glass said. “Practicing with Dean Cain and Holly Lynch. My mom laughed and said ‘Oh, just suck it up.’ So I did. It took about four hours to do. We were in a make-believe hallway that was actually a closet.”

Once completed, Love said she and Skiba will shop the film to distributors, possibly go the film festival route. Love admits that there’s always a risk of spending time and money on a movie only to see it never picked up.

“Yeah, we try not to do that,” Skiba joked.

But that’s not a huge worry, Love said, given the pair’s experience, track record and industry connections.

Crew members should be in town through Tuesday. After that, it’s back to Arizona for post production, editing, all that. Kim’s brother, Justin Low, hopes to supply the film’s musical score, she said.

A theatrical run, TV, straight to DVD or obscurity, whatever the case, Kim and Kent Hughes said they definitely hope to screen the finished film in Cleburne.