David Mallin
Nate Villaire worked on the project.
By Anna McGrath
"18 Mornings," a short film produced by David Mallin, director of the ¹ú²úÂ×Àí Film Program, will make its premiere at the Richmond International Film Festival at 3 p.m. April 25.
Mallin, a cinematographer and documentarian in ¹ú²úÂ×Àí's Department of Communication & Theatre Arts, workshopped the film through one of his classes. "18 Mornings" is in the Narrative and Short Films Selection category of the Richmond festival. The film won a Broadcast Education Association award earlier this year.
Mallin, who previously created works such as National Endowment for the Arts-supported short film "Our Nation," is also directing a new project with students in his Advanced Filmmaking and Cinematography 2 classes.
"Hurricane Roads" is about the storm that was expected to hit Hampton Roads in September 2018.
"I started writing the script in November. I did nine drafts before we locked it in January," Mallin said. "Since January we have been working on the various pieces of pre-production," including casting wardrobe, prop acquisition and other steps.
The bulk of the photography for "Hurricane Roads" took place from April 12-15.
The film will be shot in part with the University's newly acquired Sony Venice camera. "It is one of Sony's nicest cameras," Mallin said. "It literally is not even unpacked out of the shipping boxes right now."
Mallin turned to one of his AFI classmates, Chris Frielich, to serve as director of photography. He brought knowledge of the Venice camera from working with it as the "A" camera operator for BET's "American Soul."
Mallin has an MFA in cinematography from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. He focuses his work with students on collaborative group and faculty-led projects run like real-world movie sets, with the belief filmmaking can only be learned experientially.
At ¹ú²úÂ×Àí, his projects have included serving as executive producer and cinematographer for the short film "Carmelita" and being the primary ¹ú²úÂ×Àí project leader for the feature film "American Dreamer," directed by Derrick Borte and starring Jim Gaffigan and Robbie Jones.
Tickets for the "18 Mornings" premiere can be purchased at the Richmond International Film Festival .
