2009 FESTIVAL EVENTS PRESS VOLUNTEER ABOUT US CONTACT
FILMS
SCREENING SCHEDULE
VENUE MAP
WHERE TO STAY
GETTING HERE
BUY TICKETS
SPONSORS

THAT EVENING SUN PANEL

CFF Artistic Director Doug Sadler  hosts this unique in-depth discussion with the principal creative talents behind  CFF's award-winning opening night film That Evening Sun.  Join writer-director Scott Teems, producer Laura Smith and cinematographer Rodney Taylor, ASC for coffee and an in-depth discussion of a sequence from the film.

Saturday • 10:00 am • CoffeCat

Writer-director Scott Teems is a writer-director born and raised in Lilburn, Georgia. His feature directorial debut, That Evening Sun, won the Grand Jury Award at the Atlanta Film Festival, a Special Jury Award at the SXSW Film Festival, and Audience Awards at the SXSW, Nashville, and Sarasota Film Festivals. His screenplay for the film previously won the Emerging Narrative Screenplay Award at the IFP Market. Additional writing and directing credits include the award-winning short film, A Death in the Woods, as well as several other short films that have screened at film festivals across North America. Scott is also a successful commercial director, helming popular viral video campaigns for corporations such as IBM, Cisco, KB Home and Disney. Scott presently resides in Los Angeles with his wife and children.


Producer Laura Smith began her film career working under Academy Award-nominated writer-director Andrew Niccol (Lord of War, The Truman Show, Gattaca), assisting with the production of S1m0ne and helping to research and develop a number of other projects. She next went on to work for Academy Award-nominated writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, Boogie Nights) and his producing partner, JoAnne Sellar, at Anderson’s Ghoulardi Film Company. While at Ghoulardi, Laura helped see Punch-Drunk Love from pre-production through to release and co-produced Blossoms and Blood, a DVD compilation of supplemental materials to the film. 

Laura’s interest in the independent film world next led her to independent producer Holly Wiersma, with whom she collaborated for four years. During this time, Laura was an Associate Producer on numerous independent films, including Happy Endings, which premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, written/directed by Don Roos and starring Lisa Kudrow, Steve Coogan, and Maggie Gyllenhaal; Come Early Morning, which premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, written/directed by Joey Lauren Adams and starring Ashley Judd; Lonely Hearts, which premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, starring John Travolta, Salma Hayek, James Gandolfini, Jared Leto, and Laura Dern; The Tenants, based on the Bernard Malamud novel of the same name, starring Dylan McDermott and Snoop Dogg; and the controversial Factory Girl, opening film of the 2007 Santa Barbara Film Festival, directed by George Hickenlooper and starring Sienna Miller, Guy Pearce, and Hayden Christensen.

In 2007, Laura co-produced two films: The Year of Getting to Know Us, based on the Ethan Canin short story of the same name, which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and stars Jimmy Fallon, Sharon Stone, and Lucy Liu; and The Six Wives of Henry Lefay, starring Tim Allen, Andie MacDowell, and Elisha Cuthbert, to be released in early 2010. She also produced the short film Magnus, Inc., which has screened at film festivals nationwide.



Cinematographer Rodney Taylor, ASC was born and raised in a small fishing village on the coast of North Carolina. While attending The University of North Carolina, he became interested in cinematography after looking through the viewfinder of a camera during a Television Production class.  He began his career shooting live sports for ESPN, ABC and TBS. He moved to Los Angeles 20 years ago and began working on feature films, IMAX films and documentaries.

His recent feature film projects are the soon-to-be-released That Evening Sun, starring Hal Holbrook, and Save Me, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.  In 2004, Taylor shot the quiet but powerful film Swimmers, which received acclaim as an official selection at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, and won the Grand Jury Prize for Best New American Film at the Seattle Film Festival.

In 1999, Taylor was chosen for the International Cinematographers Guild Film Showcase for his work on the 35mm short film Grind. 

Taylor has been the cinematographer on numerous IMAX films including: Wired to Win, a film about the Tour de France; the Academy Award nominated Alaska: Spirit of the Wild; Ride Around the World, an international cowboy film; and Michael Jordan to the Max.  In 2003 Taylor received the Kodak Vision Award for his excellence and versatility in the IMAX format.

He has photographed extensively in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Japan, Alaska, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Russia, Taiwan, France, and many other countries. 

Taylor currently lives with his wife Linda and daughters Chloe and Maya in Venice, California.  He is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers.


BACK TO FILM LISTING

2009 Chesapeake Film Festival Poster designed by Vandevisser Design • Website designed by K.Mclean Design