
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 22, 1994                   TAG: 9403220067
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

2ND FILM CONFERENCE MORE MAINSTREAM

The Virginia Center for Media and Culture's first Film and Culture Conference in 1993 was a scholarly affair. The second annual conference, which is Thursday through Saturday in Charlottesville, is aimed at the larger filmgoing public.

Screenings will include several independent productions and the latest from Ross McElwee, creator of "Sherman's March."

The title of the conference is "Dipping Into the South, Plunging Into the Future." The main focus is the 25th anniversary of the Sinking Creek Film Celebration, a collection of more than 400 American independent films put together by Mary Jane Coleman of Greeneville, Tenn. The 37 Sinking Creek films that will be shown in Charlottesville are divided into four categories: animated, documentary, experimental and narrative. As a group, they are intriguing but unknown titles.

Three other films are probably more familiar to most people. At 8 p.m. Thursday, "At the River I Stand" will be screened at the First Baptist Church on West Main Street. First shown on PBS last year, this NAACP Image Award nominee is a documentary about the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike and the last days of Martin Luther King.

Friday night at 8, Charlottesville filmmakers Paul and Ellen Casey Wagner's "Out of Ireland," a documentary about Irish immigration to America, will have its local premiere at Culbreth Theater. Kelly McGillis narrates; Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Gabriel Byrne and Brenda Fricker provide voice-over readings of immigrants' letters.

But the screening that will probably generate the most interest is Friday night at the Jefferson Theater. "Time Indefinite" is Ross McElwee's sequel to "Sherman's March," a real hit at the Virginia Festival of American Film. This new film is every bit as good, if not better, than the first.

For those who haven't seen or don't remember "Sherman's March," McElwee begins this installment of his filmed autobiography by going over the high spots again - his fears about the future, his uncertain relations with women and with his family. The film begins with a bright moment when he announces his betrothal to an engaging woman named Marilyn. She's a fellow filmmaker who doesn't seem to mind McElwee's compulsion to turn his own life into a movie, even when it involves his accompanying her to the gynecologist's office.

Over the course of the film, he looks at marriage, aging, children, dogs, fish, religion, race relations, madness and death. Many familiar characters from his earlier films reappear: Charleen, Lucille, Melvin and others. More important, though he is often dealing with the most serious subjects and powerful emotions, McElwee's sense of humor is intact. So is his light touch.

For McElwee fans who can't get to Charlottesville, "Time Indefinite" has just been released on tape. It's an example of the high-quality independent filmmaking that's going on outside the conventional studio system.

For information about the Film and Culture Festival and reservations, call (804) 971-5500.

by CNB