THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 3, 1996 TAG: 9605020126
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 125 lines
MOVIE-MAKERS ARE fascinated by Olde Towne, and no matter how many times Portsmouth people see a camera crew in that historic neighborhood, they, too, are fascinated by the movie-makers.
Next week, when the Naro Expanded Cinema in Norfolk's Ghent shows award-winning films by Regent University students and WHRO-TV runs a series of the films, folks will be seeing a lot of Portsmouth.
``You'll see an imaginary cafe on the Seawall and a lot of City Park,'' Andrew C.A. Quicke says.
That's in ``Prison to Praise,'' a film that will be among seven premiered at the Naro next week.
Quicke is a British-born Regent professor who is executive producer for student films. He lives on Hampton Place in Olde Towne in a house he and his wife, Juliet, have been redoing for the past two years.
``We lived in Virginia Beach and my wife teaches at Hampton, so when they opened the new tunnel and 664, we moved here, so each of us travel the same distance to work,'' he said in a recent interview. ``We loved Olde Towne.''
Quicke, 59, has worked for the BBC, the Central Office of Information for the British government, Reuters Visnews and several other companies.
His first association with Christian broadcaster Pat Robinson's assorted projects was in 1984, when he went to Jerusalem as bureau chief for CBN News.
After two years, he was asked to come for a year to teach television filming at Regent, the same year they started the motion picture course.
``But we loved it,'' Quicke said. ``We never left, and in 1994 we became United States citizens.''
But he was pre-disposed to liking it here.
``My father was a naval officer, and he loved to come to America.'' Furthermore, there was a Richard Quicke who came to Virginia in 1648. And Quicke's great-grandfather, who was an Episcopal minister in Somerset, married a woman from New York.
``So I do claim American ancestry.''
Quicke does, however, like to roam and has ``done 50 countries.''
``I love to travel with my camera.''
He also loves to talk about his students and their films.
``We have received many, many awards. We have three graduates working in Hollywood. Our students are very good.''
The school attracts good students, he said, because Regent is a ``terrific deal'' where a person can get a master's degree with $40,000 or less. ``Great'' film schools, Quicke said, such as New York University and the University of California at Los Angeles, cost as much as $150,000 for a master's.
``I always urge students to take liberal arts as undergrads because a good filmmaker knows a lot about everything. A majority of our students come from other schools.''
Quicke said the many national, secular awards his students have won do much to attract other good students. The awards include a gold student Oscar and a silver student Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; two top awards from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences; six CINE (Council for Non-Theatric Entertainment) Eagles and selection as the film for foreign festivals; four Angel Awards from the Catholic film-rating organization.
``These awards prove to the world that we are good,'' he said. Furthermore, the school is ``technologically very good.''
Most of the cinema students at Regent are in their 30s, Quickesaid.
``If you're 22, you don't know much about life. But our students know about life.'' They write and film ``strong subjects.''
The film school does not ``impose on the students'' the philosophy of the Christian right, Quicke said.
``But we encourage them to make movies that are life-affirming. We encourage films that don't dwell on the negative, that show a way out of trouble. For instance, we rejected a movie on divorce.''
But, he added, it's not the R-rated films that make money, but the more family-oriented ones.
Quicke is ``tremendously grateful'' to local actors of Hampton Roads who give time to his charges.
``We couldn't do without them,'' he said.
And he's also grateful for local scenery - Norfolk's zoo, Waterside, even an alley at the Union Mission that looks ``really like inner-city.''
The historic Watts House, built about 1790 at North and Dinwiddie streets near Quicke's home, was the scene of a 1994 movie called ``The Party.'' For all the residents who happened to see vintage 1920s automobiles parked in the block, the film should satisfy their curiosity.
``Portsmouth is a wonderful place,'' he said.
Quicke has two degrees from Oxford University. He has written or contributed to four books: ``Encyclopedia of Television,'' ``Hidden Agendas - The Politics of Religious Broadcasting in Britain 1987-1991,'' ``Tomorrow's Television - An Examination of British Broadcasting'' and ``Chasing the Dragon,'' which has been translated into more than 12 languages and sold 400,000 copies. MEMO: FESTIVAL OF FILM
The 1996 Regent University Student Film Festival, at the Naro
Expanded Cinema, Colley Avenue in Norfolk's Ghent section:
7 p.m. May 8-9; 1 p.m. May 12
Films scheduled for showing:
``The Locket''
``Prison to Praise''
``Flanagan's Exile''
``Wynona's Wrecker''
``Something Borrowed, Something Blue''
``I Hear the Children Weeping''
``Australian No Rules Football''
Celebrating 10 years of the best in student filmmaking on WHRO-TV,
Channel 15
11:30 p.m.-1 a.m. May 13-17
10 p.m.- 4 a.m. May 18
Films scheduled for showing:
May 13: ``Bird in a Cage,'' ``Vic and Sade,'' ``Rabbit Trail'' and
``Dark Letter''
May 14: ``Crowning Glory,'' ``The Master,'' ``Lovestruck'' and ``The
Hitman''
May 15: ``Turtle Races,'' ``All Things Fanged and Carnivorous,''
``Redemption Ticket'' and ``The Clown''
May 16: ``Cry of the Cricket,'' ``If Thy Eyes Offenz Thee,'' ``Bon
Appetit,'' ``Nuts'' and ``Shadow Play''
May 17: ``The Tie That Binds,'' ``Trouble in Paradise,''
``Carmencita'' and ``Begging To Give''
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Andrew C.A. Quicke, who lives in Olde Towne, is executive producer
for student films at Regent University. The Seawall and City Park
are featured in ``Prison to Praise,'' which will be shown at the
Naro and on WHRO-TV.
by CNB