(vy Ww I WW JJ Sen PN... { bo ivy coed Nl Bea it ‘oFilm prod The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Thursday February 13, 2003 7 By MARQUES G. HARPER For The Dallas Post FRANKLIN TWP. — Robert May had a vision that a suc- cessful business career couldn't satisfy. But after stepping down from an executive position at the company he founded, the 45-year-old husband and father of two worked out of his Franklin Township home in pursuit a lifelong dream. Starting a production compa- ny three years ago, May formed an advisory board of mentors, mostly movie-industry types. He wrote a vision statement and a set of guidelines, and with studio veteran Kathryn Tucker, set out to make films. At a time when sequels, com- puter-generated action flicks and dumbed-down romances dominate the big screen and re- @® shows draw mil- ons of nighttime viewers, SenArt Films went the opposite direction, focusing on smaller, meaningful stories. The tactic has proved suc- cessful. Last month, the pro- duction company, which has of- fices in Franklin Township and New York, showed a documen- tary and a feature film at the 10-day Sundance Film Festival, an annual event started by ac- tor Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute, showcasing the work of hundreds of independent filmmakers and producers. Sitting at a small desk in front of a laptop computer, May said: “I just love the idea of peo- ple who have their normal lives being able to walk into a the- ater and put aside all of their thoughts, their troubles, their life for two hours and be con- sumed emotionally by film. It's always inspired me.” While he put his dreams aside for a dose of reality, May, arted the former Automatic etection Systems in the late 1970s, is now putting into fo- cus the life he wanted as a (= attended Penn State and ucer works magic from his Back Mountain base Bob May relaxed at his child playing around with an 8 mm movie camera. “I always thought I had more to do,” he said. “I just needed to follow my passion.” SenArt’s first film, a docu- mentary called “Stevie,” was picked up by Lions Gate Films at the Toronto Film Festival. Having competed at Sundance this year, the film will open in New York and Los Angeles on March 28 and expand to other markets on April 11, according to Lions Gate. The documentary was direct- ed over several years by Steve James, who also directed the critically acclaimed “Hoop Dreams,” and it tells the story of James's relationship as a big brother to a troubled boy American Legion meeting scheduled Daddow-Isaac Post 672, The American Legion, Dallas, will hold their regular meeting, Friday, February 14, at the Post home, 730 Memorial Highway in Dallas. On the agenda is the, essay contest, three students from Lake- Lehman School district and two students from Dallas School Dis- trict will compete. The tentative plan for the contest is to hold a breakfast at the Le- gion home, Saturday, February 22 at 9 a.m. Back Mountain Seniors to meet February 20 ® The Back Mountain Seniors will meet February 20 at 1 p.m. in St. Therese's church hall on Pioneer Ave. and Davis St. in Shaver- town. Members are asked to bring Valentine cards to exchange, home made are encouraged. Officers for the new year will be finalized; installations will be March 6. Membership dues will be collected before the March 6 meeting. Back Mountain Senior Citizens is non-denominational. New members are welcome For information call 696-1828 or 696-3095. Sutton on dean’s list at DeSales Nicole M. Sutton of Dallas was named to DeSales University Fall 2002 dean’s list. Students are named to the dean’s list in recognition of academic excellence in their course work and a grade point average of 3.25 or above. Send The Dallas Post to a friend. It makes a great gift. Call 675-5211 to order. [Sook good, / for Ualentine's Day with a mist-on fan from Innovation! A 60 second mist-on tan. No UV rays. $5 off a 2 tan package. Gift certificates Ve Av available. Call 288-2878 (OReTITeTe Bato Tol od EV RES VAVAVIO Toa a Fo VANVICHE [€ a Fe (oT) BiLo Oil Co. Call around for prices — than make us your last call! 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SenArt’s other project, a small drama starring Peter Din- klage, Patricia Clarkson and Bobby Cannavale, became a hot ticket at Sundance despite not having a big-name star at- tached to it. Audiences will decide that film's fate later this year when the much-lauded “The Station Agent” hits theaters. The film was written and directed by first-time director Tom Mec- Carthy. “The Station Agent” tells the ¥ story of a young dwarf, Finbar McBride, who moves to an abandoned train station in rur- al New Jersey after his only friend dies. His life as a hermit ends when he begins interact- ing with his loner neighbors, an artist ‘coping with the death of her son and the end of her mar- riage, and a talkative 30-year- old hot-dog vendor. At Sundance, “The Station Agent” won the festival's Dra- matic Audience Award and the Jury Prize for Screenwriting. And during several screenings last month in Utah, Sundance audiences gave “The Station Agent” standing ovations, May said. Critics have called the film a must-see. This year 125 of more than “I'm a visual, emotional person.” Bob May Franklin Twp. 3,000 submitted films were shown at Sundance. Despite the prizes, star names and buzz, few films seen at Sun- dance or other film festivals worldwide ever get to the big screen. In a surprising moment, per- haps fit for Hollywood, an ac- quisition team from Miramax Films agreed that “The Station Agent” was a quality project. And so Harvey Weinstein, the feisty president of Miramax, flew to Utah from Los Angeles, where he had attended the Golden Globes ceremony, to have a look. Weinstein loved the movie, May recalled Weinstein saying. He summoned May, director McCarthy and two other pro- ducers to meet him. Working through the night, they struck a distribution deal in excess of $1 million with Miramax, a unit of the Walt Disney Co., signing off on the project at 5:30 the next morning — less than 12 hours after Weinstein’s screen- ing. May would not comment on the exact figure of the deal, but published reports say it was for $1.5 million. Miramax, which, in recent months, has released a number of films, including “Chicago,” “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” and “Gangs of New York,” is planning to release “The Sta- tion Agent” this fall at a time when studios release smaller films and strong contenders for the awards season. “At Sundance,” said May, sit- ting in his office near a lighted fireplace and a stack of enter- tainment magazines on a recent morning, “it’s all about adrena- line and pace and very little Free 14K Yellow Gold Floating Heart with $50.00 Purchase You Buy the Jewelry We'll Buy the Candy & Flowers ake any single jewelry purchase of $250 or more February 1st through February 14th and receive a half dozen of long stemmed red roses. ake any single purchase of Hpecial The 24K Gold Rose JIVE 7: 3 BT $150 or more and we will give Ny you designer share with Valentine. your chocolate to special \[e}iglisls! outshines @{ely Valentine's Day! Other fabulous gifts start Rte. 309, Dallas 675-6945 Mon-Fri 10-6 Thur 10-8 Sat 10-5 sleep, and you get through. It was a very wild ride.” As for his reaction to the re- sponse “The Station Agent” gen- erated, May said: “It was one of the best feelings in my life. I mean, you know, having chil- dren is the best feeling in life. But being there and seeing like the birth of a child, in a sense, that you've nurtured and you've cared for and the first time the world sees it and accepts it, it's incredible.” Despite the company’s recent success, May said he doesn’t have a desire to hang out with movie stars and party hard. He's happy with his life in northeastern Pennsylvania with his wife, Mary Lynn, and their children, 6-year-old Evan and 3-year-old Erin, and with the few days a week he works in New York. Lately, May has been doing interviews with local media, and he’s busy working cn future projects, one of which is Errol Morris's long-awaited documen- tary on Robert MacNamara. The film is being made in a partner- ship with Radical Media, and will be released by Sony Picture Classics. With his work mentioned in a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly and in the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers, May may no longer have to an- swer a familiar question: What does he do these days? “As a producer,” May said, “it’s kind of hard to explain be- cause you're always looking for projects. We're a small compa- ny, and so we still get inundat- ed with potential work. Just like any other company in the industry, it's very hard to find quality stories. “And it is all about the story. If there isn’t a story to be told, a film should not be made, in my opinion.” This article appeared in origi- nal form in the Times Leader. EOUS Unique Furniture, Lighting, Gifts & ft emporary Design EY a pob=2 “on expression of love. fhe spii of a celebration of love. unique gifts for special people. 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