By CHRISSY PRICHARD

Express News Staff

Adirondack Mountain Productions and the Strand Theatre will present an evening of short films at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20 at the Strand Theatre in Old Forge.

The highlight of the evening will be the screening of the film “And Winter Slow”, which was shot in and around Old Forge and Inlet in January 2011, with the assistance of Adirondack Mountain Productions. Kurt and Ximena Gardner of Adirondack Mountain Productions are excited to bring the film to the big screen and share it with the many community members that helped in the film’s production. “We are so very proud to have the final product be screened here. We just really wanted to share the film with the community, especially the fire department and the EMT’s that helped us tremendously with the stunt scene that was shot on First Lake,” said Ximena. “We hope people will want to come and see how amazing our area looks on film, and to see two local actors, Tylor Fenton and Brendan Lis, who both did a great job.”

“And Winter Slow” was directed by NYU film student Brian Lannin who was assisted by a crew of his fellow film students. The six other short films being shown at the event are each directed by a crew member that worked on “And Winter Slow”. “They all fell in love with our area during filming and all said they would love to come back to screen here too. The time is finally here,” said Ximena.

Directors of the films will be on hand for a question and answer session following the screenings. The films to be screened at the event include “And Winter Slow”, directed by Brian Lannin in association with Adirondack Mountain Productions, Director of Photography Kristina Nikolova, Producer Mollye Asher; “Gravity”, directed by Pamela Romanowsky, Director of Photography Kristina Nikolova; “Angels”, directed by Zachary Kerschberg, Director of Photography Brian Lannin; “Priceless Things”, directed by Sarah-Violet Bliss, Director of Photography Jonas Carpignano; “Faith, Love & Whiskey, directed by Kristina Nikolova, Director of Photography Alexander Stanishev; “Slim & Lena”, directed by Mollye Asher, Director of Photography Kristina Nikolova; and “Winter”, directed by Andre Constantini, who was also director of photography.

“Being a part of the NYU film school gives all the students ample opportunity to work on films, they are always helping each other with each other’s films,” said Ximena. “It is a beautiful thing to watch them helping each other with as much care for each other’s films as with their own films.”

“And Winters Slow” has been doing the film festival circuit for the past 6 months, according to Ximena, and it has won two prestigious festivals which has qualified the film for review by the 85th Annual Academy Awards. Currently the film is being reviewed among a pool of 20 other short films.

The film has been screened at the Brooklyn Film Festival, the Woods Hole Film Festival and the Florida Film Festival. It was the winner in the best short film category at the Cinequest Film Festival, and has earned Faculty Commendations at NYU for both screenwriting and producing.

Ximena and Kurt also had the opportunity to see the film at the Woodstock Film Festival this past weekend. Although they have seen the film many times, this was their first time seeing it on the big screen. “It looked beautiful. Can’t wait to screen it next week for everyone,” said Ximena.

As a production company, working with the crew on “And Winter Slow” was Kurt and Ximena’s introduction to managing movie sets as well as the genre of short films. It was full of challenges, but was a great learning experience as well.

“Everyone had an important role to play and they did it amazingly well, especially since they had not encountered an Adirondack winter before. The biggest scene was shot on First Lake and the temperature that night was -1 degrees. We learned how to keep people warm when they have to be outside during these temperatures. There was no complaining. Their focus was strictly on getting the perfect images to tell their story,” said Ximena. “The love of film that these people showed us really, was an education in itself. This love is contagious and I now know that Kurt and I are hooked too.”

Ximena says that before watching “And Winter Slow” she had never really watched a short film, but she suspects she’s not alone in this. “It is not a common or easily accessible genre of film making. Unless you really go to film festivals, these types of movies are not very mainstream,” she said.

She says what amazed her so much about these films is how much of a story can be told in such a short amount of time. “These films vary in length between 6 minutes and 16.5 minutes, but they say as much as a feature film, which typically runs about 90 minutes. These directors are all very talented storytellers. I think that everyone will be as pleasantly surprised with this genre of movie making as we were,” she said.

With over 18 years experience in the photography industry, Ximena says they would like to branch out and get into movies a little more. Since working on “And Winter Slow”, the Gardners have been scouting locations for potential movie shoots and hope for more movie projects in the future. The couple has done still photo shoots this summer and are looking forward to shooting a TV commercial in Old Forge in early November.

Tickets to the Evening of Short Films are free, but due to limited seating it is recommended that tickets be picked up in advance at the Strand Theatre box office, or reserved by calling (917) 673-1534. Due to the adult content of some of the films, it is asked that children do not attend.

The Gardners are proud of the success of “And Winter Slow” and are looking forward to sharing it with others. “Ever since the film was shot here we always knew we wanted to show it here.

The strand theatre is the perfect place. We are truly grateful to both Bob and Helen for their generosity in donating the time and the theater for this event,” said Ximena. “It brings full circle the great experience that this team had while shooting the movie, and now in showing it.”