Toledo filmmaker to present double feature

6/7/2007

Carleton Averill is brave.

He is 44, he lives in Toledo, he works days as a financial planner, and he is currently in pre-production on his third film, which he plans to send to Sundance, and which will be titled:

Nothing Happened.

But oh yes, something does happen, he explains. Something apocalyptic, in fact. The government collapses, not due to an asteroid or terrorist plot, but fiscal mismanagement. There s a rush on the market, and bonds are downrated, and there isn t a real event so much that happens, just a culmination of things, so the media tells people to stay at home and expect power outages. And there s more but, well, it sounds like quite the long story.

Anyway, that s on the burner.

To check out what this Toledo filmmaker has already shot, right under your noses, in your backyard (while you were at work, probably), head to the Maumee Indoor Theatre tomorrow night for a Carleton double feature. Billed as an evening of Mantis and Moon Productions named for the production house Averill started with filmmaker Will Graver, 25 the program features his first movie, Out of the Shadows, and his experimental documentary, Thunder on the Farm. Shadows, he says, is about a pessimist and an optimist, both going through divorce; the pessimist has a bad time and the optimist stays optimistic, so his aspirations come to fruition. Farm, he explains, is about summer s progress, seen through the eyes of a farm.

Both pictures were shot on hi-def video, with a cast and crew entirely gathered from the Toledo area. And Mantis and Moon Productions wants it to stay that way. Graver, who started as Averill s intern and graduated to vice president of the two-person company, said they operate a bit like summer regional theater. There s a lot of people around here who want to be part of a production and they will volunteer just to be a part. I understand. I m like that. I m in Ohio, and I have a job working on movies, and that s about the best thing I can do at this point.

Carleton Averill s Out of the Shadows and Thunder on the Farm show tomorrow night at 7 in the Maumee Indoor Theatre, 601 Conant St. The program is free. Information: 419-309-7007.

Contact Christopher Borrelli at: cborrelli@theblade.comor 419-724-6117.