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8 WHAT'S UP! JANUARY 8-14, 2023 COVER STORY BECCA MARTIN-BROWN NWA Democrat-Gazette A s a little girl, enchanted by the magic of the movies available to her in her grandparents' video rental store in Goshen, Krista Bradley knew filmmaking was her life's dream. But she couldn't have imagined that in 2023 she'd be invited to Sundance thanks to a film she's written set in a cave in Northwest Arkansas. "I always knew I wanted to be a filmmaker," Bradley says. "I'm pretty certain we still have a video somewhere of me explaining to my grandpa how I was going to be a filmmaker when I grew up — at the age of like 4. It's a passion that's always been with me that I credit my grandparents for. "My grandparents loved films of all kinds," she remembers. "We'd spend afternoons watching old Westerns, classics, and Disney films. Sunday after church, my grandmother would take my brother and I to the Sunday matinee, and we'd watch 'The Wonderful World of Disney' on Sunday evenings on ABC. I loved watching the old Walt Disney specials where Walt would explain how his films were made. I always knew movies weren't real, but that the magic that went into making them certainly was." Now her script for a film called "Wonderland Cave," set in the underground dance club in Bella Vista in 1930, has earned Bradley an invitation to the renowned Sundance Film Festival Jan. 19-29 in Park City, Utah. She was invited based on her entry in the Inroads Fellowship Screenwriting Competition, where her script placed as a semifinalist, No. 54 among the top 100 writers. The History In 1930, long before Bradley's time, C.A. Linebarger, general manager of the resort that was Bella Vista, developed Wonderland Cave as a tourist attraction and a place for local entertainment, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. It opened March 1, 1930, with an alcove for a 10- to 12-piece band, a 30-foot bar and wooden and stone booths around the perimeter, the Encyclopedia of Arkansas describes. It was an "exotic setting for dancing to big band and jazz music," advertised as "the largest natural place of amusement in America." "I knew I wanted to make a 1930s jazz film back in 2019 and actually started the character development for the two lead characters before even deciding on a setting," Bradley says. "In my mind, I always had a clear picture 'Wonderland Cave' story on its way to Sundance Faye Chambers (Krista Bradley) falls head over heels in love with John Calderon (Heath Adam Cates), not knowing he's a Federal agent sent to root out her moonshining brothers. (Courtesy Photo) LOOK HERE! Photos courtesy of Zak Morris and Elizabeth Sanchez along with screenshots from filming. 'Wonderland Cave' See the trailer for "Wonderland Cave" at nwaonline.com/ 1823wonderland/