Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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OCT 14-20, 2015 UCW 9 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Groundswell Pictures, though relatively new, has already made an impact in the community. Founded in 2014 by Jan Johnson and Pat Wright, the not-for- profit focuses on making, showing, teaching and supporting film in Fayetteville. The pair combat difficult topics with their films and provide a platform for other filmmakers to share their work with the community. For both Johnson and Wright, a love for providing entertainment presented itself early in life. Wright recalls hosting little impromptu productions and shows in her basement with the projector. Johnson also remembers childhood escapades miming her current career. "I liked to do woman-on-the-street interviews with my best friend at the time. This was back when we had reel-to-reel tape. We didn't have anything like a digital camera. I did these fake woman-on-the-street interviews when I was 10- or 12-years old," Johnson said. These childhood games translated into successful adulthood careers in film production for both women. Through Groundswell pictures they bring entertainment and film to all levels of the community. This year the Arts Council recognized the incredible vision of Johnson and Wright and awarded them three grants to support their projects though Groundswell Pictures. "We're happy that the Arts Council has supported us in so many ways. The first grant is to support Not Just Pictures, a film that we premiered recently. The grant will help us to cover expenses of the event and the cost of producing the film. The second grant is to support Moonshadow Film Society. It is a project we are doing where we show films once a month, the first Tuesday of every month and then hold a discussion. We try to bring in a filmmaker or someone involved in the film, hold a reception at the Rainbow Room. We have to pay for the film, and for either Skype or to bring in the filmmaker. We also received a grant for our Shooting Stars Film Camp. It is a summer camp and last year we did a pilot program of a week, this year we will have three weeks. It is for 6th through 12th graders to go from 0 to creating a film in one week. Last year with the pilot program, the kids participating produced two short videos on the Fayetteville Animal Protection Society," Johnson said. Already these women have brought the community opportunities for entertainment and learning. The biggest struggle is just not having enough time in the day to make every idea happen, but they both say that the positive reception of their programs and support from the community is encouraging. And so their push for growing the appreciation, production and availability of films for the community does not stop with what they've already accomplished. "We are able to raise the cultural arts of film in the community. We are making available a huge variety of films for people of all likes and dislikes. We are bringing foreign films and films where the first time you hear about them is on Oscars Night. These obscure films are nominated for Oscars and that's the first time that you hear about them. We want to excite people, to get them interested and eager to see these films. This all leads up tour last missions as Groundswell Pictures, to support filmmakers. In fall of 2016 we are planning to start a film festival in Fayetteville. We are going to bring films from around the world for a 3-day festival. It will be open to the community and we are going to have films to see that you would never see anywhere else. It broadens the mind and to see these film that you'd never see before. It is a way to experience cultures and nationalities," Wright says. For more information on Groundswell Pictures, visit www.groundswellpictures.com/about or call 486- 9036. As you sit in the comfort of your own home, coffee shop or wherever you might find yourself at this very moment, a U.S. armed services member is fueling up some type of equipment. Heavy hoses are hoisted over the shoulders of crew members and lugged across the decks of Navy ships, drug across the sands of a Middle Eastern desert and slid over ice and snow in an Arctic base. This routine is repeated over and over again within the military community. It has become an accepted part of maintaining daily operations. Our service men and women may not realize that the hose they carry has tethered our nation to what some say is the greatest threat to national security — fossil fuels. The U.S. Department of Defense is the largest single user of energy for the federal government. As of 2013, the DoD energy usage accounted for 78 percent of all federal energy use. The significance of U.S military operations and missions across the world, be it war operations, disaster response or maintaining daily functional operations, makes their need for a reliable energy source essential. Their dependence on fossils fuels as this energy source to maintain critical functions creates a heavy burden. The military is also tasked with an $85 billion dollar mission to keep the global oil trade routes open. The effects of this fossil fuel burden creates ripples across the energy and environmental sectors that are carried by everyone. The monetary cost of our dependency on oil is just one side of the issue. The lives of U.S. soldiers that protect and transport fuel supplies is a two-fold cost. During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, for every 24 convoy operations where 50 percent of the load was fuel, one soldier was killed. In addition, combat and scouting troops were often assigned to missions outside of their specialty to transport and protect fuel. This led to a lack of intelligence gathering that may have included the whereabouts of potential insurgent forces. Some leaders of the military recognize that this continued dependence on fossil fuels is unsustainable. Despite political opposition, branches of the military are sparking innovation in renewable energy. The DoD has outlined goals for implementing renewable energy and energy efficiency throughout its operations in the "Department of Energy Annual Energy Management Report." The goals and strategies in the report cover a wide range of solutions, including solar arrays as part of combat operations, researching biofuel production and energy efficiency upgrades at post installations. On Oct. 24 at 11 a.m., Sustainable Sandhills will facilitate a conversation on fossil fuel dependence and the switch to renewable energy with a special presentation of "The Burden," at the Cameo Art House Theatre. The film explores the cost of our dependence on fossil fuels in more detail. Fort Bragg, like many other military installations in the nation, is in the process of implementing changes to achieve the goals outlined in the DoD's energy management report. Speakers are being recruited to represent the military and Fort Bragg's perspective on this very important topic, and a panel discussion will immediately follow the film screening. This is the last in the Sustainable Saturdays film series, hosted by Sustainable Sandhills, PWC and Cameo Art House. Special thanks to Up & Coming Weekly and XTI- Royal Solar Solutions. For More information, please contact Denise Bruce, Green Action coordinator for Sustainable Sandhills at Info@Sustainablesandhills.org or visit our website Sustainablesandhills.org. Sustainable Saturdays Continue at the Cameo With The Burden a STAFF UPDATE Groundswell Pictures Impacting the Community by ERINN CRIDER Moonshadow Film Society is one of several initiatives of Groundswell Pictures. Groundswell is owned and operated by Fayetteville residents Jan Johnson and Pat Wright. The pair are making an impact on the community with their films, camps and discussions. ERINN CRIDER. Staff Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910.484.6200.