{"id":11418,"date":"2017-12-30T13:00:13","date_gmt":"2017-12-30T19:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=11418"},"modified":"2017-12-30T12:30:56","modified_gmt":"2017-12-30T18:30:56","slug":"sins-of-sheriff-reflect-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=11418","title":{"rendered":"Sins of SHERIFF reflect history"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Sound recordist Johnny Robinson and actor William L. Kephart wait between takes on the set of THE SHERIFF'S CHILDREN. (Photo: courtesy Roselawn Productions Ltd.)\" src=\"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/Images\/CUBlog Art\/cu_sherriffschildren_bts.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"490\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">~~~~~<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Other times, the act of preparing the <span style=\"color: #800000;\"><a style=\"color: #800000;\" title=\"New Art Film Festival :: Official Site\" href=\"https:\/\/newartfilmfestival.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>New Art Film Festival<\/strong><\/a><\/span> runs parallel with an anticipation of \u201cwhat might be\u201d in our program, especially in terms of area-made projects that have already caught our attention. Will we receive a chance to play them? Are they committed to debut elsewhere? Can they even be ready to submit by deadline? Fortunately, <strong>Mike Boedicker<\/strong> of <span style=\"color: #800000;\"><a style=\"color: #800000;\" title=\"Roselawn Productions Ltd. :: Home Page\" href=\"http:\/\/www.roselawnproductions.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Roselawn Productions Ltd.<\/strong><\/a><\/span> sent our way his <strong>Reconstruction<\/strong>-era tale, <span style=\"color: #800000;\"><a style=\"color: #800000;\" title=\"THE SHERIFF'S CHILDREN :: Official Site\" href=\"http:\/\/sheriffschildren.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>THE SHERIFF\u2019S CHILDREN<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, which we accepted for the show without a second thought. Since the 22-minute film is still being entered in other festivals across the <strong>United States<\/strong>, we only have general details and a teaser to pass along to our dearest viewers; Boedicker will more than likely release it online and possibly on disc as with his previous central Illinois output like <strong>HOUSE OF THADDEUS<\/strong> and <strong>REVOLTING<\/strong>, providing an opportunity for you to check out his latest work.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Based on the 1889 short story of the same title by <span style=\"color: #800000;\"><a style=\"color: #800000;\" title=\"Charles W. Chesnutt @ Wikipedia\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Charles_W._Chesnutt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Charles W. Chesnutt<\/strong> (1858-1932), a lawyer and prolific author of mixed-race ancestry<\/a><\/span> who dealt with the complexities of African-American life in the South after the <strong>Civil War<\/strong> in a portion of his writing, <strong>SHERIFF<\/strong> depicts the dynamic between a former slave (<strong>William Anthony Sebastian Rose II<\/strong>) and a small-town lawman (<strong>William L. Kephart<\/strong>) who guards him from a growing mob led by Slade (<strong>Matt Hester<\/strong>). While daughter Polly (<strong>Ellen E.K. Magee<\/strong>) holds down the homestead for her Pa, the sheriff finds himself trapped in a county jail with his prisoner as the lynch-starved locals congregate outside. Both men \u2013 a middle-aged white with status and an armed rifle, a young black covered in grime and accused of murder \u2013 soon reveal in their conversation that not all the crimes in question are of common knowledge or even against the law\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UNhJyAjCl2g\" width=\"450\" height=\"253\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Featuring contributions by <strong>Champaign-Urbana<\/strong> regulars including Thomas Nicol as effects artist and cinematographer, <strong>Johnny Robinson<\/strong> as sound recordist, <strong>Julia Megan Sullivan<\/strong> as script supervisor and dialect coach, <strong>Malia Andrus<\/strong> as costume designer, and <strong>Eric Watkins<\/strong> as music composer, <strong>SHERIFF<\/strong> is a solid example of how comfortable Boedicker is with balancing the dramatic and intellectual needs of his storytelling. The script hits its beats but does not telegraph its reveals, the performances serve the material without upstaging it, and the locations found in <strong>Illinois<\/strong> and <strong>Indiana<\/strong> sell the period illusion on a meager budget. Indeed, we heard NAFF chatter praising the short as people exited the <strong>Art Theater<\/strong> auditorium on <strong>October 29<\/strong> and conclude it will have a healthy festival life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">As to what Roselawn may produce next, it will <em>not<\/em> spring forth from <strong>Danville<\/strong> as usual. Mike and his wife and collaborator, <strong>Leslie Boedicker<\/strong>, resigned from their positions at the <strong>Danville Public Library<\/strong> at the beginning of fall and relocated to the <strong>Parma, New York<\/strong>, region where they both have family and prior history. <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">C-U Blogfidential<\/span><\/strong> will miss their friendship and presence as well as contributions to our film culture, so we wish them good fortune and happiness in the move! We also send Mike a long-distance dedication on his birthday today, <strong>Saturday, December 30<\/strong>, which he shares with a certain other cinema someone typing these very words. Enjoy the day, both of you!<\/p>\n<p>~ Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>p.s.<\/em> Mike offers his thoughts on the making of <strong>THE SHERIFF\u2019S CHILDREN<\/strong> in <span style=\"color: #800000;\"><a style=\"color: #800000;\" title=\"The eighth annual New Art Film Festival makes filmmaker dreams come true :: Smile Politely\" href=\"http:\/\/www.smilepolitely.com\/arts\/eighth_annual_new_art_film_festival_makes_filmmaker_dreams_come_true\/]\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this 2017 NAFF article<\/a><\/span> run by <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Smile Politely<\/span><\/strong> and <span style=\"color: #800000;\"><a style=\"color: #800000;\" title=\"WORDS hurt, heal in debut short :: C-U Blogfidential\" href=\"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=11404\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">written by <strong>Jarrod Finn<\/strong><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">~~~~~<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"THE SHERIFF'S CHILDREN (Roselawn Productions Ltd.)\" src=\"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/Images\/CUBlog Art\/cu_sherriffschildren_poster.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"573\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE SHERIFF&#8217;S CHILDREN, produced by Mike Boedicker and Roselawn Productions Ltd. (formerly) of Danville, is a high-quality period piece with conscience. Here, we share details and a trailer for your consideration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,14,15,10,13,20],"tags":[361,1858,1857,304,97,1856,96,1854,1855],"class_list":["post-11418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alums-done-good","category-area-festivals","category-media-coverage","category-production-updates","category-public-events","category-videos-du-c-u","tag-bill-kephart","tag-charles-w-chesnutt","tag-free-people-of-color","tag-leslie-boedicker","tag-mike-boedicker","tag-reconstruction-era","tag-roselawn-productions","tag-the-sheriffs-children","tag-william-anthony-sebastian-rose-ii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}