By Scott Butterworth
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 6, 2006; PW03
Let's play a little name-association game.
I say: film festival. You say: Cannes, Sundance, Toronto . . . Warrenton?
Yes, Fauquier County will roll out the red carpet this weekend for what organizers hope will become an annual Piedmont Filmmakers Festival.
The festival is the brainchild of volunteers and George Mason University officials who are working to establish a film-studies program at the school. One of the keys to that end, they say, is getting Northern Virginians excited about the stories they can tell through film.
"There's a lot of people and a lot of talent in this region," said managing director Erin Gaffney. "But people think of filmmakers as only people in New York and Los Angeles."
The festival is designed to correct that misconception. The mission, organizers said, is to spotlight local directors, and so the inaugural lineup features residents of Culpeper, Delaplane, The Plains and other communities.
It is also heavy with documentaries, which do not require the hefty budgets of other film genres.
Perhaps recognizing they were lacking a certain glitz, organizers turned to a more experienced director with regional ties: Ronald F. Maxwell.
The director of "Gettysburg" and "Gods and Generals" also sits on the board of Friends of Film, the nonprofit organization that is working with George Mason to present the festival. Maxwell said Tuesday that he wasn't surprised to be asked to take part.
"For the evenings of festivals, you kind of expect they'll be features, and when you talk about people from this area who have made features, now you're getting to a smaller list," said Maxwell, who lives in Flint Hill in Rappahannock County.
He said he was approached about screening either of his Civil War dramas, "but I did not respond to that idea, because my feeling is most people have already seen those films, especially around here."
Instead, Maxwell is bringing one of his first movies, 1978's "Verna: USO Girl." It was made for television but starred two future Oscar winners -- Sissy Spacek (before "Coal Miner's Daughter") and William Hurt (a few years before "Kiss of the Spider Woman") -- and Sally Kellerman, who had been nominated for an Oscar for "M*A*S*H."
It also brought Maxwell an Emmy nomination for direction.
"I hadn't looked at it in 10 to 15 years" before it was suggested for the festival, he said. "It cost only $300,000, and we made it in 14 days, so it's a little rough-and-tumble, but it's a sweet film, and I felt very good about [bringing] it.
"It'll be very interesting to see this before an audience," Maxwell said. "I've never seen it with the public."
The festival opens tomorrow night with "Crazy Like a Fox," a comedy from Middleburg's Richard Squires, another Friends of Film board member. The movie, which stars Mary McDonnell ("Dances With Wolves") and Roger Rees ("Cheers"), tells the story of a Virginia gentleman farmer who loses his family farm to land speculators from Washington.
On Saturday morning, two short films from Delaplane's Tom Davenport will be screened: "Ashpet: An American Cinderella Story" and "Mutzmag: An Appalachian Tale."
Four documentaries are scheduled for Saturday afternoon, including films from Culpeper's Cameron Yates ("14 and Payrolled") and Delaplane's Bob Roberts ("The Madison County Project"). Maxwell's "Verna: USO Girl" is the Saturday night feature.
Sunday's program begins with documentaries and student films. Amy Gerber and Luciana Pedraza, both of The Plains, have entries. And the festival concludes with a concert by Warrenton's Piedmont Regional Orchestra, with Maxwell reading Civil War poetry.
All screenings are at the Highland Center for the Arts, 597 Broadview Ave., Warrenton. Tickets start at $5. The student films are free.
For a schedule of films, visit http://camgmu.com/piedmont .