The Academy Awards may have lit up Hollywood last weekend, but the biggest stars in the county will be arriving at Cinema Arts theater in Fairfax for the next two weeks.
Three movies, made by local producers and directors, will have their premiere at the independent movie theater, located at Fair City Mall, giving the families of the movies' stars the chance to join in on the fun.
"Evil Deeds," a movie by Lewis Long, tells the story of a woman who loses her wealth and decides to get rid of anyone who tries to stop her from reclaiming it. It will premiere at Cinema Arts in Fairfax on Sunday, March 4 at 7 p.m.
Filming over two years around Occoquan, Clifton and Fairfax Station, Long found not only a star in Clifton resident Jolanda Janczewski but also a co-conspirator who opened her home and barn and roped in half of her friends and family to be part of the movie.
"In the real world, we're totally different people," said Janczewski, who owns a consulting company.
She's been trying to convince Long, who works for Booz Allen Hamilton, to join her company so they can continue to work together between films.
STARTING WITH A group of actors from the Little Theater in Alexandra, Long and Janczewski rounded up their cast and began filming, using her home and horse barn heavily in the movie.
"It's a story about a stockbroker who loses all her money through bad investments," Long said. "To regain her wealth, she marries her high school sweetheart after she kills his wife, who happens to be her best friend. Eventually, the company she ripped off to regain her money starts coming back to get her and the only thing she can do is kill off people who become suspicious of her."
"My sister played the best-friend role," Janczewski said. "When Lew told me I got to kill someone, she instantly came to mind. I got to push her off a cliff," she laughed.
Dianne Janczewski, the sister who gets killed, said she had to learn how to play dead while appearing to hang over a cliff for her big scene.
"She didn't kill me herself, she had a stand-in do it," Dianne Janczewski said. "It was a lot of fun, but I have no aspirations for Hollywood."
The filming took place over two years, so Janczewski's hairstyles may be slightly different from scene to scene. She isn't certain how different she looks, however, because she and the rest of the cast haven't seen the movie yet.
"I'm kind of nervous because I have no idea how some of the scenes fit together," she said. "He filmed out of sequence so you have no idea how it all looks."
Long, who has seen the movie while editing it, said he originally wrote the script in New York City and tried to have it produced there, but many film companies lost the money to finish it after Sept. 11, 2001.
"They suggested I try to do it myself," Long said. "My dad gave me the money to buy the film equipment and I'm really glad I did it this way. Now I know how to do all the lighting, the editing, everything."
Long credits Janczewski for not only providing a large number of cast members but also for cheering him on during the whole process.
"She's been instrumental in getting me access to people, her property and barn any time I needed it," he said. "It's really rewarding when in the end, people like Jolanda are excited to see the finished product."
Janczewski said she's watches movies differently now, noticing little differences in background, changes in hairstyles and other minor attributes that would have gone unnoticed.
"You see how it's all done in short sequences," she said. "But I also know that if my acting looks bad, it's not my fault, it's the editor's."
Richard Chandler, an Alexandria resident who did some theater work for his church, was brought into the cast through a friend who suggested he audition for the role. He plays Hunt, the unsuspecting man whom Janczewski's character marries to win back her fortune.
"I've never done anything in front of a camera before so this was new," he said. "In some ways, it's easier because you have the chance for do-overs."
Like Jolanda and Dianne Janczewski, Chandler said he's apprehensive but anxious to see the completed film.
"I'm going with my wife and my two sons," he said. "One of my sons is in the movie with me. I really hope people will enjoy it."
He also praises Long for his dedication to the film.
"He was there for every shot and he was learning right along with the rest of us during the film," Chandler said.
THE FOLLOWING weekend, March 11, will be a Double Feature Premiere at Cinema Arts, as movies by Burke resident Joe Carabeo and former Vienna resident Todd Raviotta premiere their short films back-to-back.
Raviotta's film, "Mediated," takes a look at what effect 24-hour television availability has on a person.
"The movie is set in an apartment with nine TVs all turned to different channels," Raviotta said. "As the film goes on, one channel is always turned to a newscaster, who starts to tell the main character to do different things to make himself newsworthy."
The main character, Phillip, is surrounded by people who represent other aspects of culture, including a European neighbor who is a classically trained musician. Raviotta said he tried to use the characters to provide an outside influence on Phillip.
"All his interactions eventually lead to his breakthrough that helps him find his way out of a media-induced cave," Raviotta said.
The script was written in 2001 but was heavily changed following Sept. 11, Raviotta said, when he felt he had a responsibility to make sure the characters made the statements he wanted clearly.
"I wanted Phillip to be the embodiment of America and his neighbors would be the commentary on the hyperactive American culture," Raviotta said. "That became especially important after all the TV channels here went to 24-hour news for a while after 9/11."
Filming took place over a month in Raviotta’s apartment, which made the whole experience a little surreal, he said. It took almost another year to add in all the special effects and sounds that add to the constant stimulation Phillip faces in his media-centered life, Raviotta said.
The movie was first shown in Richmond late last year to rave reviews, he said, but that hasn't made the second premiere any less thrilling.
"I'm not so much nervous as excited," he said. "With the amount of work that went into it, I know the film stands up for itself. But there's always the fear of whether people will show up and enjoy it."
Joe Carabeo, a self-described "big fan of Film Noir," will be premiering his film, "The Madcap Three" along with Raviotta's film.
The story of a runaway girl who meets up with three hitmen is a "portrait piece on the actions taken in life and their repercussions," said Carabeo.
For example, two of the hitmen are disturbed by the enthusiasm of the third man, a newcomer to the hired gun trade. They find themselves struggling with the consequences of their work, he said.
Carabeo said Raviotta was skeptical of the movie when he first read the script.
"He told me we couldn't make the movie I wanted to make in the time I wanted to make it," Carabeo said. "It's ironic that we're teaming up to show our films together. I was pretty upset but felt in my heart this was what I had to do."
With one movie completed, Carabeo said he wants to keep making films that inspire the viewers to connect with the characters and grow with the plotlines.
"I want to do work like what Joss Whedon did with 'Buffy'," he said, referring to the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" TV show and the die-hard fans it collected.
Carabeo organized the showings at Cinema Arts, walking in and talking to owner Mark O’Meara and asking if the movies could run together.
"I gave him a check and that was our agreement," he chuckled. "It was that simple."
Despite a positive first showing in Richmond, Carabeo is looking forward to screening his movie in front of his hometown.
"Things are starting to happen here, this is the next big step," he said, adding that small film festivals are finding homes in Northern Virginia and the Washington, D.C. area, attracting independent filmmakers from around the country.
"I'm nervous in general of getting an audience in there because I don't know how they'll react to this type of film," he said.