Locally Produced Film Pumpkin Brown Debuts at Navy Yard, May 18, 2007
Locally Produced Film Pumpkin Brown Debuts at Navy Yard May 18th
When audiences screen the sneak preview of the Song of Pumpkin Brown on May 18, they will notice a distinct Lowcountry flavor. The independent film – written, directed and produced by Charleston-based filmmaker Brad Jayne – features a galaxy of South Carolina creative talent. Certainly, the film’s plot, about a 10-year-old African American boy who enters the legendary music program at Jenkins Orphanage after the death of his preacher father, reflects the storied history of that institution.
Funded with a $100,000 grant from the South Carolina Film Commission, the 30-minute Song of Pumpkin Brown features the work of such Palmetto State notables as jazz musician Quentin Baxter, cinematographer Lee Dashiell, and painter Jonathan Green, who join Jayne in a one of a kind collaboration that has been hailed as an “inventive, high-quality” contribution to the national landscape of independent films.
Pumpkin Brown was shot over a seven day schedule in locations throughout the Charleston area and Edisto Island, including a one-day stint at the Navy Yard at an old structure posing as a Depression Era radio station.
The film’s format is in a narrative style, as Pumpkin Brown becomes the last of the Jenkins Orphanage musical prodigies, all from an institution that served as the launch pad for the careers of such jazz greats as Jabbo Smith, Freddie Green and Cat Anderson. In the early years of the 20th Century, The Jenkins Orphanage Band toured the world, making stops in world cultural capitals like Rome, New York, London and Paris.
Interestingly, groups like the Charleston Jazz Initiative (www.charlestonjazz.net) are working to revive the region’s seemingly forgotten musical heritage. This fall, the Navy Yard at Noisette will sponsor its evening arts series, the jazz-oriented “Navy Yard Nights”.
The history of jazz and film has a longstanding connection in the Lowcountry. In 1928, a short black and white film, 11 minutes in length, was produced depicting a performance of the actual Jenkins Orphanage Band performing in peninsula Charleston.
“The Pumpkin Brown project is a perfect example of the talent that lives and breathes in Charleston and throughout the entire state,” injects Jayne. “The regional talent demonstrated in this project, in terms of filmmaking and other artistic mediums, vividly, and powerfully, shows what can be accomplished through collaboration.”
The Song of Pumpkin Brown was filmed entirely with High Definition technology. “We’ve heard the buzz about HD video for some time,” adds Jayne. “It’s been slow in gaining widespread acceptance in films, but it was tailored made for a smaller project like Pumpkin Brown.”
The film project was produced in co-operation with the Charleston Jazz Initiative, the Jenkins Institute, and Trident Technical College, which placed student assistants from TTC’s film program as part of the college’s curriculum.
Jayne, who works with Pumpkin Brown-collaborator Osprey HD in Mount Pleasant, has aspirations to become a feature film director. The Song of Pumpkin Brown is just one of several short films he has produced, and his When We All Get to Heaven, a 30-minute documentary about the Gospel Choir of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. That project was broadcast on SCETV, and shown in different film festivals throughout the United States.
“Ultimately, our goal is always exceptionally high production values for each film we create,” concludes Jayne. “The grant from the film commission assured a great film in the Song of Pumpkin Brown, which we believe that it is.”
The advance screenings of the Song of Pumpkin Brown are scheduled for Friday, May 18, from 8:30 PM and 10 PM. The events are admission free and open to the public, although donations are encouraged. Question and Answer sessions with the filmmakers and collaborators will follow each session, which includes special jazz performances by some of the community’s leading musicians, several of whom appear in the film. For more information, contact Jenny Wiedower at 843-529-3698, jwiedower@navyyardsc.com.
