CONTACT: Katie McElwain/ Marketing Coordinator
(802) 447-1571 Fax (802) 442-8305
The Bennington Museum and Kingdom County Productions (KCP) will present a screening of Jay Craven’s new feature film, “Disappearances,” at 7:30pm, Saturday, April 14th at the Bennington Museum. Director/writer Jay Craven will introduce the screening and lead post film discussion.
“Disappearances” is based on the award-winning novel by Howard Frank Mosher and stars Kris Kristofferson in his first lead role in twenty years (since Alan Rudolph’s “Trouble in Mind”). The picture also features Academy Award nominee Genevieve Bujold (“King of Hearts,” “Anne of a Thousand Days”) and is based on Mosher’s award-winning novel about whiskey-running in the 1930’s. Other actors include Gary Farmer (“Smoke Signals”), “William Sanderson” (“Deadwood”), Lothaire Bluteau (“Black Robe”), Luis Guzman (“Traffic”), and 15 year-old Charlie McDermott in his debut role.
Boston Phoenix called “Disappearances” “an extraordinary accomplishment…a Peckinpah-style Eastern Western.” The American Film Institute wrote, “Palpable, intimate and magical…operates on powerful metaphorical levels.” Variety called it as “mesmerizing,” “poetic,” and “stirringly acted." Reuters calls it “impressive,” “graceful,” and “eerily beautiful.” Yankee calls it “stunning.” The Boston Globe adds, “wild adventure…pure fun.”
The Bennington Museum date comes as part of the film’s national release that Kingdom County Productions is managing in association with Truly Indie and Screen Media Films. Upcoming engagements will include New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, Ithaca, and many more.
“Disappearances” and Craven will also travel to Asia, Africa, and Latin America as one of nine American films selected for the American Film Institute’s first-ever AFI Project 20/20 for 2007 international cultural exchange. Project 20/20 is co-sponsored by the AFI, The National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, The President’s Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the State Department, the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
“Disappearances” completes a film trilogy of what director Jay Craven calls, “Vermont frontier films” that includes “Where the Rivers Flow North” (starring Rip Torn, Tantoo Cardinal, Michael J. Fox) and “A Stranger in the Kingdom” (starring David Lansbury, Enrie Hudson, Martin Sheen). Set during Prohibition, the film tells the story of Quebec Bill Bonhomme (Kristofferson), an impossible dreamer and schemer who needs fast cash after a freak lightning storm destroys his barn. Despite forebodings from his skeptical and mystical sister, Cordelia (Bujold), Quebec Bill hatches a plan to steal twenty cases of liquor from feral Canadian whiskey pirate, Caracjou (Bluteau), and smuggle it back across the Vermont-Canadian border. He takes along his 15 year-old-son, Wild Bill (McDermott), his inscrutable brother-in-law (Farmer), and his cranky hired man (Sanderson). Together, they cross the border into Canadian wilderness for three unforgettable days "full of terror, full of wonder."
“Disappearances” was filmed in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom and the North Country of New Hampshire. The picture’s film festival dates include AFI Fest, South by Southwest, Cleveland, London’s Declaration Independence, Nantucket, Savannah, Santa Fe, and Avignon.
For a full list of “Disappearances” tour dates, call Kingdom County Productions at 802-592-3190 or visit www.kingdomcounty.com or www.DisappearancesMovie.com where a movie trailer is available.