Cameras rolling on 'Fire Lily'

Victor Kantchev has a vision for a new industry in Cape Girardeau. This industry won't make consumer goods or provide services -- it's all about entertainment. Kantchev, Southeast Missouri State University Department of Theater and Dance chairman Dr. Kenn Stilson and a cast and crew of about 30 are about halfway through a 3 1/2-week shooting schedule for "Fire Lily," a film Kantchev hopes will provide the spark to jump-start a Midwestern film movement.

Kantchev financed much of the film's budget. The goal is to produce a film that will get noticed at a big film festival like Cannes or Sundance, get picked up by a big distributor and turn a profit. After that, said producer Kantchev, the way will be paved for similar projects to be produced and filmed in the area.

But Kantchev knows there are no guarantees.

"Producing is a very risky business," he said, taking a break from observing Monday's filming at Eclipse Hair Studio on Spanish Street in Cape Girardeau. "It's a lot of speculation."

Part of Kantchev's risk has already paid off. The Bulgarian native and well-known local photographer and filmmaker decided to bankroll the movie based on a script -- albeit an award-winning one -- Stilson wrote for the stage, not the screen. The play was called "Independence Day." Stilson wrote "Independence Day" seven years ago after the death of his grandfather.

Scene from filming "Fire Lily." (VICTOR KANTCHEV ~ submitted photo)

He based the story partially on his own experiences growing up in Malden -- a small Southeast Missouri town -- on his grandfather's closeness to nature (which provided the inspiration for a lead character, Daniel) and "A Doll's House," an influential play by Henrik Ibsen about a woman struggling against the expectations of a misogynistic society.

The story focuses on April Moretti, a 22-year-old woman who starts to question her own mundane small-town existence, with Daniel as the catalyst.

"Independence Day" won the critic's award at the Edward Albee Theatre Conference and went on to be produced on the stage in Los Angeles.

Not expecting a response, Stilson submitted the script to Kantchev late last year because he knew of his reputation as a local artist, arts supporter and filmmaker. But Kantchev already admired Stilson's work directing numerous times for the Southeast stage.

He loved the character-driven nature of the plot, a must for independent films that don't have the huge budgets enjoyed by Hollywood blockbusters.

"About three weeks later he called me up," Stilson recalled, "and said, 'I think I'll do it.'"

Director Kenn Stilson, left, while filming "Fire Lily." (VICTOR KANTCHEV ~ submitted photo)

A "cattle call" -- a casting call open to hundreds of actors -- in St. Louis followed, and a cast of professional actors was hired on. Two other Southeast professors, Fred Jones and Shirlee Wilson, helped adapt the play for the screen, which was renamed "Fire Lily." A crew of professionals were hired -- some from Stilson's university theater connections, like sound engineer Phil Nacy, some from Kantchev's local filmmaking partners -- and "Fire Lily" started to materialize.

From the one location in the stage play, the movie took on about 20 locations, from Eclipse to Amidon Conservation Area near Fredericktown, Mo., to the swamps of Southern Illinois. For the past week-plus the group has put in 12- to 16-hour days of filming, a schedule that will continue until July 12.

"Eleven hours was a relief," Stilson said during a coveted break in filming just after noon Monday.

The actors and crew come from as far away as Los Angeles and Boston, and some are current Southeast students or recent graduates. Pat Bond, Michael Huntington, Ryan Mauer, Bart Elfrink, Roseanna Whitlow, Don Greenwood and Julia Rust are a few of the local people either in front of or behind the camera in the production.

Since the story focuses on people in their early 20s, the actors are young, just starting their careers, said Stilson, but all of them were picked because they were right on for the parts.

"They say 99 percent of directing is casting," Kantchev said.

In Kantchev's view, Stilson is a vastly talented director who has picked an equally talented and professional cast.

More than any other actor, the quality of "Fire Lily" probably relies on Marianne Miller's performance. Miller, a 21-year-old theater graduate from Nicholasville, Ky., who studied at the University of Evansville in Evansville, Ind., went to the cattle call hoping to get her first real professional gig after graduation, not knowing exactly what she was auditioning for. But Miller said she feels fairly comfortable as April, since her hometown is home to only about 19,000 people. She calls the job "a blessing."

"These characters are people I knew growing up, people I went to high school with," said Miller. "I felt like I had a lot to bring to the script because I was raised in a similar town."

Drew Kopas, who plays April's husband, Nick, didn't grow up in a small town -- he's from Cleveland -- but the theater graduate student from Western Illinois University has worked in some small town theaters. Kopas' Nick is a beer-drinking, former high school star quarterback with a factory job, a man who has never and will never grow up. The plot, he says, can be easily summed up: "It's 'Glory Days' by Bruce Springsteen."

Kopas, Miller and the other out-of-town cast and crew are staying in Meyers Hall, a dorm on the Southeast campus, an experience Kopas says has bonded the cast members in a way they wouldn't have otherwise. And bonding helps when everyone is easy to get along with.

"There's not a diva among us," Kopas said with a smile.

So far the outsiders are impressed by their Cape Girardeau experience and the city's support for the arts.

"There's a strong community here interested in keeping the arts alive ... that's what's really cool about being here," Miller said.

The work isn't all fun. At Eclipse, the air conditioning had to be shut down during filming, so actors and crew battled the heat with short bursts from a box fan between takes. The heat exacerbates the length of the day. Filming is tedious, with shots repeated over and over.

But Stilson and crew seem to maintain a certain cheer -- one they say comes from pride in their work.

If that work turns out to be a success, they'll have even more to be happy about, said Kantchev. The producer promises to put any money made from "Fire Lily" back into producing local films, not just for himself, but to use the talent he sees here in Cape Girardeau.

"It's hard to convince people to invest in a film project of that size," Kantchev said. "If this is successful we'll get more investors, and that's important to me.

"These people, they deserve it," he said of the cast and crew.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182