KNOXVILLE, Tenn.– A University of Tennessee filmmaker’s story of a prison guard, told through images of his uniforms, will be showcased at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
“Eleven Eighty Two” by Kevin Jerome Everson, assistant professor of art at UT-Knoxville, uses images of the uniforms as the Ohio guard is interviewed off-camera. The title comes from his starting hourly wage, $11.82, Everson said.
The five-minute film will be shown six times during the Park City, Utah, festival, founded in 1981 by actor Robert Redford. Everson will speak and participate in two panel discussions at the Jan. 15-25 festival, but he says he is not expecting a box office hit.
“A check would be nice, but the opportunities created by being there may be more important,” he said. “I want to do at least two films next year. Maybe it will be easier now to get the backing.”
Unlike other festivals in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto, Sundance features short films, he said. A selection of the screenings will be offered later on the Sundance cable channel.
“Eleven-Eighty Two” continues a theme Everson used in a sculpture, “Corrections 1996,” for an exhibit at the Cleveland, Ohio, Museum of Art. He taught at the University of Akron and Oberlin College before joining the UT-Knoxville faculty.
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Contact: Kevin Jerome Everson (423-974-3407)