This site is an introduction to RIVER WILL TAKE YOU, a short film I wrote and will direct in Iowa. The film will run between 15-20 minutes, to be shot primarily at two historic Iowa locations: the Sutliff Bridge and Tavern in rural Johnson County, and the Reed/Niland Corner, on the original Lincoln Highway in Colo. It will be shot on Super 16mm film by award-winning cinematographer/filmmaker Pete Sillen.
I wrote the film for noted Iowa musician Greg Brown and his daughter Pieta Brown, a fast-rising musical talent herself. Acclaimed guitarist Bo Ramsey, a longtime collaborator with Greg and Pieta, will write and record an original score for the film. There will be a few other Iowa talents appearing in the film as well, including Marvin Bell, the state's first Poet Laureate.
A brief synopsis and details about the project and key cast and crew is available below.
As an Iowan, I've already directed a few short films with success, and this film is another important step in building a career making successful, artistically strong feature films -- some to be made in Iowa that I hope will reflect the beauty found here.
I am currently seeking donations to the film's Bridge Builder Fund to help meet the projected budget. My goal is to raise $10,000 -- the equivalent of 100 donations of $100. Each $100 donation represents one "plank" in the Bridge Builder Fund and entitles the donor to a nice package of perks described below. Your contribution will play a key role in helping a genuinely Iowan film find life in the world.
Following the film's completion, there will be an on-location premiere at the Sutliff Bridge on the bank of the Cedar River. It will also be submitted to a number of top film festivals, and there will be a film/music tour of Iowa to promote a deluxe, limited edition DVD featuring extra audio and video material plus a booklet of photographs and writing related to the film. I'm also working with a producer to reach other outlets such as streaming/download platforms and television broadcast. A portion of revenue from DVD sales will be donated to the Sutliff Bridge Authority.
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Bridge Builder Fund
For your donation of $100 or more, you will receive:
Payment Information: So that the full amount of your donation goes to the film, a personal check is preferred. However, donations may also be made online via PayPal, which takes a small percentage of each transaction as a processing fee (2.9% + 30 cents). You will receive a receipt confirming your donation. In the unlikely event the film is not produced, your contribution will be refunded (minus the PayPal processing fee if you pay via that method). Checks can be mailed to:
Andy Brodie
To send a donation via PayPal, please use the button below. If you have questions about any aspect of the film or the Bridge Builder Fund, please feel free to e-mail me at andy@andybrodie.com. I would be happy to hear from you and discuss the project. |
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Donations of any amount are greatly appreciated, as is your general support in helping spread the word about the film and the fund drive. If you like, you can become a fan of the film on Facebook and sign-up for our email list to keep updated. A full website with a production journal and other content is coming soon.
Additionally, donations at a higher level ($200 and up) are eligible to receive two complimentary tickets to an Iowa screening tour show of your choice (dates/locations TBA). Donor gifts will be delivered at a later date, to be determined.
Thank you kindly for your time and consideration. I appreciate any support you're able to offer wholeheartedly.
Sincerely,
Andy Brodie
Writer/director, River Will Take You
Details about RIVER WILL TAKE YOU follow below.
Synopsis
An aging musician crosses Iowa's rural landscape by motorcycle, seeking the source of some unexpected photographs and perhaps a reconnection with his past.
I prefer to work by letting real-life landscapes and places inspire the creative process: both by suggesting stories that need telling and by providing images to build a film around. RIVER WILL TAKE YOU was born that way, through my interest in the Sutliff Bridge and the tavern that accompanies it on the bank of the Cedar River in rural Johnson County. The bridge, more than 100 years old, is popular with area residents and visitors alike and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
I have wanted to make a film at the Sutliff Bridge for some time. Visiting the location, one gets an immediate sense as to why it's been considered a special place for so long by so many. It's uniquely Iowan and highlights the beauty and sense of community found in the state.
The screenplay I ended up writing crystallized while listening to the music of noted Iowa musician Greg Brown following the summer floods of 2008, which washed away one span of the bridge. The Johnson County Board of Supervisors is now considering whether to rebuild the damaged span or tear down what remains of the bridge (details here). I hope that it will be rebuilt, but whatever decision is reached, by capturing the bridge as it is post-flood, the film can also serve as a historical document.
See also, Supporters hope historic Sutliff Bridge is rebuilt
For the same reasons I seek inspiration in real places, I'm also interested in working, at least in part, with non-professional actors. Some of the most respected directors in film history have worked with non-actors to create very powerful, honest work.
Music is also very important to my creative process, and an essential part of my filmmaking. Since I first heard it, the music of Greg Brown has been incredibly dear to me. He is probably Iowa's most well-known native musician and a true state poet. I hope to capture Iowa on film the way he does in his music.
For the reasons above, I wrote the lead role in RIVER WILL TAKE YOU for Greg, and as the story developed, another primary role for his daughter Pieta Brown, also a gifted musical talent. And Bo Ramsey, a longtime musical partner with Greg and now Pieta, will provide an original score. Ramsey has also released a number of his own terrific albums and served as a producer for many other artists.
Joining Sutliff as another unique Iowa location to be used in the film is the historic Reed/Niland Corner in Colo, at the junction of the original Lincoln Highway and Jefferson Highway. The Lincoln Highway was America's first coast-to-coast highway and the Jefferson Highway stretched from New Orleans to Winnipeg.
Charlie Reed's L&J Service station operated at the site until 1966, and the Iowa Lincoln Highway Association (ILHA) identified the Reed/Niland Corner as one of seven key sites for presenting the history of the Lincoln Highway in Iowa. The Reed/Niland Corner was found to be the most intact and best preserved commercial "one-stop" site on the Lincoln Highway in Iowa and possibly even the entire United States. A restoration project led by the Colo Development Group and the City of Colo cost nearly $1 million, including $663,000 in grant funding from the Iowa DOT and the Federal Highway Administration's Transportation Enhancement Funding, and about $270,000 in local donations.
Production Schedule
Principal photography for RIVER WILL TAKE YOU will occur during a 5-day shoot in spring 2010. It's important to shoot the film before serious work related to the Bridge's future begins at the site.
Following principal photography, post-production work will begin in short order. That process can take some time and includes picture editing, work with Bo Ramsey on the score, and a final audio mix.
I will be working with an editor and others during post-production to finish the film and ready it for a local premiere and submission to film festivals, as well as the Iowa screening tour and DVD release.
Key Crew & Cast
Andy Brodie, Writer/Director
Andy Brodie was born and raised in Ames, Iowa. He currently lives in Iowa City, where he moved to study film and English at the University of Iowa. At the UI, he also worked as Programming Director of the Bijou Theater, a non-profit, student-run cinema.
A writer and filmmaker with a background in journalism, Brodie began working in newspapers at his hometown daily, the Ames Tribune, while in high school. He's also written for The Des Moines Register and various other publications.
In 2005, Brodie was one of 50 participants selected for an annual student symposium at the prestigious Telluride Film Festival and has returned each year since to work on the festival's staff.
Brodie's previous film work includes the short ROUND MIDNIGHT, a documentary portrait of longtime Iowa radio personality Jim Dougherty, who hosted "Jazz and Jim" on the University of Iowa's public radio station, WSUI-AM 910. The film won Best Student Documentary honors at the 2005 Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival, and also screened at the Waterloo Center for the Arts, where it is part of the center's collection.
Following that, Brodie wrote and directed END OF THE SAWDUST TRAIL, a modern black and white silent about a clown's retirement, with an original score by Seattle cult musician Jason Webley. It premiered in 2007 at the Sarasota Film Festival in Sarasota, Florida, a top American film festival. It screened at more than a dozen film festivals across the country, ranging from the Coney Island Film Festival to the Anchorage International Film Festival. It was also selected to screen as part of the NewFilmmakers series, hosted at New York's historic Anthology Film Archives.
Additionally, SAWDUST screened on the Midsummer Common in Cambridge, UK, as part of the city's annual summer arts fair and was a best in show winner at the 2008 Des Moines Arts Festival. The Flicker Spokane Film Festival praised the film's "beautiful black and white images" and acclaimed, bestselling author Neil Gaiman called it a "haunting clown-noir."
RIVER WILL TAKE YOU represents another important step forward in Brodie's effort to build a film career making successful and artistically strong work. Other projects in development include several feature films to be shot in his home state of Iowa.
Peter Sillen, Director of Photography
Peter Sillen is a New York-based filmmaker and cinematographer. Sillen creates portraits of an array of individuals who live and work outside stereotypical 9-to-5 situations. With sensitivity to his subjects and their environments, Sillen's work gives an unobstructed view into the lives of a number of uniquely talented artists and workers.
In 2006, Sillen photographed Kelly Reichardt's acclaimed film OLD JOY, which premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. It also screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's prestigious New Directors/New Films series. Sillen shot OLD JOY on Super 16mm film, the same format to be used for filming RIVER WILL TAKE YOU.
Sillen's other career highlights include BENJAMIN SMOKE a feature-length documentary collaboration with fellow filmmaker Jem Cohen. A portrait of the lead singer of the underground Atlanta band Smoke, the film premiered at the 2000 Berlin International Film Festival. BENJAMIN SMOKE was nominated for an IFP Independent Spirit Award as well as a Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association.
Sillen's documentary SPEED RACER: WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF VIC CHESTNUTT premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994. SPEED RACER is a half-hour portrait of the singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. It was nominated for the International Documentary Association Award and screened in festivals throughout the world, including Berlin, Munich, Rotterdam, Edinburgh, Seattle, London, Melbourne and San Francisco. The film aired extensively on the Sundance Channel and PBS.
In 2003 Sillen returned to Sundance for the premiere of BRANSON: MUSICLAND USA, a collaboration with former NPR producer Dan Collison on the migrant workers who come to this country music theme town in Missouri, people looking for work and faced with the realities of low paying jobs and little affordable housing.
In 2004 Sillen premiered his new film, ALICE'S HOUSE at The Black Maria Film Festival. ALICE'S HOUSE is a portrait of 90 year old Alice Bullis and her everyday struggle to maintain her independence.
Peter's official website: pumpernickelinc.com
Bo Ramsey (Original Music)
Bio from boramsey.com:
Born and raised in the blue-collar Mississippi River town of Burlington, Iowa in 1951, Robert Franklin 'Bo' Ramsey not only played a vital role in shaping Eastern Iowa's distinctive blues-rock hybrid, but has continued in his still-vibrant career as a performer, much-in-demand producer, recording session guitarist and "hired gun" in touring bands of high-profile national acts.
Ramsey broke out in the early-'70s with the seminal Mother Blues Band, a honking powerhouse which also featured Iowa blues legends Joe Price and Patrick Hazell. In the latter part of the decade, the guitarist broke off to form Bo Ramsey & The Sliders.
Following a brief hiatus in the late-'80s, Bo began a collaboration/friendship with revered folk singer Greg Brown that continues to the present. Ramsey has played guitar on ten of Brown's discs, and produced/co-produced 1990's Down In There, 1994's The Poet Game, 1996's Further In, 1997's Grammy-nominated Slant 6 Mind, 2000's Covenant and 2006's Evening Calls (all on Red House), as well as 2000's Over And Under and 2004's Honey In The Lion's Head for Trailer Records.
The pair has toured the U.S. and abroad extensively. The past 16 years have brought a dizzying array of cross-pollinations. In between gigs with Greg Brown, Ramsey briefly co-fronted a band with Nashville singer/songwriter Kevin Gordon, led his own bands (The Backsliders and The Middle Of Nowhere), and -- for the past few years -- has recorded and toured with singer/songwriter Pieta Brown.
Bo produced (and added his guitars to) Iowa City treasure Dave Moore's Breaking Down To 3 (Red House) Tucson roots-rocker Teddy Morgan's Lost Love & Highways (Hightone), and most recently, acclaimed singer/songwriter Jeffrey Foucault's Ghost Repeater, on Signature Sounds (2006).
He has also co-produced a number of albums, perhaps most notably, alt-country superstar Lucinda Williams' Essence (Lost Highway). The Lucinda connection began in the early '90s, when Williams heard Ramsey's 1991 masterpiece, Down To Bastrop, in (of all places) a New Zealand record shop while on tour. She subsequently contacted Bo, and the two became fast friends. Ramsey played on her Grammy-winning Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (Mercury), and joined her band for part of that disc's tour. Bo produced and played on the basic tracks for Lucinda's follow-up, the Grammy-nominated Essence -- again joining her band on tour in support of that record.
All told, Ramsey and his trademark scruffy cowboy hat garnered two TV appearances with Williams on "The Late Show With David Letterman" and one each on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno and "Late Night With Conan O'Brien."
Other appearances include playing with Lucinda and Elvis Costello in the first segment of CMT's "Crossroads" series and again with Lucinda in award-winning German film director Wim Wenders' "Soul Of A Man" segment for Martin Scorsese's seven-part series on the blues for public television.
In addition, Bo's distinctive, inimitable guitar sounds have graced the recorded works of numerous artists, including extraordinary Nashville singer/songwriter Kate Campbell's Visions Of Plenty (Compass), folk god Pete Seeger with Larry Long on If I Had A Song: The Songs Of Pete Seeger, Vol. II (Appleseed), a track on alt-folkie Ani DiFranco's Swing Set (Righteous Babe), and two tracks -- which he also produced -- on country-roots queen Iris DeMent's latest disc, Lifeline (Flariella). He also appeared on Calexico's "Carried to Dust" (2008).
In 2005 Bo was inducted into the Iowa Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and in 2006 he was inducted into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame.
Bo Ramsey has recorded nine albums under his own name, three of which -- the aforementioned gem, Down To Bastrop, 1995's Bo Ramsey & The Backsliders: Live and 1997's In The Weeds -- remain in print on Trailer Records. "Stranger Blues," a project rounding up Bo's inspirational nuggets drawn from the likes of Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Elizabeth Cotton, Sonny Boy Williamson and others was released in 2006. Produced by Bo and Pieta Brown, "Stranger Blues" features appearances by Greg Brown, Joe Price, Pieta Brown, Benson Ramsey and Ricky Peterson.
In 2008 Bo released his first record of original material in 10 years entitled "Fragile". Dirty Linen (November '08) said, "Ramsey's album "Fragile" is his most musical and rebellious artistic statement... (he) sets biting commentary against grinding instrumentation to create a dramatic musical tapestry that demands attention. ... Bottom line: this ol' Iowa boy surely can rockit -- always has, always will. -- Jim Musser, March 2009
PRINCIPAL CAST
Greg Brown
Bio from Brown's label, Red House Records:
Greg Brown was born in the Hacklebarney section of southeastern Iowa and raised by a family that made words and music a way of life. His seasoned songwriting, storytelling, and music are deeply rooted in that place. He moves audiences with warmth, humor, a thundering voice and his unpretentious musical vision.
His mother played the electric guitar, his grandfather played the banjo, his grandmother was a poet, and his father was a Pentecostal preacher. Greg's youth was spread across a map of the Midwest as they moved between churches (and even denominations), but music was always a staple. Gospel and hymns, classical, hillbilly, early rock and roll, country, and blues coalesced into a simmering stew of sound. Greg studied classical voice and piano as a child and also sang with choirs and in state competitions. At six he took up the pump organ and at twelve he learned the basics of guitar from his mother, who was also an English teacher, so books and poetry were always around the house.
At 18, Greg won a contest to play an opening set for singer Eric Andersen in Iowa City, who then encouraged him to head east. Moving to New York, Greg landed a job at Gerdes Folk City in the Village running hootenannies. Next he tried Portland, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, but after a few years he moved back to Iowa. He recorded a couple of albums on his own (44 & 66 and The Iowa Waltz), then began working on the renowned national radio show A Prairie Home Companion and touring nationally. After Greg teamed up with Bob Feldman in 1983, they re-released Greg's first two albums under the name Red House Records -- the beginning of the now legendary folk/roots label that has released nearly all of Greg's 27 albums.
In 1985 Greg released In the Dark With You, an acoustic classic. In 1986, he set poems of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience to music on a critically acclaimed album of the same name. One Big Town (1989) learned Greg his first Indie Award for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year. Dream Café (1992) was also a huge critical success. The Washington Post called it an "unassuming triumph," and in the opinion of Z Magazine, it rivaled Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks.
Following Dream Café, Brown recorded Friend of Mine with Bill Morrissey, which earned him his first Grammy nomination, and he also released a children's album, Bath Tub Blues. 1994's The Poet Game saw significant international radio play (charting on AAA and topping The Gavin Report's Americana chart) and earned not only critical raves, but also the Indie award for singer-songwriter Album of the Year. The Live One (1995) proved to be a fan favorite capturing the humor, warmth, insights, and spirit of his legendary live shows. His 1996 release, Further In, topped them all: critics called it a masterpiece and it received a four-star review in Rolling Stone. Greg's 1997 release -- Slant 6 Mind -- received more of the same and earned Greg his second Grammy nomination. 1999 brought the re-release of One Night, a live concert recording originally released on the Coffeehouse Extempore label. Two releases followed in 2000: Over and Under (Trailer Records) and the critically acclaimed Covenant, which won the Association for Independent Music's award for Best Contemporary Folk Album of 2000.
The year 2002 brought two albums -- Milk of the Moon and Going Driftless: An Artist's Tribute to Greg Brown. The latter, features some of today's best female songwriters including Lucinda Williams, Ani DiFranco, Iris Dement, Gillian Welch, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Greg Brown's three daughters and more. These artists joined forces to record a beautiful tribute album -- each selecting their own favorite song by Brown to cover for a special CD benefiting The Breast Cancer Fund. In September of 2003, Greg released If I Had Known -- Essential Recordings, 1980-1996 (Red House), a retrospective with DVD highlighting the body of Greg's work through 1996. Honey in the Lions Head, was released shortly thereafter (Trailer Records) and is an album of folk standards from the public domain. Also in 2004, he released In the Hills of California: Live From the Kate Wolf Festival 1997-2003, a collection of live performances recorded at the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival featuring guest appearances by Nina Gerber, Shawn Colvin, Garnet Rogers, Dave Moore and others.
In 2006, Greg released The Evening Call, his first new studio album in over four years, which charted high on Americana and folk radio, earned him five stars in Mojo and garnered rave reviews in No Depression, Acoustic Guitar and The Washington Post. Greg's new collection Dream City: Essential Recordings Vol 2, 1997-2006 features some of these new Americana classics along with other fan favorites from his last six studio albums and some previously unreleased material and live tracks.
Pieta Brown
Bio via Red House Records:
Straight out of the heartland comes Pieta Brown. The daughter of two preacher's kids, her early upbringing in Iowa was in a rural outpost with no furnace or running water. There, Pieta was exposed to traditional and rural folk music through her father, Greg Brown, the now beloved Midwestern folk singer. 
Later, while living with her mother in Alabama during her formative years, Pieta drew on and expanded these influences and began writing poetry and composing instrumental songs on piano.
By the time she left home at 18, Pieta had lived in at least 17 different houses and apartments between Iowa and Alabama. Staying true to the disjointed lifestyle of her childhood she wandered from the West Coast to the East. Each locale left its mark on her, accounting for an artist who brings together the unvarnished humility of Loretta Lynn, the honest modern rock punch of P.J. Harvey, the hipster swagger and poetry of Cat Power, and the airy sophistication of Feist. And, coloring it all, a deep abiding saturation in folk and blues that's beyond her years. All of this, yet she has her own distinctive style, lyrical substance, and voice.
Now, firmly planted back in Iowa, Pieta has made two critically acclaimed albums in the last four years. One day producer Don Was (Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan), listening to tastemaker station KCRW while driving through L.A., heard Pieta performing live and solo in-studio. He was struck by the uniqueness of her voice, her delivery, and the substance of her songs and pulled his car over to listen and make note of this fresh new artist. Later, he mentioned her name in an interview as an artist he was intrigued with, and the rest is history.
In late March of 2009, Pieta was touring in California and connected with Don for two afternoons to show him some of her new songs. Don's vision was to record Pieta as he heard her that day on the radio, with her songs and voice, "unadorned" and full center. Recorded live and mixed as it went down, Shimmer is the enchanting result, released on November 10, 2009 on Red House Records, her first CD on the independent Grammy-winning Americana/roots label.
Marvin Bell
Bio from the Academy of American Poets site poets.org
Marvin Bell was born in New York City on August 3, 1937, and grew up in Center Moriches, on the south shore of eastern Long Island. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Alfred University, a Master of Arts from the University of Chicago, and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa.
Bell's debut collection of poems, Things We Dreamt We Died For, was published in 1966 by the Stone Wall Press, following two years of service in the U.S. Army. His following two collections were A Probable Volume of Dreams ( Atheneum, 1969), a Lamont Poetry Selection of the Academy of American Poets; and Stars Which See, Stars Which Do Not See (1977), which was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Since then, Bell has published numerous books of prose and poetry, most recently 7 Poets, 4 Days, 1 Book (Trinity University Press, 2009), a collaboration with six other poets, including Tomaz Salamun, Dean Young, and Christopher Merrill, and Mars Being Red (Copper Canyon Press, 2007), which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award.
Bell's other collections include Rampant (2004); Nightworks: Poems, 1962-2000 (2000); Ardor: The Book of the Dead Man, Volume 2 (1997); A Marvin Bell Reader: Selected Poetry and Prose (Middlebury College Press, 1994); The Book of the Dead Man (Copper Canyon Press, 1994); Iris of Creation (1990); New and Selected Poems ( Atheneum, 1987);
He has also published Old Snow Just Melting: Essays and Interviews ( University of Michigan Press, 1983) , as well as Segues: A Correspondence in Poetry with William Stafford (Godine, 1983).
Beginning in 2000, he served two terms as Iowa's first Poet Laureate. His other honors include awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, The American Poetry Review , fellowships from the Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts, and Senior Fulbright appointments to Yugoslavia and Australia. Bell taught for forty years for the Iowa Writers' Workshop, retiring in 2005 as Flannery O'Connor Professor of Letters. For five years, he designed and led an annual Urban Teachers Workshop for America SCORES. Currently he serves on the faculty of Pacific University's low-residency MFA program. He has also taught at Goddard College, the University of Hawaii, the University of Washington and Portland State University.
Bell also frequently performs with the bassist, Glen Moore, of the jazz group, Oregon. He and his wife, Dorothy, live in Iowa City and Port Townsend, Washington.