Former theater head directs independent film

By Ryan Donada, December 2011
Fine Arts Editor

Since his retirement , former PVCC theater director and fine arts faculty, Alan Tongret, has been working on several projects, revising old plays and screenplays and writing new ones.

Photo by Joe Ann Yeoman

Retired fine arts faculty, Alan Tongret developed the theater program at Pradise Valley Community College.

Having directed several short films with his TV and film students , acting in New York in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and writing numerous plays, Tongret has decided to explore new territory and will be directing his first two-hour feature film, titled “Memories of the Lost Acres .”

“I love directing, and the chance to bring my own screenplay to life with a wonderful cast and crew will be thrilling,” Tongret says.

Tongret adapt ed his screenplay from a stage play he wrote and directed for the PVCC theater program in the spring of 1995. The idea for the play came from his experience growing up as a farm boy. The story follows a sister, played by Hannah Timmons, and brother, played by John Isgro, who owns a farm, which she wants to continue farming while her brother hopes to develop it into a country club.

“With American farms and open spaces vanishing faster than ever, I feel the story is especially timely, and I want to bring it to the widest possible audience,” Tongret explains.

By directing and producing his own screenplay, Tongret has the freedom to make the film he believes in.

“Screenwriters rarely have much to say in what’s done,” he says.

Usually the director or producer of a film radically alters the script. Tongret wants to direct his script the way he wrote it. “This doesn’t mean I’ll solely rely on my own ideas and talents,” Tongret says. He’ll absorb the contributions of everyone involved and will make compromises in order to make the best possible film.

His closest colleague in the film, who he calls his first adviser, is his wife Jo Ann Yeoman. Having extensive experience as an actress and playwright and being a published writer, she works together with Tongret and advises his works.

“She doesn’t sugar coat anything,” Tongret says.

She is there on set every day with a stop watch in hand, making sure every shot is done right.

Being director and producer, Tongret feels the responsibilities are daunting. Despite the small cast and low budget, money, time and human capital are at stake “with a couple of dozen folks depending on me to know what the heck I’m doing,” says Tongret.

“Memories of the Lost Acres” is a low-budget independent film, well under $500,000 and will be shot with digital cameras. Filming is scheduled to start in June 2012 on farm locations in Bracken County, Kentucky, and to be released later that year.

Tongret intends on having a limited theatrical showing, playing at small independently owned theaters, plus distribution through DVD’s, broadcast or cable TV, and potentially the Internet. He also plans to submit the film to competitions such as the Sundance Film Festival and the Rural Route Film Festival , which highlights works that deal with the countryside and agriculture.

For Tongret, the making and release of this movie isn’t just his dream, but the dreams of all the people working with him. He feels that the challenge of the whole project is the most exhilarating part. “I’m certain that with the fantastic team I have around me the film will be good and will find an appreciative audience,” he says.

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