SFA filmmaking program to premiere ‘CUT!’

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and SFA’s filmmaking program will premiere its summer film project, “CUT!,” at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, in Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.
 
Written and directed by filmmaking Professor Brad Maule, with special guest director Derek Wayne Johnson, “CUT!” is about a struggling film school in East Texas that hires a Hollywood filmmaker, Skippy Digler III, to direct a student feature film, “Massacre in the Pines.” The students get more than they bargained for when they realize Skippy isn’t all he’s cracked up to be.
 
Longtime filmmaking Professor William Arscott served as producer with Johnson as co-producer and film editor. The comedy-drama stars Maule as Digler, along with Triston Dodson, Carter Colvin, Riley Green and Bill Small. Music is by Greg Sims, and director of photography is Tim Johnson.
 
Derek Wayne Johnson, an SFA filmmaking alumnus, is known for his documentaries “John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs,” highlighting the life and career of the Oscar-winning director of “Rocky” and “The Karate Kid,” “40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic,” narrated by Sylvester Stallone, and “STALLONE: Frank, That Is,” detailing the highs and lows of Sylvester’s not-so-famous brother, Frank Stallone. Johnson recently joined the filmmaking faculty at SFA.
 
“Every summer, SFA film students make a full-length feature film,” explains Johnson. “This has been a longstanding tradition and separates the SFA filmmaking department from many other film schools across the globe. Although the students earn college credit for their efforts, the procedures, protocols and outcomes are nothing less than professional. I’m honored to join SFA as the new assistant professor of filmmaking and hope to bring my professional Hollywood experience to the program to educate and inspire the next generation of filmmakers.”
 
Admission to the premiere of “CUT!” is free. A question-and-answer session with the cast and crew will follow. For more information, contact the School of Art at (936) 468-4804.