Loss of Mt. Rainer is the latest production from the Olympia Film Collective, a non-profit organization of talented local filmmakers aiming to produce features and shorts that reflect the beauty and vibrancy of the Pacific Northwest. The short film borrows from Edgar Allan Poe’s macabre short story entitled Loss of Breath; a darkly humorous tale of a man who runs out of breath, falls into a cationic state, and is mistaken for dead. While his body endures gruesome trials and unspeakable horrors, the man’s fully conscious mind offers humorous observations regarding his plight.
In his film adaptation, writer/director Michael Gray aims “to highlight some of [Poe’s] darkly comedic elements, in a more modern context.”
Think Edgar Allan Poe shoe horned with Weekend at Bernie’s, Gray suggests. In th e retelling, it is a social media blogger who succumbs to this same catatonic fate while being dragged around one of Washington State’s most recognizable landmarks, Mt. Rainer.
The film’s Kickstarter campaign is steadily climbing toward its goal of raising $2,001 to cover production costs. Supporters of the film, known as “backers,” will receive special perks and sneak previews of the film based on their level of contribution. Once the film is complete, Gray and company look to enter various festivals before eventually releasing it online.
Though Gray says the process of producing a film can be equal parts “exhilarating and exhausting,” he finds a certain ease in working with the talented professionals at the Olympia Film Collective, which includes his producing partner Riley Gibson, who teaches filmmaking at South Puget Sound Community College along with Gray.
Loss of Mt. Rainier boasts local Pacific Northwest talents on both sides of the camera, boasting a local cast of Jim Stewart Allen, Ariel Birks, James Clark, and Crystal Meyer. Gray encourages those in the Olympia community who “make film, are interested in film (or just want to hang out with cool and awesome people)” to join the Olympia Film Collective.
WHAT: Loss of Mt. Rainer
WHERE: Olympia Film Collective
414 ½ Legion Way SE,
Olympia WA 98501
(360) 503-8381
WHEN: Kickstarter Campaign ends July 4, 2018
HOW MUCH: Contribution levels vary – $5 and up
LEARN MORE: olyfilm.com