Episode 084 - 2022 Louisiana Film Prize Recap w/Mark Bonner (BAMBER BRIDGE) + Patrick & Susan Kirton (CREDIT)

The Viewfinder Podcast with Chris Hadley

A few weeks ago in Shreveport, the 2022 Louisiana Film Prize celebrated another remarkable collection of both films shot in the Pelican State and the remarkable artists who created them. On this week’s Viewfinder Podcast I'm honored to bring you my chats with some of the great filmmakers who shared their cinematic stories with audiences both in-person and virtually as part of this year’s top 20 finalists for the prestigious Film Prize.

The top five honorees for the 2022 Prize were BAMBER BRIDGE, directed by and co-starring Mark Bonner (last year's Grand Prize winner for SHREVEPORT SON), CREDIT, directed by the husband and wife team of Patrick and Susan Kirton, UNICORN POOP, directed by and co-starring Lorna Street Dopson, BETTY LOU HAD A SON, directed by and co-starring David Michael Long, and this year's Grand Prize winner, THEY GROW UP SO FAST, directed by and co-starring John Beach.

All of these films will soon premiere nationwide on cable channel Shorts HD, with more festival appearances to come. I hope to have David, Lorna and John on to discuss their projects on a future edition of The Viewfinder Podcast. This week, though, I'm thrilled to have Mark, Patrick and Susan on our show to discuss their outstanding Louisiana Film Prize projects, which are, respectively, BAMBER BRIDGE and CREDIT.

Set in World War II, BAMBER BRIDGE stars Bonner as Carter Jones, a Black American soldier in the midst of a pen pal friendship with a White British officer, Elaine Rose (played by Emma Rose Wagner). As their connection unexpectedly goes from long distance to up close and personal during a night out at a local bar, the evils of racism put Carter and Elaine in as much jeopardy off the battlefield as their countrymen face on it.

Co-directed by veteran actors Patrick and Susan Kirton, written by Susan Kirton and with its script adapted by her daughter Haley (who also co-stars in the film and worked as a first assistant director on the project), CREDIT is the heartfelt and heartwarming story of a once-successful actor (Richard Washington, played by longtime GENERAL HOSPITAL star Brad Maule) who mentors a teen pop star-turned silver screen newcomer (Mason Scott, played by the Kirtons' son Eric) as he prepares to star in his first movie.

With Richard’s career all but stalled thanks to a tabloid scandal, he sees promise in Mason, and by teaching him, he sees a chance to rehabilitate his damaged reputation - much to the outrage of Mason’s controlling, image-conscious agent Sam Siegal (played by Blayne Weaver), who’ll leave no stone unturned in keeping his young wunderkind from possibly meeting the same fate as the man who’s helping him to finally become a serious thespian.

Filmmakers, register for next year’s Film Prize here:

https://prizefest.com/film/

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Music by Audionautix.com