Pants on Fire To Play at UNF

Carl Holman

Asst. Director of Marketing & Communications

(904) 620-1921

The University of North Florida Fine Arts Center welcomes “Pants on Fire” with Producer/Director Colin Campbell as part of the Southern Arts Federation’s Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers at the UNF Recital Hall on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009 at 7 p.m. Following a screening of his feature film, “Pants on Fire,” Campbell will engage the audience in a discussion about the film and his work as a filmmaker. Tickets are available for $7 for adults and $5 for students with valid ID from the UNF Ticket Box Office.

“Pants on Fire” tells the story of Brad Spoofer, a pathological liar on a quest for glory. Brad quit the Feed Barn Etc. back in Nebraska and moved to L.A. to become a movie star. His Hollywood career, however, has been a dismal failure. He’s the guy on the street corner dressed like a pirate and hawking mattresses. To save face, he’s been telling his naïve friends back home that he’s a movie star whose blockbusters are all about to be released in theaters.

When his buddies decide to surprise him with a road trip to L.A., he has to scramble to prop up the illusion. Luckily, he scores a house-sitting gig for a wealthy couple in Bel Air and is able to keep the lie going, until he foolishly claims to be friends with the guy who played Pedro in “Napoleon Dynamite.” His awed buddies clamor to meet their idol. In the meantime, Brad has fallen for Lucy, a cute painter who decorates trash cans for a living and who mistakenly assumes Brad is a rich actor living in the hills. As his lies multiply and his checks bounce, he has to dodge the thug who took his headshots and never got paid, woo the girl, keep his job and, somehow, deliver Pedro.

Colin Campbell is a writer and director for theater and film. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his short film, “Seraglio,” which he wrote, directed and produced with his wife, Gail Lerner. “Seraglio” also won Deauville’s Grand Prix and First Place Audience Award at Algarve International Film Festival and the New Haven Film Festival, and ran for two years on HBO. Other award-winning shorts he has directed are “S.U.V. Luv” and “The Speeding Ticket.”

His production of his play, “Golden Prospects,” was nominated for five LA Weekly awards and was Critic’s Pick in TimeOut NY, L.A .Times and L.A. Weekly. His screenplay, “Harrow Lake,” was chosen for Film Independent’s 2005 Screenwriters Lab and was recently optioned by Paranormal Media. Colin regularly writes and directs for Instant Films, where he’s won Best Writer, Best Director and numerous Best Film Awards. He has directed for the Mark Taper Forum’s New Works Festival, ASK Theater, and the Actors Gang. He has been a Resident Artist at Harvard’s Institute on Arts and Civic Dialogue, and a Guest Artist at Cal State Fresno. He has an MFA in theater directing from Columbia University. “Pants on Fire” is his feature directing debut.

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a program of the Southern Arts Federation, a not-for-profit regional arts organization making a positive difference in the arts throughout the South since 1975.  Southern Arts Federation is supported by funding and programming partnerships with the National Endowment for the Arts and the state arts agencies of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Special support for Southern Circuit is provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. For more information on the Southern Arts Federation and its programs visit www.southarts.org.

 Tickets and Information:

Tickets are available for $7 for adults and $5 for students in cash from the UNF Ticket Box Office. For complete information about any shows or to purchase single tickets, visit www.unf.edu/fineartscenter or call the UNF Ticket Box Office at (904) 620-2878.  Patrons can visit the Box Office in person at the University of North Florida, Building 45, Room 1400, 1 UNF Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32224. Hours are 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 90 minutes prior to show time.

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