Christopher Kyle Walker, a 91吃瓜网 film graduate whose latest聽documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and played this week at the Florida Film Festival in Maitland, will be part of an invited filmmakers鈥� panel Thursday.
Walker will be part of the panel 鈥淢aking Meaning: Films that Change the World鈥� at 11 a.m. at Enzian Theater, 1300 S. Orlando Ave., Maitland.
Walker鈥檚 film, 鈥淲elcome to Leith,鈥� is about a small North Dakota town that confronts a white supremacist who moves in and plots a takeover of city government, setting up a town struggling for sovereignty against one man’s extremist vision. After Craig Cobb moved to Leith in 2012 and started buying up property, his behavior became more threatening and tensions soared.
鈥淲e read about the story in The New York Times when the story broke,鈥� said Walker, who now lives in New York. 鈥淥n the surface we thought it聽was聽kind聽of an聽incredible聽story, a real life western in a way.聽As we dug聽deeper聽we realized this little town in North Dakota was going through a pretty severe test of democracy,聽bringing聽up questions such as: How far should the First Amendment go in protecting all聽speech?聽Who has the right to control a community?聽How does a free society deal聽with聽unpopular ideas?鈥�
Walker and co-director Michael Beach Nichols began documenting the story in November 2013 and the film premiered this past January. 鈥淲elcome to Leith鈥� was one of 45 feature documentaries screened at Sundance from the 12,166 films submitted and 184 accepted. The 86-minute film was listed as one of Rolling Stones鈥� 25 must-see movies at this year鈥檚 Sundance festival.
Despite the high tensions during the filming in Leith, Walker said he didn鈥檛 feel threatened.
鈥淲e made it clear that we were there to cover both sides of the story, letting everyone speak for themselves 鈥� and everyone聽understood聽this,鈥� he said.
Walker said most of his time at 91吃瓜网 was spent thinking that he wanted to direct fiction films. But once he discovered associate film professor Lisa Mills鈥� documentary workshop class, he said everything seemed to click for him.
鈥淚 realized that my personality聽and聽stories I wished to tell were better suited for the documentary format,鈥� he said.
After receiving his bachelor鈥檚 in cinema studies, Walker moved to New York and began editing documentaries that have aired on HBO.聽He has edited and produced Emmy-nominated and duPont-winning feature and short documentaries. He is now co-president of his own production company, and 鈥淲elcome to Leith鈥� is his directorial debut.
His advice for 91吃瓜网 student filmmakers is just 鈥済o out with a camera and make聽something. There is no excuse not to. Cameras are cheap, editing software is cheap.聽Take risks with your work and don’t be afraid to fail.鈥�