John W. Warner, IV
Director and racing enthusiast John W. Warner, IV came to the Virginia Film Festival to present the final film in his trilogy of racing history, "The Golden Era of NASCAR."
The film was narrated by Warner's father, Sen. John Warner, who said he received "not even a ham sandwich for the deal," but was at the festival to help promote his son's work nonetheless.
Warner said he never felt pressure to enter politics, despite his background.
"Either the bug gets you, or it doesn't," Warner said. "I'm very moderate politically, and in today's climate that's a handicap."
A University graduate like his father, Warner identified himself as an artist who enjoys history and appreciates the excitement and power he sees in the sport of racing.
"Unlike baseball and football, racing is a blood sport, like modern gladiator games, in a way," Warner said.
Warner compared live racing events to war zones with explosions and incredible noise.
"In any sporting event, live is the way to go," he said. "Television is a distant second."
Besides the intensity of the sport, Warner said racing is so popular because it allows you to market your product. He labeled it the "grassroots sport of America," and the equivalent of soccer in Europe.
Warner said he idolizes the older generation of racecar drivers because "they did it for the love of the sport." But in his portrayal of this "golden era," Warner met with several production difficulties.
"The archive footage was very difficult to find," he said, adding that the rights to photographs also proved problematic. "There are maybe 10 people that claim ownership to a single photo," he said.
Warner also had trouble getting people to talk about controversial historical issues, including racism.
Regardless of the obstacles involved, Warner's father sees a bright future for the young director.
"I've been a senator for 26 years, and he's gonna be a much bigger celebrity than I am," he said.
Jeff Wadlow
Jeff Wadlow's name may be forever connected to that of his mother, the late Sen. Emily Couric, and his aunt, television news anchor Katie Couric, but his directing career already speaks for itself.
After graduating from the University of Southern California film school in 2001, Wadlow's directing career took off when he won the 2002 Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival and had the opportunity to produce his feature film, "Living the Lie," in Richmond. Wadlow also has experienced the film industry in Hollywood. He played a small acting role in "Pearl Harbor" and did production work for "The Thomas Crown Affair," according to the Chrysler Festival Web site. But he said he would like to keep his films in central Virginia.
"I've heard so many horror stories about low-budget movies in Los Angeles, and we had the exact opposite experience in Richmond," Wadlow said. "I live in L.A. -- an unfortunate reality of the business -- but I travel back here often."
A Charlottesville native, Wadlow was involved in community theater and served as assistant stage manager at Culbreth Theater before his college years. He cited his mother as his main role model and credited her for encouraging him to seek out his passion in life.
"When I was in seventh grade, she pulled me out of school to go to Roger Ebert's shot-by-shot workshop on 'Citizen Kane,'" Wadlow said. "She understood the importance of education -- sometimes the best education is doing other things. ... It was more important to miss gym class that day."
Wadlow added that he is "incredibly grateful" that his notable aunt has been so vocal in promoting his work and that once he gets through answering questions from fans about Couric's latest hairstyle or morning routine, he is a very lucky nephew.
Wadlow was invited to the Virginia Film Festival to help run the Adrenaline Film Project with production partner Beau Bauman. The project allowed small groups of student filmmakers 72 hours to produce a short narrative film under professional supervision.
Having attended several film festivals nationwide, Wadlow applauded the Charlottesville festival for its unique mission and emphasis on film education.
"This is the only film festival where it's truly about the audience," Wadlow said.
According to Wadlow, this is what filmmaking is all about -
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