About

Mission

The Expecting Goodness Short Film Festival celebrates the literature and film of the state of South Carolina, providing opportunities for building a community between writers, filmmakers, and specialists across the film industry. Through community gatherings, workshops, lectures, and the concluding film festival during which the completed films will be screened and awarded prizes, the project’s mission is to showcase emerging South Carolina writers and filmmakers, engage and educate the community on numerous aspects of the industry, and generate enthusiasm for film.

History

In 2012, the Hub City Writers Project and HUB-BUB held the first annual Expecting Goodness Short Film Festival in Spartanburg, SC, a project celebrating the literature and film of our region. Seven Upstate filmmakers selected a story from our Hub City Press book Expecting Goodness to use as inspiration for a short film, and the project concluded with a sold-out festival night in March 2012 that screened all seven films and showcased the writers and filmmakers.

2012 Video

2012 filmmakers/writers

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2012 WINNERS

  • Best Cinematography (Juried): Jessica Hollingsworth, DOBRA OJCA
  • Best Editing (Juried): Adam T. Gordon, The Nipper
  • Best Actor/Actress (Juried): Madison Nulty, The Widower’s Pearls
  • Best Film (Juried): The Widower’s Pearls (Abe Duenas, director)
  • Audience Favorite: DOBRA OJCA (Chris White, director)

2012 FILMMAKERS

Porter Blackman, filmmaker of Norman Powers’s “A Touch of Blue”
Porter BlackmanPorter Blackman attended Spartanburg public school through the sixth grade, when he left to attend schools in the Northeast. It was during junior high school and high school when he realized he had a passion for visual arts and filmmaking. He originally went to the College of Santa Fe to study film but graduated with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Studio Art. Studying psychology has given him a good understanding of human personalities and behaviors, which helps him with his storytelling.
Andrew Doughman, filmmaker of Michel Stone’s “Expecting Goodness”
Andrew DoughmanAndrew Doughman is a journalist at the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, where he covers religion and health. He grew up in Seattle, where he enjoyed hiking up snowy mountains, guzzling coffee, gallivanting across lakes in kayaks and other stereotypical Northwest activities. Because it’s rumored to rain all the time in Seattle, he also enjoys indoor activities like reading and writing.
Abe Duenas, filmmaker of Kathryn Brackett’s “Girl Talk,” retitled The Widower’s Pearls
Abe DuenasAbe Duenas is a seasoned short filmmaker. Abe has written and directed 10 short films and many more commercials. He has recently made his mark in South Carolina, receiving a grant from the SC film Comission to produce his film “The Lot” in 2011.
 
Adam T. Gordon, filmmaker of Susan Tekulve’s “The Nipper” (watch here)
Adam T. GordonAdam T. Gordon is from Gaffney, SC. He is 25 years old and he has a passion for photography. Growing up he used to reenact entire movies with his cousins; making their own props and small sets. Adam is currently working with USC Upstate’s ASUN.TV as a cameraman.
Jason Kruczynski, filmmaker of Jeremy L. C. Jones’s “Where is William, Now?”
Jason KruczynskiA former resident of Brooklyn who grew up in GA and considers Oslo his favorite town in the world, Jay is a curious soul trying to find the best in every situation. He enjoys being involved in music, art, and of course travel.
Wade Sellers, filmmaker of Lou Dischler’s “Lola’s Prayer”
Wade SellersWade had the same kind of childhood so many other filmmakers have had- parents had a 8mm camera- spent his allowance at K-Mart on film- invited all of his friends over to the house on Saturday to make a movie. While attending music school and working as a delivery boy in Atlanta, he was walking downtown on a delivery and saw huge lights, and semi trucks- he thought he’d take a look (if you have a box of office supplies, you can get in anywhere). He began working in the film biz carrying heavy equipment from one place then taking it back to the other place about 17 years ago. He has produced and directed 10 short films of his own and shot many other features and short films for other filmmakers over the past 15 years. He currently lives in Columbia, SC and owns Coal Powered Filmworks.
Chris White, filmmaker of Thomas McConnell’s “A Proof for Roxanna,” retitled DOBRA OJCA (watch here)
Chris WhiteChris White hand-makes nano-budget, artistically ambitious films for friends. Trained as a theatre artist and screenwriter, Chris aims for Criterion Collection quality through an organic, improvisational process. Chris lives in the Upstate of South Carolina (USA) with his wife and writing partner, Emily, and three children: Gibson, Whitaker, and Harriet.

2012 WRITERS

Kathryn A. Brackett, author of “Girl Talk”
Kathryn Brackett 2Brackett is a native of Spartanburg, holds a BA degree in English with a concentration in creative writing from Converse College, and an MFA in fiction from the University of Pittsburgh. She has published in Borderlands Magazine and received an honorable mention in the 2003 Stony Brook Short Fiction Prize. She recently finished a short story collection, Places Like This, and is working on a novel.
Lou Dischler, author of “Lola’s Prayer”
Lou DischlerDischler, formerly a painter, sculptor, and inventor, is the author of the novel My Only Sunshine and at least seven more. He lives in Spartanburg.

 

Jeremy L.C. Jones, author of “Where is William, Now?”
Jeremy L. C. JonesJeremy L. C. Jones is a freelance writer, editor, and part-time professor living in Spartanburg, SC. He has written for a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites. Mostly recently he is a frequent contributor to BookLifeNow.com, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Kobold Quarterly. Jones has co-created two creative writing programs, Living Words and Shared Worlds.
Thomas McConnell, author of “A Proof for Roxanna”
Tom McConnellMcConnell’s work has appeared in numerous publications, and he has won prizes in the Porter Fleming Awards competition for Fiction, Essay, and Drama, and the South Carolina Fiction Project. He is also the winner of the Hub City Prize for Fiction and the H.E. Francis Award. His collection of stories, A Picture Book of Hell and other Landscapes, was published by Texas Tech University Press in 2005. He teaches at USC-Upstate in Saprtanburg.
Norman Powers, author of “A Touch of Blue”
Norman PowersA native of Massachusetts, Powers lived and worked in Manhattan for 25 years at the National Video Center as a film and television writer and producer for his own new York-based production company, Chelsea Lane Productions. Residing in Landrum, South Carolina, since 1992, Powers devotes much of his free time to freelance writing and is a past winner of the Hub City prize for Creative Nonfiction.
Michel Stone, author of “Expecting Goodness”
Michel StoneStone has published more than a dozen stories and essays in journals, magazines, and books, and she is the author of the novel The Iguana Tree. Her work has appeared numerous times in the Raleigh News and Observer’s emerging Southern writers series and she is a 2011 recipient of the SC Fiction Project Award. Raised on the South Carolina coast, Michel now lives in Spartanburg.
Susan Tekulve, author of “The Nipper”
susan tekulve 2Tekulve’s short fiction collection, My Mother’s War Stories, was published by Winnow Press. Her nonfiction and stories have appeared in numerous journals and publications. She is an associate professor of English at Converse College.