Ashes (2007) 11 min   Raleigh, NC

Writer/Director: Nick Karner

With: Caroline Overby and Erin Van Eck

IMDB SYNOPSIS:  After 5 years, Kim is being released from prison. She has been diagnosed as a pyromaniac and tries to reconcile with her best friend, Mandy. Mandy's boyfriend died in the fire Kim started. Will Mandy forgive her?

      Caroline Overby was in town from New York and I wanted to write her something substantial.  Erin Van Eck had wanted to be in a dramatic role. So I wrote this depressing little piece that was supposed to have a happy ending but ended up being just as dark as my other dramas.  We were supposed to shoot for two days, the amount of time Caroline had before she went back to NYC.  Erin wasn’t feeling well on the second day, so she couldn’t shoot the final scene in which the two would reconcile.  Instead, I had to rewrite it to seem as though Kim has left Mandy alone and Mandy says she forgives her too late.  I like the new ending, although I’ve always been curious how the film would’ve turned out with the other ending.  Maybe it would’ve been too sappy.  I was able to get some great tracking shots out of this one. I had to light an outdoor scene with my car headlights. I even made a cameo appearance by having Erin hold the camera on me. I was a jogger who stopped to watch them yell at each other.  A small moment of levity before the darkness.  Caroline and Erin shared a Best Actress Award at the Philadelphia Documentary and Fiction Festival.