LOCAL TALENT WINS AWARD FOR “LOOKING BACK MERRIFIELD”

Still Image - Looking Back Merrifield (2016)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LOCAL TALENT WINS AWARD FOR “LOOKING BACK MERRIFIELD”

Cape Girardeau, MO – November 8, 2016

Morgan Johnson wins an award for his film “Looking Back Merrifield” at 2016 Fault-Line Film Festival. Johnson is a local student-filmmaker from Jackson, MO. His film “Looking Back Merrifield” stood out from submissions of students all around the Midwest. The award will be announced Friday November 11, 2016 at Rose Theater on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. The film is eligible for “Best Drama”, “Judge`s Award”, and “Best of Festival”. The award winning film was inspired by the recent passing of a close friend.

Still Image - Looking Back Merrifield (2016)

Last fall Johnson received news that his friend of 7 years had tragically passed away. The two became close in high school and would even go to prom together. After graduating they lost touch with each other. Johnson`s collegiate studies would take him across the country and even to Europe before coming back home to attend at SEMO. And she would end up staying in the area and starting a family of her own. Two months after coming back from his European studies, he would receive the tragic news. “It`s shocking. There`s no other way to put it. You always expect those you met in high school to grow up and live long lives. Pursue their dreams, and take on all of the challenges of life. The very last thing you expect to happen is for their lives to be cut tragically short. Gone at the snap of a finger and nothing can ever bring them back. The only thing that lives on is the memories you shared with them. It`s an incredibly hopeless feeling.” Johnson said that his coping process is what actually inspired the film “Looking Back Merrifield”. He says that he would often dream of her, which is the concept of the film. “It’s a story about a young man right out of high school that’s lost at his current point in life. He is very much in love and fascinated with his girlfriend that you eventually find out “isn’t there”. It’s a sad story that closes with a bit of hope.”

Morgan Johnson is a senior at Southeast Missouri State University. He has a background in theater and film production. Johnson starred in “Our Lady of 121st Street” this past spring at SEMO and already has one of his other short films (Young Redemption (2014)) listed on IMDB. He has studied drama under Bart Williams, Roxanne Wellington and Bob Clubbs. Johnson studied Film Production under Fred Jones. For any updates, Johnson has a Facebook page under “morganantoniojohnson”. “Looking Back Merrifield” will be available for public viewing Friday November 11th at Rose Theater on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. A trailer for the film is also available on YouTube under “Looking Back Merrifield Official Trailer (2016)".

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