Falling-out over 'Killshot'

The second annual Show Me Digital Film Festival was almost doomed to fail before it even got started, as a rift opened among the festival's founders over the filming of "Killshot" in Cape Girardeau.

In the aftermath, Mike Huntington, former co-chair of the Cape Filmmakers Cooperative, resigned from his leadership post in the CFC and was forced out of the organization altogether. Pat Bond was left to pick up the pieces and try to mend the broken relationships with civic organizations as a result.

To hear Huntington's side of the story, he was just a concerned local artist trying to network with the greater arts community. In his eyes, he has been blacklisted by old guard forces afraid of change.

The story begins in 2003, when Huntington and Bond, after striking up a friendship founded on their interest in filmmaking, started the process to create the CFC. One of the key projects to the organization was the film festival, and Huntington went to seek support from places like the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri for film festival judges and the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau for a place to put CFC brochures in 2004.

"We were really looking to do something long-term," said Huntington. "We had it in our minds that we wanted a 20th annual film festival. The attitude we received was one of demeaning arrogance."

Huntington said both the arts council and the CVB dismissed the CFC, even though both organizations deny that claim, saying they weren't even acquainted with the filmmaker and don't understand what they did to anger him.

In response, Huntington set out to create another group, the Cape Artists Council, writing letters to the current arts council to that effect.

Bond was on board with the idea. At that time, both felt the establishment was trying to marginalize artists who were out of the mainstream, even though Bond said he's since seen the arts council and CVB's side of the story.

"We felt like a revolution was necessary in the arts," Huntington said. "And they had taken our frustrations as a threat. We can't destroy an arts group, but we wanted to do our own thing."

Revolution was about to happen, at least within the CFC.

Time went by, the first film festival went over as a success. Then came "Killshot."

When Huntington heard about "Killshot," he felt like he was outside the loop. He felt the CFC, a group that should be included in the production effort, was being kept in the dark about the chance to work on the movie.

Then came an ill-fated radio interview and letters in the local newspaper, interpreted by some as Huntington and the CFC taking credit for bringing "Killshot" production to Cape Girardeau. He heard that CVB director Chuck Martin (who declined to comment on the issue) had blacklisted the CFC from "Killshot," and in response wrote an open letter circulated widely through e-mail criticizing the CVB director.

"There's no way we ever tried to take credit for bringing the film here," said Huntington. To spare the organization more trouble, Huntington agreed to resign as chair.

Bond spent the following months picking up the pieces, hoping that in the short time left before the film festival he could rebuild strained relationships. It worked, and Bond said the CFC now has a positive relationship with both the CVB and the arts council, one that will involve future cooperation and help sustain an independent film movement in Cape Girardeau.

But Huntington hasn't disappeared. His friendship with Bond has been strained, but the two still speak. "If 'Killshot' hadn't come here, we'd be fine," Huntington said.

He's still committed to an artistic revolution, and his new artist group should get off the ground in January. Huntington has also started a new film group, the Cape Independent Film Association, that is planning its own festival for May, concentrating on fostering a new "ultra-realism" movement in indie film.

msanders@semissourian.com

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