Opening (2006) | Stream

OPENING 

Artists and aficionados gather at a gala art gallery opening. Drama ensues. Commercial banditry is afoot, infidelity is discovered, artistic vision corrupted. Then a tornado hits. Down In the basement, the storm raging overhead, reality trumps pretension and everyone has to get real.

World Premiere: on April 7, 2006, as the Opening Night film of the Kansas City Filmmaker's Jubilee.

"It emerges as a very entertaining Altman-esque ensemble piece." - Dennis Harvey, Variety, Oct 19, 2006.

- Rob Nilsson interview with The Outsider:

"I feel that these films are visionary works," Nilsson says, "not because I did them, but because many of them come out of people who have never considered themselves actors or shooters or technicians, but who have a kind of an impulse, an idea about getting at least one look, from a fictional standpoint, at an area of the world people seldom see or want to see, and the people who populate that world."

And just what is it that Nilsson expects of his audiences?

"I'm expecting them to be adventurous," he laughs. "First of all, if what they want is a traditional story, then they should go to a storybook. I'm not a storyteller. The stories have all been told already. What I'm doing is creating circumstances for characters to respond to and then with my camera and editing, I build accounts of those actions in ways that move me--and that hopefully will move an audience."

Directed by:

• Rob Nilsson

Story by:

• Rob Nilsson

Improvised by the Cast:

• Rossana Jeran – Rossana Jeran

• Luke Johnson – Luc Alvarez

• Florene Philips – Mary Gay Rogers

• Vickie Hilson – Vickie Lynn

• Larry Johnson – Larry Peterson

• Martha Brown – Elisabeth Kirsch

• Doug Brown – Douglas Drake

• Carl Houston – Carl Helmstetter

• Ivy Houston – Lauren Helmstetter

• Daria Christensen-Calvin – Tarre Beach

• Bob Calvin – Robert W. Butler

• Clinical Masseuse – Marcia Trayford

• Jane Benton – Jane Loutzenhiser

• Sally Brenton – Sally Bremenkamp

• Jenna Brown – Jennifer Nichol

• Lindsay – Lindsay Ferguson

• Cathy Barnes – Cathy Runyan-Svacina

• R.J. Barnes – R.J. Barnes

• Travis – Travis Dow

• Bill Jones – William F. Swegle

• Thief – Kevin Prewitt

• Thief – Kit Shea

• TV Reporter – Zach Christman

• TV Cameraman – Loren Harms

• Denny the Developer – Denny Dey

• Weatherman – Gary Lezak

• Mysterious Feet – Carl Helmstetter

• Mysterious Back – Michael Edo Keane

• Horn Sculptor – Mark Southerland

• Bass Player – Bill McKemy

• Percussionist – Kent Burnham

• Horn Sculpture Models:

• Peregrine Honig

• Amie Nelson

• Laurel Birdsong

Director of Photography:

• Chikara Motomura

Camera Operators:

• Kevin Mullin

• Loren Harms

Sound:

• Chris Brechnitz

Line Producer:

• Chris Brechnitz

Production Coordinators:

• Daven Gee

• Kevin Mullin

Additional Production Assistance:

• Rich Ambler

• Blue Mountain Productions

• Lamar Productions

• Bryan Le Beau, Ph.D.

• Outpost Communications, Inc.

• University of Missouri Kansas City – Communication Studies

Main Location:

• Dolphin Gallery

Additional Locations:

• Citizen Cinema Building

• Leedy-Voulkos Art Center

Editor:

• Chikara Motomura

Sound Design & Mix:

• Al Nelson at The Noise Floor

Editing Assistants:

• Beth Bell

• David Rinck

In Memoriam:

• Kenneth Ferguson, Ceramist (1928–2004)

Producers:

• Fred G. Andrews

• G. Thomas Poe, Ph.D.

Executive Producers:

• Fred Andrews

• Douglas Drake

• Carl Helmstetter

• Lauren Helmstetter

• Elisabeth Kirsch

Special Thanks:

• John O'Brien and Dolphin Gallery Staff

• University of Missouri-Kansas City – College of Arts & Science

• University of Missouri-Kansas City – Communication Studies

• Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts (Commerce Bank, Trustee)

• Carl and Lauren Helmstetter

• Denny and Jane Dey

• DST Systems, Inc.

• John and Maxine Belger Family Foundation

• Robert P. Lyons

• Missouri Arts Council

• Sosland Foundation

• Ten Ten Foundation

• Paul Bruening, PRB Research LLC

• Corkscrew Wines

• KCPT

• Midwest Airlines

• Spencer Fane Britt & Browne LLP

• Take Two – Teri Rogers

Production Dedication:

• A Direct Action World Cinema Production from the Kansas City 

Filmmakers Jubilee

• Dedicated to the players from the Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee Direct Action Workshop, 2004

Okunrin Meta - David Schickele