Thursday, August 26, 2010

Great to See: In-depth interview with Tom Roche, a force at work behind so many good scenes

You probably don't know the name Tom Roche, but I bet you've seen and admired this work. Tom has edited a ton of great video and film over the years, from early R.E.M. music video to Spinal Tap's recent Unwigged and Unplugged, and now Harry Shearer's New Orleans documentary The Big Uneasy.

Quite the range you might say, not to mention Tom's own documentary feature Alley Pat, the Music is Recorded, which won the audience prize at the 2010 Atlanta Film Festival.

So what has Tom Roche got to do with Dare Not Walk Alone? Well, without Tom the film would probably not be out there today, on DVD, in regional theaters, for rent at NetFlix and digital download from Amazon and BestBuy. Tom did not direct Dare Not Walk Alone and he didn't exactly edit it, what Tom did is make it possible for Jeremy Dean to take the film to the next level.

Here's what happened. Tom went to see an early cut of Dare Not Walk Alone at an indie film festival in Atlanta. He was so moved by the screening that he perusased his boss at Atlanta's Crawford Communications to give Jeremy access to the kind of high-end editing and sound sweetening equipment most indie filmmakers can only dream about (because they sure can't afford to buy or rent it).

Then Tom and Crawford donated untold hours to help Jeremy remix the movie, not once, but twice, to include the footage of the housefire that destroyed a setting central to the film's story. All of us at Dare Not Walk Alone are forever grateful to Tom for his efforts on the film's behalf. And we are delighted to see him get some of the long overdue recognition he deserves for his tireless work on behalf of telling important stories. Check out the in-depth interview at Creative Loafing.

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