Wright State grad is production designer for Sundance winner

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Wright State graduate Hannah Beachler served as production designer for a film that captured the top two prizes at the just-concluded Sundance Film Festival. The annual festival showcases independent films.

According to the folks at Wright State, Beachler, who grew up in Centerville, is a product of the school’s motion picture program and now lives in New Orleans. The drama, “Fruitvale,” based on the story of a 22-year-old Oakland, Calif., resident who was shot by police at the Fruitville subway stop in 2009, won both the Grand Jury Prize for Best Film and the Audience Award for Best Film.

It was written and directed by first-time filmmaker Ryan Coogler and produced by Forest Whitaker.

Wright State motion pictures graduate Marco Fargnoli also was involved at Sundance as a cinematographer for the film “Toy’s House,” a coming-of-age comedy.

Hopkins family attends Wright State opening of “1913: The Great Dayton Flood”

No one in the opening night audience of Wright State University’s production of “1913:The Great Dayton Flood,” was more excited than the family of C. Dale Hopkins, one of the individuals portrayed on stage in the drama based on local history. Hopkins was the first flood survivor to be interviewed by directors Stuart McDowell and Tim Nevits when the show was being written more than 16 years ago.

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