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Senior's film appears at national festival

South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas, selected "Fall From Grace," a film created by KU senior K. Ryan Jones, to screen during its weeklong celebration March 9-17.

The film festival attracts nearly 5,000 people and includes screenings, panels, workshops and one-on-one mentoring sessions for new filmmakers. Guests at the 2007 festival include directors Morgan Spurlock, Robert Rodriguez and Richard Linklater.

Jones' documentary about the Rev. Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka started in fall 2005 as a project for a class taught by Matt Jacobson, associate professor of theatre and film. Jones continued working on the documentary during the spring 2006 semester when he wasn't in class or working. He credits Jacobson and Kevin Willmott, creator of the film "CSA" and associate professor of theatre and film, for providing advice and assistance. The original cut, completed in May, won the 2005-'06 Tensie Award for Best of Show, given by the department of theatre and film. For the next few months, Jones shot additional footage and re-edited the film before it was first shown in November at the Kansas Union.

"Fall from Grace" was a solo project for Jones, who came up with the idea for the film, contacted the Phelps family and researched the group, spending nearly a year with the family. He began shooting footage at a Salman Rushdie speech at KU's Lied Center in October 2005. He had complete access to the family and its anti-homosexual campaigns, attending many of the group's appearances at demonstrations, lectures and funerals of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq.

The young filmmaker worked hard to distance himself from the group's message and to present a balanced response to the family by interviewing dissenters, opposing attorneys, ministers and theologians. He also spoke with two of Phelps' four estranged children, who level allegations of abuse against their father.

"The Phelps family was cooperative and liked the completed project," Jones said. "When I screened it for the family prior to the KU screening, they all applauded at the end, I think because they are not used to seeing a truly objective portrayal of what they do."

South by Southwest ends March 17. "Fall from Grace," was shown March 10, 12 and 14.



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