STRICTLY STRICKLAND

PALMER — From the bank at Kepler-Bradley Lake in Palmer, two teens watch Saturday morning as an animated man in a nearby rowboat rants about the slow death of drowning. His wild demeanor prompts the teenagers to take a morning dip elsewhere, leaving the scruffy man to continue searching for whatever it is he’s looking below the water’s surface.

This is the opening scene of director and producer Eirin Strickland’s new short film “The Drowning of Arthur Galen,” which began shooting this weekend in and around the Palmer area.

Strickland, a Palmer High School graduate, is filming the low budget 30-minute art film and will submit the final product for consideration to be included in the next Sundance Film Festival.

“Directors like Martin Scorsese really inspire me,” Strickland said. “He rarely writes something past a first screenplay. I love surreal movies that think out of the box.”

Off the heels of his first film last year, a local drug documentary called “Ice Crystals,” Strickland, 20, came down with a bad case of the writing and directing bug.

“After ‘Ice Crystals’ sold, I wanted to do something that was fictional,” Strickland said. “My close friend Sam LaFrance, who’s an actor at UAA [University of Alaska Anchorage] and I always talk about movies. We discuss what we like, what we don’t, what’s right and wrong. We had decided we wanted to work on a project about the horrors of everyday life. It really came together after we talked, and inevitably it took just a few months to write.”

With a finished 30-page script of “The Drowning of Arthur Galen” in hand in April, Strickland began scouting for actors. For him, it was a true beginning of his directing and writing career.

Five years earlier, Strickland wrote a 280-page script in hopes of it becoming a full-length Hollywood feature film.

“That was definitely a lot of work,” he said. “It’s a story about a couple of guys traveling from Seattle to San Francisco during the ’60s and how they get lost along the way. It was really idealistic. They find this perfect humanity, get into drugs and discover something about themselves in the process. I’m proud of it, but it needs a lot of work before it sees the light of day.”

Strickland said he learned that getting a movie made — from the first idea to final cut — is no walk in the park. His first script, sent to production companies across the United States, has yet to be picked up by a major studio. Less than discouraged, Strickland continued through high school in Palmer waiting for the right opportunity to come along. His inspiration came from an unlikely source.

“I wanted badly to do a film project,” he said. “My mom worked with the Palmer ambulance and she would come home with stories of what she’d see, particularly with methamphetamine. She talked to us about it, about how bad and prevalent it is here in the Valley. The year we came back from Europe, the Valley was rated the meth capital of the country. It got me thinking this could be an interesting project.”

Strickland, interested in the meth culture and the trail of destruction it creates, picked up his camera and went to work, documenting the lives of meth users living in the Valley. After several interviews with current and past meth users and visits to local meth labs, Strickland had his documentary, “Ice Crystals.” His finished film was shown at festivals in Anchorage and Texas, and at ate 18, he was starting to see his future calling.

“I didn’t understand the gravity of ‘Ice Crystals,’” he said. “I knew I wanted to make a movie with a message and as it progressed I thought, ‘If I did this right, maybe I could help out some people.’”

During the filming of “Ice Crystals,” Strickland said the depth of the drug problem in the Valley became more apparent the more footage he shot.

“It’s a shame,” he said. “I don’t think the Valley is suffering enough to where it’s not a good place to live anymore. The film shows this. I think anywhere you go in the U.S., a drug problem exists.”

After showings at the Anchorage Film Festival in 2007 and limited screenings in the Valley, Strickland said he was approached by family members and friends of drug users asking how they could help combat the local meth problem.

“It was humbling,” he said.

The Anchorage School District has expressed interest in purchasing 50 DVDs of “Ice Crystals” to show students in hopes they will say no to drugs, he said.

Earlier this year, Strickland sat down with actor Sam LaFrance to begin production of his first fictional short, “The Drowning of Arthur Galen.” He said he realized that in order to make a quality film noir, with outstanding actors and a riveting plot, he needed money.

To recruit his actors, and a handful of talented volunteers, Strickland made some phone calls and plastered flyers around the Valley. Last month he held auditions at Alaska Pacific University and the Palmer Moose Lodge, getting less than a warm response.

“I think I sat there for three hours until someone showed up at the Moose Lodge,” Strickland said. “But I found the group I was looking for.”

For the 30-minute movie’s musical score, Strickland recruited help from local Palmer composer Scot Irving, who will use piano and cello to set the mood of the film.

Strickland said “The Drowning of Arthur Galen” is about a man who wants to change his life by doing something drastic, but soon realizes he’s made a mistake.

“Arthur finds something out that he’s afraid of and basically he tries to go back to correct it and realizes it may already be too late,” he said.

In Strickland’s vision, the film begins in darkness. The opening scene on Kepler-Bradley Lake leaves much to the imagination.

Arthur Galen (played by Sam LaFrance) awakes in his boat after a night of drinking to see two teens (Piers LaFrance and Tessa Coffey) about to go swimming in the cold lake.

LaFrance, who starred in UAA’s production of “Pillow Man” last year, plays Galen, a somber-looking and manic character in “Drowning,” who seems to be in search of something he’s lost in the lake.

The Palmer actor says his director and friend does an excellent job guiding the action.

“Eirin is extremely dedicated to what we’re looking for,” LaFrance said. “He gives very good direction for an actor.”

LaFrance, who will study at the New York Film Academy this fall, gets into character. On Saturday morning, he waits in the small gray row boat for Strickland’s cue. With the wind picking up, the boat starts to drift out of view, prompting Irving and director of photography Brian Mead to hustle for a better shot while LaFrance rows to the right spot.

The two teens look on, swatting mosquitos off their arms as Strickland goes through his notes and diagrams to begin filming.

Strickland is careful not to discuss the full details of the film’s storyline, but said there are elements of suspense all throughout his short film.

“At first you don’t know who the main character is,” Strickland said. “But you begin to see this situation unfold that reveals a lot about his character. As things progress in the film, the plot really gets into the danger of imagination.”

With a month’s worth of filming and costs to be settled, Strickland said he began setting up ways to raise funds around the Valley.

At the Palmer Arts Council office in downtown Palmer, a jar sits waiting to collect donations from possible supporters of Strickland’s project.

“We’d like to be able to pay our actors,” he said. “I’m working with a lot of volunteers on this one. I basically went into the hole with ‘Crystals,’ so support from the community would be helpful.”

Strickland began his own production company, Oyster Company, after the release of “Ice Crystals” to further his film concepts.

“It’s basically a bank account soon to be a production company,” Strickland said.

With costs budgeted at $10,000 to make “The Drowning of Arthur Galen” and just $500 saved to date, Strickland said getting to $3,000 is his first goal.

“My biggest cost is editing,” he said. “You have sound and video editing, and of course converting the finished product to film, which for a 25-minute movie costs about $3,500. So yeah, I’m learning it gets pricey.”

Strickland said once he raises the money and his film is completed by the end of August, he’ll have time to submit the short film to the Sundance Film Festival by early September.

The Sundance Film Festival sees many no-name filmmakers walk away holding contracts with major film industry leaders — a big break for Strickland as he heads to film school at Emerson College in Boston this fall.

“I’ve always interested in movies. It’s such a powerful medium that works all the senses. ‘The Dark Knight’ is kind of my new obsession. It really captivated me,” he said. “I definitely think I would not have had done this as smoothly if it weren’t for Palmer. It’s not easy work, but it’s what I love.”

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com, or 352-1169.