‘Porches’ sold out for city premiere

Published 10:08 am Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Photo submitted/Actresses Elise McMurry (left), Marlene Cupit and Lynn Forney star as Jenny Rose, Patsy Lynn and Ann Margaret in “Porches and Private Eyes.” The three women get involved in a murder mystery that will play out when the film is shown at the Haven Theater. Tickets are sold out already for the premier, but a limited number are still available for the Sept. 10 show.

Photo submitted/Actresses Elise McMurry (left), Marlene Cupit and Lynn Forney star as Jenny Rose, Patsy Lynn and Ann Margaret in “Porches and Private Eyes.” The three women get involved in a murder mystery that will play out when the film is shown at the Haven Theater. Tickets are sold out already for the premier, but a limited number are still available for the Sept. 10 show.

“Porches and Private Eyes,” an independent film shot in Brookhaven featuring local actors,  will premiere Sept. 3 at the Haven, but if you don’t already have tickets, you’re out of luck.

Director Travis Mills with Running Wild Studios said tickets for the premiere sold out quickly because they were a rewards incentive for the project’s Kickstarter fundraiser. Those who contributed a certain amount to the project scooped up seats for the first showing.

However, a limited number of tickets remain for the second showing, which will be part of a new film festival Sept. 10 at the Haven Theater downtown. Called Film Haven, the inaugural festival will include several other independent short films from Mississippi.

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“Porches and Private Eyes” has been described as a “small-town comedy/murder mystery.” Mills said it’s about three women who get involved in a mystery when an old man in town disappears.

Filming for “Porches and Private Eyes” is complete, and Mills said they’re now putting on the final touches in post production.

“We’re really excited about it and it should be exciting for us and Brookhaven,” he said.

Mills is the grandson of Donald Patterson, a retired judge from Brookhaven. His parents traveled all over as missionaries, and Mills eventually settled in Phoenix, Arizona. There he co-founded Running Wild Films in 2010.

He enjoys returning to Brookhaven.

“I love the town,” Mills said. “It’s a great place to spend some down time and to write.”

Mills has said several times he hopes to make filming in Brookhaven a regular thing for Running Wild Films, and he’s already got a film in mind that he’s calling “The Seventh Day.”

That one will be about a Brookhaven woman who hires a lookalike to impersonate her in church on Sundays so she doesn’t have to attend herself, a story Mills said is roughly inspired from a news story he read that took place in Alabama.

“I would consider this to be something like the followup to ‘Porches and Private Eyes,’” Mills said.

The director hopes to bring some Hollywood talent to Brookhaven to feature in “The Seventh Day,” which will also be cast with local actors.

The Film Haven will be hosted at the Haven Theater on Sept. 10. Doors open at noon. It’s an all-day event with several Mississippi short films, a panel discussion and more. “Porches and Private Eyes” will be shown at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $25, and they can be purchased online at http://bit.ly/1VRtG0z or by contacting the Brookhaven Little Theatre at 601-669-1878.