May Valley Media films earn recognition at Cleveland film fest

Thanks to the efforts of May Valley Media and its collaborators, local college students, actors and Tuscarawas County locations are being featured at film festivals across the United States.

Three New Philadelphia graduates — Nathaniel Demuth, founder of May Valley Media, along with friends and fellow filmmakers Brad Waugh and Ben Scott — have spent countless hours writing, directing and filming their ideas.

Demuth is a junior at Marietta College, double majoring in marketing and graphic design. Scott is a senior environmental and conservation biology major at Kent State University. Waugh is a junior majoring in archaeology and classical civilization at Kent State University.

Recently, two films produced by May Valley Media were shown at the Short. Sweet. Film Fest in Cleveland. The film “In the Rearview” won the audience choice award in the student film category March 3, and “GRIM” won the audience choice award among nine films shown March 8.

Earlier this year, “GRIM” premiered in Chandler, Arizona, at the Chandler International Film Festival, where Demuth and Scott had the opportunity to meet Papa Snoop, the father of musical artist Snoop Dogg.

The filmmakers also recently learned that “In the Rearview” was accepted into the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival in Dubuque, Iowa.

The filmmakers got an early start developing their interest in storytelling.

“All three of us were involved in several theater productions throughout middle school and high school,” Demuth said. “We all had a knack for creative writing and started making stories together. We shot our first film as a fun project in high school at a hangout, and we quickly figured out that we loved the process. Since then, we've practiced and improved both the quality and scale of our productions.”

The group has produced several short video projects and about 10 short films.

“There are quite a few projects that have never seen the light of day, but mistakes are part of the process,” Demuth said. “Our first really planned-out project was a little horror short called ‘Doppelganger,’ where our protagonists explore a disturbance in a barn and essentially get attacked by their own clones. It was a lot of fun, and it was our first time producing a planned project versus one on a whim.”

Their first relatively large-scale project was “GRIM.”

“The story follows an amateur Grim Reaper as he struggles to find a balance between his heart and his work. We spent around three months on a script, held auditions, and gathered a crew of between six and eight, depending on the shoot day,” Demuth said.

They also had to raise funds to cover gear rental and other expenses.

“Our most recent film, ‘In the Rearview,’ is about a young man, Chester, who delivers a painful eulogy at his best friend's funeral. The circumstances regarding the tragic accident that claimed his friend's life are murky at best, and Chester must navigate the greyness of morality,” Demuth said. “The project had a lot of moving parts, including a practical VFX car crash, but our team produced a project to be proud of.”

The filmmakers used many local locations, including their homes, Tuscora Park, Faith Christian Church, Broadway Global Methodist Church, the Kent State Tuscarawas nursing lab, and homes belonging to friends and family members.

One of the most memorable locations was the roundhouse at the Age of Steam Museum in Sugarcreek.

“They allowed us to shoot the first scene of ‘GRIM’ among the trains in the roundhouse,” Demuth said. “I don't think any of us even knew about the location until preproduction for the project. It is certainly an incredible site.”

The filmmakers said they appreciate the support they have received from the community, including monetary contributions, assistance from community theater actors, borrowing equipment from Little Theatre, custom prop work with GSWorx, and collaboration with the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office to help stage a car crash aftermath. They also found other passionate students willing to help with their projects.

The filmmakers said they are learning to be open to the stories around them.

“We are starting to find ways to make our visions come to life, rather than being tied to our limitations,” Demuth said. “We have found it is more freeing to dream big and then scale down logistically rather than build from the ground up. It has gotten to the point where we are nearly able to tell our stories exactly how we want to tell them, from both an artistic and technical perspective. Once we get there, our productions will have an even greater impact.”

The group is pleased with what they have accomplished. Last year, they won Best of Show at Bowling Green State University’s student film and media festival, and their films have been screened in other states as well.

A film typically remains on the festival circuit anywhere from two months to a year before distribution. May Valley Media films will eventually be posted on YouTube.

For the filmmakers, one goal stands out.

“The best part of the process is getting our work in front of audiences,” Demuth said.