LIVINGSTON – Wonder Mill Films announces the next stop of its 2010-11 Southeastern Campus Tour for “A Genesis Found” on Wednesday, Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. in the University of West Alabama’s Wallace Hall Auditorium.

“A Genesis Found” is an independent feature film that deals with the purported discovery of an anomalous skeleton at the Moundville, Ala., archaeological site, a paramount metropolis of prehistoric North America. The film, a “Do-It-Yourself” (or DIY) indie produced entirely in the Southeast by up-and-coming craftsmen, is a fresh and exciting example of Southern homegrown moviemaking, as well as a promising statement of what can come from the region’s young storytellers.

Opting to avoid the traditional festival distribution model of most independent films, Wonder Mill Films and writer/director Lee Fanning, who will be touring with the film, hope the regional appeal of the film and their personal approach of bringing it directly to audiences, will get film fans and students excited about the possibilities for the DIY model in the region.

“The industry is definitely growing in the South,” Fanning said via e-mail, “so there’s already support for making films here. What we hope to encourage, though, is the perspective that films can be more than just a product of an “industry.” Each is a carefully constructed expression, and as such are colored by where they are made. Just as others advocate foreign films, we advocate regional films as a viable alternative to studio or bigger “indie” films. Even a domestic film from an under-sung region can be as culturally enlightening and provide as fresh a perspective as a film from another hemisphere.”

Fanning also said he hopes all audiences, even those who could care less about supporting regional film or a fresh distribution infrastructure, will be attracted to the film for its traditional, yet unique, handling of its adventure/mystery plot. Fanning’s also covering his experiences touring the film on his informal travel blog, Son of Arkie.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The first 50 in the door will receive a free promotional DVD. The film will be followed by a Q&A with Fanning. The screening is free and open to the public.

For more information on the event or the film, including a trailer and clips, or to purchase the DVD and book, visit agenesisfound.com.

More about Wonder Mill Films

Based out of Huntsville, AL, Wonder Mill Films was founded in 2006 by Benjamin Stark and Lee Fanning, their first legitimate production company after founding the student banner Off the Set Films while at the University of Alabama.

After producing numerous short films, the company’s first feature, “A Genesis

Found,” was produced in the summer of 2008 and began a festival run in 2009. The film was completed and released on DVD in 2010. Their second feature, “The Nocturnal Third,” was produced in the summer of 2009 and will enjoy a limited theatrical and DVD release in April 2011.

“A Genesis Found” Synopsis

In 1938, CCC cadet John Patton Jr. (Bennett Parker) found the key to our darkest secret–an anomalous skeleton neither animal nor man. Uncertain of its implications, Patton hid the discovery away from the world — though never forgetting what he found.

Seventy years later, his grandson Gardner (Elliot Moon) is forced to come to terms with his grandfather’s past, a man he never knew but in whose footsteps he inevitably follows. When his cousin, controversial documentarian Bart Thompson (Luke Weaver), arrives for a seemingly routine shoot, Gardner is eager to lend a hand. He soon learns, however, that Bart isn’t back just to shoot a movie – he wants to find the “discovery” their grandfather buried nearly 70 years before and prove what he claimed was true.

As his skepticism fades and the lure of mystery grows, Gardner becomes distant from his foundations, including his live-in girlfriend Kelsey (Elise Zieman). Losing himself to the adventure, Gardner is hypnotized by a single possibility — that this “discovery” could be a direct link to God.