WASHINGTON — A local moviemaker’s short film, portraying modern plight through the eyes of the patrons and employees of a crab shack, has been honored for the same achievement claimed by some of the most widely renowned directors.
News features prominently in “Liberty Road” by WTOP’s own Morning Drive writer Jason Fraley, which just received a Golden Eagle Award from film organization CINE.
The 17-minute short portrays a worker at the eponymous crab shack in Frederick, Md., where Fraley, the writer, director and producer, worked as a teenager.
The symbolism he was able to capture through the setting was integral for the film’s current events themes.
“It’s kind of a tradition in crab shacks to put newspapers down on tables,” he says. “You see ‘Oil Spill Worst in America’s history.'”
“The news is all around them,” says Fraley of the characters who endure current buzz topics like job loss and “underwater” mortgages. “It’s a visual the whole way.”
Fraley also uses color, such red and blue vehicles on opposite sides of a divided road, to represent the political stripes of an increasingly partisan Democrat versus Republican political arena.
Now a morning drive writer at WTOP, Fraley recently received his MFA in Film & Electronic Media at American University. He began writing “Liberty Road” last summer and started casting and planning production in the winter. It eventually took four days to shoot at the Frederick shack, where more than 50 of Fraley’s family and friends helped with the production.
“It’s just as much their award as it is mine,” he says. “Film is a collaborative process.”
CINE has awarded Golden Eagles to many of film and television’s brightest personalities at integral stages in their careers. It was the first major recognition for Steven Spielberg and Ken Burns. Ron Howard received one as a teenager, as did Robert Zemeckis while he was in college. The honor has chronicled silver screen success the decades since it was first established in 1958, from Mel Brooks’ award in 1963 to Martin Scorcese’s in 2006.
Fraley’s fellow American University student Arya Surowidjojo also received a Documentary award for his work “The Vigil.”
Check out this trailer of the film:
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