East Davidson student shoots film at Gold Hill

By Hugh Fisher

news@salisburypost.comGOLD HILL — The historic buildings that stood at the heart of North Carolina's gold rush are still home to history in the making.

In a few weeks' time, a short film shot in several buildings at Gold Hill Park will help bring a girl's dream of becoming a filmmaker closer to reality.

Whitney Hill is a rising senior at East Davidson High School in Thomasville.

For her senior project, Hill wrote and directed a short film called "Deux confrontŽ."

The name implies someone who is "two-faced" and hints at the nature of one of her characters who undergoes a transformation.

"It gives a hint of the change of heart that's to come," Hill said.

The film follows the story of a shoemaker and his family who are threatened with eviction unless they can find the money to pay the rent.

Working late into the night, Walt the shoemaker must create a perfect pair of shoes and sell them to raise the rent money.

In the end, the shoes are purchased by a Frenchman who brings the tale a happy ending and a surprise twist which Hill didn't want to give away.

After a filmmaking project at East Davidson got Hill interested in filmmaking, her English teacher, Jeff Church, put her in touch with local film producer Nancy "Spunkey" Williamson.

Williamson owns Silver Valley-based 5.90 Productions. She agreed to make the film on a budget of about $600, providing camera and equipment as well as adult and child actors to star in the movie.

Working through the Internet to find potential 1800s-era locations, Williamson stumbled across a Web site for Gold Hill.

"I'd never seen Gold Hill before," Hill said. "But it's been awesome to come here and see everything that Gold Hill has to offer."

Contacted by Williamson, Vivian Hopkins of Gold Hill Park set about helping Hill and the actors make the 19th Century mining town come back to life.

"We embraced the idea," Hopkins said. "The setting she is doing, during the 1800s, is what we're about. It really jelled."

Hopkins pointed out that the facts of Hill's film turned out, by coincidence, to match some actual Gold Hill history.

"There was a working cobbler's shop, Burt Show Company, in town during the late 1800s," Hopkins said.

And the character of the sinister landlord reflects in part the reputation of Walter George Newman, the New York mine owner whose story figures prominently in Gold Hill ghost lore.

Principal filming took place in one weekend at Gold Hill Park using two of the restored buildings of the former mining village.

Now Hill has begun the lengthy task of editing more than 90 minutes of footage into a finished product eight minutes long.

Eventually, Hill said, the film will be placed on DVD.

She plans to use it in the year ahead as she applies for the filmmaking program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.

Come what may, she said she's more than pleased with her experience in Gold Hill.

"They gave us so much more than we expected," Hill said.

And Williamson said one of her first calls after the visit was to the Piedmont Triad Film Commission, which helps amateur and low-budget filmmakers with, among other things, location scouting for their productions.

"I don't think many people know about Gold Hill. The way they have preserved these historic buildings is amazing," Williamson said.

Hopkins said Hill's work is the second film to be shot in Gold Hill, and she hopes many more will follow.

"We're flattered that she sought us out," Hopkins said.