A Marshall alum will be showing his award-winning feature film at the Appalachian Film Festival Saturday, April 26, at the historical Foundry Theater in Huntington’s City Hall.
With a bachelor’s in English, Jad Adkins graduated from Marshall in 2009 and credits his time spent in the English Department as an inspiration for his creative endeavours. Specifically, he credits professor Rachael Peckham and a creative writing workshop she taught while he attended Marshall as the reason he found his passion for writing.
Peckham remembers Adkins as being “a beautiful prose stylist and poet” and praises his creativity and ability not to be constrained to one medium. Adkins was not the only Huntington native to be credited on “Battersea” as fellow Marshall graduate Chris Miller composed the score for the film.
Fast forward to 2024, Adkins took home the award for Best Narrative Feature at the Montana International Film Festival alongside director T.J. Sandella, who co-wrote the film. Sandella and Adkins met shortly after grad school and began proposing the idea of working on a collaborative screenplay.
The two found a cabin in Flatwoods, West Virginia, that had no running water and locked themselves in for two days to brainstorm ideas and stories to tell. The plot they landed on was, “Two characters, stuck in a house, with nothing to do but talk.”
What followed a decade of writing, hundreds of drafts, cold emails and dead ends, “Battersea” was finally completed and was selected by multiple film festivals across the country to be shown. These festivals include the Sedona International Film Festival, Cinema Columbus and, of course, the upcoming Appalachian Film Festival.
“Battersea” follows a pair of estranged siblings who, after the passing of their mother, decide to reconnect at their childhood home in the small town of Nowhere, Ohio. As they spend a weekend drinking and reminiscing on the past, the siblings attempt to sell their childhood home as their clashing worldviews differ from those of their childhood selves.
The Appalachian Film Festival only recently saw a second wind in 2023 when it was resurrected after a decade of dormancy. Previously called the Jean Carlo Stephenson Audiotorium, the newly remodeled Foundry Theater will host the event.
The Foundry Theater is located in Huntington’s City Hall, and it serves as not only an important piece of history, but it is home to live shows and exists as a hotspot for creatives in the area.
“Battersea” will be shown during the festival’s third block Saturday, April 26. Doors open at 9:30 a.m., and the event will run until around 9 p.m.
For more information visit foundrytheater.org.
Caden Adkins can be contacted at [email protected]
