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REPUBLICAN-TIMES
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
TRENTON
Trenton, MO 64683
75¢ per copy Check out the Republican-Times on the Internet: www.republican-times.com ©W.B. Rogers Printing Co., Inc.
Twelve Pages
Established Sept. 4, 1864 - 155th Year - No. 25
Briefs... NCMC Board
Photo Courtesy of Brenda Thorne
Over $4,000 was raised during the annual Festival of Trees fundraiser held on Friday in Trenton and benefitting the Trenton Heroes and local Gifted Group. A parade, led by festival queen and king Jessica Kelley and Matt Thompson, pictured above, kicked off activities, which also included musical entertainment, carriage rides and an auction. A total of 73 holiday items were sold during the auction.
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
“Baby Brother”
MU Professor Named New Face Of Film COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — When Ismaeel Bilal got off a Greyhound bus to move back to his old Columbia neighborhood and live with his parents, his older brother started filming. That scene is the start of a 13-minute film by MU professor Kamau Bilal who documented his little brother's unsettling, exasperating, often emotional experience of wedging himself back into the family at age 23. The film, called "Baby Brother," premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Eight months later, Bilal, 35, was named one of the 25 new faces of independent film by Filmmaker Magazine, the Columbia Missourian reported. The magazine called Bilal's film an "ambitious short," and it can be watched online on the Op-Docs page of the New York Times. Filming lasted a year and a half, with Bilal taking a number of breaks to sort out where the story was going. "Baby Brother" follows Ismaeel to the front door of his parents' brick bungalow in Columbia after he arrives in town. Almost immediately, his mother wants him to get a haircut, but he resists. He tries to help wash dishes and breaks a glass. He mows the lawn like a race car driver and breaks the mower. "I thought I was done with buying lawnmowers," his father laments. He reverts to playing video games and attempts stunts like jumping off the roof. "I was thinking I had all this time, I'm good," he says at one point. "I thought I was going to be a teenager forever." As Ismaeel watches a wasp trapped in a screen toward the end of the film the symbolism is clear: both are trapped, but with determination, they'll find a way
"I was thinking I had all this time, I'm good. I thought I was going to be a teenager forever." —Kama Bilal
out. Ultimately, Ismaeel did find a way out in 2017 after he saved enough money to move to Chicago. "He was happy that I had made the film about him," Kamau Bilal said on the impact his film left on his brother. "It was almost therapeutic for him." Kamau Bilal was born in Queens, New York, but his family moved to Richardson, Texas, when he was 3. In 1992, they moved again, this time to Columbia. Growing up, Bilal and his brothers were never forced into specific career paths. He produced skits and videos as a teenager, but he never considered it the start of a career he would pursue later. "It was just as like a fun thing, you know, to make these little skits or mash-up videos or whatever," said Bilal. He does remember his mother encouraging him to find something he was passionate about. He studied video production at Webster University in St. Louis for three years and spent another four and a half years working for the Columbia-based motion picture company Chimaeric before he was offered a teaching position in the Film Studies Department at MU. Now in his third year of teaching, Bilal said he has begun to master the challenge of teaching filmmaking to students. This semester, he is teaching both beginning and advanced courses on cinematography. "When you have to teach, you have to kind of be able to express things in a way for somebody to un-
derstand it," he said. "Which is something I've learned a little bit better how to do." "I don't think people say that enough," he said. "Now that I have kids, I have a really deep understanding of everything they (his parents) sacrifice for you." The courage to submit "Baby Brother" to Sundance came during a weeklong residency in September at the Camden International Film Festival. After submitting other projects without success, Bilal worried about rejection. So he was stunned when he heard back from the folks at Sundance. "Sundance, I think it was always like a pie in the sky," he said. "And so when it gets in, you know, you're not expecting it." His next project will be filming his father's old neighborhood in St. Louis. As a father of three, Bilal hasn't narrowed his subject yet, but he said he'll know when he feels it. "I think once you actually are there and you're working and making, something will come out of it. I think it's largely just trying to trust that process," he said. The process starts with a detailed outline. He wants to know the characters, their emotional truths, their conflicts and what the scenes should be. "I want to leave some room, I think, for that sense of discovery within the space," he said. "I really do feel you feel in filmmaking when the filmmaker sort of discovered something." It's not about making films as a living for Bilal. It's about telling great stories. "It's weird because you're making films for an audience, but you're also making films because you need to make films. I still want to see it. I like the art form," he said.
The North Central Missouri College Board of Trustees will meet at 4 p.m. today (Tuesday) in the president’s office in the Frey Administrative Building. This is a change in the regular meeting time. Items on the announced agenda include discussion of a possible board retreat, consideration of the Head Start supplemental grant application, consideration of a surplus property list, consideration of bids/purchases, a proposal for a new position at the bookstore (combination of two part-time positions), employment of an adjunct instructor, Head Start personnel and reports by Head Start Director Dr. Beverly Hooker, Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Tristan Londre, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Kristen Alley and President Dr. Lenny Klaver. An executive session for personnel, legal matters and real estate is also planned.
Letters To Santa
2018 Downtown Christmas Celebration
Tuesday, Dec. 11 will be the deadline for children to send their letters to Santa and have them published in the Trenton Republican-Times “Letters to Santa” special section. Letters may be submitted to the newspaper via email at rtimes@lyn.net, mailed to the newspaper at PO Box 548, Trenton, MO 64683 or brought into the newspaper office during regular business hours from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Monday through Friday. Letters must include the child’s name, age, address and a telephone number, with only the child’s name, age and town in which they live being published. Letters should be kept short and the Republican-Times reserves the right to edit submissions, if needed. Persons with questions can contact R-T Editor Diane Lowrey at 359-2212.
Saturday, December 1
This Week...
Soup Supper at VFW Hall
4:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Midwest Synergy Dance
6:30 p.m.
Opening Ceremonies at Sesquicentennial Park 5 p.m. Parade 5:15 p.m. (Golf Carts, ATVs and Vintage Vehicles Line Up in Front of Geyer Hall at 4:50 p.m.)
ENTERTAINMENT - WESLEY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Handbell Choir 6:45 p.m. Closing Ceremonies - “Silent Night” 7:15 p.m.
Santa Photos at Sesquicentennial Park 5:25 p.m. Children’s Crafts/Cookie Walk at The Space 6 to 7 p.m.
Grundy County Museum Open Throughout the Evening
ENTERTAINMENT - FIVE POINTS FLAG POLE Super Stars Dance Studio 6:10 p.m. Rissler Honor Choir 6:20 p.m.
National Weather Service Very cold on Tuesday night, the low around 7. Partly sunny on Wednesday, a high near 33. Rain moves in Thursday, the high near 39. Wednesday’s high at Trenton was 58, Thursday’s high was 61, Friday’s high was 46, Saturday’s high was 57 and Sunday’s high was 36. Sunday’s low was 15 with 3.5 inches of snow recorded. Sunday’s high at the Government Weather Station near Spickard was 34, the low was 13 with 3 inches of snow.
BUSINESSES OPEN Lucky Dog Embroidery, Gilworth Furniture, Howard’s, Main Street Mall, Trenton Hardware, “The Space,” Simply Chic, Vintage Vines and Trey’s Place
What’s Inside... Deer kill numbers were up locally and statewide, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. See page 2 of today’s Republican-Times for a recap of the recently-completed gun season.
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CHAMBER LUNCHEON featuring WMH CEO Steve Schieber Wednesday, Nov. 28 KCP&L Building Noon $10 Chamber Member $11 Non-Member LIVE NATIVITY SCENE Wright Memorial Hospital Thursday, Nov. 29 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
What’s Inside Sports.......................pages 2-3 Across Missouri ............page 4 Community ...................page 5 Local News ....................page 6 National News ...............page 7 Comics ...........................page 8 Dear Annie ....................page 9 Crosswords....................page 9 Classifieds ..........page 10 & 11