Contributed by Michael B. Dillon
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‘Peaks & Valleys’ Hits the Big Screen
Local Filmmakers Strike a Deal in the Last Frontier
[Palmer, Alaska June,8] - BurnHouse Pictures and Baird Media are very proud to announce the theatrical release of the much-anticipated Alaskan independent thriller, ‘Peaks & Valleys’. News of the release stems from a rare opportunity offered by Coming Attractions Theatres late last week and will bring the rarely seen film to screens in Wasilla and Kenai on Friday, June 19th, 2020.
Wrapped in plastic and thrown from a plane into a rural Alaskan lake would usually mean the end of the story. For Bailey, it’s just the beginning. Waking naked, battered and horrifically traumatized, she finds herself trapped in a secluded cabin somewhere in the wilds of Alaska. Her only company, Jack, is a hard-nosed man of few words who makes no question of his desire to be left alone. With winter taking its grip on the surrounding wilderness, Bailey must overcome the aftermath of her ordeal and survive long enough to make it home. With Jack as her only aid, she soon suspects that his secrets were never meant to leave the cabin.
‘Peaks & Valleys’, directed by Michael Burns and written by Michael B. Dillon, features the awe-inspiring performances of Kevin Bennett and Kitty Mahone. Bennett, a veteran character actor with credits including ‘Frozen Ground’, expertly brings the grizzled Jack to life through a true love/hate relationship with the audience. Mahone, best known for her work behind the camera with Chad Carpenter’s ‘Moose’ and ‘Sudsy Slim Rides Again’, offers a riveting performance sure to moisten the driest of eyes in the house.
The filmmakers had been working very hard in securing distribution for the ninety-seven-minute feature earlier this year. Plans were then put on an indeterminate hold following the growing concern of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent closing of theatres nationwide in support of quarantine and social distancing efforts. As tensions are beginning to relax, Coming Attractions Theatres in Alaska opened their doors recently, featuring a slew of theatre favorites in their lineup. With release dates on major films being pushed back to later this summer, a rare opportunity presented itself for ‘Peaks & Valleys’ to be featured as something new for movie goers in this transitional time.
This is very welcome news for director Michael Burns and writer Michael B. Dillon, following an extremely successful World Premier of the film at the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival last April. The pair traveled along with producer Steve Silba and veteran actor Kevin Bennett to attend the premier in Dubuque, IA along the shores of the majestic Mississippi River. What happened next was beyond anything the filmmakers could have expected. The week long event featured 113 films and had never sold out a showing in their 9 year history. ‘Peaks & Valleys’, however, sold out all three of its showings with festival workers scrambling to find more space for an audience eager to see the Alaskan gem.
“It was crazy,” says Dillon. “We showed up for the premier and they told us we were too late. When I started arguing that there was still a half-hour until it was scheduled to start, they told us that it was sold out and there was no room. We had to turn away more people from the premier than were able see it. They had to move the second showing minutes before show time because they had sold out again and the line was still stretching down the stairs and across the lobby. I was in tears watching all of those people so eager to see what we had done.”
The stellar response to the film has also led the duo of Burns and Dillon onward into planning the multimillion dollar feature, ‘Dividends’. Along with Alaskan investors and major players in the motion picture industry, the ambitious Alaskan heist film project gained an enormous amount of steam through the beginning of 2020.
‘Peaks & Valleys’ theatre release also follows the recent completion of a distribution deal for the award winning film, ‘Proper Binge’, another project which Burns and Dillon worked together on. The gritty look at alcoholism against the backdrop of the Last Frontier garnered a slew of awards during its festival tour including Best Actor (Bradford Jackson) at the Beverly Hills International Film Festival and Best Feature at the Twin Tiers Film Festival in New York.
The film is set to be featured at The Valley Cinema in Wasilla and Kenai Cinemas in Kenai on Friday June, 19th. Depending on the success of the screenings, Coming Attractions Theatres has indicated that they would be willing to extend the run and offer the film in other locations as they become available for hosting guests again. The filmmakers remain very optimistic that this will happen and call on the community for help in furthering the success of this amazing film.
“This would never have happened without the stellar community of Alaska,” says Dillon. “We understand that very well and we also understand how that same community can raise this film even higher. ‘Peaks & Valleys’ has been a real labor of love and we are so very proud of what it’s become. So thanks, Alaska...and we’ll see you at the movies!”
More information on ‘Peaks & Valleys’ can be found at https://www.facebook.com/peaksandvalleysmovie
