Former Jackson County resident makes her film debut

By Rose Hooper

A reception will follow the 7:30 p.m. performance.

Hill, who received her bachelor of arts degree from the N.C. School of the Arts, works as a professional actor in the Triangle area.

The movie, "Prague Spring" by Rejeev Dassani, portrays a young married couple who want to liven up their love life. Husband Robert, played by Zach Armfield, proposes the idea of sexual role play to his wife, Natalie, played by Hill. Natalie dismisses the idea as juvenile but quickly reconsiders to appease her husband.

"When she asks him what he has in mind - she's thinking a cheerleader or a nurse or something like that. She is shocked to learn that he wants her to act the role of Svetlana, a sultry, smoky, beret-wearing freedom fighter in the 1968 Prague spring revolution to counteract Soviet oppression," said Hill, daughter of Pia Maria Tapaninen of Cullowhee.

Robert wishes to play Boris, a Russian officer who Svetlana must seduce in order to infiltrate enemy headquarters.

"Natalie complies and for a while the fresh intrigue enlivens their love life," said Hill. "But over time, it becomes clear that Robert is obsessed with control of the game for the game's sake, and not for the benefit of the marriage."

When the crew started the project there were no plans to shoot on location in the Czech Republic. Plans were to film the spy chase sequences craftily angled on the Duke campus.

"But once we spent so much time making the squalid Carrboro apartment look good - both UNC's and Duke's film clubs were very generous in lending great equipment, including a dolly track and jib arm - we realized that Duke campus shots would have to be so static in comparison to keep Durham out of the frame. So we flew to Prague in December and stayed about five days. It was well worth it.

"The actual Prague footage composes only as small fraction of the film, but it makes a big impact," she said. "Prague is the most beautiful city I've ever seen, and I understood immediately my director's love affair with the culture."

Hill descries the 38-minute film as "screwball comedy, cautionary tale and mystery." At the world premiere of the film, held at the Carolina Theatre in Chapel Hill, the production was sold out, she said.

For more information about the Sylva screening, call 586-9499.