In a dystopian future world, two men find a book titled “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and believe that it describes a real place they can find.

    That is the opening premise of the movie “OzLand,” a film shot 75 percent in Mississippi – some right here in Meridian – and the remaining 25 percent in Kansas in a little more than three days.

    West Point native Michael Williams is the writer, director and cinematographer of the film, with the musical score created by Keatzi Gunmoney of Starkville. The movie had its final showing before seeking a distribution deal in Meridian’s historic Temple Theatre.

From ‘Oz’ to Meridian

    Williams describes the film as a man’s interpretation of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” in a apocalyptic setting.

    “So if you had no idea about history or religion and you were to find a piece of fiction, the idea is ‘What if? What if you read that and thought the things you were reading were real? So it’s a story about two men and their journey in this world when it’s thrown off course by the discovery of this book.” Williams said.

    “I grew up watching ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (movie), but I hadn’t read the book until I started developing this movie and the book is so different. This is based off just the book, because I couldn’t base it off the movie.”

    The film’s Meridian scenes include the entrance to Royal Land as well as inside the abandoned amusement park, and the amphitheater in the old fairgrounds.

    “It was great. We were close to the interstate, so that kind of gave us trouble. So everything you hear in the movie, we had to redo later. But everything visual was great,” Williams said.

    He learned of the location through social media.

    “I was looking for a specific location, so I posted on Facebook ‘Does anyone know where to find something like this?’ and someone said, ‘Yes, here in Meridian,'” Williams said.

    He was sent pictures of Meridian, then later introduced to Zane Royal of the family that created Royal Land.

    “He was super supportive,” Williams said.

    He described his recent return to Meridian to film as “even more amazing” than before.     “Everybody’s helping and it’s such a welcoming experience to where now we want to come back here and film more and show more movies,” he said.

    An important part of the film is the soundtrack. Gunmoney, a musician and producer in the Starkville area, had worked with Williams on several previous short film scores.

    So he and I discuss the music for a film before he even shoots anything. We get on the same page that way,” Gunmoney said. “I made the music first for the teaser trailer and he edited to my music. So we had a really defined concept for this money from the beginning.”

    The score was designed to work outside the film.

    “I really think people will enjoy listening to the soundtrack as a standalone piece,” he said.

    Asked what it was like to play the organ inside the Temple Theatre, Gunmoney said, “It was incredible.”    

An individual

experience

    Since Williams is the director, writer and producer, one wonders just how much of him is in the movie.

    “Just about all of it. A lot of us came together to make it. But since I wrote it and I want to connect to the characters, each character is me even though they are different. They each explore a different facet of my own personality,” he said.

    “But the story couldn’t have been made with just me, so each actor had to find their own way to relate to each character and bring their own experience to it. Hopefully, when you watch the film you can get your own experience and whatever you get out of each character.”

    Williams says the movie even transcends that, because he is often surprised what viewers get out of seeing the film.

    “They get things I never expected,” he said. “Hopefully, that means that they got something out of it and enjoyed it.”

    Williams graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2009 with a film degree. In addition to making films, he owns a video and photography business which, he says, pays the bills for now. He hopes to transition to doing films full time.

    “OzLand” was initially funded through a grant from the Mississippi Film and Video Alliance out of Jackson.

    “They give out an Emerging Filmmaker Grant every year,” Williams explained. “We received that and that was our kickstart to the fundraising process, and then we did an IndieGoGo campaign that was successful.”

    He added that donations were made outside the formal process as well.

    Roger Smith, head of the non-profit that operates the Temple Theatre, said “OzLand” is exemplifies his goal for the downtown theatre.

    “This is exactly what I have always hoped to do here at the Temple Theatre – showcase Mississippi youth, and their talents,” Smith said. “These are young filmmakers that have on a modest budget have turned out a really nice piece. We’re here to foster their growth and education and bring it before the public so people can embrace this and support it. And, to donate to fledgling art organizations that are bringing art to the community.”

    

    • Learn more about “OzLand” at http://www.ozlandthefilm.com