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How a Fort Bragg-area veteran created a film during COVID-19 using a garden and neighbors

Fayetteville Observer - 5/15/2021

May 14—At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, veteran Kay Barnes faced a film school assignment — produce a short film without a crew.

During the pandemic, she turned to gardening as an outlet to cope.

Her garden connected her with neighbors, bringing Barnes her film crew and inspiration that she calls "creative transferability."

There are numerous roles that make up who Barnes is — African American, veteran, wife, military spouse, mother, nurse and filmmaker.

She "transfers" across some of those roles when she creates, she said.

What she created for her assignment was the nine-minute short film "Budding Creativity." It will be among those featured in this year's virtual GI Film Festival.

The GI Film Festival was established in 2006 to present films and events for, by and about military veterans, according to a news release.

It "challenges notions about what it means to serve and goes beyond one-dimensional depictions of veterans, service members, their caregivers and families," to "bridge the military-civilian divide," according to the news release.

Barnes's film is one of 38 selected to be featured at this year's festival which begins next week.

"Not all the films are about war or PTSD," Barnes said. "They've really opened it up, and I think we've reached a new point as a community and as a film industry to really start opening up to women and people of color."

Barnes was born in Alabama to a Georgia musician and an Alabama seamstress.

After graduating high school, she joined the Army National Guard and was part of the Alabama and Arizona national guards from 2007 to 2018.

She originally enlisted with a logistics job, became a signal officer, and was a combat camera broadcast supervisor before leaving the military.

While in the military, Barnes attended college and worked toward a dual major in nursing and theater.

The love for nursing started when she volunteered for hospitals in high school, and she decided she wanted to help others after losing loved ones who died from old age or medical conditions, she said.

Barnes also discovered her interest in college theater, when she directed, acted and produced shows.

During college, Barnes married a soldier and moved to Arizona, where received her graduate license to become an emergency room nurse and a surgical nurse for about five years.

Moving back to the East Coast, she said, she plugged into the Atlanta film industry.

An instructor at the Georgia Film Academy encouraged her to work toward a master's level program, and by the time she moved to North Carolina in July 2019, she said, she started attending the University of North Carolina School of Arts for her master's degree in film and arts.

That's where she received her short film assignment.

Barnes said at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she recognized the restrictions created isolation, as people became closed off from loved ones and friends.

"It was forced upon us," she said of the pandemic. "Not one of us decided this."

Personally, Barnes said, she felt as if she were losing touch with her own creativity she wanted to foster in North Carolina.

Her film classes moved online, but she was tasked with an assignment to create a documentary where she wouldn't work with a team from the school.

She had to find her own film and production crew.

"I wondered where I'd find people like that in the military, but it kind of created itself," Barnes said.

As Barnes turned toward gardening as an outlet, it drew her Linden Oaks neighborhood together.

Through the garden, she found other neighbors — one who is a writer and one who is a cinematographer and a public affairs officer in the Army.

"So ... it suddenly became this community thing instead of gardening to help me cope," Barnes said.

It allowed her to connect with herself and other soldiers and military families in her community.

"I was surprised by how creative people in the military can be, even around the structure," Barnes said.

Barnes said it's sometimes hard for veterans to put their stories out there for others.

"That's part of why I created this garden to help me be more vulnerable," she said. "I was putting myself into it, hoping something comes back. I had to nurture it and be dedicated to it. It gives the ability to fail, and if something goes wrong, I can investigate and try again."

Barnes said she hopes those who view the film are inspired to recognize that creativity can be found anywhere.

"It can be found in the most unsuspecting places," she said. "It's in you. You just have to be open to it."

Barnes is currently working on the Charleston set of the HBO show "The Righteous Gemstones" as a nurse.

Another recent short film she worked on that's in post-production is called "3:35 to Boston" and features actresses from the shows "Big Little Lies" and "Christmas Chronicles".

That film was shot in Fayetteville, she said.

"It's exciting this type of stuff is happening here and people don't realize how much talent is in the state and in Fayetteville," Barnes said.

She's discovered a network of Fayetteville actors and actresses that she's plugged into. She's also found other veterans who are in the media and entertainment industry.

She's founded her own production company, Entangled Butterfly Entertainment, which is an all-female development team that works to facilitate content creation for underserved artist populations.

She is currently working to secure investors as she is in the post-production phase of a plan to shoot her first feature-length film in Fayetteville.

She hopes to release the film next summer, and described it as a military psychological thriller with a female protagonist.

"Fayetteville has a lot going on," Barnes said. "I want people to know how much talent is here. It's not all in Charlotte or Wilmington, and we can shoot things right here."

Barnes said she encourages anyone wanting to get into film to start with what they have, even if that means picking up a phone to film and connecting with others.

"Long live the storytellers, because after we are gone, the stories will last," she said.

Barnes's short film will screen virtually on the GI Film Festival's website at 4:15 p.m.May 20 and 2:30 p.m.May 23.

Tickets are available online at gifilmfestivalsd.org.

Admission is $10 for general audiences and $8 for military and veterans per screening. All proceeds support the festival

Films are also available for video on demand after the festival debut through May 26.

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.

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