LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Frenship graduate Adam Paul Stone is returning to his hometown to premiere his first feature film, “Off the Air,” on April 30 at LHUCA.
The film follows two estranged sisters who are forced to reconnect in order to sell their late father’s radio station. Stone said the project was inspired in part by a flat tire on his way to film a different project at KSSL in Slaton.
“So, we pulled up to the radio station and I see it and it’s just this trailer with a tall tower standing in the center,” Stone said. “And I turned to her and I said, do you think we could use your radio station as the location and the centerpiece of the story? And she was super, she loved that idea.”
Stone had originally planned to center his first full-length film around Lubbock’s Ralph’s Records. The chance stop in Slaton redirected the project.
“We had everybody on board. They were just so excited about the idea because it was small and very like from my heart, which is very Lubbock, very West Texas, a radio station in the middle of nowhere, just like a trailer in the middle of a field,” Stone said. “It was just so just captured the essence of Lubbock and West Texas.”
“Off the Air” is not Stone’s first project rooted in the region. He previously directed the short film “Just Like the Butterfly,” shot in Lubbock, and a music video for Flatland Cavalry filmed in Spur.
The film features several recognizable Lubbock locations, including Holly Hop Ice Cream Shop, BierHaus and more. Most of the cast and crew are also from West Texas.
“Yes, we could take this film somewhere else, but I think my heart is to continue to make films in Lubbock because I want that community to thrive and exist and continue,” he said.
The first screening of “Off the Air” at LHUCA at 6:30 p.m. on April 30 is already sold out. Tickets for a second screening at 8:30 p.m. are available online. A streaming ticket for a live event the following day is also available for those who want to watch from home.
Stone said a red carpet celebration with the cast is planned for the premiere.
“We’re not Hollywood and we don’t want to really be, but we’re going to do a version of celebrating the film and all the time and effort that everyone put into it,” Stone said.
Stone said he was inspired to complete the project by some producers and friends who have made several films on a low budget, after previously being unable to secure financing.
“I think I just was tired of keeping the dream just a dream,” Stone said. “I was ready for it to become real. And on April 30th, people will be able to see that dream realized.”
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