Ashley McCue, a 1994 Baylor graduate, co-wrote and co-directed the award-winning short film "Simple As That." On set with farmer Allan McClane, McCue tastes fresh goat milk.
Ashley McCue
Ashley McCueWhen the documentary "Simple As That" took the Platinum Remington Award at the World Fest in Houston almost two years ago, filmmaker Ashley McCue "just thought they were being nice."
"I guess that is just the Southern in me thinking that's how people act," the 1994 Baylor School graduate says.
The short film about a couple, both in their 60s, living in Marfa, Texas, who decide to swim upstream and enter the artisan goat cheese business during one of the worst droughts in Texas history, was accepted into nine other film festivals and took the top prize in two others.
It will be shown, and then retired from the festival circuit, in New York at the prestigious New York Film Food Fest Oct. 29-Nov. 2. McCue says she plans to screen the film here soon.
"The film is about doing things your own way and fighting the odds, and we kind of feel that's true of the film itself," McCue says. "We're proud of it, but it's time to move on after the film fest."
McCue has lived in Nashville, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas. She got her BA in Film Studies from Southern Methodist University.
McCue recently returned to Chattanooga to raise her son, Miles, born last Wednesday, after living in Los Angeles for the last 13 years. In LA, she worked as a photographer and filmmaker in a variety of off-camera roles. Her previous credits include working on the Sharrock family edition of "Extreme Makeover" that was shot in Rossville in 2011. This film marks her first foray into writing and directing.
McCue says she had always planned to return to Chattanooga at some point, but believes the decision of when was made for her when she came to visit her mother and sister four months ago and complications from her pregnancy dictated she be essentially bedridden and forbidden from traveling.
"The powers that be had me come here and stay here," she says. "I love it here. To be in a city that is so nurturing to the arts and artists is amazing."
It's similar in that regard to Marfa, McCue says. It is home to the ranch where the film classic "Giant" was shot, and McCue calls it "a place where cowboys and art merge. It's a beautiful place that just inspires creativity."
"Simple As That" was made by McCue and her Highway 90 Films partner Kari Branch and Russell Walker. It stars Malinda Beeman and Allan McClane. At its heart, it's a film about living by your own rules.
Beeman is an artist who makes flavored cheeses. McClane tends to the goats and has named each one. McCue says it was their individual stories and personalities that first attracted the filmmakers' attention. The movie was made over a two-week period.
"I didn't sleept for two weeks," she says. "We would shoot during the day and edit at night.
"It's a touching story about hope and second chances and redemption," McCue says. "It's about more than food."
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.