Huntsville filmmaker’s latest work to have ‘high profile’ debut

HUNTSVILLE – After several “almost underground” premiers of his work, Huntsville filmmaker Jurian Isabelle is taking it to the big screen.

His latest film, “Nine Divine,” will debut March 25 at 6 p.m. at Cinemark Bridge Street and XD.

It isn’t the first time Isabelle has premiered a show in his hometown. In fact, the red carpet has been rolled out here for several of his films including “God of Dreams”, “Candy”, and “Buffalo Soldiers: A Quest for Freedom.”

“In the past, we have premiered them as a very local, almost underground way,” Isabelle said. “With ‘Nine Divine,’ we are getting a little higher profile than before. We will have all the actors here, some of them are Hollywood actors, as well as others involved with the picture.”

“Nine Divine” is a mind-bending emotional thrill ride told through the eyes of an introverted, artistic 15-year-old girl in foster care who finds herself pulled into a mystical quest to find her little brother after he and other children suddenly disappear without a trace.

The story taps into themes of loss, abandonment, faith, fear, and the struggle to find one’s place in life.

“Nine is a character that represents the coming-of-age struggle between childhood wonder and creativity and the ‘real world’ responsibilities of adulthood,” said Isabelle. “This movie touches on the things that really matter, including the need for belonging, the value of artistic expression, and the critical need for good role models in kids’ lives.

He said Huntsville’s dynamic arts culture contributed significantly to the making of the film and the local talent and the spirit of community was a constant source of inspiration and pride in his home.

Max Grelier, co-founder of the RCP Companies and MidCity district developer, is sponsoring the premier. He said the “Nine Divine’ project was special to MidCity, not only because of its direct link to Huntsville, but because of its focus on the significance of the arts and creativity.

“We are fully committed to our local arts culture, with so much more to come in the future with what we have planned,” he said.

“Supporting Jurian Isabelle in bringing Nine Divine from a dream to reality fit perfectly into our goal of helping develop the Huntsville region into a world class hub for arts and entertainment.”

Isabelle himself has taken a non-Hollywood approach to filmmaking that pays off more with every film he releases, at a pace of about one a year.

He said he was dreaming up films when he was five years old.

Isabelle won an academic scholarship to Alabama State. Since the school did not offer film courses at that time, Isabelle got his degree in communications, TV and radio.

He did a student exchange program that allowed him to study abroad before landing at Cal State in Los Angeles.

“I wanted to take this screenwriting course but I didn’t have any of the prerequisites,” he said. People were asking me, ‘Where are you from?’ I figured I came all the way out here to take this class so I am going to turn in the assignment and if they let me in great, if they don’t fine.

“They let me in.”

Isabelle was a southern boy at heart and knew he did not want to pursue a career in a big city such as Los Angeles, New York or even Atlanta.

“I tell people I went out to L.A. to figure it out, learn about the industry and I did that,” he said.

Isabelle returned home and built a team of friends and people he knew, to do some writing and filming on his own.

“The first couple of pieces I put together quickly went viral on YouTube, so I did a documentary on the Buffalo Soldiers and with that, Isabelle Studios started growing,” he said. “I have done a lot of individual films over the years and my last two have especially gotten a lot of attention, even by Huntsville City Schools.”

He said he tries to do something different with every film to challenge himself.

“’Buffalo Soldiers’ was a documentary. ‘God of Dreams’ was science fiction. ‘Nine Divine’ is a family adventure fantasy film,” Isabelle said.

And he does it all – writer, cameraman, casting director, film director and editor.

“Yeah, this ain’t Hollywood,” he said with a laugh. “I have a small crew who help me, and I have a producer, Joe Lankford, who worked for The Grammys. He’s back here in Huntsville now and he’s been helping me do some producing. And I took on an intern that wound up running sound for us.”

See movie trailer below:

Isabelle said he shoots almost exclusively on location because he does not have the budget to build sets. However, it helps that he envisions the setting as he writes, however, it is still sometimes challenging working out the details.

In “Nine Divine,” for instance, he envisioned the hedge-maze and it was important to his vision.

His search turned up only one hedge-maze in the United States, The Garden Maze at Luray Caverns, Va.

“A good location gives you production value, where you might not have a big budget on the film but if you have a great location, it makes it that much more interesting for people to watch and the value of the film,” said Isabelle.

“We were lucky to land that hedge maze and the crew from up there are all coming down for the premier.”

What does he think about Huntsville’s potential for becoming a filmmaking hub?

“I want Huntsville to be a great market for filmmaking, but I don’t want it to lose its charm and lose what makes us, us,” he said.

So no turning Huntsville into Little Hollywood!

Click here to purchase tickets for both showings of the premier on March 25.