A new documentary, in collaboration with SCAD, captures the tale of one of Atlanta’s oldest cold cases.
“Mysteries provide wonderful grist for storytelling.” That’s local director and producer William VanDerKloot talking about his latest project, a documentary produced by Monument Motion Picture titled The Vanishing. It centers around the mysterious disappearance of 25-year-old Mary Shotwell Little from the Lenox Square parking lot in 1965. The unsolved case “stole Atlanta’s innocence” says the film and grabbed headlines for years as investigators struggled to uncover what happened to the young newlywed, whose innocent trip to the mall to have dinner with a friend and do some shopping turned into tragedy.
Through archival materials and news reporting, The Vanishing reveals the gripping details of Little’s disappearance, from her blood-soaked car to the shadowy male figure seen creeping around the parking lot that night. The film also includes interviews with criminal profilers, forensic detectives, FBI agents and a former Atlanta police officer turned private investigator named John Fedack who’s devoted more than 20 years to solving the case and claims he won’t stop until he’s either “pushing up daisies or we have an answer.”
Also weaved into the film are re-creations of Little’s suspected abduction by that shadowy male figure. The characters of Little and her alleged captor are portrayed by West Midtown residents and Savannah College of Art and Design students Lauren Pye and Patrick Bray. The pair learned about The Vanishing through SCAD’s casting office. “I was in their database and got an email asking me to audition,” says Pye. “We had one day of rehearsals and then shot our scenes in front of a green screen at the SCAD film studio. I definitely learned a lot about what it’s like to work on a professional set.” Of his experience, Bray recalls going to the film screening and joining the filmmakers onstage for the post-show Q&A. “Normally at SCAD events, I’m the one in the audience asking the questions,” he notes.
The Vanishing’s collaboration with SCAD didn’t end with the actors. “Other SCAD students worked behind the scenes as production assistants and as visual effects artists and compositors,” says VanDerKloot. “SCAD staff was also there to handle many of the technical issues involved in the green screen process.”
Of how his partnership with SCAD even came about, VanDerKloot says it stemmed from his longstanding relationship with Danya Levine, the director of SCAD Film Studios, whom he’d met when she worked at the Cartoon Network and did some postproduction work for his former studio, Magick Lantern. (His current production company is called VanDerKloot Film & Television.) “The students and staff at SCAD Film Studios were terrific,” says the filmmaker. “They were extremely talented and well-trained, and had a great work ethic. I’d hire them again in a heartbeat.”
VanDerKloot’s connection with the Little case goes back a while as well. He met John Fedack more than a decade ago when Fedack’s brother worked on a number of VanDer- Kloot’s film crews and suggested the two should meet. “Over the next decade or so, Fedack and I discussed Mary’s story every time we met,” says VanDerKloot. “A young bride vanishes without a trace. It’s as elemental a mystery as you can get.”
THE VANISHING
monumentmotionpictures.com
