Mount Shasta woman features familiar faces in film series

A Mount Shasta filmmaker will host a showing of her short documentaries about Siskiyou County people’s lives in February.

Six of Autie Carlisle's “Shasta Stories” series will be featured 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. next Tuesday and on Feb. 22 at the Mt. Shasta Cinemas, 118 Morgan Way.

Ranging from 8-20 minutes each, Carlisle’s 12-film series profiles Siskiyou residents from different backgrounds, telling stories and sharing their lifestyles.

Included in the series is "The Travelers," an episode about van and bus dwellers who hang out at Mount Shasta City Park and play in drum circles.

Other residents profiled include:

• Ross Sanders, a third-generation logger describing near-death experiences
• Crystal shop owner Bev Wilson Hoffman
• Spiritual author Peter Mt. Shasta, who renamed himself after the mountain
• John "Scruff" Case, president of the Eagles Lodge in Dunsmuir who pulls an actual skeleton out of his closet
• Katie "Mambo" Heflin, a tarot card reader living out of her trailer, describing how she knocked out a Hollywood celebrity with her purse

While she loves film as a medium, that’s not what spurred her into the business, Carlisle said. “It was that quest a lot of us have: How do I spend time in the environment I want to, with the people I want to, and get paid for it?”

She figured out the first two parts of that equation, she said.

Carlisle started out in fashion design, but creating “expensive garments for wealthy or trendy women” left her unfulfilled. “I wanted to make a product I could share with anyone for little or for free.”

She found her passion in filming people’s lives, she said. “I wanted to film the old fisherman who fishes all alone at dusk — to spend time with people who have something to share."

Dig deeper:Short 'Shasta Stories' films make Siskiyou County people into celebrities

Tickets to see Carlisle's film series are $10 at the door.

See a preview of "Shasta Stories" season two shorts at autiecarlisle.com/shastastories.

Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and entertainment stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica in the Get Out! Nor Cal recreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.