By Daily Press staff
The Tillamook Treasure last month received the Newport Film Festival juried award for Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking in the Family Feature Division.
The Tillamook Treasure, a new feature film by Bright Light Studio in Santa Monica, was filmed in Digital HD in Santa Monica and in Oregon. First-time director Jane Beaumont Hall and her husband, executive producer Richard Doyon, wrote and produced the movie, but the “family” in the film goes way beyond that. Daughters Suzanne Marie and Janine both star in this inspirational film, and many other family members and friends were involved in the making of the film.
Award-winning writers Hall and Doyon brought a personal touch to the script. Hall’s family has been summer residents at their cabin in Manzanita, Ore. for nearly half a century. As a child, Hall heard legends of treasure buried by the Spanish hundreds of years ago on nearby Neahkahnie Mountain and those who lost their lives in search of the Tillamook Treasure.
“It was a story from my childhood and I felt that while their may not be any real gold on the mountain, there was gold in the story,” Hall said.
Over several years, Hall and Doyon fleshed out the script, adding complexity and layers, creating a story about family that will capture the imaginations of both parents and their children. Doyon says “The story ultimately is about the value of family, but not in a preachy way.”
Native American legend tells of a Spanish ship landing on the Oregon Coast in the late 1590s. The sailors, or some say pirates, buried a chest filled with gold on Neahkahnie Mountain. To protect their treasure and scare the local natives away they brought one of their slaves ashore, killed him and buried him with the gold.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 26, 2006. Read the original PDF.