Asheboro NC’s The Mightier Than The Sword Awards at Sunset Film Festival is quickly approaching, or has come and gone depending on when you are reading this and after speaking with program director Ty Brueilly for his feature story last week, he sent us over to check out the Los Angeles based, Rigarrao Productions, a delightful duo; Patricia Rigney & Kevin Carrao.
At first glance, we see a blend of all the right comedy in the impressive, 19 part web series, with 2021 ‘Glasscock Park’ that begins with a clever point of view first episode from the eyes of dogs and humans, including a visual delight with dogs playing checkers.
We then get into Rigarrao’s follow up, with ‘H.O.E.s: The Bulge’ with some very familiar faces from ‘Glasscock Park’ and where the comedy, the acting and the execution is on a whole new level, improvement at every turn, where we are really in for a treat.
The IMDb page summary reads, “A single camera comedy that shows the on air/off air shenanigans at the Home, Outdoor, and Entertainment shopping channel. Rhonda Stevenson comes to H.O.E. to sell her latest item for male consumer confidence, The Bulge”
That storyline alone is comedic gold, so you can only imagine, topped off with the brilliance of the acronym you are in for lot’s of fresh laughs. And this is where we enter the relationship between MTTS and Rigarrao.
“2023 was such a defining year for my filmmaking career.” Brueilly says, “I was in Hollywood 7 times that year, all for screening of my films or film festivals I was selected to be a part of. I was learning at a rate I hadn’t since college days. In November it landed me at the Skiptown Playhouse Film Festival. During opening night the director, Vincenzo Carubia did a hell of a job with making us all feel welcome so most of us opened up on the microphone. I remember Kevin talking about his project, “The Bulge” and just being fascinated with it, then I spoke before really thinking, asking him a question about if it was like the film, ‘Envy’. I didn’t realize it, until I thought more about it, but I was like damn, that’s not such a great question to ask him, as an artist I wouldn’t be super pleased if someone immediately compared it to something already out, especially if they hadn’t watched it yet. But that made it even more of a mission for me to make it a point to see him again so I could at least apologize!”
As Brueilly continues talking, we find out that he in fact did express his regret for asking the question and has built a strong friendship with Kevin, meeting with him each time he is in Hollywood and also programming his work into the Mightier Than The Sword Awards at Sunset Film Festival in each of the three years of it’s existence.
Carrao elaborates, “I first met Ty at a festival in Los Angeles, and at the time he had told me he was toying with the idea of establishing a film festival in his hometown. I thought it was definitely something he should do and was also giving him my input on my likes & dislikes about festivals in general. When the inaugural festival happened, we made sure to submit our pilot and it was awesome to be selected, but unfortunately with the timing of the first one we were not able to attend in person.” Rigney finishes, “But now we’re able to attend this year’s and are super excited to be a part of this festival.”
Not only will Rigarrao have their newest production, ‘Clean Getaway’ screen twice during the programming of this year’s festival, they are also stepping in the realm of panel moderation and red carpet interviewing, becoming part of the overall production crew for the documentation for the festival.
Carrao states, “In terms of moderating & interviews, I like to of course have fun with the filmmakers, but also to ask questions that are hopefully unique or can derive intriguing responses so that everyone overall can learn something new or see in a different light.
Rigney follows up, “As far as our ‘Clean Getaway’ screenings, I feel people can take away & relate to many aspects from our film. I don’t want to give the good stuff away, but I will give one example . We all have a sock drawer that might need a little tidying. Or a lot. What’s great about Mightier Than The Sword, is having the opportunity to screen twice during the festival run” as Carrao chimes back in, “Yeah, it’s truly rare to have the chance to screen more than once, and I love it because it gives more chances not just for the general audience but the filmmakers themselves to support each other at the screenings.”
Just as ‘The Bulge’ levels up from ‘Glasscock’ we see ‘Clean Getaway’ does the same, showing a strong pattern of improvement, cleaner edits, more focus to cinematography, and the like, and again the humor is top notch and tamed just enough to accommodate a younger audience as well.
“What inspired ‘Clean Getaway’ was I woke up one morning to all my clean laundry spilled all over my dining room table because I was too tired the night before to fold them.” States Rigney, “Then I looked to the clock and it’s time for me to leave for work, and lo and behold, I can’t find my keys anywhere. I searched all over, including my dining room table. I said to myself, “this house is so messy a robber couldn’t find anything to steal”. Wait a second, I think that could be something. I reached out to my writing partner Kevin, and I pitched him the idea.” Carrao follows quickly, “And I thought it was a great idea. Then we really worked on what we wanted to convey specifically, because we didn’t want an audience just watching someone clean a house. So we thought of universal household tasks that could benefit from a humorous perspective. Also, we tried to challenge ourselves cinematically, and we devised many ways through camera & editing techniques to tell the story in interesting ways, as well as differentiate from our other projects up to this point.”
We feel audiences will have a great time watching this film, programed Friday August 7th 3pm and Sunday August 9th 1pm and also just from their conversations, have a great time talking with, getting to know and networking with Rigarrao Productions.
“I’m beyond thrilled to get them to Asheboro. I’ve spent a lot of time with Kevin the past three years and he can sense the passion and love that I have for my hometown mixed with the ambitions I have for founding Asheboro’s first ever film fest. I feel this is a necessary step forward for our festival, to bring in a few L.A. based production companies to help produce this event. Rigarrao Productions, Happy Fright Films & Pink Plaid Productions are a compelling trio to bring Hollywood to Asheboro again for the third year, but this time a much cohesive manner.” Brueilly stated.
Carrao adds, “We are thrilled as well to represent through Rigarrao Productions, because when we first became a team we didn’t want to limit ourselves on opportunities creatively. And with MTTS we get to expand by helping to showcase all the great filmmakers in North Carolina, as well as the ones that are traveling to Asheboro. I’m excited for all the extracurricular events the festival does too, like stand-up comedy and music. They are aspects that are basically included in the parts of filmmaking, so it’s such a great idea to have them featured during the festival too. “
When asked what Rigney is looking forward to the most, she says, “Asheboro. From the whole downtown and the historic & beautiful Sunset Theatre, it all looks amazing…seeing and meeting all the awesome films & filmmakers that are a part of this festival and enjoying all the panels and everything that Mightier Than The Sword, and Southern hospitality has to offer. That includes the food too.”
Mightier Than The Sword Awards at Sunset Film Festival takes place August 7-9, 2026 at the historic Sunset Theatre, downtown Asheboro, NC. Tickets are $15 & $20 with full three-day passes at $45. 60+ film titles will be shown during the three days, with an opening night comedy hour and concert, a cult classic double feature (‘The Mutilator [1984] & ‘Mutilator 2 [2023]) on Saturday, finalized with a formal award ceremony and headlining films (‘Boonerang: Returning To The High Country’ & ‘The Sight Unseen’) on Sunday. More information, for tickets and schedule, go here:
https://www.filmandfashionbybrueilly.com/mttsawards
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