PIERRE — The idea for an award-winning screenplay came to him on a treadmill in Boston. Now, Andrew Kightlinger, a T.F. Riggs High School graduate, is hoping his project has legs.

Earlier this year, the Newport International Film Festival named Kightlinger’s “You don’t Know Bertha Constantine” the best screenplay.

For Kightlinger, a 2008 Augustana graduate working on his Master’s degree at Boston University, the award comes as a validation of his work and an incentive to turn the script into a short film.

Courtesy phot Andrew Kightlinger, a T.F. Riggs High School graduate, works on a project while at Augustana. Kightlinger, now a graduate student at Boston University, won best screenplay at the Newport International Film Festival for ‘You don’t Know Bertha Constantine.’ He is working on turning his award-winning script into a short film. Advertisement

“It was a bit of surprise and a relief,” Kightlinger said. “I had been working on the screenplay since about January of this year. I submitted like the 18th draft. I guess all the hard work and dedication paid off.”

Turning the 18-page script into a 20-minute film requires fundraising that Kightlinger and Pierre natives, Luke Schuetlze and Adam Emerson, are currently pursuing.

“The award for the script is a big kick in the pants,” Kightlinger said. “We’re trying to raise about $55,000 to make this movie.”

The screenplay is about a woman trying to honor her dead husband’s wish to be buried in the Badlands, said Kightlinger, who moved to Pierre in 1998 from Madagascar with his parents, both missionaries.

“I was just thinking about the Badlands and the fact it’s never been the center piece of a film. I wanted to bring the beauty of South Dakota into the forefront of the movie. I wondered, how can I exploit this?”

Kightlinger said he thought back on his knowledge of Native American burial rituals and wanted to incorporate that into his work with the Badlands as a setting.

“I went back on some of the things I read about Native American rituals and how some of the elderly and the sick would walk out in the wilderness with honor and die in the wilderness, being one with nature so their spirit would be released into nature. I brought that concept into a modern day story about a woman who defies law and societal conventions by honoring her dead husband’s wish to be buried in the South Dakota Badlands,” he said.

Kightlinger, whose mother died of a heart attack in 2007, said ‘You Don’t Know Bertha Constantine’ was influenced by his loss.

“This movie is allowing me to deal with that pathos,” he said. “But it’s definitely an adventure movie at its core. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. It says something about how grief will make us do illogical things because we’re so overcome with the memories and the love for the person we lost. Sometimes the illogical becomes logical.”

Kightlinger said money raised will go to getting the right actors and filming in a difficult location.

“We need money to bring equipment out there, to cater and to pay people to work in the heat of the Badlands in the middle of June,” he said. “We want to hire the best actors possible. With a short film, to find any success the acting needs to be good, the script needs to be good.”

Kightlinger hopes to premiere the film in Pierre in the fall of 2010, part of a promise he made to Mayor Laurie Gill when Kightlinger served with her on the Chamber of Commerce board as a youth representative.

He said ‘You Don’t Know Bertha Constantine‘ is intended to be a gift to a community that nurtured him and he returns to occasionally.

“You can’t abandon where you come from,” he said. “I want to be able to give back to the community as much as I can. If I can become successful in filmmaking, I’m going to come back and shoot movies in Pierre and do as many philanthropic things as I can.”

Kightlinger said he has ideas for the lead roles. He said he intends to place his project in well-known film festivals, such as Sunset and Tribeca.

After completing his Masters program, Kightlinger intends to move to Los Angeles.

He said he’s received financial backing from some in Pierre and investment in the project is an investment in his future.

“They’re supporting local artists and they’re supporting my career,” he said. “This is a stepping stone to something big. Winning the award alludes to the fact this will be a very effective film and might actually have great success in the festival circuit.”

In December, Kightlinger intends to travel to Wales to receive his honor. He said the film, when made, could do well at other film festivals as it portrays a part of America most know little about.

“People still think South Dakota is still cowboys and Indians,” he said. “I wanted to dispel that notion.”

Those interested in giving to the project can reach Kightlinger at akkightlinger@gmail.com.