Most expiration dates come on the side of a milk carton. But for Charles Silvercloud III, it's on his 25th birthday.

"Expiration Date" is a film created by LDS filmmaker Rick Stevenson and will be showing today at 8 p.m. at the Varsity Theatre in the Wilkinson Student Center.

Stevenson's 2006 film is a dark comedy about Charles Silvercloud III, a man whose father and grandfather were both killed by milk trucks on their 25th birthday. The film takes place as Charles approaches his 25th birthday.

"Charles is completely convinced he is going to die," Stevenson said. "He's shopping for coffins and returning his library books when he meets a girl that won't let him die in peace."

A native of Seattle, Stevenson is a director, writer and producer and has created films starring big Hollywood names such as Meg Ryan, Kiefer Sutherland, Patrick Dempsey and Hugh Grant. Stevenson began filmmaking while obtaining his Ph.D. in International Relations at Oxford University in England.

Stevenson will hold a question and answer session after the showing of the film.

"Expiration Date" has been featured in many film festivals, but especially spiritual film festivals, Stevenson said.

Stevenson will accept the 2009 Spirit of Windrider Award in Park City Jan. 24. The Windrider Film Forum offers the award to filmmakers who have made uplifting films that reflect the faith of the filmmaker, Stevenson said.

Jeffrey Hill, a BYU alumnus of Media Arts Studies, first met Stevenson as a student in Professor Jeff Parkin's screenwriting class. Stevenson visited BYU as a guest lecturer while he was making "Expiration Date."

Hill said students should prepare themselves to view the film and ask questions.

"This is a pretty rare opportunity to get a filmmaker who is willing to answer any of your questions," Hill said.

Parkin also commented on his experience with Stevenson.

"Rick is a really generous individual," he said. "He's generous by the way he interacts with his audiences and the way he interacts with the characters in his stories."

Stevenson first got the idea to make the film when he met a man whose grandfather and father both died at the age of 45 from a heart attack. When Stevenson met the man he was just approaching his 45th birthday. Stevenson thought it was a great setup and began creating the film, he said.

"I think all of us have a curse that prevents us from living life to the fullest," he said.

BYU students will enjoy the film's black humor as well as appealing to people that have a spiritual aspect in their lives, Stevenson said.

"This is a romantic comedy with a sweet, twisted, black comedic element thrown in," Stevenson said. "What seems to speak to people is that [the film]'s got a very spiritual aspect to it. There seems to be a hunger of LDS people to find films that they enjoy other than films about the LDS experience. This is one of them. It's clean; if it were rated it would be PG-rated."

The film is also available on DVD at Deseret Book through Halestone Entertainment. Those interested may visit Stevensons's website at rickstevenson.com.



Copyright Brigham Young University 7 Jan 2009