Parkersburg native Jason Gwynn poses with his Heartland Emmy for Best Short Format Program.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – A documentary produced by a Parkersburg native filmmaker recently took home a Heartland Emmy for Best Short Format Program at the 2014 NATAS Emmy Awards. The award-winning production, “Going Dark: The Final Days of Film Projection,” profiles two projectionists during their final days on the job before AMC purchased the theater and converted to digital projection.

The documentary was directed by Parkersburg native Jason Gwynn and Oklahoma City’s Jay Sheldon.

Theaters are being forced to convert to digital format as 35mm prints of studio releases will no longer be made available after this year. “Going Dark” captures the projection process and movie-going experience as it is now and explains what the conversion to digital will mean for moviegoers and film projectionists worldwide.

Gwynn and Sheldon shot the film over the course of a month in October of 2012 at Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City.

“It is a huge honor to receive this kind of recognition. Our short film has garnered more praise than we ever could have imagined,” said Gwynn.

The project just completed a year-long festival run, winning 5 best picture awards along the way. Going Dark was recently released online and can be viewed in its entirety at: vimeo.com/101235645 or go to Vimeo.com and search the keywords ‘going dark’