"Road to Nowhere," the independent motion picture filmed last year in Western North Carolina, will premiere at the prestigious Venice Film Festival in Italy, which is scheduled September 1-11. The film is one of 19 selected to represent the United States, along with others by such notable directors as Martin Scorsese, Sofia Coppola, Ben Affleck and the late Dennis Hopper, and is one of 22 competing for the festival's "Golden Lion" award.

"Road to Nowhere" was directed by Monte Hellman, and written and produced by Steven Gaydos. It stars Dominique Swain (“JAG,” “Ghost Whisperer”), Shannyn Sossamon (“How to Make it in America,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”), Tygh Runyan (“Battlestar Galactica,” “SGU Stargate Universe”), and Cliff De Young (“The Young and the Restless,” “Grey’s Anatomy”).

"Road to Nowhere" is described as a romance-thriller about a young filmmaker who gets wrapped up in a crime while shooting his latest project on location. The real filmmakers spent two months last year shooting in several areas of North Carolina, including Jackson, Graham, Buncombe, Haywood, and Swain Counties, the cities of Waynesville, Asheville and Bryson City, and at Fontana Lake.

"Filming in Western North Carolina was a wonderful experience," said co-producer Peter R.J. Deyell, who is based in Los Angeles.  "We were welcomed by friendly communities and had enormous cooperation by local business, government, and law enforcement. We hired very professional local crew members and were supported by film students from Western Carolina University."

Deyell, who was in charge of production, gave special thanks to the Western North Carolina Film Commission and Amanda Baranski, along with location scout and manager Michael Bigham, who, according to Deyell, was "as good as any Hollywood location manager."

The spirit of cooperation extended both ways, according to Larry Lerner, first assistant director.

"We received a lot of help from the local, state and federal level," Lerner said. "The Waynesville Police Department provided us with picture vehicles and off-duty police as extras, which greatly added to the ease of production. They even dedicated a plainclothes detective car to the show, which was available wherever and whenever we wanted it."

Locations included Fontana Lake and Fontana Dam, for which the filmmakers were required to obtain special permits from The Tennessee Valley Authority. The Federal Aviation Administration granted permission for the filmmakers to fly a small airplane over Fontana Dam. And the Great Smoky Mountains National Park allowed the company to shoot the actual Road to Nowhere and the tunnel at its end, specific locations that director Monte Hellman wanted, as described in the script.

"The level of cooperation we received was exceptional," Deyell said. "I look forward to working in North Carolina again, when I shoot my next feature, 'Blood Lake,' in 2011."

The Venice Film Festival is one of the oldest and most prestigious film festivals in the world.  2010 marks the 67th edition of the famed festival, whose aim is to raise awareness and promote all the various aspects of international cinema in all its forms: as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and tolerance. The Festival includes retrospectives and homages to major figures as a contribution towards raising awareness of the history of cinema.