Making movie magic in Fredericksburg, Va.
August 2025
Far left, director Koby Garcia and actor Tim Leece with reenactors from the 29th Infantry Division Living History Group on the set of “Angel in Hell.” (photos courtesy NVMPC)
by Gregg MacDonald, Staff Writer
In 2011, when he was 11 years old, Koby Garcia went to see a movie called “Super 8.” That film — directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg — wound up having a profound impact on his life.
“The movie was about kids, about my age at the time, who were interested in making movies,” he says. “It got me interested in becoming a filmmaker, and it started that ball rolling for me.”
Fast forward to summer 2025: Garcia, now 26, is directing his first short film in Fredericksburg, Va., after writing the screenplay.
Perhaps not coincidentally, “Angel in Hell,” a fictional World War II drama about a pilot shot down behind enemy lines in occupied France, features a supernatural, Spielberg-like element: The pinup girl painted on the side of the B-25 bomber plane comes to life, assists the pilot and helps him get back home.
Robert Kendzie (left) is founder and director of The Northern Virginia Motion Picture Co-Op, which is helping Koby Garcia direct his first short film. (photo by Gregg MacDonald)
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
Garcia acknowledges that he could not have achieved his childhood dream of becoming a filmmaker without help, primarily from a nonprofit group called The Northern Virginia Motion Picture Co-Op. “I wrote the screenplay for the movie on my own, but I did not have the equipment or the skills needed to make the movie a reality,” he says. “The co-op provided me with both those things and made it all possible.”
Robert Kendzie, the founder and director of The Northern Virginia Motion Picture Co-Op, says the idea for a nonprofit cooperative that could help would-be local filmmakers turn creative ideas into tangible realities came about in 2013.
“I worked in Hollywood for about 10 years in the 90s before moving to Fredericksburg and settling down into a ‘straight’ job,” Kendzie says. “But I continue to have a deep love of filmmaking, and I keep in contact with many others who feel the same way. The idea of NVMPC was born of that: a largely informal alliance of folks who could help each other produce short films.”
In Northern Virginia, Kendzie discovered a unique group of individuals who seemed perfect for his equally distinctive concept. “Several of the folks initially involved were working for either corporate or military clients producing video material of a commercial or documentary nature, but were also interested in trying out narrative and fictional filmmaking,” he explains. “We also had many folks from the local theater community who were interested in the project as a way to gain experience acting in front of a camera rather than before a live audience.”
Kendzie points out that Fredericksburg also has a lively theater scene, featuring one commercial theater and two well-funded community theater organizations that produce numerous shows throughout the year. He says, “It all kind of came together as a result of all that.”
Robert Kendzie does some post-production work.
POST-PRODUCTION BLUES
Now in its 12th year, The Northern Virginia Motion Picture Co-Op has officially produced nine films, with Garcia’s film set to be the 10th. The co-op has also been involved in several other projects. “Sometimes it’s about helping to cast the right actor, sometimes it’s about finding a location to shoot in or providing a piece of gear to shoot with and, oftentimes, it just means folks showing up to volunteer their time and talent on one project or another in any way they can,” he says. “We use the word ‘co-op’ in a very literal sense — when we’re doing it right, the idea is that we foster and encourage cooperation among our circle in the service of making art. It’s always been a very loose organization.”
THE WYCHWOOD CYCLE REDEMPTION
Kendzie says he has wanted to convert the nonprofit motion picture co-op into an official 501(c)(3) organization for some time. To that end, he began hosting monthly educational seminars in 2019. However, the pandemic soon intervened. “We were putting together a board and writing up bylaws and generally getting ready to take the next steps when the pandemic hit in 2020 and everything shut down,” Kendzie remembers.
In January 2023, new life arrived for NVMPC in the form of a comeback film project called “The Wychwood Cycle,” a film that would take more than a year to complete but would ultimately save NVMPC. “Throughout 2023, we ran a successful GoFundMe campaign to raise $9,000 for the project, and it ended up taking a significant amount of my life for the following year,” Kendzie says. “However, it was the best thing we could have done. A whole new cadre of folks got involved, there was a lot of excitement generated and the film itself turned out beautifully.”
“The Wychwood Cycle” also played a role in Garcia’s growth as a filmmaker. Before he directed his own movie, he sharpened his filmmaking skills as the first assistant cameraman on Wychwood. “I learned so much from that experience,” he says. “I’d never used camera equipment that nice before, and it proved to be an invaluable lesson.”
Production assistant Sara Fontana with actors Margot Moser, Brandon Carr and Diana Lee Arnold on the set of “To Whom It May Concern.”
STAR OF STAGE AND SCREEN
Originally a stage actor, Margot Moser has appeared in three NVMPC productions so far. Her first, “To Whom It May Concern,” was coincidentally also her first time acting in front of a camera. “It was kind of different doing multiple takes of our scenes,” she says. “It allows you to have a different scale of expression than you do onstage, and it helped build my confidence as an actor.”
“To Whom It May Concern” is a science fiction story about time travel, and Moser says it was shot in three acts, making it a natural transition for her to go from acting on stage to acting onscreen. Before her movie debut in that production, Moser mainly performed with the nonprofit Fredericksburg Theatre Ensemble. She says that’s how she met Kendzie. “The community Rob has built with The Northern Virginia Motion Co-Op is a wonderful outlet for filmmakers and actors alike,” she says. “He has been very supportive of local actors and has helped so many people get experience in film production.”
VIRGINIA IN THE MOVIES
The Virginia Film Office pairs professional filmmakers with locations, resources and creative solutions for local movie shoots. Margaret Finucane, communications manager at VFO, notes that although Virginia is not one of the top states for film production (those would be California, New York and Georgia), it does attract its share of famous filmmakers. “We have had some pretty big-time movies shot here,” she says. “‘Dirty Dancing,’ ‘Lincoln’ (with Daniel Day-Lewis), ‘Captain Phillips’ (starring Tom Hanks) and ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ were all shot in Virginia.”
On its website, the Virginia Film Office features a quote from “Wonder Woman” actor Gal Gadot that reads, “Virginia welcomed us with so much love and support.”
Finucane says that, overall, Virginia is less of a “blockbuster” movie state and more of a “boutique” film state, often attracting smaller, esoteric productions. She says The Northern Virginia Motion Picture Co-Op is an excellent resource for local actors, directors, equipment operators and anyone else interested in breaking into the business. “They help fill in the gaps between someone starting out on their own and professionals who might come to us to scout out locations for a commercial shoot,” she says.
ONWARD AND UPWARD
Kendzie remains hopeful that NVMPC will eventually transition into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and his optimism is infectious. “I think it will take some time to get there, as after the pandemic, we were basically starting over from scratch, but we’ve made a lot of progress and I remain hopeful,” he says. “Meanwhile, we recently partnered with the Virginia Screenwriters Forum in Richmond to produce a project by one of their writers, and everyone had such a good time on it that we’re going to do it again soon!”
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