IU Cinema partners with Indiana Filmmakers Network for first Indie Film Con
Filmmakers from across the Hoosier state will descend on the Bloomington campus next week, when they’ll gather at IU Cinema for what organizers hope will be the first of an annual Indie Film Con.
The conference includes three days of workshops, panel discussions and roundtables on topics such as 3-D production, multi-camera editing, directing and documentary filmmaking, as well as film screenings.
“This is an event the Indiana Filmmakers Network has been talking about for a while now, so we approached IU Cinema director Jon Vickers about hosting it at the cinema,” said organizer Chris Eller, who leads the advanced digital arts and media team at University Information Technology Services’ Advanced Visualization Lab at IU Bloomington, and teaches a course in 3-D film production in the Department of Telecommunications. “We wanted this to be a film convention versus a festival, where folks could see these filmmakers’ work on the big screen but also learn how they did it. And having it on the Bloomington campus really highlights IU Cinema’s position as a teaching cinema, where people can interact with the filmmakers.”
Indie Film Con 2013 begins Friday, June 7, with a shorts program. It continues through Saturday and Sunday with various workshops, panels and other discussion opportunities. A full schedule is available online, as are details about conference costs. The discussion events will take place in the Radio/TV building, thanks to help from the Department of Telecommunications, while the screenings are at IU Cinema.
“Indie Film Con represents a great opportunity for IU Cinema to partner with the Indiana Filmmakers Network,” Vickers said. “Supporting local and regional filmmakers is one of our goals that can be difficult to fulfill during the academic year, and we’re excited to be part of this three-day event this summer.”
A screenings-only pass is available for those who’d prefer to watch. Eller said organizers have received about 16 hours of film to screen, ranging from two-minute shorts to a 129-minute feature-length film. Plenty of genres are represented, including experimental, documentary, horror/thriller, comedy, action and science fiction, in both 2-D and 3-D.
The only thing that might make days full of film better? Two words: food trucks. Eller said organizers are hoping to attract several of Bloomington’s mobile restaurants to the area to feed conference-goers.
Tags: action film, Chris Eller, comedy film, Department of Telecommunications, documentary film, experimental film, horror/thriller film, Indiana Filmmakers Network, Indie Film Con 2013, IU Cinema, Jon Vickers, science fiction film
