Indie Film Con contributes to IU filmmaking community
Guest post courtesy of IU Newsroom colleague Jaclyn Lansbery:
For the second year, the Indiana Filmmakers Network is partnering with IU Cinema to present the 2014 Independent Filmmakers Convention for two days of panel discussions, presentations and 25 new feature-length films and shorts.
Music, horror, comedy, documentary, animation, science fiction and other genres will be represented at this year’s Indie Film Con screenings, which will take place at the IU Cinema from June 7-8. Panel discussions will be held at the IU Bloomington’s Fine Arts Building in Room 010 and 015.
The Indie Film Con takes place from June 7-8.
Organizer Chris Eller, who oversaw last year’s Indie Film Con, said there will be a higher percentage of shorts this year but an increased number of submissions from new filmmakers – from as far away as France and LA, he said.
“By hosting the Indie Film Con here in Bloomington in Southern Indiana – not in LA, not in Chicago or New York – we’re giving the filmmaking community in this area a venue, a place to gather an audience as well as to meet the audience,” said Eller, who leads the advanced digital arts and media team in Bloomington’s University Information Technology Services’ Advanced Visualization Lab and teaches courses in 3D film production in the Department of Telecommunications.
Eller, a board member of the Indiana Filmmakers Network in Bloomington, added that independent filmmakers tend to screen their films to their audiences in one of two ways: online distribution, usually through YouTube, or submitting work to the hundreds of festivals throughout the country.
“Filmmakers love to be seen,” he said. “And part of watching a movie in a theater or a cinema is the communal experience, and you don’t get that online.”
IU senior Hallie Baumann, who specializes in special-effects makeup, submitted the 13-minute short “Holding On: A Story of Escape,” a drama about a struggling teen living in an abusive home. Baumann, a general studies major, did the on-set makeup and wrote the script after learning about the convention after last year’s debut.
IU senior Hallie Baumann wrote the script and did the on-set makeup for the short “Holding On: A Story of Escape.”
“The Indie Film Con helps cultivate the filmmaker community in Bloomington by bringing filmmakers together for a common goal, regardless of their levels of experience,” Baumann told Art at IU via email. “It’s a forum to talk about work and to glean knowledge from those around you that you might not normally be able to network with.”
Other IU folks on this year’s film lineup: alums Scott Lehman and Nathan Erdel will each screen the comedy “It’s About Time: The Cornpocalypse” and the horror film “Unwelcome.” Laura Ivins-Hulley, an IU graduate student and projectionist at IU Cinema, will show her animated film “Sunday Doesn’t Have to be Blue.”
The panels this year include topics on women in filmmaking, 3D filmmaking, acting for the camera, and contract law and intellectual law rights.
Information on schedule and ticket details is available online. Tickets can also be purchased at IU Cinema during the first day of the convention.
Tags: Chris Eller, Department of Telecommunications, Independent Filmmakers Convention, Indiana Filmmakers Network, Indie Film Con, IU Cinema, University Information Technology Services’ Advanced Visualization Lab
