Entertainment Magazine: Film

The 2013 Indiana Independent Film Convention

The Indiana Filmmakers Network held its first Indie Film Con– or Independent Film Convention – (half festival, half panels/workshops) in June in Bloomington, Indiana. Filmmaker Chris Eller spearheaded the June 2013 event.

The convention setting couldn’t have been more convivial and relaxed.  Part festival and part conference, short and feature films as well as workshops and panels brought together 155 attendees from around Indiana and neighboring areas. 
 
What was unique was the equal time devoted to workshops and panels.  And the screenings took place in the intimate, state-of-the-art Indiana University Cinema.

• Ingénue is the latest feature film from Indiana filmmaker Kate Chaplin. Ingénue tells the story of a female clone, the result of secret experiments, who is about 20 years old yet starts out with the mind of a young child.  She learns quickly, though, in the loving home of her “adoptive” parents and their two elementary-age daughters. With a mix of intrigue, sci-fi thriller, romance, and drama, the film is very attuned to female experience.  And despite some tense moments, high emotions, and a few bad guys, it delivers the happy ending.
• Leach. Sounds slimy and bloodsucking.  A leech.  Or there’s the seeping, leaching cesspool.  To leach. Let’s just say both. Leach is a feature length suspense thriller from writer-director John Taylor and actor-producer Jim Dougherty.  It was a nightmare of Taylor’s which inspired the script. It’s a nifty play on words, for the story focuses on two newly acquainted men, one of whom is a dangerous sociopath named Ron Leach who won’t let go.
• Cheery Point.  It’s a very ironic title.  And very timely.  This is a film that makes you think seriously about the path down which American society seems to be heading in the 21st century.  And it’s not the yellow brick road.