Lights. Camera. ACTION!
Yes, that’s right, the second annual River Bend Film Fest is back in South Bend for one weekend only, with special guest filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman.
There will be a free screening on campus on Thursday, April 29 as a preview of the fest. From 7 to 11:45 p.m. in Weikamp 1001, there will be previews of a few short films as well as Kaufman’s award-winning piece, The Toxic Avenger.
Festivities begin on Friday, April 30 at 7 p.m. at the Century Center in downtown South Bend and will continue there on Saturday, May 1 from 9 a.m. to midnight.
Movies from multiple genres, including family, horror, comedy, drama, and documentary will be shown throughout the event.
“There’s something for everybody,” said Tim Richardson, a theater professor at IU South Bend and the creator of the festival.
Richardson originally started the film fest on the IUSB campus, but when it became too big last year, he knew there needed to be a better venue. The Century Center and Downtown South Bend worked together with him to provide the Century Center facilities and help with marketing.
Richardson and his crew then renamed the festival to River Bend Film Fest and held the first annual festival in the spring of 2009. Workshops were added for all festival attendees to go to, not just budding filmmakers.
This year, there will be three workshops on May 1; Film Makeup Effects with local FX artist Andrew Swisher, Lighting and Camera for Video with Joel Langston and Lynn King from IUSB, and the Make Your Own Damn Movie Master Class with Kaufman. After Kaufman’s workshop, there will be a meet-and-greet with him.
“Even if you aren’t a filmmaker, even if you’re just interested in makeup or want to meet Lloyd Kaufman, the workshops are very interesting,” said Richardson.
On Friday, there will be a wide variety of films shown at the Century Center. On Saturday, there will be three different venues running all day long. In the evening, there will be darker science fiction and comedies shown, amongst other pieces.
Richardson and his selection committee initially received 130 applications for films at the festival, many from local filmmakers as well as international filmmakers. After a process of scoring and voting, 70 films were selected, which is more than Richardson has ever had to show.
Many of the films submitted were darker, which makes Kaufman’s presence at the fest this year very fitting.
“The styles of many films [to be] shown tie in [with Kaufman],” said Richardson. “But there are still many other films that you can watch if that genre isn’t your thing.”
Tickets are on sale now at www.riverbendfilmfest.org with credit card or PayPal accounts. They will also be available at the film fest for cash.
The first four Preface readers who email rbffsales@gmail.com with their name will be put on a list and receive a free ticket to the River Bend Film Festival once they arrive at the Festival.
