The third annual Indianapolis Underground Film Festival will be taking place the weekend of December 5 and 6. The 2003 festival, put on by a group of local filmmakers from The Film Commune, features more mainstream work than in years past and aims to appeal to a wider audience.
The festival’s mission is to showcase under-the-radar films from today’s up-and-coming directors that have not yet reached the masses via the multiplex, hence the idea of underground films. Without any prejudice against mainstream cinema, the festival organizers want to fill a niche previously not met in Indianapolis. Their platform, “Anywhere but Hollywood,” includes anything from a traditional big-budget narrative feature without distribution to an obscure experimental short that might otherwise go unnoticed. Festival organizers have recruited recognized directors from around the country in order to feature cutting edge work from the new wave of emerging filmmakers for this year’s festival.
On Friday, December 5, the festival will kick off at 8:00 p.m. with the premiere of the Friday Night Feature Film: “Robot Stories,” directed by Greg Pak, at Key Cinemas, located at 4044 S. Keystone Avenue. His film will be preceded by two short films, “An Everyday Occurrence” and “A Ninja Pays Half My Rent.”
The Saturday Night Short Film Collection: Best of 2003 will begin at 5:00 p.m., December 6, at Key Cinemas with the screening of The Boy Scout, and a special question and answer session with the director, an Indianapolis native, and producer. The rest of the evening starts at 7:00p.m with another feature film, Mary/Mary, directed by Joseph Biancaniello, and the shorts Bad Thoughts and Tom Hits His Head.
For more info, check out the Indianapolis Underground Film Festival website.
