South Bend, Indiana --The Third Annual River Bend Film Festival will be held Friday, April 1and Saturday, April 2 at the Century Center, and is sponsored by Downtown South Bend and the University of Notre Dame School of Arts and Letters. A free kickoff screening will take place Thursday, March 31 at Indiana University South Bend with space provided by the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts. Almost 80 local, national and international independent films in a wide variety of genres, cultures and topics - from student to professional - will be shown throughout the festival weekend.
The free Thursday night screening is 7 p.m. -- 11 p.m. in Room 1001 in Wiekamp Hall at Indiana University South Bend. The evening will include a selection of short films, many of which will revolve around teen and college age characters and subjects. The evening will conclude with the hilarious teen comedy Farmer's Tan about a misfit teen boy, which was filmed in California.
The main festival opens Friday night and runs from 7 p.m. -- 11:30 p.m., starting with an introduction by keynote speaker Stephen Susco, the Hollywood screenwriter who penned both Grudge movies. Susco is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and there will be a block of shorts from the recent Notre Dame Student Film Festival, as well as the award-winning feature film Happily After produced by the Notre Dame alumni from Glass City Films.
Saturday's daytime events run from 9 a.m. -- 6:00 p.m. Three simultaneous screening rooms assure there is always something for everyone to see. Highlights include locally produced films such as the zany "Fresh Fruit Pie", the creepy "Red Lily", B-movie spoof "Night of the Living Spuds", and the dark comedy "Getting Ahead." The 4-minute "Last Seen on Delores Street" by L.A. based filmmaker Devi Snively was filmed in Niles, and Goshen actor Jordon Hodges co-wrote and starred in the thriller "Impulse Black" shot in L.A. There is also a selection of half a dozen international films, including the beautiful and disturbing film "Der Sandman", where a man wakes up each day in an increasing bed of sand and begins to lose time.
During Saturday morning and afternoon, festival-goers will have the opportunity to learn more about film production, screenwriting and acting through five different workshops. This year we are offering a special Film Actors Track, which includes the workshops "Acting in the Midwest and L.A." and "Acting for the Camera", each presented by professional film actors. Actors may also pose on-site for professional head shots provided by Chicago-based Glass City Stills for the fee of $25, plus the cost of a weekend or day pass, which must be ordered online in advance. Susco will host a 2-hour movie pitch workshop, where aspiring screenwriters may test out a one-minute pitch for a movie idea and get feedback. The winning pitch will receive personal mentoring from Susco throughout the writing of their final script.
Saturday night's programming is from 7 p.m. -- Midnight and includes some darker films such as the haunting "Please Don't Cry" and the American Revolution period "Madness of War", balanced by lighter fare like "This is the Orange Line", a musical experimental film focused on the Chicago Orange Line L train from day to night. The closing feature of the festival is the Michigan-filmed "High School" produced by Susco and starring Adrien Brody. It is a comedy revolving around a valedictorian whose first time marijuana use occurs just prior to a mandatory drug test, so he and a friend must hatch a plot to jeep him from getting expelled. The evening will conclude with the announcement of this year's award winners in several categories.
Friday (7 p.m. -- 11:30 p.m.) - $10 regular, $8 student/senior
Saturday (9 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.) - $5 regular, $4 student/senior
Saturday (12:30 p.m. -- 6:30 p.m.) - $10 regular, $8 student/senior
Saturday (7 p.m. -- Midnight) - $10 regular, $8 student/senior
Saturday Day Pass (9 a.m. -- Midnight) - $20 regular, $18 student/senior
Weekend Pass (Friday 7 p.m. -- Saturday Midnight) - $30 regular, $25 student/senior
For detailed information regarding the festival schedule, listings and description of films, workshops, and purchasing tickets please visit the website at www.riverbendfilmfest.org.
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