The 2008 Indy Awards were held Saturday September 27th, at the Laikin Auditorium-Jewish Community Center, Indianapolis In.

There were twelve films competing two $400 awards. All of the filmmakers did a great job. I really enjoyed catching up with the all of them and meeting some new faces.

Let me go on the record here. I had a horse in this race. I was one of the people that encouraged and helped Kate Chaplin bring “First They Came For…” to the screen. So being there when that ‘horse’ won it’s first race was a thrill! There were quite a few of the crew members in attendance.  A couple of them brought their own film to the festival. Tom Johnson and Nate Savadge entered their film “The Last Bottle”. The epic tale of two friends who turn against each other when they are down to their last beer. As has been said before, this film changed my life. It was great fun to watch! Kelly Lynch brought two of his films to the festival “On Common Ground” and “The Passenger”. Kelly’s eye for cinematography and camera movement is amazing. And since “The Passenger” took first place at the ‘Really Big Short Film Festival’ last spring. We were all nervous about going up against him again.

I am thrilled that Kate got the Audience Award. She’s worked very hard on her filmmaking skills and it’s great to see her get this recognition. The entire cast and crew put in some amazingly hard work to produce this film. The other thing that seemed appropoe was this film winning it’s first award at a screening in the Jewish Community Center. Considering the message of the film, I think the venue really drove it home.  The ideas of never forget and never again. I want to personally thank everyone in attendance that voted for the film.

The Jury Award was presented to “In Memoriam” a short film by Fort Wayne native Andrea Listenberger. Andrea is currently attending collage in New York state and could not make it to the festival. Her family was present and received the award for her. I hope to see more work from Andrea in the future. Her story telling skills are impressive and the preformances of the cast were riviting.

Congratulations to both Kate and Andrea… It was definitely ladies’ night at the Indy Awards!

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Posted by admin on September 28th, 2008 :: Filed under Film Festivals, Film Screenings
Tags :: Film Festivals, Indy Awards, Kate Chaplin

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A few weeks ago I spent the weekend helping out on a new music video for the country band “Shilo”.

We started Saturday morning in the small town of Topeka Indiana. Topeka is about 45 minutes northwest of Ft.Wayne, deep in the heart of Amish country. The location was the Topeka Pharmacy, which is pretty much a general store… doubling for a old style Five and Dime.

The main characters of the video where portrayed by
Alicia Hedlund, Travis Gow, and Chris Breidinger.

Alicia Hedlund

Travis Gow

Chris Breidinger

Which brings us to the title of the song…
“Dodg’n a Ford (in my Chevrolet)”
Here’s Travis’ Chevrolet…

and here’s the Ford he’s Dodg’n…(along with Nate Savidge catching some cool footage)

We had a blast shooting the chase footage. Stunt Supervisor Jim Dougherty organized the chase scene while Director Kate Chaplin oversaw the rest of the shoot.

Alicia, Kate and Jim

On Sunday we shot the band footage. These guys were great… they put up with all of the hurry-up and wait that comes with any shoot, without any complaints. As a film crew we’re used to this kind of thing taking way longer than anyone would ever guess. These guys were pros!

We were also joined by still photographer
Polina Osherov
. Who took some incredible shots of the band and crew. These are not her photos… but here’s a photo of her…which you won’t find in her shots!

Polina & Kate

It was a long hot weekend but lots of fun and hard work.
The video is now in the hands of the producers awaiting approval of the edit.
I’ll be sure to do an update when it’s available.

–chuck

Photos by Lynn Budreau

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Posted by admin on September 23rd, 2008 :: Filed under Film Shoots
Tags :: Film Shoots, Kate Chaplin, Music Video, Shilo

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Well… It’s been a year since I sat down and started designing a website for Indie Filmmakers in Indiana.

It has been a very rewarding task. I have met some really great people and made some good friends. My goal from the outset was to create a community gathering place. A place where Filmmakers, Actors, and those interested in our projects could share ideas, experiences, and our work with each other.

I owe a great deal of thanks to everyone in this community who have put aside their personal differences to make this site positive. I want to thank everyone who has helped to spread the word and make IndyFilmNews.com “the site” to promote your films and meet other filmmakers. I could start a list of names, but that would take way too much space… and I’m not organized enough to ensure that I would include everyone. But if you’re reading this… I’m thanking you.

IndyFilmNews.com has been growing in both visitors and content. I wanted to include as much useful information as possible.

The latest features…include this Blog, where I will ramble on about what ever has happened that I think is worthy of me rambling on about.
I have also started using a content management engine. Basically this will allow you to submit articles under several Topic headings. I will then be able to review them and with a simple click post them to the site. This should make the site more interactive.
It will also allow you to post comments on the articles you find on IndyFilmNews.com.

I will also be doing some interviews with local filmmakers and industry supporters.
If you would like to be added to the list of interviewees, please shoot me an email
chuck@indyfilmnews.com

There will be more new features and content as we move into the second year. I am always looking for suggestions. I want you to consider this site “your site”. If you find it lacking something please let me know.

In the past year I have seen several projects who have benefited greatly from networking that started on IndyFilmNews.com. These filmmakers have worked together and raised the production value of their films… that’s what this is all about.

Thanks everyone,

–chuck budreau
IndyFilmNews.com

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Posted by admin on September 13th, 2008 :: Filed under IndyFilmNews Site Related
Tags :: indyfilmnews.com

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