Tis the season to hang out with filmmakers from across the state and share some holiday cheer… and a few drinks. This year the Indiana Filmmakers Network took our holiday party to Moe’s Irish Pub at the Hamilton Town Center and the result was incredible. It was Tuesday December 8th. This was by far the largest gathering I’ve seen of indie film types. It seemed like everyone was there and ready to unwind. We had people from all over Indiana and a few that were home for the holidays from other parts of the country. The award for furthest travel to attend went easily to Logan Huffman. The Indianapolis native was back in town awaiting the resumption of shooting the new V series in Vancouver BC,  February 2010.

The Indiana Filmmakers Network (IFN) has been around for about 10 years. It’s mission is to Inform, Educate and Promote the film industry in Indiana. I joined the IFN a little over two years ago. At that time the group had all but dried up. There were only 8 people at the first meeting I attended. I was asked to become a volunteer board member early last year. We had already started rebuilding the group and the meetings in 2009 averaged about 40 attendees each month. Last year’s party was held at one of the board member’s home and was plagued by an ice storm. Attendance was a meager twelve people… though we all had a great time, it was disappointing. This year we had a very cold rain storm… and the attendance was fantastic. We had told the folks at Moe’s that we were expecting around forty people. Instead we ended up with somewhere around sixty. The crowd spilled out into the bar area of Moe’s. It was great.  The staff at Moe’s did a wonderful job keeping us supplied with food and drinks.

For those of you who were not able to make it… you missed a great night full of  food, contests, prizes, give aways, and networking. I know of many good connections that were made that night.  You might want to clear your schedule next year… I think it’s only going to get better.

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Posted by admin on December 10th, 2009 :: Filed under Events
Tags :: Chuck Budreau, IFN, indiana filmmakers network, Kate Chaplin, Zack Parker

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Many films have been shot in Indiana over the past few years. But few of them have received national recognition and distribution. Zack Parker’s ‘Quench’ has bucked the trend and gotten both. The modern gothic tragedy won Parker the Best Director award at the New York International Independent Film Festival.

It takes a lot of effort for a film without any known actors to get noticed by distributors. Zack worked every lead tirelessly. Those months of thankless work paid off when last month the film was released through Vanguard Cinema, vanguardcinema.com. The DVD is now available through Hollywood Video, Movie Gallery, Family Video, and Hastings locations across the country, as well as Amazon.com, Netflix, Blockbuster.com, and basically everywhere online where DVDs are sold.

Zack is doing his share of work promoting the film locally. I caught up with him during a recent signing event at the Landmark Theaters Keystones Arts. The local premiere of the film had been at this location during the Indianapolis International Film Festival. He’s very pleased with the national exposure Vanguard is providing his film. It was a featured new release in this month’s Family Video flyer. There’s a full review scheduled for next month’s edition of Fangoria magazine. This is a little unusual since ‘Quench’ is not a horror flick. Parker’s last film ‘Inexchange’ was a horror film and he developed some good contacts at the magazine. ‘Quench’ delves into parts of the Goth sub-culture and blood cults. For many viewers this film might be a little disturbing and dark. Zack had one distibutor who has been known to promote horror films, tell him it was too dark for their label. In the true spirit of Indie films ‘Quench’ defies being defined by the traditional genres. The film was shot entirely in Parker’s hometown of Richmond Indiana. Richmond is not the industiral urban setting you would typically expect for a film based on the Goth crowd. But it works really well in the film. It’s one of the things that makes the film unique.

The Richmond Art Museum will be screening ‘Quench’  November 21st at 7:00 PM in Richmond Indiana.

You can find out more information on ‘Quench’ at www.alongthetracks.com

Photos by Lynn Budreau

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Posted by admin on November 9th, 2008 :: Filed under DVD Signings
Tags :: Chuck Budreau, Quench, Vanguard, Zack Parker

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