The 2009 World Independent Film Expo
-Written by Nic Brown-
The sound of bowling balls rolling down polished wooden lanes filled the air at Galaxy Entertainment Center in Richmond, KY. Not unusual for a Friday night, but what was out of the ordinary for the center were the other sounds that could be heard: the sounds of movies. Galaxy was one of the two venues chosen for the first annual World Independent Film Exposition in Richmond, and for three days it played host to movies, seminars, and other special events for the festival, run by some of the state’s leading independent filmmakers.
George Bonilla of ZP International Pictures and Richmond Life Magazine Publisher Anthony Hudson were two of the event’s main organizers, and they could be seen darting between the venue at Galaxy and the other location, the newly re-opened University Theater, not two miles down the road. Both locations had their pluses and minuses. The theater, as the traditional home of film, had a great screen and sufficient seating to accommodate the 300 plus person crowd for Friday night’s premiere of ZP International’s newest film: HELL-EPHONE. It also provided a good location for local media to do interviews with some of the event’s special guests. Galaxy, on the other hand, had well-lit meeting rooms, where films drawing smaller crowds could be .jpg)
Guest Artist Billy Tackett shows off some of his work! |
shown and seminars could easily be conducted.
The event did suffer somewhat due to the difficult to find location of the University Theater. Being behind a shopping center made finding it a challenge for many attendees if they chose not to use the shuttle service provide by the organizers. George Bonilla was apologetic about that. “For various reasons we ended up having to change the venue for the event from Winchester KY to Richmond so we didn’t have a lot of time to make the changes. Still we’re really happy with our new locations [The University Theater & Galaxy Entertainment Center]. We had a trolley service to make it easier for people to get back and forth and the Jameson Hotel is right next door to the Galaxy, so it was convenient for all our guests.” All in all, not bad work for George and Anthony considering the time and budgetary constraints they were facing.
The venue at Galaxy was chosen to host most of the main festivities because of its more versatile nature. Seminars were conducted on a wide range of subjects designed to help independent filmmakers, including a stunt work seminar by actor and champion martial artist David Fultz, and movie making basics seminars by Anubis Digital’s Mark Poole and ZP International’s George Bonilla. There was even a seminar on how to get into reality TV, hosted by Amazing Race contestants David & Mary Conley and Hell’s Kitchen contestant Joanna Dunn. There were also concerts by musical guests Battery and Eric Sommer; strong man and motivational speaker Mike “The Machine” Bruce entertained the capacity crowd before the HELL-EPHONE premiere at the University Theater, and round table discussions by actors and directors were featured.
Of course all of this was secondary to the event’s main purpose: independent cinema. The festival featured over 80 short films, animated shorts, feature films, trailers and television pilots, covering the gamut from comedy to drama, horror to action and all points in between. Some of the big winners included: Abigail and Naomi DeHaan’s film THE AUDIT (Best Feature Film & Best Actress for Sebrina Siegel), Scott Sullivan (Best Screenplay for his TV pilot BOTTLE ROCKETS & Best Actor for STEAK DREAMS), THE HOPEWELL HAUNTING (Dane Sears and Adam Morton’s film) and THAT PENCIL JUST GOT OWNED.
2009 Worlsd Indy Film Expo
“I can’t believe we won.” commented filmmaker Dane Sears after the awards ceremony and he wasn’t the only one. Actress Sebrina Siegel was smiling from ear to ear: “Everyone had been so great! We had a cast screening for THE AUDIT, but this was the first chance I’ve had to see the film with an audience and the reaction was great!”
In the end though, all of the filmmakers were winners because the World Independent Film Exposition gave them a chance to show their films, and in the end that is what filmmakers really want. Are the organizers resting on their laurels? “We’re going to do this again next year and it’s going to be even bigger and better.” organizer George Bonilla said as he sipped a beer and relaxed, once the awards ceremony was complete. “We had a few problems, but we learned from them. I’m excited about next year.” Well George, so are we!