By HOWARD DUKES
Tribune Staff Writer
Devi Snively says one anecdote explains why filmmakers are leaving Los Angeles and loving the Midwest.
Director Devi Snively’s “Trippin’ ” will be shown at the 2010 Riverbend Film Festival in South Bend on May 1-2
On screen
The River Bend Film Festival takes place Thursday through Saturday at Indiana University South Bend and at Century Center at the following times and locations:
7 p.m. Thursday at Room 1001 Wiekamp Hall, IUSB, 1700 Mishawaka Ave., South Bend
7 p.m. Friday at Century Center, 120 S. St. Joseph St., South Bend
9 a.m. Saturday at Century Center.
Tickets are $10-$8 for Friday events; $5-$4 for events taking place from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday; $10-$8 for events taking place from 12:30 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday; $10-$8 for events taking place from 7 p.m. to midnight Saturday.
Saturday day passes are $20-$18; weekend passes are $30-$25.
For a list of the films screening at the festival and workshop times, go to riverbendfilmfest.org.
“If you try to shoot a film in L.A. and you’re in a neighborhood and you show up with your camera and your lights, the neighbors look at you and say ‘You’re making a movie,’ ” Snively, whose latest movie “Trippin’,” debuts Saturday evening at the River Bend Film Festival, says. “And they’ll pull out their leaf blower and start (running) it real loud, knowing that you can’t film and then you have to bribe people to turn it off.”
Filmmakers find a different reception in other parts of the country.
“In the Midwest, people see your camera and crew and they come over and say, ‘Hey, can I help?’ ” she says. “People are just nicer and more supportive.”
The contrasting experience explains why Snively has no plans to make movies in California. That’s why filmmakers are receptive to overtures made by officials in states such as Indiana and Michigan.
That means that the maturation of South Bend’s filmmaking community and the expansion of the River Bend Film Festival comes at an opportune time, Snively says.
Before last year, the festival had been based at Indiana University South Bend and was known as the IU South Bend Independent Video & Filmmakers Festival. The festival was founded in 2002, organizer Tim Richardson says.
At that time, the festival primarily focused on the work of local filmmakers.
Over time, the festival started to attract shorts, feature length films and documentaries by national and international filmmakers, Richardson says. This prompted him to seek a larger and more centrally located venue for the festival.
This year, more than 70 films will be shown during the course of the three-day festival. Richardson says that the offerings will be diverse.
The festival begins on Thursday with screenings of short films and Lloyd Kaufman’s cult classic “Toxic Avenger” at IUSB.
On Friday, the festival will feature a block of family-friendly short films shown at 7:30 p.m. at the Bendix Theatre in the Century Center.
A block of shorts that have more mature themes will be shown at 9:30 p.m.
The festival kicks into high gear on Saturday with feature length and short films being shown in several venues inside the Century Center. Categories include experimental short films. Another block of films will address ecological themes.
There also will be documentary films and a block of gay- and lesbian-themed films shown on Saturday.
There also will be several workshops including one conducted by Kaufman.
Richardson says local films will be screened on Saturday. On Saturday evening, a block of short films categorized as dark/sci-fi will be screened at 7 p.m.
One of those films is “The Familiar,” which takes a unique spin on the bloodsucker story.
“The Familiar” centers on a man who is fixated on vampires and wants to become one. He leaps at a chance to become the assistant to a 400-year-old vampire, but he soon realizes that he has accepted a job from a man who is literally and figuratively the boss from hell, Richardson says.
Later that evening, the audience will see the local premiere of Snively’s “Trippin’.”
The film tells the story of a road trip to a remote cabin that goes horribly and tragically wrong.
Snively says it not surprising that many independent filmmakers opt to make sci-fi or horror movies.
On horror movies, filmmakers are limited only by their imaginations, she says.
“In fact, some of the best films I have seen (in the horror genre) are because people didn’t have money,” Snively says. “I think some people get lazy when they have a lot of money.”
Not having a massive budget definitely forced Snively and her crew to think outside the box. One scene in “Trippin’” involved a coyote.
“We didn’t have the money for a live coyote and a coyote trainer and whatever extras or insurance we might need, so we found a way to use taxidermy and digital effects,” she says.
The innovations worked, and many people who saw the movie thought Snively used a live coyote.
People in Chicago and Cannes also will get a chance to see Snively’s handiwork because “Trippin’” was accepted into festivals in those locations. The Cannes Independent Film Festival is a festival for indie filmmakers that takes place at the same time as it’s larger and more famous cousin, the Cannes Film Festival.
“It’s very exciting, and (going to Cannes) is a great opportunity because (the festival) is run by producers and we have free lodging for three weeks,” Snively says. “We could never afford to stay there otherwise.”
Snively adds that she also is excited about being invited to screen her film in South Bend. She notes that getting into any film festival is a major coup at a time when it is increasingly difficult to get accepted because so many filmmakers are submitting movies.
Festivals give filmmakers a chance to network, Snively says, but the event is the first chance for filmmakers to gauge audience reaction to their work.
“You get a sense of the kind of movie you made because a lot of times you don’t know what kind of movie you made until you have an audience,” she says.
The city of South Bend also will benefit from hosting the River Bend Film Festival, Snively, who along with her husband splits time between Mishawaka and California, says.
She notes that the area’s film community is becoming more sophisticated. Snively says the area had a group of filmmakers and aspiring filmmakers who met informally when she came to the area. Now, the filmmaking community has grown and organized around a formal group known as the Mid America Filmmakers.
“As more people come to town and see the potential, it can bring the film industry here,” Snively says. “In fact, that is already happening.
She notes that it is easy to find apartments in Los Angeles.
“That’s because everybody’s leaving, and they’re leaving because all the work is leaving because nobody wants to make a film there,” Snively says. “And I feel that Indiana can jump in and take advantage.”