Making Little Movies Great Again, The Indie Gathering in Hudson August 10-13

Let us now examine some of the bloated cinematic corpses from the movie year of 2017. Nobody much wanted to see the live-action GHOST IN THE SHELL. Or Universal Picture's second (count 'em) reboot of THE MUMMY, as a Tom Cruise actionfest. The once-unsinkable PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN sequels stumbled with number five, and movie spoofs of BAYWATCH and CHiPS saw quick cancellation!

Finally...THE EMOJI MOVIE. Bob Ignizio actually saw that one and didn't even bother to review it. There can be no lower praise.

With all that waste of millions in resources, time and talent, how about a film festival that really celebrates the struggling indies of the world, bravely getting entertainment done on a shoestring budget.

The Indie Gathering, held annually in the late summer at the Clarion Inn of Hudson, upholds local/international `microcinema' – shorts and features done by independent filmmakers, today most often working (and working wonders sometimes) in digital video.

Free Classic Car Show & Drive-In at Indie Gathering

On Saturday, August 13th, The 2016 Indie Gathering International Film Festival is hosting Stars & Cars, a classic car show and drive-in, with free registration and free admission. The event will be held at The Clarion Inn & Conference Center in Hudson, OH, located at 6625 Dean Memorial Parkway.

The show features separate divisions for:
 

1920s/30s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, Daily Drivers, and Miscellaneous (Bikes, Trucks, Military, and other)

Five stellar short films will also be shown on an outdoor screen, presented after the winners are announced.

Event schedule:

4 PM - Car registration
6 PM - Car judging begins
8 PM - Awards presented
9 PM - Outdoor drive-in style films begin

For more information, visit:
www.StarsAndCars.org
www.TheIndieGathering.com

Indie Gathering Bringing Aloha to Film Festival with 'Get a Job'

[Press release.]

GET A JOB is coming to Cleveland. The raucous, slapstick comedy from Hawaii with the killer soundtrack was awarded Best Comedy at the Indie Gathering Film Festival in Hudson, Ohio. The Indie Gathering has something for everyone, especially comedy & horror and runs August 8th thru August 14th at the Clarion Inn and Conference Center. http://www.theindiegathering.com/location.php

GET A JOB features 24 original songs. Director Brian Kohne built the movie around the soundtrack. The full feature stars Willie K and Eric Gilliom. They are two friends attempting to find the dignity of employment while bumbling through life and sharing the Aloha Spirit in Hawaii. Funny experiences enhance their journey while they share their special musicality and hilarious charms. They are backed up by world-class entertainers such as Mick Fleetwood, Willie Nelson, Pat Simmons of the Doobie Brothers, Henry Kapono, Carolyn Omine, Kathy Collins and Augie T. Jake Shimabukuro plays a mean ukulele in the tourist scene. Kohne, who has Ohio roots, shows why he is such a creative force by blending the music seamlessly.
https://vimeo.com/71337167

1st Place Romantic-Comedy Patterson’s Wager Screens at Indie Gathering Film Festival

[Press release]

The Canadian feature film Patterson’s Wager will have its Ohio premiere at the 21st Indie Gathering International Film Festival on Saturday, August 13th, at 5:50 PM in Screening Room A at the Clarion Inn and Conference Center (6625 Dean Memorial Parkway, Hudson, Ohio).

The film has won 1st place in the festival’s feature romantic-comedy category. It’s also been nominated for two acting awards – Best Lead Actor (Fred Ewanuick) and Best Supporting Actress (Chelah Horsdal). Writer/director O. Corbin Saleken will be in attendance at the festival.

Patterson’s Wager is a charming, romantic comedy that stars Fred Ewanuick (Corner Gas) as a man who discovers that he has the unpredictable ability to see two minutes into the future. In addition to Ewanuick, the stellar cast of talented Vancouver actors includes Chelah Horsdal (Hell on Wheels), Alex Zahara (Once Upon a Time), Michelle Creber (Strange Empire), Anne Openshaw (The Grey), and Garry Chalk (AMC’s The Killing).

Award-winning Doc about an Ohio artist Stages World Premiere at Indie Gathering Film Fest

[Press release]

Sometimes a crisis helps you create something extraordinary.

"Lines of Sight" is the inspiring story of noted painter Jim “JC” Hall from Henry
County, Kentucky. It traces Jim’s journey through incredible hardships and his
development of a new artform he calls Lineillism. Jim created the style after a stroke
and shingles marred his vision so that he saw the world in vertical lines. At first, Jim
panicked. Then, he painted. Filmmakers capture every one of the more than 500,000
vertical brushstrokes that go into these paintings with dramatic timelapse
footage. Jim continues to be an innovator at the age of 83. The documentary was made for under
$10,000.

Documentary film Wigger Please to participate in The Indie Gathering Film Festival

[Press release]

The documentary film Wigger Please has been selected to participate in the Indie Gathering film festival. Wigger Please film will play on Friday, August 12^th at 9:45 p.m. in Screening Room B at the Clarion Inn & Conference Center in Hudson, Ohio—located at 6625 Dean Memorial Parkway.

Wigger Please features interviews with a dozen artists and activists who share their thoughts and opinions on the American cultural stereotype of “wiggers”—white youth who “act black”—while illustrating how their lives and consciousness were forever changed by their involvement in hip hop culture.

The World According to Albert Fuh (short film review)

["The World According to Albert Fuh" recently screened at the 2015 Indie Gathering.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

A youngish New York intellectual type finds a balloon in the park, takes it home and draws a face on it, and starts to bond with it maybe just a little too much in “The World of Albert Fuh”. This short film written and directed by Cady McClain employs no dialogue, but between the steady stream of jazzy pop songs and the visuals, Ms. McClain manages to convey all the information necessary to get her story across. Her direction is polished, and she just manages to pull off her concept in a way that’s cute without being cloying. Nice job by lead actor Julian Elfer, too, who is pretty much doing a one man show here. Nothing mindblowing, perhaps, but it’s a pleasant enough way to kill 14 minutes. 2 ½ out of 4 stars.

For more info, click on this link.

'Finding Amelia' wins screenwriting award at the 2015 Indie Gathering

[Press release from Todd Selleck.]

Amelia Earhart.

One of the most recognizeable names in aviation history. Her love of flying created one of the most perplexing mysteries that still tugs at our hearts and minds.

"Finding Amelia" - written in a poetic manner as a tribute to one of America's most beloved aviators.

"Finding Amelia."

2015 Honorable Mention The Indie Gathering, Hudson Ohio.

Also:

*Official Selection at Oaxaca 2015 Global Screenplay Competition

*First Round Qualifier in the Adapted Screenplay Competition, Los Angeles 2015

'The Life and Death of an Unhappily Married Man' to Screen at Indie Gathering Film Festival, Star and Cleveland Native Tommy Beardmore Attending

[Press release from Mickey Wallace.]

Indie film writer-director Josh Hope continues his successful festival run with The Life and Death of an Unhappily Married Man this month at Cleveland’s Indie Gathering Film Festival August 27-30th. The dark comedy stars Tommy Beardmore (Chicago PD, Shameless), Rusty Schwimmer (The Perfect Storm, North Country), D’Arcy Fellona (Gossip Girl), and Robyn Coffin (Chicago Fire).

The film follows a man disillusioned with his failing marriage and dead-end career who abruptly decides to visit his past to figure out where it all went wrong. The Indie Gathering Film Festival will host the award-winning picture where it’s nominated for “Best US Comedy-Drama Feature Film”. Cleveland-native and star of the movie, Tommy Beardmore, will be in attendance to promote the picture. Beardmore recently won Twister Alley Film Festival's Actor of the Year for his work on the movie and is up for Best Actor at Austin Revolution Film Festival where it is featured as the closing film on September 26th.

Completely Normal Screens at Indie Gathering on August 29th

[Press release.]

Completely Normal, a dark romantic comedy helmed by first-time feature film director Robert Vornkahl, has continued its successful festival run with a pair of accolades at Ohio’s Indie Gathering Film Festival, and selections at The Chain NYC Film Festival, New York’s Kingston Film Festival, and Vermont’s Middlebury Film Festival. The film was awarded Best Romantic Comedy at Ohio’s Indie Gathering, where Vornkahl also picked up a Best Director nomination, and leads Seth Kirschner and Jenny Grace have been nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress. Completely Normal screened at the Chain NYC Film Festival on August 12th, at the Kingston Film Festival on August 15th, at The Indie Gathering on August 29th; and on August 28th at the Middlebury Film Festival.

Akron’s Time Cat awarded again for "Taste My Lightning” music video

[Press release from Cassandra Harner.]

Time Cat’s music video “Taste My Lightning,” wins 2nd place at Indie Gathering Film Festival. The video was made by only two people, shot in two days, and with a budget of less than $20. It was produced, directed, shot, and edited by Cassandra Harner, and stars Jeri Sapronetti, the lead singer and songwriter of Time Cat.

The screening will take place during the Music Video Block on Sunday, August 30th at 2PM in the Clarion Inn & Conference Center, Hudson Ohio, in Screening Room A. Festival passes are available on http://theindiegathering.com/spectators.php

The song “Taste My Lightning” is part of their album Your City, and they will be having their double release show for their singles “Boozled” and “Victory" on October 9th at the Rialto Theater in Akron, Ohio. Find out more on www.timecatmusic.com

Reality TV gets reminded of its roots in the new TV comedy Public Access! Screens August 29th at the Indie Gathering

[Press release from Kevin Hanna.]

Writer/Director Kevin Hanna announces the Midwest Premiere of the new TV comedy pilot Public Access on Saturday August 29th at 6:25PM at the Clarion Inn & Conference Center, Screening Room C, as an Official Selection and 2nd Place Comedy TV Pilot Award Winner of the 20th Annual Indie Gathering International Film Festival.    Do you love 30 Rock or Parks and Recreation?  Are you a fan of WKRP in Cincinnati or The Office?  Public Access is your not-so-guilty pleasure to fill the absence.  Nothing on TV now quite compares to the level of crazy for the employees and volunteers at WNG, public access station.  The show goes back to a place where reality TV is actually real.  Writer/director Kevin Hanna grew up watching public television and wrote a series that reminds people of the cheap and weird TV he grew up watching, and tells them it’s still here… and still cheap and weird!

Going for real authenticity, Public Access was filmed at ECTV, a public access station serving the small Chicago suburban community of Evanston, IL.  This level of verite surely contributed to an Award of Merit from the IndieFEST Film Awards as well as 2nd Place in the upcoming festival in Hudson, as well as SIX nominations, including Best Comedy Short Film and Best Short Film Director, at its World Premiere at the St. Tropez International Film Festival in France this past May.

The Indie Gathering announces film lineup and awards for 2015

[Press release from the Indie Gathering.]

The Indie Gathering International Film Festival has announced its official awards list and film selections for the 20th annual edition of the festival. The Indie Gathering exists to showcase the independent filmmaker, with a mission to inspire and encourage film makers through a competitive showcase.

This year's festival will highlight a total of 138 films from around the world. These will screen in three screening rooms over a period of four days, August 27th-30th. The festival also features two days of film lectures and panel discussions, a convention, special effects makeup competitions, acting competition, stunt competition, networking parties and more.

All festival events will be held at The Clarion Inn & Conference Center, located at 6625 Dean Memorial Parkway in Hudson, Ohio, conveniently located between Cleveland and Akron. The full film lineup and the awards list for film, script and film scoring competitions can be found at www.theindiegathering.com, along with directions, ticket information and vendor information. Additional event updates will continue to be added as the event draws closer.

The Indie Gathering wants you, August 15-17 in Hudson

Event preview by Charles Cassady, Jr.

As we all know by now, other than LeBron James, the only thing significant about Cleveland is the Indie Gathering. The Indie Gathering is a local affiliate of independent grassroots film groups across the country, linked by the online world. Normally the Indie Gathering has small monthly meet-and-greets around the Cleveland area, but every year there's a big Indie-Gathering weekend, filled with panelists, workshops, and film-festival screenings.

That's what's on tap August 15, 16 and 17 at the Clarion Inn and Conference Center, 240 Hines Hill Road in Hudson (right off the I-271 freeway exit).

The Indie Gathering features three days of low- and micro-budget cinema from around the world, workshops and networking parties, featuring both local would-be Spielbergs and out-of-town visitors, who have made movies their hobby, obsession and occupation.

Award Winning Documentary Film “House of Oddities” Announced For Screening At 19th Annual International Indie Gathering

[Press release from Brian Cottington.]

The Pittsburgh produced documentary film, “House of Oddities: The Story of the Atrocity Exhibition” by award winning Director Brian Cottington has placed 2^nd in the Feature Documentary Competition and will be screened at the International Indie Gathering August 16^th at 10:35pm at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center - Hudson, OH.

PITTSBURGH, PA- July 8, 2014- A Pittsburgh based documentary about the annual underground dark art festival, The Atrocity Exhibition, makes its Ohio premiere this coming August. “House of Oddities: The Story of the Atrocity Exhibition” by award winning Director Brian Cottington, will be screened at the International Indie Gathering in Hudson, OH that takes place from August 15- 17. The film was also awarded by placing 2^nd in the Feature Documentary Competition. This is the first feature and first documentary by Brian Cottington who previously took home the Best Director in a Feature Film Award from this past May’s 1^st Annual Horror Realm Independent Film Festival.