Mid America Filmmakers and Downtown South Bend have joined forces to sponsor the First Annual River Bend Film Festival at the Century Center on May 1 & 2.  The official kick-off will be at Mid America Filmmakers’ annual evening of locally produced films and screenplays on Friday, February 27 at 7:00 p.m. at the Century Center’s recital hall.  Admission is free.

The night will consist of a series of locally produced short films from M.A.F. members and the Michiana area, as well as a few from out-of-state, followed by a Q&A session with attending filmmakers.

Five screenplays written by members of their screenwriters group will have a staged reading after which the audience will vote for one to be made into a short film. Last year’s winner “Valentine’s Day”, written and directed by David Boyer, will have its world premiere at this event.

For an interesting writing exercise this year, each screenwriter had to write a script about a blind date done in the style of famous filmmakers, such as Tim Burton, George Lucas and the Coen Brothers.

Read on for the complete list of film selections. (more…)

Mid America Filmmakers presents an evening of local short films at 7 PM on Friday, February 27th, 2009, at the South Bend Century Center in the Downstairs Recital Hall.

There will also be a staged reading of short screenplays presented by the MAF screenwriters group. After the reading, the audience will pick their favorite script which will then get made into a $100 film.  Last year’s winner, “Valentine’s Day”, by David Boyer, will screen on this same night.

The event is free, however their is a charge for parking in the Century Center lot.

If you’d like to help us out and place some posters advertising the event, you can download the poster and print some out yourself!  You can grab either the jpeg or pdf version below.  Thanks!

Poster – JPEG version

Poster – PDF version

Enjoy a free showing of of Kung Fu Panda, 7 p.m. at the Goshen Theater, 216 S. Main Street. Tanked and Skateboarder Romance, two locally crafted short films, will be shown before and after the feature film. The short films will have appeal for grown-ups and film enthusiasts.

The Goshen Historical Society Museum (124 S. Main Street) presents the Goshen video We’re In the Movies. Enjoy a Valentine’s Day dinner special at The Constant Spring (219 S. Main Street) watching a silent movie on their big screen, or attend an author and illustrator book signing for The Door in the Floor at Better World Books (118 E. Washington Street).

Local merchants will be kicking off “Goshen is for Lovers” (goshenis4lovers.com)

Visit the First Fridays web site to see all the evening’s events and promotions:
gofridays.com

According to this news brief, it looks like Michigan may be getting another film production studio called Motown Motion Picture Studios.  Good news for local area film makers and perhaps out of work auto workers?  Perhaps.  Below are some details on this potential project…

A $54 million film studio and production facility is being planned for Pontiac, Michigan.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s spokeswoman Liz Boyd tells the Detroit Free Press a new company called Motown Motion Picture Studios will open the facility at the site of a former General Motors Corp. truck plant and office complex.  The newspaper says the project is expected to generate more than 3,500 direct jobs, and the Democratic governor plans to announce the deal Tuesday night in her annual State of the State address.  The Detroit News also reported details of the project, which is awaiting incentives from the Michigan Economic Growth Authority.  Michigan has been drawing more moviemakers since tax incentives went into effect last year.