Volunteer opportunities are now available for the Third Annual Indie Spirit Film Festival.  If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, click here.

The 3rd Annual Indie Spirit Film Festival will screen a majority of its films at Kimballs Three Peak Theater this year.  Along with screening horror films at the historic Lon Chaney Theatre, sponsored by Fangoria Magazine, Kimballs Theater will be the center for the festival and with the recent addition of the 3rd screen will allow for more film screenings.

"Kimball's Theater is such a great location for the Indie Spirit because it is the only independent theater in Colorado Springs," said Festival Director Chris Loud, "They do a great job of bringing in foreign, art house and independent film."

The Lon Chaney Theatre was last year's venue for the festival's horror program and is a fitting venue due to its namesake and the many ghost stories that abound regarding the building its located in.

January 31st is the final day to submit a film to the 3rd Annual Indie Spirit Film Festival. 

Don't miss your opportunity to have your film considered for the upcoming festival!

The 3rd Annual Indie Spirit Film Festival has added two new categories for submission:

• Environmental Films
• Sports/Outdoors

"It only makes sense that we have both of these genres in our festival," says Matt Stevens, the 2010 operations director, "Colorado is the perfect place to celebrate films about the environment and the outdoors."

Other film categories for the upcoming festival are:

• Feature
• Documentary
• Colorado Spotlight
• Horror
• Shorts
• Student
• Animation
• Native American
• Foreign

Passes will go on sale soon!

Best Native American Film
"The Only Good Indian"
By Kevin Wilmott

Best Student Film
"Between Night"
By Scott Ballard

Best Short Film
"Lucy in the Sky"
By David Svedosh

Best Horror Film
"Finale"
By John Elfers

Best International Film
"Forgetful Not Forgotten"
By Christopher Wynn

Colorado Spotlight Award
"Looking for Roots, Finding Flowers"
By Dan Jacobson

Festival Directors' Choice Award
"Haze" (and "Indie Spirit Intro Spot")
By Pete Schuermann

Best Documentary
"Between the Folds"
By Vanessa Gould

Best Feature Film
"The Fall"
By John Krueger

The Hospitality Center located inside Kimball's Twin Peak Theater will be open beginning at 2:00 PM Friday, April 24th.  Passes may picked up here for those attendees who have already purchased their passes online.  If you don't have your pass yet, you will be able to buy your pass online or at the Hospitality Center.

Get ready for a fun weekend at the 2009 Indie Spirit Film Festival!

See you there!

Pete Schuermann

The filmmaker panelists for the 2009 Indie Spirit Film Festival are as follows:

Saturday April 25, 2009  1:00 PM @ Nosh Restaurant

"What is independent film?"

Moderator 

Jill Thomas of the Colorado Springs Independent

Panelists

Pete Schuermann - (Director) HAZE, Evil Brain from Planet X, Jimmy Hits the Big Town

John Krueger - (Director) The Fall

Chris Wynn - (Director) Forgetful Not Forgotten

Sunday April 26, 2009  1:00 PM @ Nosh Restaurant

"What are the challenges of making independent film?"

Moderator

Warren Epstein of the Colorado Springs Gazette

Panelists

Michael Elkin - (Producer) Finale

Christopher Payne - (SFX Makeup Artist) Finale

Pete Schuermann - (Director) HAZE, Evil Brain from Planet X, Jimmy Hits the Big Town

Come join us for this opportunity to hear these filmmakers discuss topics about film and filmmaking.  This is free and open to the public.  Nosh will be offering a lunch special for $11.  See the menu below.

Choice of:

Curried Chicken Salad Wrap
Sun-dried tomato tortilla, bell peppers, currants, cashews, greens

Manitou Veggie
Red onion, wasabi cream cheese, cucumbers, sunflower sprouts, tomatoes, multi-grain bread

Turkey Breast
Red onion, wasabi cream cheese, cucumbers, sprouts, tomatoes, multi-grain bread

Includes: Pasta Salad, Cookie a la Alicia, Soda
$11

To see our full schedule and films, select the FILMS tab above and 2009.  If you decide to register and log in, you can mark films that you want to see and then rate them after you see them.

Just a quick reminder on pass & ticket prices...

VIP Pass - $100
Experience the most you can from the 2009 Indie Spirit Film Festival.  Access to films, filmmaker lounge, a gift bag and the opening night party.

3-Day Pass - $50
This pass is recommended for filmgoers who are planning on attending the entire 3-day event.

2-Day Pass (Sat. and Sun.) - $40
This pass is recommended for film goers who are planning on attending on
Saturday AND Sunday.

1-Day Pass (Sat. or Sun.) - $30
This pass is recommended for film goers who are planning on attending on
Saturday OR Sunday.

Individual Tickets - $10
Individual tickets for films will be sold based on seat availability after pass holders have been seated.

 
See you at the festival!

We will release our full schedule along with the synopsis for all of the films this week.  Thank you for you patience as we upload the schedule and film information.  Until then, here is just a taste of what is coming…

Idiots and Angels   (Trailer)   Strength and Honour   (Trailer)   The Fall   (Trailer)  

The Only Good Indian   (Trailer)   The Music Lesson   (Trailer)   Kisses   (Trailer)

For a Few Marbles More   (Trailer)   The Perfect Cappuccino   (Trailer)

AND

Shorts You Wouldn’t Take Your Mother To

Many film festivals show one film on opening night to start off the festival with a bang.  This year the Indie Spirit Film Festivals will pack a double punch with two opening night films, Viet Helmer’s Absurdistan starting at 7:00 PM and Roger Nygard’s Nature of Existence starting at 7:30 PM.  The two films will play on different screens at Kimball’s Twin Peak Theater on April 24, 2009.

Absurdistan

Short Synopsis

In a bizarre little village, the dripping of water is more important than the gushing of love… 

Somewhere between Asia and Europe lies the god-forsaken desert village of Absurdistan, which a grand total of 14 families somehow manage to call home. For the village, the biggest problem is water…but for the village women, the biggest problem is their lazy men, who won’t lift a finger to remedy the situation. 

Here, the young Aya and Temelko, friends since birth, have reached the age where their friendship has turned to love. Unfortunately, the date that Aya’s grandmother has determined to be ideal for their “first time” lies 4 years in the future, and to make matters worse, they must first bathe together… 

When Aya stubbornly tells Temelko that he must solve the water problem before he can come anywhere near her, the village women also take up the cry “No water, no sex”, leaving the good-for-nothing men scratching their empty heads. Soon a crazy war of the sexes breaks out and they divide the town in half with barbed wire… 

Absurdistan Website 

The Nature of Existence

Short Synopsis

All the Mysteries of the Universe - Explained! Sort of...

Why are we here, and what are we supposed to do about it? What started the Universe, and was it a mistake? Does God exist, and why does he seem so interested in our sex lives? After exploring the phenomenon of TREKKIES, filmmaker Roger Nygard takes on The Nature of Existence. As he roams the globe to the source of each of the world's philosophies, religions, and belief systems, Nygard interviews spiritual leaders, scholars, scientists, artists, pizza chefs, and others who have influenced, inspired, or freaked out humanity. 

His travels highlight the words of such luminary figures as Indian holy man Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (The Art of Living), evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Chinese Taoist Master Zhang Chengda, Stanford physicist Leonard Susskind (co-discoverer of string theory), wrestler Rob Adonis (founder of Ultimate Christian Wrestling), confrontational evangelist Brother Jed Smock, novelist Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game), director Irvin Kershner (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back), the body of Pope John XXIII, and Stonehenge Druids Rollo Maughfling & King Arthur Pendragon and many more.... 

Combining an investigative approach with humor, Nygard offers a challenging, humorous, and enlightening view of humanity. The most important journey we take, may be the journey to find meaning in our own existence. 

If you only see one movie this year with all the answers, see The Nature of

Existence.