A film festival is underway in eastern Iowa this weekend, while southwestern Iowa is hosting a movie premiere. The Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival runs Friday and Saturday at the Collins Road Theatres. Eric Freese, the fest’s communications director, says the rundown includes all different lengths, features, shorts, documentaries, animation, comedies and dramas.
Freese says 88 films were submitted this year and the judges narrowed the list to 40 for screening at the fest, which includes six more hours of movies than in previous years. There will also be three filmmaking seminars. He says what’s unique about the Cedar Rapids festival is that its focus is on Iowa.
Freese says every film must have an Iowa connection, like a key cast member or crew member who was born in, lived in or educated in Iowa, or the film is based or produced in Iowa, or has an Iowa theme. For details, visit the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival website at “ www.crifm.org “.
Also, both Saturday and Sunday, the downtown theatre in Villisca, another movie makes its world debut. “Haunting Villisca” is a fictional story interwoven with facts about the still-unsolved axe murders of eight people in the southwest Iowa town nearly a century ago. For information about that movie, visit the Haunting Villisca website at “ www.hauntingvillisca.com “.