WACO — The Waco Independent Film Festival (formerly known as the Deep in the Heart FF for the past 7 years) announced the film and events lineup for its debut, which will combine in-theater screenings July 18-21, followed by an online encore July 21-27. The highly anticipated film event will lead off with an Opening Night presentation of Ben Judkins’ The Cigarette Surfboard. Troy Paff’s Texas Music Revolution will be the Closing Night selection, concluding a day of special presentations including Linda Broocks’ human trafficking documentary Unleashed, and a block of horror film shorts.
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With screenings at the Texas Music Café added to the film festival’s familiar presentations at the historic Waco Hippodrome and Cultivate 7twelve, the Waco Independent Film Festival continues to grow its city-wide footprint and audience-friendly films, panels, and events program that made the Deep in the Heart Film festival a critical and popular favorite, cited by publications like MovieMaker Magazine as one of the top film festivals in the country.
The screening schedule will include 140 films (9 features, 125 shorts, 6 music videos).
Waco Independent FF co-founders and directors Samuel Thomas and Louis Hunter, said,
For 7 years, the Deep in the Heart Film Festival has become known and appreciated around the country as a must-experience stop on the tour for indie filmmakers, and a popular ‘save the date’ destination for film fans. However, as our reputation grew, so did the ties to our beloved city. So, it made perfect sense to rename ourselves with what are our central pillars in every decision we make: Waco, Independent, and Film. We have added more films, and we’ve added an additional screening space. We will continue to innovate, streamline, and come up with new ways to assist our filmmakers with their development as artists, and work to encourage them to come back to town and shoot their next project here in Waco, Texas
Following the film festival’s now-famous Red Carpet entrances bringing Hollywood-style glamour and excitement to the Palladium (729 Austin Avenue), the Opening Night Red Carpet Gala evening will feature the U.S. Premiere of Ben Judkins’ The Cigarette Surfboard. Co-presented by both Waco Surf and Keep Waco Beautiful at the Hippodrome Theatre, the film tells the story of an impassioned surfer creating a functional surfboard with 10,000 littered cigarette butts collected in just an afternoon from California beaches. That surfboard has become a symbol for a global campaign to inspire ocean and beach cleanup stewardship, as well as holding Big Tobacco accountable for their toxic, plastic waste.
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Saturday will be highlighted by three very different film experiences. Linda Broocks’ documentary Unleashed focuses on survivors of sex trafficking, examining the social forces that lure and entrap young women into "the Life," the difficulty in getting out, and the hurdles they must overcome to become survivors. The screening will be co-presented by Unbound Now and will feature a Q&A highlighting the issues brought up in the film. A special horror-themed shorts package, Fright Night, will include Vito Trabucco’s experimental thriller Bottom Feeder about the lowest form of species at the bottom of the sea, Thomas Schultz’s The Pencil about a struggling artist who discovers a unique magical pencil that can solve all her problems by bringing her drawings to life – until it unleashes a malevolent demonic creature. Festival alums Matthew Barber and Nathaniel Barber return with Shelter Half about a naturalist investigating the disappearance of a mother black bear while camping in a remote valley, and Ed McCulloch’s Wretched about a man in the 1800’s Utah Territory being nursed back to health after barely surviving an attack on his wagon train. However, the man begins to distrust his rescuer, and as his condition worsens, delirium and paranoia creep in.
Troy Paff’s Texas Music Revolution is the Closing Night selection. The film focuses on Joshua Jones, the general manager of the Dallas-based radio station KHYI-FM, as he struggles in the wake of the recent pandemic to produce the silver anniversary of a beloved roots music festival. The film includes stories and performances by popular music artists Ray Wylie Hubbard, Charley Crockett, Joshua Ray Walker, The Derailers, and Kiefer Sutherland.
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Highlights among the additional independently made features coming to Waco include H. Nelson Tracey’s dramedy Breakup Season, which stars The Walking Dead’s Chandler Riggs as a young man who brings his girlfriend to his rural Oregon hometown to introduce her to his family, only for things to go terribly wrong upon arrival. Zachary Burns’ dark comedy Hell Hath No Fury which follows a husband and wife who separately and unknowingly plot to murder each other on the same fateful night. Vivian Kerr’s award-winning Scrap is about the highwire act that a young single-mom (Vivian Kerr) goes through as she struggles to hide her homelessness from her estranged brother Ben (Anthony Rapp) and his wife (Lana Parrilla).
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Additional documentaries include Manuela Dalle’s Dancing in A-Yard following a modern dance choreographer detailing the journey of several inmates incarcerated in a US prison, as they create and prepare for their own performance. Michael Afendakis’ We Rise focuses on a high school mock trial team as they navigate the defense and prosecution positions of a murder case.
Waco Independent Film Festival’s celebrated themed shorts programs include blocks titled “Baggage Claim”, “Bizarre Bazaar”, “Center Stage”, “Duty Bound”, “Family Matinee”, “If That’s What You’re Into”, “Heists and High Jinks”, “Landscapes”, “Local Flavor – Texas”, “Modern Love”, “Resilient”, “Ride Or Die”, “This Is Bigger Than Us”, and “Who I’m Supposed To Be”.
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Also returning will be the Waco Indie Screenplay Grant. This grant is awarded to the winner of the film festival’s screenplay contest, and it provides a variety of elements for producing that screenplay in Waco including up to 4 nights of complimentary hotel stay provided by the Waco Convention and Visitors Bureau for pre-production scouting or during the production, up to $2,500 in rebates provided by the Waco Independent Film Festival, camera and lighting packages and 5 hours of free filmmaking consultation courtesy of Vision Vehicle Studios. The Filmmaker Shuttle is also back to facilitate filmmakers’ travel. Filmmakers can catch a free ride from DFW Airport to Waco, with a return trip at the end of the festival. Another returning favorite is the Waco Film Locations Tour, where visiting filmmakers tour the area, and the festival shows the variety of locations available in Waco. Representatives from the Texas Film Commission, the Texas Media Production Alliance, and the Waco Convention and Visitors Bureau all participate to talk about the benefits and opportunities found by filming in Texas.
To purchase passes and tickets and to find more information on the Waco Independent Film Festival, please go to: https://www.wacoindie.com/.
You can find a full list of films that will be shown at the festival here: Film Festival Official Selecions
About the Waco Independent Film Festival
Consistently ranking in Film Freeway’s Top 100 Best Reviewed Festivals in the World, the Waco Independent Film Festival (formerly known as the Deep in the Heart Film Festival) brings the Central Texas community together through independent film. Established in 2017, we engage audiences with films from major festivals and Texas talent. We build networks and careers through our industry education and promotion. Add in some chips & salsa with the Waco Indie magic, and we create one of the most unique experiences on the festival circuit. For more information visit www.wacoindie.com and follow us on Facebook.com and Instagram.com