TIPTON, IA – The jury of the 2011 Hardacre Film Festival has announced its award-winning films in six categories. The festival will take place Aug. 5 and 6 at the Hardacre Theater, 112 E. 5th St. in Tipton.

"We received a huge number of entries this year—more than 170 from 15 countries—so it was a special challenge to narrow down our selection for a festival that lasts a day and a half," said Will Valet, Hardacre director. "These films are the best of the best."

The award-winning films are:

Best Narrative Feature

WINNER – "Boy Wonder," by director Michael Morrissey. Beware the hero. In this riveting and gritty psychological thriller, a young Brooklyn boy named Sean witnesses the brutal murder of his mother and grows up obsessed with finding her killer. Thus begins his life as a quiet, straight-A student by day and a self-appointed hero at night. Like a graphic novel you can’t put down, "Boy Wonder" challenges morality, distorting perceptions of what is right and what is justified as it races to its shocking conclusion.

Best Documentary

WINNER – "The City Dark," by director Ian Cheney. After moving to New York City from rural Maine, filmmaker Ian Cheney ("King Corn") asks a simple question: Do we need the stars? Ian unravels the myriad complications of a globe glittering with lights—including increased breast cancer rates from exposure to light at night and a generation of kids without a glimpse of the universe above. Featuring stunning astrophotography, "The City Dark" is the definitive story of the disappearing stars.

RUNNER-UP – "Breaking and Entering," by director Benjamin Fingerhut. Some say that to embrace one’s greatest talent is to make the world a better place. Others see a grown man spinning a 17-foot Hula Hoop and snicker about trivial obsessions. "Breaking and Entering" documents three of these would-be Guinness World Record holders as they battle the odds in pursuit of global dominance.

Best Short Film (tie)

WINNER – "The Magic Man," by director DC Kasundra. Hoping to secure fame and fortune, a struggling vaudeville magician turns to the dark arts. But the power unleashed could cost him the one thing he truly loves. "The Magic Man" blends the artistry of black-and-white silent films of the 1920s with beautifully rendered visual effects to create a unique 3D experience.

WINNER – "The Secret Friend," by director Flavio Alves. A reclusive, elderly widow, Anna Marshall (Harris) lives in quiet desperation following her husband’s death until she begins receiving daily phone calls from a silent stranger. As the calls continue, unabated Anna finds herself waiting for her phone to ring with growing anticipation, prompting her to reach out to her silent prankster.

Best Student Film

WINNER – "GoldenBox," by director Matt MacDonald. Best friends Jeff and Tucker have grown up like most boys—playing video games and causing mischief. Now, late into their 20s, Jeff’s new job promotion is moving him out of the country and away from Tucker’s immaturity forever. With one last night together, they have to break into a shipping facility to steal back a package—a mysterious golden box—and hope their friendship can survive the adventure.

RUNNER-UP – "Blank Canvas," by director Hannah Sullivan. In this short, a young girl sees her life as a blank canvas ready to be painted.

Best Animated Film

WINNER – "The Quiet Life," by director Timothy Hittle. Jay Clay has ceased his wanderings and built a home for himself and Blue, his faithful animal companion. Jay is content to live a quiet life. Yet trouble is never far away, and soon, chaos is at his door. He encounters two visitors amid the mayhem, and his life is forever changed.

RUNNER-UP – "The Renter," by director Jason Carpenter. A young boy is dropped off at an elderly woman’s home for the day. Her house sits among fields of weeds and rotting pears. A lone man, who rents a room, adds to the unsettling atmosphere. This daycare makes for a harsh and confusing world for the boy, who learns caring can be shown in unexpected ways.

Best Experimental Film

WINNER – "Red Rider’s Lament," by director Jeremy Bessoff. The tragic-comic "Red Rider’s Lament" employs vintage plastic cowboys and construction paper sets to explore the enactment of masculinity in the Old West. The Rider enters the fold just as the West’s dust is settling. His haphazard wanderings cause him to confront manifest destiny and the changes it renders to the landscape and its inhabitants.

Best Iowa Film

WINNER – "Married in Spandex," by directors Devin Gallagher and Allison Kole. As they begin a life together, Amanda and Rachel are determined to make their wedding day a unique and memorable affair. "Married in Spandex" follows the young women as they navigate their way from their home in the Philadelphia to Ames, Iowa. When every same-sex wedding is seen as a political act and brides or grooms-to-be are asked to walk the entire LGBT community down the aisle, not everyone will be cheering Amanda and Rachel’s offbeat "I do."

Hardacre 2011 will also give an Audience Award, to be voted on by the audience and announced at the conclusion of the festival Saturday, Aug. 6.

Admission to any of the Hardacre’s three programs, Opening Night, Saturday Day or Closing Night, is $8 each. An all-festival pass can be purchased for $20. Films on Friday begin at 6 p.m. On Saturday, screenings will run all day from 9 a.m. through 11 p.m.

Tipton residents were abuzz this spring when a film crew took up residence in the historic Cedar County Jail to film scenes for the Prohibition-era tale "Valentine Road." Now they’ll get to see that segment of the film, view some other completed footage and talk with the filmmakers during a special presentation at the Hardacre Film Festival Saturday afternoon, Aug. 6, in Tipton.

"Myself and the ‘Valentine Road’ team are very excited to be returning to Tipton for the Hardacre Film Festival," said Paul D. Benedict, the film’s director. "Our experience filming in Tipton was a highpoint of the production thus far; we were all impressed by the helpfulness and camaraderie we found in the members of the community who came out to help our shoot at the Old Cedar County Jail."

"Valentine Road," currently in production, is set in the bootlegging days of Prohibition, when Iowa became known for both the quality and quantity of fine distilled liquor produced in seemingly quiet farmsteads and quaint small towns. The story is set in this rich period, following individual stories of both the innocent and the sinister. Read more about the film at valentineroad.com.

The special preview event is scheduled for shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6, at the Hardacre Theater in Tipton. Besides Benedict, the special preview will also be attended by actor/producers Scott Siepker and Brendan Dunphy, who play the lead characters The Man in Brown and The Man in Black, and the film’s director of photography, Jon Van Allen. They’ll present a trailer for the film and a cut of the scene shot at the Cedar County Jail. The film will continue to shoot in August elsewhere in Iowa and, upon completion, will be released online in segments, or "webisodes."

"We’re really excited to host a sneak preview of ‘Valentine Road’ and to help the filmmakers get the word out about a really important, great-looking Iowa production," said Hardacre festival director Will Valet. "We thought it would be a perfect opportunity for Tipton residents to see a work in progress that was shot partially in our own backyards. How often does a small town have a venue to screen a film that was shot locally? We couldn’t pass it up."

Tickets for Hardacre 2011 are $8 per session or $20 for an all-festival pass. This year’s festival will also include an outdoor screening of "The City Dark" on the Cedar County Courthouse square Friday night, Aug. 5, and some of the best independent films currently on the film festival circuit.

Sick of Summer Sequels? Hardacre Film Festival Gives Film Buffs a Cinema Substitute

Iowa’s Longest-Running Film Festival Celebrates 14th Year with Outdoor Screening, 3-D Short, and Worldwide Cinema

TIPTON, Iowa—A romantic comedy—but it’s a documentary. A dazzling 3-D short—but shot in the style of silent cinema. A comic book tale without a cape or magic ring in sight. A documentary on the night sky—shown under the stars. Movie lovers can expect the unexpected at the Hardacre Film Festival Aug. 5 and 6.

Iowa’s longest-running film festival, celebrating its 14th year, will be held at the historic Hardacre Theater in Tipton.

"We’re really out to upend expectations this year, to make the festival a truly interactive experience for people who love movies," said Will Valet, Hardacre director. "Hardacre patrons always get an opportunity to interact with filmmakers, but we’re taking extra steps this year, including our first-ever outdoor screening and our first 3-D film."

Hardacre 2011 will feature 24 films from all over the world—six feature-length films and 18 shorts. These include narratives, documentaries, animation and experimental films. The festival received more than 150 entries from 15 countries this year.

Among this year’s highlights:

Features:

• Boy Wonder—A gritty, graphic novel–style tale of a teenager who becomes a vigilante after his mother’s murder.
• Breaking and Entering—A documentary about people obsessed with breaking Guinness World Records, including a stationary bike rider, a juggling jogger and a man who catches grapes in his mouth.
• The City Dark—A stunningly photographed documentary about the disappearance of the night sky in urban areas, to be screened outside the Hardacre Theater (weather permitting). From the co-creator of the highly regarded "King Corn."
• Married in Spandex—A documentary about a young lesbian couple who travel from Philadelphia to Ames, Iowa, to get married—by a lady rapper in spandex.
• My Heart Is an Idiot—A "romantic documentary" about one man’s search for love, featuring appearances (and romantic advice) by politician Newt Gingrich, actress Zooey Deschanel and NPR’s Ira Glass.
• Norman Mailer: The American—An up-close look at the controversial, Pulitzer Prize–winning author, filmmaker and social critic.

Shorts:

• The Dungeon Master—Shane and his friends want to recapture their youth with a game of Dungeons and Dragons. Then someone shows up in a cape. Co-directed by Rider Strong of "Boy Meets World" fame.
• Fatakra—Naveen left India to chase his dreams in America. Three years and a recession later, his wife and son reluctantly join him.
• GoldenBox—Two videogame-obsessed twentysomethings must steal a suspicious golden package from a shipping facility before one of them moves out of the country.
• The Magic Man—A film in the style of silent cinema about a vaudeville magician who turns to the dark arts. To be shown in 3-D.
• The Secret Friend—An elderly widow receives regular, silent phone calls from a stranger—first with annoyance, then with giddy anticipation.

The complete list of films and a schedule for the 2011 festival will be released online at hardacrefilmfestival.com in early July. Watch for updates on the Hardacre Facebook page and Twitter feed (twitter.com/hardacrefest).

Several filmmakers will attend and take questions from the audience following screenings. Hardacre 2011 patrons can join a tasting of local wines and listen to area musicians during the Saturday session. Tipton’s Ridiculous Days sidewalk sale event will be held alongside Hardacre 2011.

The festival will give out awards including Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Short Film, Best Student Film, Best Animated Film, Best Experimental Film and the Audience Award, which is voted on by audience members during the festival. Award winners will be announced in July.

Hardacre—set for Aug. 5 and 6―is celebrating its 14th year. The festival screens worldwide independent films of various lengths—narratives, documentaries, animation, experimental and student films. Last year, nearly 150 films were submitted to the festival, and 24 were shown.

Films are accepted from all over the world. A $5 submission discount is offered to Iowa filmmakers.

“We’re thrilled to be back again this year,” said Will Valet, festival director. “Each festival program gets better on an annual basis. We get more filmmakers with diverse backgrounds and films, and each audience gets bigger and more engaged.”

The festival awards films in eight categories: Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Short Film, Best Student Film, Best Animated Film, Best Experimental Film, the Troy Peters Best Iowa Film Award (named for the festival’s founder), and the Audience Award. Filmmakers are regularly in attendance, present their films and interact with audience members following screenings.

“Hardacre was absolutely a highlight of the festival circuit for me,” said Amy Elliott, director of “World’s Largest,” a documentary that screened at Hardacre 2010. “There was no pretension—just a welcoming community, historic venue and most importantly, a truly engaged audience. For an independent filmmaker, you can’t ask for more.”

The festival is held annually in Tipton’s historic Hardacre Theater, a locally operated movie palace that has been in operation since 1917. Tipton’s Ridiculous Days sidewalk sale event happens concurrently. The Tipton Chamber of Commerce is the festival’s chief sponsor.

“We’re showing 24 films this year, out of more than 150 entries, and it was extremely difficult for our jurors to narrow it down for our two-day festival,” said Will Valet, festival director. “To make the schedule at all says a lot about a film, but our award winners had a little something extra. We’re really excited to show these films to the Hardacre crowd.”

The award-winning films are:

Best Narrative Feature

• WINNER—Between Floors, by director Jen White. Sometimes getting stuck is the only way to break free. Between Floors examines the human condition through a claustrophobic lens, cutting between five stuck elevators and the people trapped inside them. Each elevator becomes an existential purgatory, forcing its occupants to not only confront their isolation, but themselves and each other in varied and unexpected ways.
• RUNNER-UP—Big Font, Large Spacing, by director Paul Allen. In this film from Wales, slackers Tom and Steve discover one night that they have a 5,000-word essay due the next morning. If they don’t get it in, they’ll fail their degrees. Desperate, they steal a folder of notes from Debbie, the strange housemate of Tom’s girlfriend Sarah. But things don’t exactly go according to plan. Perhaps getting stoned wasn’t such a great idea after all.

Best Documentary

• WINNER—My Vietnam, Your Iraq, by director Ron Osgood. My Vietnam, Your Iraq tells the stories of Vietnam veterans and their children who have served in each generation’s war. Their stories examine the pride, challenges, fears, prejudices, and the myriad of emotions they have experienced during and after deployment.
• RUNNER-UP—World’s Largest, by directors Elizabeth Donius and Amy Elliott. Desperate for tourism, hundreds of small towns across the U.S. claim the “world’s largest” something—from 15-foot fiberglass strawberries to 40-foot concrete pheasants. Odd, funny and sometimes beautiful, the statues stand as testaments to the uniqueness and importance of their communities and their own existence. World’s Largest visits 58 such sites and profiles Soap Lake, Washington’s four-year struggle to build the world’s largest lava lamp. By documenting these roadside attractions, World’s Largest captures the changing landscape of small-town America.

Best Short Film

• WINNER—Kaya, by director Tony Leonardo. Kaya, 19, has grown apart from her roots in Iowa. She’s passionate about cycling but discouraged by her shallow friend Angela and her distant mother. Determined to find her own way, she leaves behind the sleepy Midwest for the electricity of New York City. New York is more dangerous than expected. Kaya becomes a bike messenger—a grueling job with little room for error. Despite the hardships, she is determined to fight her way to success—if success will come.
• RUNNER-UP—Plastic Bag, by director Ramin Bahrani. A plastic bag goes on an epic journey in search of its lost maker, wondering if there is any point to life without her. The bag encounters strange creatures, brief love in the sky, a colony of prophetic torn bags on a fence, and the unknown. To be with its own kind, the bag goes deep under the ocean into 500 nautical miles of spinning garbage known as the North Pacific Trash Vortex. Will he forget his maker there?

Best Student Film

• WINNER—Patient, by director Daniel Clements. A man and a woman meet at a coffee shop for the very first time. As if on an awkward blind date, they exchange timid and formal pleasantries. But as their conversation unfolds, the horrifying truth behind their meeting is revealed, and so is the gun under their coffee table.
• RUNNER-UP—Prayers for Peace, by director Dustin Grella. This film confronts the memory of the director’s younger brother, who was killed in the Iraq war. Drawn entirely with pastels on a slate chalkboard, the materials used to create the animation become a metaphor for the impermanence of life.

Best Animated Film

• WINNER—The Sandwich Movie, by director Sean Christensen. A sandwich travels around the world in this animated short, based on a true story.
• RUNNER-UP—Kidnap, by director Sijia Luo. A small chicken is late to school, but she has an excuse—she was kidnapped. And believe it or not, this chicken is a really good actress—and, uh, a kung fu master!

Best Iowa Film

• WINNER—Trophy Wife, by director Patricia Atkinson. Frank struggles with failure and rejection in his hobby and in his marriage. When the day comes that everything finally falls apart, Frank finds a way to resolve his taxidermy hobby and come to terms with his wife in a shocking manner.

The Hardacre also gives an Audience Award, which will be voted on by the audience and announced at the conclusion of the festival Saturday, Aug. 7.

Admission to any of the Hardacre’s three programs, Opening Night, Saturday Day or Closing Night, is $8 each. An all-festival pass can be purchased for $20. Films on Friday begin at 6 p.m. On Saturday, screenings will run all day from 9 a.m. through 11 p.m.

For a full schedule or more information about the Hardacre Film Festival, go to www.hardacrefilmfestival.com.

TIPTON, Iowa—Stuck elevators, foul balls and the world’s largest lava lamp are among
the filmed subjects of this year’s Hardacre Film Festival. Iowa’s longest-running film
festival, celebrating its 13th year, will be held Friday and Saturday, August 6 and 7, at the
historic Hardacre Theater in Tipton.

“We’re really excited about this year’s lineup—a terrific variety of subjects and
filmmakers to present them,” said Will Valet, festival director. “Many of our films
have shown at the world’s most prestigious film festivals, while others are premiering
at the Hardacre. It’s a world-class festival that gives movie lovers in our region a great
opportunity to experience them and meet the people who made them.”

The 2010 festival will feature dozens of feature-length and short films from all over the
world, including two feature-length narrative films, six documentaries, seven animated
films and more than a dozen short live-action films.

Among this year’s highlights:

Features:

• American Grindhouse—This documentary (from Iowa-raised director
  Elijah Drenner) covers the history of the American exploitation film. The
  movie examines this often-overlooked category of U.S. “shock” cinema in an
  informative and amusing way.
• Ballhawks—This documentary tells the story of Cubs fans who chase
  baseballs—and dreams—outside the ivy-covered walls of Wrigley Field.
  Filmed in 2004, when Wrigley announced plans to expand the bleachers and
  change “ballhawking” forever.
• Between Floors—This funny, claustrophobic and arresting film examines the
  human condition through five stuck elevators and the people trapped inside them.
  Each elevator forces its occupants to confront their isolation, themselves and each
  other in varied and unexpected ways.
• Cleanflix—This documentary explores the companies that make R-rated
  films “clean” for families and religious groups and the unhappy film directors
  whose work is going under the knife.
• My Vietnam, Your Iraq—This heartbreaking and inspiring documentary tells
  the stories of Vietnam veterans and their children who have served in each
  generation’s war. This looks at the pride, challenges, fears, prejudices and
  emotions they have gone through during and after deployment.
• World’s Largest—Shot partially in Iowa, this documentary captures the
  changing landscape of small-town America. Desperate for tourism, hundreds
  of small towns claim the “world’s largest” objects, from 15-foot fiberglass
  strawberries to 40-foot concrete pheasants. This film visits 58 such sites and
  profiles one Washington town’s four-year struggle to build the world’s largest
  lava lamp.

Shorts:

• The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger—In this animated film from
  animation legend Bill Plympton, a bovine is mesmerized by a marketing billboard
  and chases the goal of being the best hamburger he can be.
• Heartland Transport—This short documentary, shot partially in Iowa City,
  concerns 17 gay and lesbian couples who define marriage equality as they take a
  chartered bus from St. Louis to Iowa City to be legally married.
• Mind the Gap—In this hilarious short from Canada, a beautiful young woman
  sits next to a sweet elderly man on a train. The ride is anything but boring in this
  sweet comedy about first and last impressions.
• Patient—In this short, a man and a woman meet at a coffee shop for the first
  time. As if on an awkward date, they exchange timid pleasantries. But as their
  conversation unfolds, the horrifying truth behind their meeting is revealed.
• Plastic Bag—This timely short film by hot indie filmmaker Ramin Bahrani (Man
  Push Cart, Goodbye Solo) traces the existential journey of a plastic bag (voiced
  by legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog) searching for its lost maker, the woman
  who took it home from the store and eventually discarded it.
• Trophy Wife—This short film (from Marion, Iowa) concerns a husband who
  struggles with failure and rejection in his hobby and in his marriage. When
  everything finally falls apart, Frank finds a way to resolve his taxidermy hobby
  and come to terms with his wife.

The complete list of films and a schedule for the 2010 festival will be released online at
www.hardacrefilmfestival.com in early July.

Filmmakers are regularly in attendance, present their films, and take questions from
audience members following screenings. The festival takes place during Tipton’s
Ridiculous Days sidewalk sale event.

The Hardacre will give out awards including Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best
Short Film, Best Student Film, Best Animated Film, Best Experimental Film and the
Audience Award, which is voted on by audience members during the festival. Award
winners will be announced in July.