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.