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Zombie Army bus coming our way

There will be a Zombie Army bus in Iowa City next week. No kidding. The crew from The Mole Man of Belmont Avenue will drive this one-of-a-kind bus, which looks like an approaching George Romero movie from the outside and MTP-pimp-my-ride on the inside, through the cornfields from Chicago to Iowa City. You won’t want to miss this thing. I sure don’t.

The Mole Man is a hilarious movie that plays at 9:15 pm on Friday night, August 26. It’ll be in the Englert so come on down and find out what kind of shenanigans director-actors Mike Bradecich and John LaFlamboy get up to when a strange creature starts killing the tenants in their building.

The bus

Posted in: Festival, Landlocked Filmmakers by mary Comments Off

Get ready for Landlocked!

Most of the movies are free to attend, so check out the schedule and decide on some movies you want to see during our fifth anniversary year.

For Shakespeare lovers, there is Kitchen Hamlet (Thurs Aug 25 7pm), a beautifully acted, minimalist and modern take on the tale of the melancholy Dane.

If you’re interested in the process of filmmaking, Popatopolis (Thurs Aug 25 9pm) follows exploitation moviemaker Jim Wynorski as he shoots a feature-length flick in three days. That’s right: three days.

For fans of comedy horror we have The Mole Man of Belmont Avenue (Fri Aug 26 9:15pm) and Cadaver Christmas (Sat Aug 27 9:15pm), both with plenty of gore and laughs.

Hard-hitting documentaries like Freedom (Sun Aug 28 6pm), about biofuel, and Out for the Long Run (Sun Aug 28 3:30pm), about gay athletes, abound at the festival.

If you are intrigued by other cultures, the international offerings this year hail from Japan, China, Uganda, Israel, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Canada, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ukraine, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Mexico.

This August 25-28, don’t miss movies you won’t see anywhere else. Downtown Iowa City welcomes you to its own film fest!

Film Slate
Schedule

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Call for Entries 2011 underway!

Landlocked Film Festival will bring the landmark fifth annual festival to downtown Iowa City from August 25 to 28, 2011. As usual we’ll be at the Englert Theatre, the Iowa City Public Library, the Sheraton Iowa City, and hotelVetro, as well as new locations for 2011.

We accept competitive entries in the categories of narrative, documentary, animation, student, script, and music video. We accept feature-length and shorts.

In 2010 we saw over 70 filmmakers at the festival, hosting people from Los Angeles, Seattle, Australia, South Korea, New York, Chicago, Iowa, and all over the United States. Our educational efforts won us our first-ever Icky Honor from the Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance, which is the premiere arts and culture advocacy organization in the Cedar Rapids – Iowa City corridor. MovieMaker magazine gave us a write-up in their Fall 2010 issue. Iowa City is already known as the home of the world-renowned Iowa Writers Workshop and the Hawkeyes football team, but Landlocked is putting our city on the map in a new way.

We expect our fifth “birthday party,” as we like to call it, to be the best Landlocked ever. See you at the movies!

Posted in: Call for Entries by mary Comments Off

Our first Icky!

Birgit Coffman (L) and Abby Ballain (R)

Landlocked received the 2010 Icky for educational programming! This award is the nickname of ICCA, or the Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance, which is the premiere arts and cultural advocacy organization in the east central Iowa region, encompassing Cedar Rapids, North Liberty, the Amana Colonies, Coralville, Iowa City, West Branch, and beyond.

On behalf of Landlocked, board member Birgit Coffman accepted the award from ICCA executive director Abby Ballain (see photo). We are thrilled to receive this award, which was voted on by the 150+ members of ICCA. We are proud of our educational events and of all the volunteers and presenters who put together these events. Congrats, all!

Posted in: Festival by mary Comments Off

After Action Report

Four score filmmakers and actors came to Landlocked 2010. They were joined by over 4000 audience members. Movies played at four venues over four days. This being the 4th annual festival, it all adds up.

The new Networking Breakfast was very popular among our attending film artists and we’ll be bringing that back next year for certain. We’re listening to feedback from these folks to see what was most useful and interesting for them so that we can add more of what they want for next year.

The VIP party was a huge hit once again.  Thanks, Bobby and Marc! We couldn’t ask for better hosts or a better party spot. Treats were provided by local people, with comestibles and drinks from DeLuxe Pastries & Cakes, Wally the Wine Guy, and New Belgium Brewery.

Audiences were strong in all venues. Each year we meet new people who heard of Landlocked for the first time. They vow to spend the entire weekend next year. We had people coming from Wisconsin, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois and all over Iowa just to see movies. In addition, of course, the filmmakers came from Los Angeles, New York City, North Carolina, Michigan and many other states, and even other countries: South Korea and Australia.

We have to send out a huge thanks to our sponsors, our volunteers, our audience members, our panelists and workshop leaders, and our filmmakers, all of whom made the fest the amazing experience that it was.

See you at the 5th annual Landlocked Film Festival next year!

Posted in: Festival, Landlocked Filmmakers by mary Comments Off

Get an education in film

As far as we can tell, at least 70 film artists, scriptwriters, actors, etc., etc. will be at the fourth annual Landlocked. We’ve set up networking opportunities as well as learning opportunities. Check out the workshops and panels, just for starters. These are open to anyone in the general public who takes an interest in film.

WORKSHOPS

PANELS

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Play on!

Just finished re-watching Play On and it’s even more fun the second time. This is a great little sports story with heart and soul. A selfish Scottish pro rugby player is kicked out, goes to Kansas City, and learns some humility by playing with a ragtag team called the Wanderers. He learns some tough lessons and makes new friends for life. Plus the game scenes are all great.  This is the kind of film that a film fest is fortunate to have.

Play On will screen in the Englert on Saturday, August 28, 2010, at 4:00 pm.  We’re expecting director David Story to be there.  Don’t miss it!

Posted in: Festival, Landlocked Filmmakers by mary Comments Off

Radio, radio

We’re getting to do lots of radio shows, we’re preparing our commercial for television (it’ll be a real eye-popper), we’re putting the printed program together… Meanwhile you can enjoy a radio interview for Talk of Iowa where Will Valet of Hardacre and Amy Elliott, director of World’s Largest, as well as Mary Blackwood of Landlocked, discuss the milieu of film festivals.

Talk of Iowa

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