...we are filmmakers. We want a festival that can showcase ours and other filmmakers work on a large scale to Louisville. We believe very much that it is a travesty that every other major city in the country has some large scale independent film festival of all genres and we don't. says Kris Rommel, the organizer of the Derby City Film Festival.

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tMF loves indie films! What better way to celebrate some of cinema's latest independent film offerings than a Film festival! We were fortunate enough to secure an interview with Kris Rommel, the organizer of the Derby City Film Festival, which just opened yesterday and will run until October 12th. It's interesting to note that all screenings will be held at the historic Louisville Memorial Auditorium on Fourth Street in Louisville.

Here's our interview:

Please tell us more about the origins of the Derby City Film Festival and the people behind the launching of the Festival. How did it all began?

Before we "began" the festival. We rented out the Theater to showcase my films to Louisville. I have been making films for 13+ years, but never had any screenings in my home town. Since I just completed my 2nd feature, "Someday I Suppose", Ashley (my wife) and I thought now was as good a time as any to put on a "Festival" of my own work. As that was going on, I was looking for local or regional film festivals to submit my film to, but there weren't any. All the festivals in Louisville currently are genre specific; Asian, Horror, GLBT, etc. "Someday" doesn't fall into any of those categories. I contacted the Bluegrass Independent Film Festival out in Oldham County, but was told the festival was no longer on going.

So, from there we thought, "Hey, why not start and actual festival." So we scrapped all but 2 of my films and opened submissions to the rest of the world. Louisville is one of, if not the only, major city in the country that does not currently have an ongoing yearly large scale independent film festival of 5, 10, 20, or more years. Indy has one, Nashville has one, and Cinci has one, but not us. This seemed like a good thing to try and start and hopefully continue every year to showcase the film making going on in the city and state as well as bring films from other parts of the country and world to Louisville that might not be seen any other time.

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400 films applied to the festival. Give us some of the stories behind the selection of the films lucky enough to become part of the first ever Derby City fest.

First, it took a long time to watch all of the films. And we did watch ALL of the films. As an independent filmmaker I commend anyone who actually completes a film, no matter the budget or technical means they have at their disposal. There are a lot of people who "talk" about making a film. Very few actually follow through. So I first want to commend the filmmakers for getting their film completed, whether or not we accepted the film.

Selecting the films for the festival was a difficult process. We received a lot of technically superior films as well as a lot of less technically superior films that had other great aspects like acting and directing, writing, etc. We took some from both. Just because you have a good looking film doesn't mean you will get accepted. Story and acting need to be up there as well. Technically speaking more people that go to independent films will let some of the technical aspects slide if the story and acting are well done. That being said if the filmmaker shot the film with the camera's auto focus on we did not accept the film. Basics people!

Also the films we selected needed to fit in together. It is sort of like making a mix tape. You have to have films that flow from one to the other, similar themes for the short films so we can group them, etc. Due to the presidential election we opted to not take any film that had an overwhelming political or war related theme. Next year we may have a different "filter" but because of the hot political nature we have in the country at the moment we didn't want the festival to become a referendum on politics one way or another.

How To Be is definitely a film to watch. Give us some 'insider info' on how the movie made it as part of the Festival and your dealings with its filmmakers, Oliver Irving and Justin Kelly. What are some of the Festival organizers' reviews/commentaries regarding this particular movie?

How To Be is a look at the life of a 25 year old who moves back in with his parents. Something we think a lot of people, not only Gen-X and Y, but their parents can relate to. It is very well acted and directed. Oliver Irving did an outstanding job of making a truly great independent film. This is what you think of when you think “Indie" film and we are happy to have it. It stars Robert Pattinson who will be in "Twilight" this December. He did an amazing job. We do want everyone to know we accepted the film because it is a GREAT FILM and not because of the cast, who all did a great job.

We have, however been getting an overwhelming response from Roberts fan base who will be traveling in droves to see the film. The auditorium holds 1700, but we are looking to possibly have a 2nd screening. This is only the 3rd screening of the film in the country. THIS is the type of film that Louisville always gets over looked as a location to screen in, and hopefully this as well as other films, with or with out "named" people, can continue to be shown in Louisville at the festival. We have 49 other films at the festival, all of which are just as good as this one, if not better. We want to make sure everyone knows we are not sacrificing other films for the sake of one.

Tell us more about the Lincoln campaign. This is definitely a unique promotion/project for a Festival. Who are the people behind this awesome campaign?

The Lincoln campaign was mine and my wife Ashley's idea. We finished watching the film "Being Lincoln" (which opens the festival) And thought, first, "What a great film!" and second we remembered that Kentucky is in the midst of a 2 year 200th birthday celebration of Lincoln and wondered if there was a record for number of people dressed as him. There wasn't so we are attempting one. We need 200 people dressed head to toe as Lincoln and then everyone has to stand together and recite the opening line of the Gettysburg Address. Awesome! We have toyed with the idea of attempting a record based on the opening film each year. Everyone needs a gimmick as they say!

What would be some of the unique features of the festival that other similar Film fests have yet to offer or even consider? What makes the Festival unique?

First we do not charge a submission fee to enter your film. We hope we never will. It is appalling to me that most of the festivals, who know they are only going to accept so any films, require the filmmaker to pay 20, 30, 40 or more dollars to submit your film, only for the majority of the films to be rejected. You shouldn't have to pay to have someone else put on a festival that you aren't included in.

We also have only one venue. And a great venue it is! It holds 1700 people and is in the heart of downtown, with in walking distance of restaurants, hotels and shopping.

Once again we feel that the way most festivals want to promote having 100+ films as a good thing is ridiculous. They have multiple screenings different locations simultaneously, and most of the locations aren't really close to each other! So not only do you have to compete to get in to the festival, but you also have to compete with the other films in the festival for the same audience? How fair is that? We are focused on the film and the filmmakers. We will at most have 50 films each year. And as we change things for next year it maybe less so we can have more panels and discussions. It is very competitive to get in to the DCFF and if you ask filmmakers they like the way we are doing things, at least that is the response I am getting so far.

If we select your film you know we love your film and think it is a great addition for the festival, and we will promote the festival ad infinitum so people can see your film and know what a great film it is. We don't just lump you with 100 other films and let you duke it out.

What would you consider to be the most difficult part in organizing the Festival? How about some of the most enjoyable and satisfying experiences so far?

As with any major undertaking there is always some sense of worry. With the festival we knew what we were trying wasn't new. It had been done before. We had no idea why it hasn't been successful before now. So in the back of our heads we keep that in mind. But concentrating on what may happen isn't the way to approach things. I guess we are coming at it from a different angle, we are filmmakers. We want a festival that can showcase ours and other filmmakers work on a large scale to Louisville. We believe very much that it is a travesty that every other major city in the country has some large scale independent film festival of all genres and we don't. We focus on that. We hope to make our money back. We have dealt with our budget in a way that we won't need 30,000 people to attend to break even. We need 1500-3000, which are about 100 people per screening time. Very doable. But we have faith that there is support for a film festival like this in Louisville, we just have to give the film community and public one worth supporting each and every year.

We don't think of what we are doing in the terms of being ambitious. There are already smaller genre oriented film festivals in Louisville. They are on a somewhat smaller scale, but that is the nature of the films they show, they are only going to reach a certain demographic, which is great! We are for more film festival in Louisville! But we want to reach EVERY ONE. We want horror fans, love story fans, foreign fan, comedy fans, etc. The only way to do that is to have a festival big enough to accommodate all those types of films. It wasn't like we set out to have this massive film festival...that is what it has become, but that is not what our original intentions were. We just wanted to bring a really good large festival to Louisville that will be around for years to come. Showcase films from here as well as other parts of the country and world. The support has been over whelming. We didn't have any idea that there was as much passion for what we are doing. There are huge amounts of people, filmmakers and film lovers alike, who tell us how happy they are that we are doing this. How the city and film community needs something like this. And I agree. 6 months ago I never thought we would be the ones who would try and bring this into being. But no one else was doing it, so here we are.

Looking forward, what would be some of your plans for the next Festivals?

Next year we are toying with the idea of a film budget maximum. Once you get into the millions of dollars, the line between independent and "Indie-wood" begins to blur. We also will add film discussion panels and hopefully a screenplay contest. These are what we have in mind so far, we'll have to wait till the festival is over to see what worked and what didn't/ We are very open to suggestions and comments from filmmakers and attendees. We want the fest to grown and become great. We put on the fest for the filmmakers and the audience, so their input is very important!

For our viewers and for tMF, how can we help promote further the Film Fest?

Just keep getting the word out. As I said we are trying something different. We are looking at this festival as filmmakers, not as a quick way to make a buck. Most festival organizers are not filmmakers, which is fine. But we want to take that experience and put it to use in creating a more unique experience that seems to be lacking with the other 3000+ festivals out there. Hopefully more people will begin to see putting on a festival like we do.

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[ Official Derby Film Fest website ]

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