A film by Ball State University alumnus Jaron Henrie-McCrea, who won a gold medal at this year's Student Academy Awards for his film "Knock Knock," will receive a Jimmy Stewart Memorial Crystal Heart Award in Indianapolis on Saturday.
The award ceremony is part of the 14th annual Heartland Film Festival, an event running this weekend that will feature film screenings, seminars and other happenings. The Jimmy Stewart Memorial Crystal Heart is an award that honors student filmmakers.
This Summer, Henrie-McCrea wrote and directed the video, "Ball State: Front to Back," which can be viewed on the university's Web site.
Henrie-McCrea, who is working on his MFA at Columbia University, said "Knock Knock" is about a guy named J.J., who, after his girlfriend Zsa Zsa dumps him for Bora Bora, pursues a relationship with Lulu hoping not to repeat the same old, same old, then they listen to some Duran Duran.
Although a description of the film may sound a little absurd, Henrie-McCrea said "Knock Knock" follows a fairly traditional story line.
"It's your typical romantic comedy, but it is over-the-top, and there's a heightened sense of reality," Henrie-McCrea said.
In a previous interview Henrie-McCrea, said the inspiration for "Knock Knock" came from a conversation he overheard between visitors at his apartment.
"I had some people over at my apartment one day and heard somebody use two tautonyms in one sentence," he said. "I don't remember who it was, but I became aware of it, and then I became obsessed with them. For two or three months, I compiled a list of them."
Henrie-McCrea said he tried twice to get other films presented at the festival while he was an undergraduate at Ball State but he was denied entry because they weren't in keeping with the lighthearted films that festival organizers prefer.
"[The Heartland Film Festival] is very story-specific," he said. "A lot of my movies in the past were fairly cynical. They were satires."
Jeff Sparks, president and founding member of Heartland Film Festival, said the event will feature filmmakers from many different backgrounds.
"Age-wise, there's a lot of difference," Sparks said. "We have people from all over the world. There really is a wonderful mix this year. We've got people from Europe, there's a guy from Vietnam, from Australia."
Sparks said he decided to help start the Heartland Film Festival after working at a treatment center for troubled children. At the center, Sparks saw the negative effects media can have on kids and decided to do something about it.
"Heartland is about celebrating positive films with positive messages," he said. "We're trying to encourage Hollywood to make more truely moving films."
Today, the Heartland Film Festival has the biggest total cash prize of any film festival in the United States, larger even than festivals like Sundance, Sparks said.
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