"From the Badlands to Alcatraz" follows a group of Lakota youth as they attempt to swim from Alcatraz to the San Francisco shore. Pediatrician Nancy Iverson, who earned her medical degree at the University of Iowa, will join a panel from the UI College of Public Health to answer questions and discuss issued raised in the documentary following a screening at 5 p.m. Friday (8/27/2010) at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City.

By Diana Nollen, SourceMedia Group

Indie films give character actors the chance to star, film editors the chance to direct and young actors the chance to enter the industry.

“That’s why they’re so interested in it,” says Mary Blackwood, 53, of Iowa City, president of the Landlocked Film Festival running tonight through Sunday, Aug. 26 to 29, in downtown Iowa City.

Indie film festivals give their work a chance to be seen. That’s why so many of them are converging on Iowa City, toting more than 80 films from narrative features and documentaries to music videos and animation.

Industry insiders are making the Los Angeles to Landlocked trek this year, bringing their expertise to share in workshops and panels. Many have Iowa ties, including “First Stop, Iowa,” an Australian documentary that follows at the 2008 presidential caucus trail in Iowa. Others have Iowa natives at the helm or in starring roles.

Christopher Hutson, writer, co-director of Ashley's Ashes

All are anxious to hear audience reaction to their creative endeavors.

“This is a film that’s for an audience,” says Fort Dodge native Christopher Hutson, 45, who directed and produced “Ashley’s Ashes” with college friend turned business partner Chris Kazmier, 47. They operate Chris/Chris Entertainment, based in Los Angeles.

“With big film festivals like Sundance, all the people who come are filmmakers or in the business,” Hutson says. “With Landlocked, it’s an audience who comes — people who go to watch the movies. That’s what this film is for.

“We’re not trying to impress the industry, we’re trying to put this in the hands of the audience and get their reaction,” he says. “They give a great response that’s really non-biased, wonderful and encouraging.”

Willie Garson (left) and Googy Gress star in the narrative feature "Ashley's Ashes."

The narrative feature stars character actor Googy Gress as a middle-aged man who inherits an urn containing ashes of a person he doesn’t know. His journey to discover that person’s life becomes a journey of self-discovery, as well. Other well-known actors appearing in the film include Willie Garson (Mozzie in “White Collar” and Stanford Blatch in “Sex and the City”), Billy Baldwin, Orson Bean and Clint Howard. 

The film runs 1 hour and 41 minutes, took about three weeks to shoot and roughly $1 million to produce. It’s billed as a comedy/drama and has won festival awards in both categories.

Chris Kazmier, co-director of "Ashley's Ashes"

”There are moments in life when you laugh and cry at the same time,” Hutson says. “… Life is funny and life is traumatic. You make it through the serious moments and sometimes laugh about it. That’s what Chris and I try to conquer in this film.”

“Our characters can get out there, but we always have some touching moments to bring them back,” Kazmier says.

Hutson and Gress will be at the film’s Green Carpet festivities at 7 p.m. at the Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St., and will answer audience questions afterward.

While “Ashley’s Ashes” tells a fictional tale reflecting on life, “From the Badlands to Alcatraz” reflects life-changing lessons gleaned from a factual journey of discovery.

The 56-minute documentary follows a group of American Indian youths as they plunge into unknown territory to swim from Alcatraz Island to the San Francisco shore in September 2005. One young woman didn’t even know how to swim at the start of six days of intensive training in the Bay Area. 

Dr. Nancy Iverson, producer/director of "From the Badlands to Alcatraz"

The program is the brainchild of Dr. Nancy Iverson, 58, of San Francisco. Born in South Dakota, she graduated from Ottumwa High School, earned her medical degree from the University of Iowa and spent several two- to three-week stints working in a hospital on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in the mid-1990s.

So moved by the plight of the Lakota people, she created the Pathstar program to meld Western medicine with ancient traditions in hopes of improving life and life-expectancy on the impoverished reservation. Just as she found open-water swims in the icy San Francisco Bay waters therapeutic for a painful spinal condition, she hoped challenging the young people to a similar swim would create a ripple effect in their lives back home.

It did. Many have resumed their education, gone on to college and entered human services careers. Seven such swims have been conducted since 2003.

Iverson will join a panel from the UI college of Public Health to answer questions and discuss issues raised in the documentary following a screening at 5 p.m. Friday at the Englert.

This was her first foray into filmmaking and took more than four years and $45,000 to $50,000 to complete. She funded half the cost, with grants covering the rest.

“It was an awfully steep learning curve — medical school was much different,” she says. “I’m glad I didn’t know at the start what was involved. I think it might have intimidated me.”

She is thrilled with audience reaction to the film, which has been garnering awards at various festivals since it’s November 2009 premiere at the San Francisco American Indian Film Festival.

She hopes it will make a difference in viewers’ lives, as well.

“I realize not everyone in the world is going to come and swim Alcatraz,” she says, “but I hope it inspires people to say, ‘I’m not going to do that — I’ll do this instead.’ I want them to be moved. Everybody needs heroes and needs the experience of being a hero.

“Pine Ridge has a lot of very tragic history. It’s easy to portray everything there as bleak, but I feel so hopeful at the end of the movie, seeing what people can accomplish with support and encouragement. That’s the message I would like everyone to get.”

While some indie filmmakers hope their movies make it to the big screen, Iverson hopes her film will be used as a teaching tool in schools on the West Coast, Midwest and at Pine Ridge and beyond.

“Of course, I would love if it would trigger donations to help fund the program,” she says, “but I didn’t make it to be a moneymaker. It really does capture a bit of the human spirit. Every time I see it, I’m still moved to tears at what they did. It took a giant leap of faith for them to come out here and go for it.

“That flame is in all of us.”

 FAST TAKE

• What: Landlocked Film Festival
• When: Thursday through Sunday, Aug. 26 to 29, 2010
• Where: Downtown Iowa City venues: Englert Theatre, Sheraton Iowa City, Iowa City Public Library, Bijou Theater, hotelVetro
• Features: Film screenings, workshops, panel discussions
• Englert Green Carpets: 7 p.m. Friday
  

  Bondurant native Nicholas Downs stars in "Is It Just Me?"

  before 7:30 p.m. showing of “Is it Just Me?”; 6:30 p.m. Saturday before 7 p.m. showing of “Ashley’s Ashes”; 9 p.m. Saturday before 9:30 p.m. showing of “Splatter: Love, Honor and Paintball”

• Admission: Free to most events; $5 feature films Friday and Saturday nights at the Englert, sold in the Englert lobby, not through the Englert Box Office
• Schedule and details: www.landlockedfilmfestival.org