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The Indiana Daily Student

arts

Film shot in Indiana shown at the Heartland Film Festival

03. Four Friends Look at Scrapbook.jpg

In the blockbuster movie scene, not a lot of films are known for being shot in Indiana. 

“Bullitt County,” however, was filmed by two Hoosiers who stayed close to home. “Bullitt County” is described as a mix of horror, action and adventure by Mr. Pictures Productions’ executive assistant Carl Moonbuck. It was filmed in multiple areas in southern Indiana, such as Evansville, New Harmony and Boonville.

The movie is about four friends who are reunited and decide to celebrate a bachelor party by trying to dig up some hidden Prohibition money. They become obsessed with finding the money, and the film takes a dark turn that deals with corruption and murder.

The film was shot by two Indiana natives — David McCracken and Josh Riedford. McCracken was the writer and director of the film, and Riedford was the producer. Both were graduates of the University of Evansville.

“We wanted to make our first film very personal, so what better way to make it more personal than to film near our hometown?” McCracken said. “It also wouldn’t have been the same if we tried to pretend L.A. was the Midwest in the fall. It has its own unique look.”

The film was featured at the Heartland International Film Festival this year from Oct. 11 through 21 in Indianapolis. The festival showed more than 100 independent films and 200 visiting filmmakers for its 27th year.

“It was a really great way to end our festival run, with back to where we’re from originally and back to where we shot the film,” Riedford said. “It felt like a very appropriate way to bring everything back together and end it here. I think as far as film festivals go, it’s one of the better festivals in the country, and I think that’s something Indiana can be proud of.” 

According to IMDB, “Bullitt County” has won eight awards, including Best Narrative Feature at the Arizona Underground Film Festival, Best of Festival at the Hoboken International Film Festival and Best Feature Film at both the Catalina Film Festival and the Highland Park International Film Festival. 

Aaron Rieford, a Ph.D. student studying musicology, wrote the score for the film. He said he worked closely with the director and producer for the score and wrote a tune before filming even began. The song, “Come Share a Bottle,” is sung by the four main characters multiple times throughout the film. 

“The instrumental score had a bunch of different inspirations, but a lot of the musical ideas were spun out of ‘Come Share A Bottle’ itself,” Aaron Riedford said. “Bourbon distilleries and wineries are key elements of 'Bullitt County’s' plot, so I used glass bottles as percussion instruments and crystal wine glasses to create weird, creepy sounds.”

“Bullitt County” will be released Oct. 26 in select AMC theaters. According to McCracken, there will be a special screening in Evansville — McCracken and Riedford’s hometown — at the Showplace Cinema.

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