Nearly 300 community members and filmmakers mill about the Paladium on Austin Avenue during the Thursday night red carpet kickoff for Waco Independent Film Festival.
In the middle of all the action, Co-founder and Operations Director Louis Hunter greets filmmakers as they enter.
Nine years ago, Hunter and his film partner Samuel Thomas started the festival with one mission statement.
"Quite simply to tell great stories," Hunter said.
The idea grew out of their experience submitting films to other film festivals. Now, the Waco Independent Film Festival has been named one of the best indie fests in the world based on alumni reviews.
This year, they were also named as one of MovieMaker magazine’s “50 Film Festivals worth the Entry Fee.”
"That’s them saying this festival gets our stamp of approval," Hunter said. "They do things right. They take care of their filmmakers."
Waco Indie is one of only three festivals from Texas to make the list. Hunter said this is likely because of the community support Waco has for the independent film industry.
"We know the value is there because Waco supports it," he said. "When a filmmaker comes here, not only are they going to have a great time, they’re going to meet really cool and interesting people from our community."
That’s something Jordan Ochel, a Waco-based filmmaker, says he felt from his first experience in 2020.
"Despite the fact that we were on lockdown, the network, the support of other filmmakers attending the event even virtually, just inspired me," Ochel said.
It inspired him so much, he entered a short film this year based on his own childhood.
"The process of making it was healing for me," he said.
Ochel said that community support really makes the difference for Waco Indie.
"People are excited here," he said.
Hunter really leans into that, making sure the filmmakers have opportunities to network, but also just have fun.
"We sometimes joke around and call it filmmaker summer camp, because we have so many fun activities for filmmakers to do in addition to their film screenings," Hunter said.
Filmmaker Bart Weiss, who has worked in film festivals and filmmaking says Waco Indie’s dedication to short films also distinguishes the festival.
"A lot of other festivals are relegated to ‘oh they are over there and here are the big films over here’," he said. "This film festival embraces all of the short filmmakers and makes them valued."
To make it easier on community members viewing those short films, the film fest organized the short films into narrative blocks.
There were 700 entries to the festival this year. 140 were accepted. Hunter says this is the largest festival they’ve ever had.
You can find schedules and ticketing information at wacoindie.com.
