The ninth annual Jerome Indie Film and Music Festival will take place from Thursday, Sept. 7, through Sunday, Sept. 10, throughout the town of Jerome.
The festival was founded by Toni Ross, who first came to Jerome with her parents when she was 6 years old and immediately decided it was her favorite town. She still has fond memories of crawling through abandoned buildings with her sisters.
Ross has a background in screenwriting and production design, and her fiance and the festival’s cofounder, Jason Ryan, runs a production company and has a background in cinematography.
“I lost my son when he was seven months old, and I wanted to do something special for him in memoriam,” Ross said. “I thought it was the perfect celebration of my favorite town since childhood and in memory of my baby who passed away. That’s why we do the festival each year.”
This year the festival will feature 96 films, including feature-length films, documentaries and shorts. While the festival incorporates filmmakers from around the world, it also emphasizes the work of local filmmakers.
“We pride ourselves on being one of the festivals that showcases local talent,” Ross said. “We really try to give Arizona filmmakers a place. That’s definitely a spotlight for us.”
“Music is intertwined throughout the whole festival,” Ross added. Musicians will be playing live at various spots around town and music documentaries will be included in the lineup.
Ross stressed that the festival is open to all viewpoints, emphasizing the importance of freedom of speech for all filmmakers. One of this year’s films, “Finding Courage,” tells the story of a former journalist for the Chinese Communist Party who seeks revenge for her sister’s murder by party authorities and includes undercover footage showing torture, slave labor and disregard for human life in a Chinese labor camp.
The festival will kick off with a meet-and-greet with the filmmakers on Thursday, Sept. 7, featuring trailers of the films on offer to help attendees plan their weekends. Movies will start playing at 12:30 p.m. on Friday.
Screening locations will include the Liberty Theatre and Spook Hall. Ross mentioned that they have transformed a number of historic buildings into theaters over the years, such as playing a double demon feature in the high school basement. There will even be screenings on a moving train provided by the Verde Canyon Railroad with live music performed on board one of the outside cars, which Ross says is the biggest event of the festival.
“It’s just the coolest thing,” Ross said. “Nobody is doing film on a train.”
The final event of the festival will be a craft beer experience featuring a flower and artist market. It will include a contest for each participating brewery to enter its best bearded brewer, who will then compete for best beard and bloom. Florists will decorate the competing beards with flowers.
Other events include “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” performance by Shakesbeer and the Jerome Prohibition Eve Gala, a 1920s-themed costume event.
While Ross was planning the festival, she came across an article from 1917 about a beer fest that occurred in Jerome the night before Prohibition went into effect in Arizona. Ross hopes to make the gala a staple of the festival as a way of paying homage to Jerome’s history.
“The festival started from this vision,” Ross said. “My fiance and I didn’t have any money to make a film festival happen but I had the seed of hope.” After she began mentioning it to others, members of the community stepped up and offered the use of their equipment. “It was built out of no financial means, just relationships,” Ross said.
One film Ross is particularly excited for attendees to see is “Healing Dakota,” a documentary feature that follows the healing journey of a dog that suffered from PTSD. Another film she is excited about is “Woman in the Maze,” a suspense feature that was filmed and set in Jerome.
“Jerome has always been my favorite town,” Ross said. “I just felt like it was the perfect place. They have that independent spirit and I thought, what better place for an independent film festival. Our tagline for the first year was ‘Indie town, indie festival,’ capturing that pioneering, independent spirit.”
Everyone who buys a ticket also receives a “pay it forward ticket” with Ross’ son’s name and picture on it as another way to remember him. These are intended to be given out over the course of the festival to commemorate connections made. Ross said that participants always look forward to this.
The box office will be located at the Bartlett Hotel. For more information, visit jeromefilmfestival.com.
