October 2016 News
Lilly Grant Makes Filmmaking Dream a Reality for David Haynes
Friday, October 28, 2016
It’s been a little over a year since David Haynes, Instructor of English at the Indiana Academy, received a chance at his longtime dream to bring a film to production. Haynes and his collaborator on the film, Anthony Collamati, Associate Professor of New Media at Alma College, produced a short thriller titled Break My Bones, that was funded by a Lilly Endowment grant and a Kickstarter campaign.
According to Haynes, “the kickstarter before the Kickstarter” was receiving the $10,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment Teacher Creativity Fellowship Program in 2015 followed by raising an additional $10,00 through a Kickstarter campaign. That money helped pay the cost of film production, including salaries for professional cast and crew members, and developing the movie in a post-production studio. The shoot itself lasted only five days and took place entirely in Muncie. “To have helped to create Break My Bones, for all its strengths and flaws as a short film is to have begun the process of fulfilling a lifelong dream,” Haynes said.
So far, Break My Bones has played at the Rhode Island International Film Festival (tied for first in “best cinematography”), the Hollyshorts Film Festival in Hollywood (won “best thriller”), the Fantasia International Film Festival (Montreal, Canada), and the Oaxaca Film Festival (Mexico).
Before the end of 2016, the film will also play in southern Italy at the Pentedattilo Film Festival and in southern France at the Festival Tous Court, Aix-en-Provence, ranked one of the top 25 short film festivals in the world.
Haynes has discussed screenplay writing and filmmaking with his students, and his creative writing classes have the opportunity to work on a short film screenplay towards the end of the semester. He hasn’t been able screen the 23 minute film for students or faculty yet because the filmmakers have to be careful about screenings in order to qualify for festival consideration at many places. However, there are plans to show the film somewhere in Muncie in the near future.
More information about Break My Bones is available on the film’s Facebook page (facebook.com/breakmybonesfilm) and website (www.bmbfilm.com).