Yesterday we streamed live from the Indianapolis International Film Festival at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. We shall do so again next Saturday.

   I said this on The Show and I have written this before, but, I'll say it in a different way. If one employs cost-benefit analysis, one would be hard-pressed to beat the value of the price of admission to the IFF. You will see films you otherwise would not see---almost certainly not in a theater, but equally unlikely on TV. Maybe one could see some (eventually maybe all?) on the internet. But you also would miss the experience of watching a movie with others in a theater, and that is an important element for movies.

   One work is "Wings for Maggie Ray," filmed by Fishers resident Philip Paluso. The story is a real-life account of a Hoosier farm girl from near Fort Wayne who flew aircraft, during WWII as a WASP. Her story, and the story of the women who ferried military aircraft from (usually) points of assembly to points of embarkation for use in the War, are told in a well-shot and written film. 

   Another fascinating film is "Open Mic Night After the Apocalypse." Again, a Hoosier filmmaker, Mike James, has shot an amazing full-length documentary about people who live in Slab City, "a decommissioned military base with no running water or electricity" located on "the coast of the doomed Salton Sea" in southern California. As the synopsis in the Festival program notes: "Retirees, vagabonds, and fugitives call it home. The also have another name for it: The Last Free Place in America. Filmmakers set out to make a rock doc in one of the most hostile environments in our country. It's 'Gimme Shelter' meets 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.'" 

   "Mushroom Hunter" was directed and produced by Hoosier native and St. John's University English professor William Torgerson. A 30-minute film, it tells the story of people who hunt Morel mushrooms in northern Indiana. If you are a Hoosier, you will know of people---perhaps you are one---who go out in places they keep secret to pick Morels.

   There are a lot more films than these, but these folks were on The Show yesterday. You can go to SoundCloud and catch it, or go to Indiana Talks dot com and pick it up. You also can go to the Festival's website indyfilmfest.ord and check the lineup and show times.