The Film Fest That’s Putting Small-Town Indiana on the Cinematic Map

For four nights next week, two beloved historic theaters will trade their Hollywood marquees for something rarer: the debut of original short films born right here in Indiana.

(Batesville, IN) — On a Wednesday evening in early June, the Damm Theatre in Osgood will go dark in the way it does best — not for a blockbuster imported from Hollywood, but for something far more uncommon: a story written, shot and edited by someone who quite possibly lives just down the road.

The second annual Ripley County Film Fest returns June 3 through June 6, presented by the Ripley County Community Foundation, and it arrives with the quiet ambition of an independent film festival that has already outgrown its own surprise. Thirteen original short films will unspool across four nights and two of the county’s most storied venues — the Damm Theatre in Osgood and the Gibson Theatre in Batesville — before a Grand Finale on Saturday evening that includes an awards ceremony, screenings of the winning films and a filmmaker panel discussion.

All screenings are free and open to the public. Doors open and films begin at 6:30 p.m. each night.

“Giving filmmakers of all ages a platform to shine” — that is the foundational promise of a festival that has already become something Ripley County did not know it was missing.

The lineup itself reads like a short story collection — eclectic, unpredictable and pleasingly hard to categorize. Among the titles screening this year: Dear Cupid (presented in two parts across the festival’s first two nights), Knees in the Dust, The Villain Within, One of a Kind Advice and IVAN. Friday night’s program at the Damm also includes entries from the festival’s 24-Hour Filmmakers Challenge, in which competitors conceive, shoot and edit a complete short film in a single day — a format that has become a proving ground for scrappy, inventive storytelling at festivals large and small.

The Venues: Two Theaters, One County’s Pride

Part of what distinguishes the Ripley County Film Fest from the growing field of regional short film showcases is its setting. The Damm Theatre in Osgood and the Gibson in Batesville are not merely convenient locations — they are characters in their own right, historic main-street houses that have survived the multiplex era through a combination of community devotion and sheer stubbornness.

The festival honors that history with a format that feels almost elegantly old-fashioned: each night of original shorts is capped by a Hollywood feature. Wednesday at the Damm closes with Pride & Prejudice. Thursday at the Gibson pairs with The Patriot. Friday’s Damm program ends with Saving Private Ryan — a selection whose scale and gravitas serves as both counterpoint and compliment to the hand-crafted work that precedes it.

Free Popcorn, Friendly Stakes

Thanks to a sponsorship from the Ivy Tech Foundation, attendees will receive a free small popcorn to enjoy during the show — a detail that lands somewhere between genuine hospitality and a perfect metaphor for the festival’s ethos. This is not a place for industry networking and badge-lanyard hierarchies. It is a place to watch movies, eat popcorn and maybe see your neighbor’s name in the credits.

Executive Director Amy Streator of the Ripley County Community Foundation has guided the festival since its inception, and the foundation’s fingerprints — civic investment, arts access, community pride — are visible throughout its design. Founded in 1997 and managing more than $22 million in assets, the RCCF has long supported local arts and culture; the Film Fest is perhaps its most kinetic expression of that mission.

The Grand Finale on Saturday caps the week with the kind of event most festivals save for their tenth anniversary: an awards ceremony that includes a filmmaker panel in which directors discuss their creative process and take questions from the audience. For audiences accustomed to consuming film as a finished, delivered product, it is a rare and useful reminder that movies are made by people — people who, in this case, may have grown up sitting in the very same seats their audience occupies tonight.

For the full schedule and film descriptions, visit rccfonline.org/impact/initiatives/film-fest. For more information, contact Executive Director Amy Streator at astreator@rccfonline.org.

The Ripley County Community Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization based in Batesville, Indiana. Learn more at rccfonline.org.