Sep. 2—"Idle Girl" was the first film that Logansport independent filmmaker Rebekah Erb directed, and it received official recognition at one of the state's biggest film festivals.
Erb won Best First Time Filmmaker at the Pop Con Indy International Film Festival in Indianapolis.
It was also nominated for Best Feature, Best Indiana Film and Best Actress for Leanne Johnson.
The film originally premiered at Logansport's State Theatre in December.
The cinema website IMDB.com describes the film as "a punk rock Christmas crime story of a woman with something to hide and a man who is curious to know more. Will she be able to keep her secrets and keep him safe?"
The film's executive producers were Robbin Terry, Erb's husband Tony Walters, and his company, Rad Entertainment.
It was one of two movie projects Rad Entertainment did in 2020 during the pandemic lockdown, the other being a 60-second short called "Bubbles" that featured Erb's daughter, 6-year-old Catherine Erb.
That can be viewed in the video section of the Rad Entertainment Facebook page at www.facebook.com/radentertain.
As things started to open up, the couple looked at what they could do, and Erb dug up a script she'd written about five years ago.
Jerron Spencer, of Logansport, became part of the team and edited the script, adding dialogue.
"He polished it up and added a lot to it," she said.
It took about five months to make — a quick schedule for an independent film that relies on the schedules of the crew.
Erb and Walters don't plan to enter the film into any other festivals. Instead, they're trying to get it on Amazon Prime in time for the Christmas season.
"We've had some movies on Prime, so it's a pretty good chance we'll get there," said Walters, who added that Amazon has been open to independent filmmakers.
They're also looking at getting it on the Tubi app and on smaller streaming services.
Erb and Walters will announce streaming outlets as Rad Entertainment secures them. Right now, it's available on Blu-Ray DVD at www.radentertain.com/radstore.
Erb has also been a force in the Logansport community for a long time. She helped start the annual October Midwest Horror Fest film festival and its sibling festival in May, Midwest Action Fest.
Both were done with Walters and Dan Murphy, but as of 2019, Erb became the driving force behind the festival as the others had personal projects and matters to attend to.
The festival has attracted filmmakers from Canada and Japan and has attracted big-name guests like Bruce Campbell, comic book writers, novel authors and voice actors.