Ryder Film Festival brings 1st of 12 movies in series

Nashville, Tenn., filmmaker Jon Russell Cring is taking his films on the road, and Bloomington will be one of his stops. He’s bringing his independent movie, “Bernee,” his first film in a series of 12, to the Ryder Film Series on Sunday.

“Bernee” is part of the Extraordinary Film Project, something Cring and his crew developed to create 12 feature-length movies in 12 months. The director’s new mission is to bring the films to audiences, and he’s grateful the Ryder is willing to help the independent directors.

“There was a time in the ’70s when marketing independent movies was simpler,” he said. “You put your actors in the back of your car and drove around to little theaters and drive-ins and hope they’ll take a shot. We lost that with corporate Regal Cinema, but places like the Ryder across the country are still open to that.”

In this day and age Cring said, artists such as himself need to seek out their audience and stir up the change they want to see.

“It’s a grassroots thing,” he said. “You have to go out there and create the movement. It’s not going to move on its own.”

Cring said he tries to be different from current Hollywood, which he said is fixated on movies about extraordinary characters. He wants to rejuvenate the film industry by delivering stories about ordinary people who get caught up in the wheels of circumstance, he said.

Peter Polita, Ryder Film Series program director, said “Bernee” will be special because the director will come for a question and answer session after the film.

In “Bernee,” a small-town waitress faces a series of mishaps after the people in her life ignite controversy. Her teenage daughter’s religious enthusiasm creates trouble at school. Meanwhile, her lesbian roommate is a constant target for the townsfolk and her boss tries to involve her in his get-rich quick scheme – selling synthetic marijuana.

But as her life spins around her, Bernee stays true to herself, said actress Heather Horton, who played Bernee in her first leading role.

“She’s not the sharpest tool in the shed,” she said, “but she’s been given some homemade advice and she tries to do right by everyone in her life.” 

Cring said his goal with “Bernee” was to go beyond entertaining audiences to inspire them as well.

“Bernee goes through what some people would call a living hell, but what she just calls her life,” he said. “After a series of adventures and misadventures, she comes out the other side of it. I hope the audience comes out of the theater feeling a little more hopeful than when they walked in.”


‘Bernee’
WHEN: 8 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: Bear’s Place
MORE INFO: Tickets are $4.