TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) - A few years after Candy Beard launched Dreams Come True Films, a wider audience is starting to recognize her work.
The company’s 2014 project, “Vanished,” will be screened at the MayDay Film Festival in Evansville this weekend and has been released on DVD.
“In fact, I just checked the mail yesterday and there was a check from someone I don’t know,” Beard said during an interview recently in her home, which doubled as the film’s studios. “So word’s getting out.”
“Vanished,” which stars “Army Wives” actor Richard Bryant and tells the story about a family handling the aftermath of a child’s abduction, is the company’s first movie to be screened at a film festival and second to be released on DVD after 2011’s “In A Cage.”
The film will be shown at 8:30 p.m. Friday at Showplace Cinemas South in Evansville. Cost for admission to the film festival is $5. Most of the cast plans to attend, Beard said.
She’s also entered the film into the Indianapolis International Film Festival and Blue Whiskey Film Festival in Chicago, and is still waiting to hear if it has made the cut.
Considering how difficult it can be for independent film companies to market their work, Beard said she’s proud of her company’s progress so far.
Fans who’ve watched both “In A Cage,” whose plot centers on domestic violence, and “Vanished” tell her “we’ve really come a long way because we’ve learned so much and we’ve just improved so much over the last couple years.”
“And that’s really great to hear people notice the difference between the first film and this film,” she said.
The company’s next project, a short film called “Cries Unheard,” is in post-production. The film, which was shot at a friend’s rented home on North 26th Street, explores the themes of child abuse, racism and bullying.
Set in 1978, the film’s main character_an 11-year-old girl_is bullied because her mother is a prostitute and her only friend is black.
The topics addressed in the new project carry on the company’s mission toward raising awareness of hot-button issues, blending in some of Beard’s personal experiences.
Her youngest son, Chris, being bullied in school compelled her to write “Cries Unheard,” while “Vanished” was inspired by a nightmare she had in which someone kidnapped her stepdaughter.
“We try to do movies that just not entertain people, because anyone can pretty much do that - make people laugh, you know and make them feel good,” Beard said. “But we try to make movies that are really going to make you stop and think and maybe make you want to change the world around you.
“So we touch on topics that a lot of people don’t want to touch.”
Some of those difficult issues have hit close to home for Beard, especially while making “Vanished.”
A young cast member had to cancel during filming in 2013 when her uncle simply vanished, Beard said, and has never been seen again.
While stopping for fuel one day, Beard and her husband, Mark, noticed a small girl left alone in a nearby vehicle. They waited at the gas station hoping the child’s mother would return and eventually alerted a store employee, who stayed with the girl until the parent reappeared.
“I just want to raise awareness to parents that they really need to keep their eyes on their children at all times because there’s so much wickedness in the world,” she said.
A Vermillion County native, Beard has written at least 10 short films and 13 full-length screenplays. She’s still shopping a television sitcom pilot about four couples of senior citizens who are best friends and close to securing an agent for “Vanished.”
Dreams Come True Films started in 2011, the name inspired by Beard getting her wish to visit a California film set.
She attributes the recent success to keeping the company local, not letting outsiders come in.
“If you give them a chance, sometimes they just take total control,” she said. “And they don’t realize that it’s my dream, so they try to make it all about them.”
Beard works closest with eldest son, Daniel, who serves as photography director and editor. Mark and Chris provide behind-the-scenes production assistance.
“We try to keep it a family affair, just the four of us, mostly,” she said. “It seems to work out that way.”
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Source: Tribune-Star, https://bit.ly/1zYBV1T
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Information from: Tribune-Star, https://www.tribstar.com
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