The premiere of the documentary “The Indie 500” was preceded by a performance by a singer with a missing guitar string — a fact that defined the documentary’s portrayal of the Trunk Space’s second annual April music festival.
Directed by local musician Josef Henry Rodriguez, the film debuted Oct. 15, capturing the spontaneous, welcoming character of the 38-hour show, a celebration of the venue’s 11th year, in less than two hours.
“My favorite part was to see every piece individually become part of this whole puzzle,” Rodriguez said.
Shot within a week, the documentary represents over 90 bands with 32 performances.
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“I think it was interesting to see how I chose a song, trying to maintain some kind of tone in the film,” Rodriguez said. “There’s a few here (in the documentary) too, where I cut two songs into one song, which was interesting because two parts of the same performance seemed like one piece of music.”
While the Indie 500 show centered on the bands, the film creates a plot by featuring various aspects of the event as well, including clips of its set-up, climactic Kimya Dawson performance and sleep-deprived attendees.
“I think it was interesting to see how I created a story out of this, because it has no plot whatsoever,” Rodriguez said. “There’s no real dramatic movement, so I had to create that.”
“The Indie 500” also displays the smooth outcome of the event, despite various setbacks in its production. Featuring first-hand accounts from volunteers, the film allows the audience to witness challenges ranging from technological issues to performances running behind schedule.
In addition, the genuine, accepting character of the venue is clearly defined in the documentary, which featured multiple first-time and inexperienced performers, mundane banters between friends and the antics of Eli Kluger & The Slackers Agenda — a band inspired audience members to sing along to an extremely long repetition of Justin Timberlake’s name.
“The Trunk Space is a home for people regardless of how honed-in their craft is,” said Stephanie Carrico, co-owner of the Trunk Space.
Rodriguez includes a recurring theme in the film: the need to preserve the “do-it-together” community venue by attending more shows outside of its biggest event of the year.
“If we had a bad couple of months, that would be the end,” Carrico says in the film.
While “The Indie 500” displayed the festival from many points of view, some found that the documentary did not fully represent the behind-the-scenes efforts, which were integral to the Indie 500 experience.
“I think that it captured the performances really well, but I wish that there was more of the process that went into it, because that was a lot of fun,” said Eric Gallagher, whose performance in local band The Smiling Faces was featured in the movie. “I actually enjoyed that even more than playing, just being a part of the whole deal.”
However, the documentary still paralleled Carrico’s image of the celebration.
“It did a good job portraying the Indie 500, which was just a mish mash of performers,” she said. “I think it grasps how weird, in a good way, a lot of the performances were.”
Despite the many frustrating aspects of making the film — a lack of sleep and constant re-watching among them — Rodriguez said the outcome made his efforts worth it.
“I think what kept me up and what kept me shooting was that I kept telling myself ‘it’s almost over’ every two hours,” Rodriguez said. “But then, it was that I really wanted to make this film, and I knew that if I was going to make it, I needed to really put myself into it 100 percent.”
After submitting “The Indie 500” to various film festivals, Rodriguez said he plans to take on a couple new projects as a one-man crew: writing, directing, scoring and more.
“The Indie 500” premiere was followed by Rodriguez’s “this is too much pressure” album release show, which featured performances from Ancient Egypt, SNEAKYVILLE and The Smiling Faces.
Contact the columnist at Emily.Liu@asu.edu
