By STU CLAMPITT
There is more than corn in Indiana.
Genesis McKiernan-Allen and Eli Robb own and operate Full Hand Farm in Hamilton County. This weekend you can see a short film about the farm and its value to the community at the Indy Shorts International Film Festival.
The Reporter spoke with Noblesville filmmaker Rocky Walls about Indy Shorts, about the Full Hand Farm short film entitled More Than Corn, and about how our readers can enjoy the surprisingly rich Indiana documentary industry all year.
“This particular episode that is playing at Indy Shorts this weekend is about their farm waking up after the winter,” Walls said. “Although they farm year-round, spring is still a time of awakening in a lot of ways. The snow is melting. Things are warming up. Certain crops can start to go in the ground. While this episode is a stand-alone little story about their farm waking up, it is also the first episode of an ongoing series for Hoodox, Indiana’s streaming service.”
According to Walls, Hoodox (Hoosier documentaries that inspire) is Indiana’s first and only streaming service featuring exclusively nonfiction, Indiana-focused content that’s not only entertaining, but also helps you connect to your community and create positive change.
“For years I’ve wanted to tell the stories of the hard-working, inspiring people essential to our local food economy,” Walls told The Reporter. “Eating local has become more important and mainstream than ever in the last year, but there’s still so much more to learn and share. This standalone short film also serves as the introduction and first episode in an ongoing series our team is producing for exclusive distribution on Hoodox.”
While More Than Corn is the first part of a series, it stands well enough on its own to earn its place in the Indy Shorts festival.
“Our mission with More Than Corn is to inspire Hoosiers to abandon the mindset that Indiana is just cornfields,” Wall said. “How many of us have heard or said something along those lines when talking about Indiana with out-of-state friends or even amongst ourselves. Sure, we have corn. But we have so much more and I guarantee you’ll be a proud Hoosier when you watch Eli and Genesis work on their small, Indiana farm in this new series.”
Walls joked that neither 12 Stars Media nor Hoodox have anything against corn.
“We aren’t anti-corn,” Walls told The Reporter with a laugh. “The series has nothing against corn by any stretch of the imagination, but there is more than that here too. This little farm is growing produce on just five acres that feeds hinders if not thousands of people every year through people buying their produce at a farmer’s market or restaurants buying their produce and serving it customers. In Indiana, sure we’ve got corn and we’ve got soybeans, but we’ve got a lot more than that, too, and let’s celebrate that.”
Genesis McKiernan-Allen works in a greenhouse in this scene from the short film More Than Corn showing this weekend at the Indy Shorts Film Festival. (Photo provided)
Walls said he believes it is important to tell our own stories and to be proud to be a Hoosiers.
“There is a lot of really great stuff outside of Indiana that you get to see at Indy Short and at Indy Film Fest, but there is also a lot of stuff about Indiana or by Indiana filmmakers that maybe you wouldn’t see otherwise,” Walls said.
Indy Shorts is doing a hybrid presentation model where there are on several events you can go to in order see films in person, and there are also streaming options.
“I know the most about the one our film is in at Indy Fringe this Saturday night,” Walls said. “There will be an outdoor performance from the jazz musicians who are featured in one of the films that will be playing that night. Since the films are shorts they stream together several in a program. The Indy Fringe screenings are outdoors. When you buy your pass, all of the programs are available virtually as well, so you can watch them from the comfort of your own home if you want to.”
About Indy Shorts
The Academy Award-Qualifying Indy Shorts International Film Festival presented by Heartland Film is the largest shorts festival in the Midwest running in Indianapolis since 2018. Originally an expansion to the Heartland International Film Festival, Indy Shorts has become its own six-day summer festival that celebrates the unique, creative and captivating art of short films in a wide range of categories including horror, comedy, documentary, narrative, animated, and more.