The 4th Annual Wild Rose Independent Film Festival 2006 came to a close Sunday night, October 22, with two invitation-only screenings of AriesWorks Entertainment's Haunting Villisca and JEK Films' A Ghost of a Chance: The Making of Haunting Villisca. The pair of films, inspired by one of Iowa's worst crimes - the unsolved ax-murder of eight people (including six children) in the small town of Villisca - screened in "rough cut" status, as they begin to make their way into the world of film festivals and, hopefully, distribution.

"This is an invaluable step," says Kimberly Busbee, Wild Rose Film Fest Director, and producer of Haunting Villisca. "We had an opportunity to screen the films before an audience that, while certainly friendly, was by no means unwilling to tell us what they thought could use work. And we can take those insights into our final weeks in the editing suite. We wouldn't change the whole movie just because one person didn't like something, but if an entire audience is saying, 'Look at this,' then this is a time when we can still do that."

Both Haunting Villisca and A Ghost of a Chance screened in the non-competitive part of the Festival, while another more than thirty films of varying lengths vied for the Festival's top prizes.

"Every year, the Festival gets stronger," Busbee says, "and this year was no exception. We had more entries and then more films being competitive for the prizes. We had a judging process that became even more stringent by virtue of our expanding the panel to include more industry professionals, and that means that the awards are even more meaningful."

Iowa films made a strong showing among the top award-winners in the Festival, which encourages submissions from across the US and around the world. John Hansen and Todd Niccum's Mimes of the Prairie, a hilarious 5-minute film that has already won top honors in the nationwide 48-Hour Film Project, won the Wild Rose's Best Minipic, Best Debut, and Best Iowa Film, while the prolific Francisco and Jose Rodriguez' most current offering, The Passover, garnered the top awards in Visual Effects and Editing, and the coveted Audience Award.

It was, however, a night for the Eastern Iowa production company Bluebox Limited, as The Bride Wore Blood, produced and directed by the barely twenty-year-old Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, walked away with no fewer than five top awards, including those for Best Feature and Best College Student Film. "We really appreciate this," said Beck, upon receiving plaque for the student award, "because we skipped a lot of classes to make Bride."

Held exclusively at the Fleur Cinema and Cafe for the second straight year, the Wild Rose also hosted a return visit by West Des Moines native Ben Easter, an actor now living in Los Angeles, who most recently appeared in the current installment of the horror franchise, I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer. Easter conducted a workshop in marketing for the actor, and also delivered the Festival's keynote address, recounting some of his experiences as a young actor striving in Hollywood. Easter was enthusiastic about the growth and scope of the Wild Rose, saying, "The Wild Rose is a fantastic festival. The quality of the films amazed me. It's a great indie film event and a wonderful networking opportunity for filmmakers and actors!"

A full list of the Wild Rose's nominees and award-winners follows:

THE 2006 WILD ROSE INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
Award Nominees and Winners

Following is the list of award winners at the 2006 Wild Rose Independent Film Festival. Winners are listed first in each category, followed by recipients of the runner-up award, the Certificate of Distinctive Achievement (CDA). Remaining nominees are simply listed in alphabetical order.

BEST SOUND
WINNER: Scott Westley, Lucid
CDA: Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, The Bride Wore Blood
Remaining Nominees:
Allen Cobb, The Retreat
Robert Monson, The Rebirth of Lucretia
Jose and Francisco Rodriguez, The Passover

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
WINNER: Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, The Bride Wore Blood
CDA: Francisco and Jose Rodriguez, The Passover
Remaining Nominees:
Robert Monson, The Rebirth of Lucretia