(Radio Iowa) – A total of 51 films from moviemakers around the planet will be screened at this weekend’s Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival. Eric Dean Freese, the festival’s director, says the films were picked from among 99 entries, the most they’ve received in more than 15 years. Freese says he’s pleased by the quantity and quality of the films, and there’s one thing they all have in common — all have an Iowa connection. Either a cast member or a key crew member was born in Iowa, grew up in Iowa, worked in Iowa, went to school in Iowa, perhaps the film is about an Iowa subject, has an Iowa character, or it was filmed in Iowa.

The festival is Friday through Sunday at the Collins Road Theatres in Marion. On the web at https://crifm.org/2023-festival/