Brent Houzenga: Hybrid Pioneer

A documentary about an Iowa artist who made his career from two antique photo albums that he found in the trash. It has been four years since he originally found the two photo albums and since then he has had featured exhibits around the country. This is the first film in the MADE IN IOWA documentary series.

Fairtown

The Iowa State Fair draws millions of people to the city of Des Moines every year. However, this film is not about the Iowa State Fair or the people who attend. It's about where they park their cars. Inspired by the classic documentary, "Heavy Metal Parking Lot".

Bird Seed

A short film starring Vanessa Gisselle (Mayans MC) filmed in 2009. A minor slasher shot around Des Moines, Iowa.

Plastic Him

A self portrait filmed with a modified PXL 2000 Camcorder. The camcorder itself records on to audio cassette tape. The tapes themselves are recycled which means I have recorded over them several causing them to slowly degrade.

I See What Is Here

The shots used in this piece were from first test shots with the Mobile Phone 60x microscope. Subjects included the fur of a cat, hair of a girl, a cutting board, and a ball of cat fur that was burned with an incense stick. Unfortunately, during the final shot the flame melted part of the microscope lens.

Drawings by Billy and His Friends

In this experimental short film, Kristian Day collected artwork created by the public. He found the majority of the pieces at "Sharpie marker demonstration tables" and it took almost a year to collect the artwork. All pieces were created by chance with no prior thought. He originally intended on using the photos for a collage canvas piece, however after deciding that a short film would stand the test of time longer, he took individual shots of over 30 pieces. The drone music was created using a variety of simple sound generators & tapes that...

James Bearden: Man of Metals

An essay style film in the vein of Orson Welles' "F For Fake" and Jon Jost's "Speaking Directly". From 2011 to 2013, filmmaker Kristian Day randomly documented the art and actions of the award winning metal sculptor, James Bearden. Refusing to make another artist documentary, Day insisted on illustrating Bearden's creative process through surreal and id oriented story telling.

Cactua

A short film collaboration between director Kristian Day and make up artist Patrick Boltinghouse. Patrick had created the make up for Pride Weekend 2010 in Des Moines, Iowa. After the parade, he called Kristian up explaining that he was in make up and had a bird on his shoulder. Kristian's only reply was "I'll get the camera ready". Filmed entire in his home, Kristian made two versions: a single play version and a "locked groove" version which played on a loop at the Resident Artists: Guns Blazin' show on July 9th, 2010 in Des Moines.

A Woman Who Writes

The film tells the story of a woman reflecting on a painful part of her past as she writes. Although we do not see what she has written, we do see her broken memories.

Somewhere Between New York and LA

Since he was 18 years old, Blake Eckard has written and directed six feature length films in his hometown of Stanberry, Missouri (population 1186). Aside from a short distribution deal in Canada and a few festival screenings, his movies have largely gone unseen.

Message from Jerusalem

Made exclusively for the Hail to the King Tribute Show at Finder Creepers in Des Moines, Iowa. A surreal and non linear adaptation of the short story "Jerusalem's Lot". It was shown for exactly one month from January 22nd, 2011 to February 22nd, 2011.