The local non-profit Indie Memphis hosted its twenty-first annual Indie Film Festival in the first weekend of Nov., and three Rhodes students’ films were accepted. John Mark Stodola ’19, Emily Burkhead ’20 and Sarah Link ’19 submitted shorts that premiered in Festival venues in Midtown.

Co-directors Burkhead and Link entered a short film about local artist Marco Pavé, produced in tandem with the Mike Curb Institute. Their film followed Pavé through several intimate interviews and local performances, and opened for a popular showing of Negro Terror, a feature-length about the Memphis-born black punk band of the same name.

Stodola created his short film Bumble for a film class project. Bumble showed during the After Hours portion of the Festival, which presents purely short film in comedy or horror genres.

“I was seeing all of these signs advertising Bumble, and I had this idea to make a film that turns this into a horror film, but as a comedy,” he said.

Filmed around Rhodes, it featured John Mark’s twin brother Robert Stodola ’19 and Austin Barringer ’19.

“John Mark approached me and asked what I thought of a thriller movie about the Bumble hive taking over, and I of course jumped on the opportunity,” Barringer said. “The film got fairly popular after he made it, which totally shocked me because it just felt like us goofing around.”

The three were all in attendance at the premiere, and other Rhodes students and friends showed up to support.

“The festival itself was pretty cool,” Robert said. “I didn’t get to see as many films as I would’ve liked, but what I did see was great. I saw that Memphis is a great creative hub for not only music, but also film and all other kinds of art.”