Gallery Up’s 2 Year Anniversary reception includes the premier showing of the Indie Grits Road Show, which showcases independent films from across the Southeast. Thanks to the Arts Council of York County for allowing us to use the fabulous courtroom space for this event and our partners at the Nickelodeon Theatre in Columbia, SC for this bringing this show to Old Town. is a Q&A with the Nick…

Up: Tell us a bit about the “Nick” and what you do there?
Nick: Andy Smith is the Associate Director of the Nickelodeon Theatre and I (Tori Katherman) am Director of Marketing and Membership at the Nick which is Columbia’s only non-profit arthouse theater since 1977.  We are a small, 75 seat theater and pride ourselves on showing the best in documentary, independent and foreign films. You can check us out at nickelodeon.org.

Up: We understand that you are in the midst of a Capital Campaign to help fund your “move” to a new space in Columbia. How is that going?
Nick: The Capital Campaign is in full swing! We are raising money to move to a historic building, previously the Fox Theater, which is just up the street from our current location. The new space will have two screens and nearly triple our seating capacity.  Our Executive Director, Larry Hembree is spearheading the campaign, you can catch updates and videos on our new blog http://movethenick.org/ – the videos are ridiculously funny.

Up: When did the Indie Grits Film Festival begin and what were your hopes for it? How has the reality measured up to the vision?
Nick: The Indie Grits Film Festival had it’s first year in 2007 and was founded by festival director Andy Smith.  From the start, Indie Grits has continually succeeded in it’s vision of being a Southeast festival for low to no budget filmmakers. We believe that independent media should be celebrated as an end in itself and not be a springboard to big budget productions.

The mission of the festival is to provide DIY mediamakers an exciting venue to share their work, to show off talent and energy emerging from the Southeast and to broaden film culture in our hometown, Columbia, SC.

Up: What is the experience level of the filmmakers that submit to Grits?
Nick: The experience level really ranges and one of the things we pride ourselves on is being a festival for first timers as well as veterans. This is a festival for filmmakers, so everyone is encouraged to submit.

Up: What is the jury process like and what advice would you give to future filmmakers interested in submitting (and how do they submit)?
Nick: The jury process consists of three jury members selected by Andy from across the country who have various expertise with low budget filmmaking. You can submit online through withoutabox.com , or by downloading our submission form off our website indiegrits.com and mailing it in. We have been a little backed up getting our website up to date, so if you have any questions feel free to just call us! (803) 254 – 8234

Up: What made you decide to take it on the road and what are your future plans for the Road Show?
Nick: Well, we had been talking about getting a Best of Indie Grits dvd together to share with others and to help get the word out about the festival.  We want to promote the festival but we also really want a chance to visit these great Southeastern towns and get to know their film communities. We know there is a lot of fantastic work being made out there and we want to be the place that shows it.

Up: Why Gallery Up?
Nick: Besides the incredibly awesome staff? Because Rock Hill has a really healthy arts scene and we want to tap into it, and what better place to do it than everyone’s favorite gallery venue? It is exactly the kind of community and cultural hub we look to when doing these road shows. This will be our first event and we picked Gallery Up to kick off the series.  Also, did I mention the lookers running the place?