A wild night filled with bizarre drug-fueled trips and bright neon lights. This is the basic plotline for “The Wave”, one of the independent films showcased at the 2020 San Francisco IndieFest. The Wave was directed by Gille Klabin and stars notable actors Justin Long and Donald Faison. This film is among many others created independently with relatively small budgets at the Roxie Theater in the Mission District. 

SF IndieFest is just one of many film festivals worldwide that are utilized to give a platform for smaller filmmakers and doesn’t onlyinclude feature-length films. The festival shows dozens of films between January 29th to February 13th and includes documentaries and short films.

Eliaz Rodriguez was one of the filmmakers present for the showing of “The Wave” as he is featuring his film “Compartmentalization Storage Facility” during one of the short film segments on February 8th and 12th. 

The segment Rodriguez’s film is a part of is called “Superfreak” and it is just one of the various short film segments that all showcase different genres, according to Fay Dearborn, a programming director for IndieFest.

Catie Roads is the Operations Manager for the festival and also works for the Roxie Theater. She said the festival has been around for 22 years and she’s been working there for 11. The Roxie Theater looks to be a prime destination for a film festival like this as they show films in different formats and usually have smaller, more independent films on display. 

“We were a porn theater in the 70s which saved us, then we became an arthouse theater,” said Roads. The theater even uses projectors from nearly 100 years ago to project these independent and Festival films. 

The IndieFest isn’t just about the films being shown but there are also events in different areas in the city that are a part of this festival. According to Dearborn and Roads, several events include an “Up the Oscars” Party the day of the Academy Awards and the night before included a “Bad Art Gallery” in the Mission.