"Waiting For the Light to Change," shot in Thumb, part of Slamdance Film Fest

A promotional image from "Waiting for the Light to Change," an independent film shot in the Upper Thumb in 2021. The film will be available to watch online during its run at the Slamdance Film Festival in January.

An independent film shot in the Upper Thumb during the pandemic in early 2021 recently had its world premiere at a film festival in Indianapolis, and the filmmakers behind the project plan to exhibit the movie at other festivals well into 2023, including the renowned Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

"Waiting for the Light to Change" debuted in October at the Heartland International Film Festival, where it received a positive response and feedback from audiences, said Jake Rotger, one of film's producers.

"I think that everyone is extremely proud of how it came out, me included," Rotger said. "I'm so happy where we landed (as a) finished project."

Rotger and the film's director, Linh Tran, sat down for a Zoom interview with the Tribune to discuss the process of making the film, their time in the Port Austin area and what the future holds.

The film is still in its festival run, Rotger said, but he hopes to screen the film at festivals here in Michigan in 2023, and he added it would only be logical to show the film here in the Upper Thumb. He said he has spoken with representatives of the Port Austin Community Playhouse, who have offered to host a screening there.

Tran and Rotger were proud to announce their film was selected for the 2023 Slamdance Film Festival's feature lineup. It will compete in the Narrative Features category, which includes 11 films selected from 1,522 submissions around the world. Filmmakers such as Christopher Nolan, Ari Aster, Bong Joon Ho and Rian Johnson had their starts at Slamdance.

The poster from "Waiting for the Light to Change," an independent film shot in the Upper Thumb in 2021. The film will be available to watch online during its run at the Slamdance Film Festival in January.

The film will be available to watch on slamdancechannel.com from Jan 23. to Jan. 29.

The annual week-long festival takes place in Park City, Utah, and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization, which also hosts a screenplay competition, workshops, screenings throughout the year and events with an emphasis on independent films with budgets under $1 million. The festival runs from Jan. 20-29.

During its run at the Heartland Film Festival, Tran said she was encouraged by how much audiences were engaged by the film.

"It was lovely," she said.

Rotger echoed those sentiments.

"I think that everyone is extremely proud of how it came out, me included," Rotger said. "I'm so happy about where we landed on the finished product."

He added it was very satisfying to see how all of the hard work everyone involved in the production of the film had provided paid off in the finished product.

"From all of our crew people, from all of our actors, you know, there's really no way to make a movie like this without a whole bunch of people sacrificing, whether it's time or resources for favors, energy expertise … everyone along the way, whether that was local business owners in Port Austin and Bad Axe or our crew members or even the people that loaned us the camera," Rotger said. "Everyone along the way helped us make this possible, and it really comes through on screen. The truth is, we got to do this movie for a relatively low budget, and it would have been hard without so many people that were willing to just make it a passion project. And then to see that in the live screening is something that I have never been a part of, either. (I) was really, really proud."

The film's cast includes Sam Straley, who appeared in the Hulu series "The Dropout" and has been featured in the network television programs, "Chicago P.D." and "Chicago Med." Actors Joyce Ha and Jin Park round out the cast.

The filmmakers chose the Thumb because Rotger has "a lot of family" in both Port Austin and Bad Axe, and visits to the Thumb were a big part of his childhood, he said. When they decided to shoot in the late winter/early spring of 2021, he knew Port Austin wouldn't be filled with the tourists that flock there during the summer, the peace and quiet of the off-season making the complicated logistics of filmmaking somewhat easier.

"I kind of figured it might be a good place that we could bubble and do something like shoot a movie," he said.

The sleepy nature of the town at the time of year lent a dream-like quality to the film, Tran said.

"It felt, at the time, very isolated, and because of how pretty and isolated it is, it felt like the movie itself was (like) a fever dream. It's a real quality to the place and to the stuff that we got in the film," she said.

Tran, who was raised in Vietnam and went to school in Indiana, said a background in theater led to an undergraduate degree in film studies and eventually film school. It was at DePaul University she met Rotger, and they had a chance to make a film thanks to a special program that provides an incentive to burgeoning filmmakers to learn their craft using "microbudgets" and gives them a deadline to finish their film.

Tan said her appreciation of South Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo, who works with very small budgets and makes about three films a year, provided inspiration as they made their own film.

"Hang Sang-soo is a good model to look at when you don't have any money and don't have many resources," Tran said. "He's crazy."

"Waiting For the Light to Change" tells the story of a group of friends on a week-long beachside getaway. One of the main characters, Amy, has recently experienced a dramatic weight loss and finds herself wrestling between loyalty to her best friend, Kim, and her attraction to Kim's new boyfriend.

The trailer for the film features several locations familiar to residents of the Upper Thumb, including Pointe aux Barques lighthouse and Port Crescent State Park.

Production took place from March to April of 2021, and Rotger said among his duties as the film's producer were overseeing script development, preproduction, the film shoot itself and the editing process.

Rotger said the production owed a debt of gratitude to the Port Austin Market, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which was "very generous" to open the filming location early for the production, and "Lighthouse" Larry Becker at the Pointe aux Barques lighthouse for his assistance, as well.

"I think it's really great how much help we received from the community," Rotger said.