21st annual Bend Film Festival celebrates independent cinema; we talk to filmmakers

(update: adding video, comments from director and cinematographer)

Bend, ORE. (KTVZ) -- The Bend Film Festival is back for its 21st edition, showcasing over 100 films across venues from the Tower Theatre to Madras. The four-day in-person event, running from Thursday through Sunday, welcomes 125 filmmakers from around the country.

According to their website, “BendFilm is an independent Oregon film festival in the truest sense – rugged, brilliant, daring, adventurous, fun, and engaging. Academy-qualifying and one of the "25 Coolest Festivals in the World," (by MovieMaker) BendFilm is located in the wondrous mountain town of Bend, OR and has been showcasing some of the best independent films in the Pacific Northwest and beyond for 21 years.”

"To Kill a Wolf" is one of the many films that will be shown this weekend at the Tin Pan Theater.

Director Kelsey Taylor said, "It's a modern re-imagining of Little Red Riding Hood, and it follows a reclusive guy living in the woods and he helps a teenage runaway find her way home."

The film marks Taylor's feature debut and was screening to a sold-out audience on Friday.

As someone from the Pacific Northwest, Taylor describes her time in Bend as feeling like coming home.

She says her film features a few archetypes from the original fairytale.

"I've always loved adaptations of books and films and actually fairy tales into films," Taylor said. "For this one, it's very much set in a modern world, but we still want to have a little bit of the magic that comes with the fairy tale world."

Taylor and cinematographer Adam Lee scouted several locations for the film, but were ultimately drawn to Oregon.

Lee said, "A lot of the movie takes place in the outdoors, in the mountains, Mt. Hood, in the woods surrounding there. And a lot of the scenery became a big character in the film. The woods felt so dense and tall, and the filmmaking community in Oregon really opened itself up to us."

The modern take on Little Red Riding Hood addresses the challenges and darker experiences young women may face when straying from the path, highlighting serious and sobering themes throughout the film.

Taylor said, "It's really a story about redemption and learning to forgive oneself and learning to forgive other people."

The film will be shown again on Saturday in Bend and on Sunday in Madras.