New and Notable
Year 9 is our biggest yet - literally. We are welcoming in some new venues and expanding our footprint downtown. Dig in see what’s new and what you can expect at Waco Indie this July.
Shuttle Bus
To help accommodate this growth and make getting from venue to venue easier, we’ll have a free shuttle bus run a circuit between the screening venues. This bus will take 10 minutes or less to make a full circuit, helping you get from venue to venue fast! Shuttle runs from 10am to 8:30pm so make sure you end your day near your vehicle.
Free Parking
In addition, the new festival location the Grand Lodge of Texas offers free parking Friday and Saturday of the festival. Park behind the building and take the festival shuttle to get to the screening venues. Super easy way to stay downtown all day.
Staying at the Courtyard Marriott? Your closest stop is in front of Startup Waco, just 0.5 miles from your hotel room.
Familiar Faces
Joining us at Waco Indie this year is Jonathan Kite. Jonathan is an actor, comedian and impressionist, best known for his portrayal of Oleg Golishevsky, the creepy Ukrainian cook on the CBS sitcom 2 Broke Girls. Jonathan joins festival alum, Gregory Kasunich, in a script to screen masterclass. Together they’ll talk about the process of making their new film including calling in favors from famous faces, working with a puppeteer whose resume includes Sesame Street, the Muppets, Dreamworks and Broadway and the importance of networking - even in Waco.
Also in attendance will be Matt Adler and John Philbin for a retrospective screening of North Shore. This 1980’s film is a cult classic in the surf community. Easily quotable and full of 80’s-tastic action, this will be a blast to rewatch this with the stars of the film.
Screening sponsored by Waco Surf.
Welcome Home
This year’s festival opens with a homecoming. A Christmas in New Hope was filmed all across Waco in 2023. You’ll see friends, neighbors, and familiar sites on screen. Plus, local actors, crew members and the film’s director will be in attendance.
New Lounge
Passholders receive 4 drink tickets to use at Dichotomy on Friday, July 18, and Saturday, July 19. These tickets are good for drinks on our special film festival menu. Relax, recharge—or network with visiting actors and directors in town for the fest.
As always you can expect a stellar lineup of films, music videos and screenplays. With over 140 projects you will definitely find something you’ll like, and there’s good odds, the person who made it will be here, too. Check out the schedule and pay close attention to the color coding. Those colors will give you a vibe of what that film mixtape is like.
Crowd Pleasers - Yellow
Family-Friendly - Green
Deep Dives - Blue
Bold, Weird and Wild - Red
From sweet family-favs to raunchy rom-coms to scary, bloody fun we have the films at Waco Indie.
Come downtown, see cool films, go to the hottest parties, meet awesome people.