Reprinted with permission from The Pike-Dispatch, July 29, 2020

A Pike County native and award-winning videographer is in the process of making a feature- length film.

Dylan Query, who graduated from Pike Central in 2015, and his friend, Jacob Stieneker, are in the process of raising money to make a feature-length film out of their award-winning short film Cold Creek.

Stieneker wrote and acted in the film, while Query directed and filmed it. The short film won numerous awards in various film festivals, including: Best Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Director, from the Frog Baby Film Festival 2020, and Best Short Film, from the PopCon Film Festival. It was also nominated for the Best Indiana Film at the Pop-Con Film Fest. In addition, it was a  official selection of KWC Film Fest and Hoosier Films Annual Festival.

Query said his interest in film making was stirred when he took Middy Burns’ Podcast class. “My interest from the class took off,” said Query. He also participated in making films for German class under Fritz Krahl’s tutoring. His team won two years in a row at the Indiana University German Films Festival.

Query, after graduation from Pike Central, went toBall State, where he majored in telecommunications, entrepreneurship and digital media storytelling. He started Query Productions, a videography company. It specializes in weddings, corporate videos, events, music and short films. For his day job, Query works for Allegion in Carmel as a videographer preparing strategic communications.

Query said, in 2018, he and Stieneker worked together to make the short film Cold

Creek. They entered it in several festivals and won awards. It is a western with lots of Pike County in it. Cold Creek is about William McCarthy.

“Orphan William McCarthy seeks revenge on Sheriff Felix Danberry for the murder of his parents, Henry and Elizabeth McCarthy. Cold Creek is a short story about how the innocence of a young boy is easily taken advantage of with tragic and dark consequences. Taking after his parents, William becomes an outlaw with revenge at his core,” said Query’s summary of the film.

Query, on his website, states, “For the last 4 years, I studied at Ball State University and was encouraged many times to leave the state of Indiana in order further my career successfully. Ultimately, they’re wrong. Indiana has the potential to be more than it is now. Indiana has the potential to be a state that incubates and supports young filmmakers and talent. Along with my own journey, it’s my dream to encourage and help other local Hoosier filmmakers. Together, we can build a film industry community.”

Because of the success of Cold Creek, Query hopes to use it as a vehicle to get an Indiana film industry community started.

He and Stieneker are in trying to raise funds to make Cold Creek into a feature-length film entitled Cold Cross. “We are trying to raise $10,000 to hire Indiana talent. We aren’t using it to purchase equipment. We have all the equipment we need. We are wanting to be able to hire Indiana talent for the film,” said Query.

They have set up a Go Fund Me page for the film. The link to the film is: https://gf.me/u/ygfdyj. As of Monday, July 27, the site had been up for 10 days and collected $1,336 with 22 donors. They have a goal of $10,000.

Query said they aren’t just asking people to give them money without giving the donors something. He said each donor of $9 will get a digital ticket to be able to view the feature-length film Cold Cross, when it is released.

Cold Creek was filmed mostly in Pike County. “Almost all of the locations are shot from within 30 minutes of Petersburg, most of it near Pikeville,” said Query.

He said Cold Cross will be the same. “Almost all in southern Indiana, there might be a couple of locations in central Indiana. All of the locations are still in Indiana.”

“We are still in the fundraising mode. Still working out details and starting the talent search. We hope to have the details finalized by the end of 2020. We will start by 2021 and hope to release it by the end of the summer 2021.”

“This is a homegrown feature-length film, the likes of which southern Indiana has never seen before. It is something new. We are trying to start a movement here. I have a pretty big vision about the future, where I want to take this. I want there to be a stable video production firm in the state of Indiana. Someone has to start it and I want to be a part of the conversation,” said Query.

“I am a proud Hoosier filmmaker.”