When you think of making movies you may think of locations like L.A. or New York, but what about right here in Michiana?

This weekend, the first annual River Bend Film Festival is taking place in downtown South Bend, and it is the largest independent film festival in northern Indiana.

It used to be just a small event at IUSB, but thanks to the dedication and dreams of local filmmakers it has evolved into an entire weekend of films, workshops, auditions, and more at South Bend's Century Center.

Organizers of the first annual River Bend Film Festival say it has been a long journey to get to this point, but hope the festival will continue to grow.

“Our goal has always been to do this, and in the end, is to really make this a legitimate set-up, something along the lines of psuedo-Sundance or pseudo-Slamdance or a Toronto film festival,” says workshop chairman Michael Kouroubetes.

The event is even bigger this year thanks in part to sponsorships from downtown South Bend and Mid America Filmmakers.

Tara Eary, the Mid America Filmmakers Coordinator, says, “We’re a group, an organization that really tries to get together and say, ‘You know, you’re not alone.’”

And that includes filmmakers right here in South Bend.

Local filmmakers are even holding auditions at the festival and they are encouraging people to come and try it out.

“Until you've actually been on the other side of it and see everything that goes together to making a movie, it's hard to understand all the different moving parts of that,” says filmmaker Scott Dokey.

This year's festival also includes workshops on writing and creating movies, led by leaders in the film industry including Notre Dame alum Stephen Susco, who wrote the screenplay for the horror film “The Grudge."

And in a show of support from the city of South Bend, the River Bend Film Festival is kicking off the summer-long First Fridays events for the city.

“We hope with the combined efforts of the city and the festival, we'll make it as successful as, and possibly put us on the map with, Sundance and things like that in the future,” says festival marketing director Trisha Miller.

And what do filmmakers hope people get out of the event?

Dokey says, “I think the biggest thing, is we want people to go out of there saying, “Wow, I didn’t realize so much was going on in our backyard.”

The River Bend Film Festival runs Friday and Saturday in downtown South Bend.

For more information, you can visit the River Bend Film Festival’s website by clicking here.