Enjoy Your Holiday, America!

Big Car is taking this First Friday off (well, pretty much the entire month of July -- except for a film screening and the 48 Hour Film Project -- see below) but will return in August with a show by Big Car Collective member Cindy Hinant on Aug. 7. And we have lots of other big news coming soon.

If you are in the mood for art on July 3, we suggest checking out Shane Carte's show "Let's all Go Camping!" at Mt. Comfort (A Space for Champions) 1651 English Ave. -- opening reception 6 p.m.-midnight.

And, on July 4, there's the Art of July Parade in Fountain Square put on by our neighbors at the Fountain Square Arts Council:

48 Hour Film Project returns to Indianapolis

Big Car Collective is producing the 2009 Indianapolis portion of the 48 Hour Film Project, an international competition of short films made in 48 hours. Registration is now open. To register for the Project, filmmakers can follow the instructions found on www.48hourfilm.com/indianapolis. Registration is based on a first-come first-served basis and space is limited.

The competition takes place July 31-Aug. 2 with the film screening -- where audience members have a chance to help select prizes -- taking place at The Tobias Theater at the Indianapolis Museum of Art on Aug. 6. This is the third year for the event in Indianapolis. More than 20 teams participated last year.

Indianapolis 48 Hour Film Project important dates:

Screening and panel discussion - July 19 at noon at the Indianapolis International Film Festival at IMA

Best of 2008 screening and last-minute info session - 7 p.m. on July 29 at Indianapolis Central Library, 40 E. Saint Clair St.

Competition - July 31-Aug. 2 with kickoff and drop off at The Brass Ring Lounge, 1245 S. Shelby St.
Screening - Aug. 6 at IMA

For more information, email jim@bigcar.org

Also happening this month

Screening of the independent film "When You Get to Heaven" by Chicago director and writer D.G.W. Hedges

7 p.m. on July 20 at Big Car

for more information check out: www.whenyougettoheaven.com.

Big Curiosities: A Miniseries of Mysterious Events

Indianapolis Central Library
40 E. Saint Clair St.
Indianapolis, IN 46204

All events start at 7 p.m. and are free.
All take place in Clowes Auditorium.

The series is presented by Big Car Collective and the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, and supported by The Efroymson Family Fund. It is linked to the library's fall adult reading program.

Aug. 26: Local experimental music group Big Robot will provide a soundtrack to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a 1919 silent film by Robert Wiene. The moody horror film came at height of German Expressionist cinema. With its surreal sets and distorted camera angles representing madness and nightmare, this silent classic follows the story of the evil hypnotist Caligari and his unwitting sleepwalker pawn as they create fear and mystery.

Sept. 30: Jeffrey Meldrum, a prominent researcher on Sasquatch and professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University presents a talk. Also a preview of Big Car Gallery's Bigfoot-themed art show for October, opening Oct. 2.

Meldrum's interest in Bigfoot grew after being shown 15-inch footprints in a plowed field near Walla Walla, Washington. Although initially believing the tracks to be forgeries, upon further examination he noticed what he believes is evidence of a high degree of flexibility in the print and a mid-tarsal break, traits he has come to believe belong to Bigfoot. Meldrum has published several academic papers ranging from vertebrate evolutionary morphology, the emergence of bipedal locomotion in modern humans and Sasquatch and is a co-editor of a series of books on paleontology. Meldrum is the author of the 2006 book Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science, a companion volume to the Discovery Channel documentary of the same name.

Oct. 28: Big Car Collective assembles an unusual orchestra of experimental musicians to create a spooky and spontaneous soundtrack to the 1920 silent version of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde -- just in time for Halloween. Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel about the dark side of human nature comes to life with silent-era heartthrob John Barrymore as upright Dr. Jekyll and demonic Mr. Hyde. A dinner conversation on the topic of human duality at a dinner party prompts Jekyll to concoct a potion to divide the human psyche's two sides: good and evil. Soon, the dark side takes over to deadly results. All will be accompanied by a live soundtrack featuring a Tonos Triad, Shiny Black Shirt and others.

Nov. 5: UFO expert Stanton Friedman presents a talk. Also a preview of Big Car's outer-space art show for November, opening Nov. 6.

Friedman became interested in UFOs in 1958, and since 1967 has lectured about them at more than 600 colleges and 100 professional groups in 50 U.S. states, nine Canadian provinces and 16 other countries in addition to various nuclear consulting efforts. He has published more than 90 UFO papers and has appeared on hundreds of radio and TV programs including on Larry King in 2007 and twice in 2008, and many documentaries. He is the original civilian investigator of the Roswell Incident and co-authored "Crash at Corona: The Definitive Study of the Roswell Incident." "TOP SECRET/MAJIC," his controversial book about the Majestic 12 group, established in 1947 to deal with alien technology, was published in 1996 and went through six printings.

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