The Indie Grits Film Festival recently named by Moviemaker Magazine as one of the 20 coolest film festivals returns for its 5th year, and will take place April 13-17, 2011 in Columbia, SC.

“We were tired of films filled with caricatured rednecks and trailer parks so we created Indie Grits to showcase the exciting new work coming out of the Southeast. We embrace films and filmmakers from the fringes of the indie and experimental world, those who appreciate DIY filmmaking for what it is rather than thinking of it as a stepping stone to bigger filmmaking,” says Andy Smith, Indie Grits festival director. “Last year over 1,600 people attended Indie Grits films and programs, and we are really happy this is growing into such a regional event.”

In celebration of the fifth anniversary of Indie Grits, the festival will feature famed filmmaker Helen Hill’s final work, The Florestine Dresses. Hill, a native of Columbia, was making this film when she was killed in her home in New Orleans in 2006. Hill’s husband, Paul Gailiunas, has been working to finish the film for several years, and the film will debut at Indie Grits.