Jeremy Markovich NewsChannel 36 Producer

I'm starting to think John Schwert is obsessed with food.

When he came in for an in-studio interview back in March 2008, we asked him what he saw as the biggest difference between working on a large-budget film and a small-budget one. "The food," he said.

Monday night, after a showing of his new film "In/Significant Others," somebody in the audience asked where the bulk of his low budget went. Light and camera rentals were costly, he said, before making it clear that if you can't pay people very much, the least you can do is feed them well. A big chunk of his budget went to making sure the cast and crew could grub it up.

"In/Significant Others" is, at its most basic level, a crime story. To try and explain it further gets kind of tricky. All of the characters are woven together in a loose web that only becomes completely untangled at the end. The lighting and production have come a long way since Schwert's first effort at directing a feature film, 2004's "Among Brothers." The casting is spot on, even if you don't recognize the faces (they're all local, and most were in the audience Monday night). The only one I knew was Brian Lafontaine, who played Jack, a comedian. He doubles as Game Show Gary from all of those North Carolina Education Lottery commercials, but takes a much more serious turn here.

Official Trailer for 'In/Significant Others' from organic visual on Vimeo.

The movie premiered Sunday night in Boston, but it was probably better appreciated in Charlotte. This city is a character in the movie too, even though it's never named. A good chunk of the movie was shot at the Gin Mill on South Tryon Street. Fourth Ward makes quite a lot of appearances, as does the Mecklenburg County Jail and the old courthouse in Uptown. You won't go more than 15 minutes without seeing part of the skyline. Everything took four weeks to shoot. Schwert scouts locations in Charlotte, so it wasn't hard to find good backdrops.

The hard part, he said, is trying to make an independent movie in an era when indy films are getting harder and harder to make, and more importantly, get distributed. "In/Significant Others" is a broader and higher quality film than his first one, and yet he's having to work harder to get people to notice it. Movie studios have shuttered their independent film divisions. Anybody with a camera and a computer can be a filmmaker now.

Despite all that, Schwert has high hopes for this movie, and ones to follow. He's hitting the festival circuit hard, and hoping to work out a deal to put "In/Significant Others" in theaters across the Southeast. His next film will be a thriller, he said. He wants to shoot it in a small town close by. Schwert went to Queens University of Charlotte, and still lives here in the Queen City. It's clear his Carolina roots run deep.

It's just another step in the right direction for a guy who gave up a career in advertising to make movies. This time though, Schwert hopes the budget will be bigger, around $2-3 million. Just imagine what the food will be like.

Tuesday's Schedule

Regal Park Terrace Cinema 6

6:30 p.m. -- Goodnight Irene
9:15 p.m. -- The Heart is a Drum Machine

Complete Schedule: www.charlottefilmfestival.org.

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