GREAT LAKES, a Minnesota-made independent feature film written and directed by Minnesota Independent Film Fund winner James Byrne will have its Twin Cities premier on Friday, December 6th at the Oak Street Cinema (309 Oak St. SE, Minneapolis) at 7pm. This is a free screening, co-sponsored by the Minnesota Film & TV Board and the Screenwriting Program at Metropolitan State University. Press screenings will take place on November 19th at 3pm at Hi-Wire (555 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis) and November 20th at 10am at Metropolitan State University, Performance Studio (730 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis).

GREAT LAKES, a dark comedy about overcoming unfortunate twists of fate, was produced on a micro budget utilizing the latest digital technology, a tiny crew and talented Twin Cities-based actors. More than five years in the making, GREAT LAKES first premiered at the Telluride IndieFest in September, 2002 to enthusiastic audiences.

James Byrne, a St. Paul writer/director who also teaches screenwriting at Metropolitan State University, had to use the celebrated ingenuity of an independent filmmaker while making GREAT LAKES. The limited budget ensured that the crew had to confine itself to natural sunlight and shoot on location - there was no money for sets. When a dead body was needed for one crucial scene, a crew member, rather than a professional stuntperson, had to crawl inside a body bag, which was then lifted from a Duluth pier to a tugboat. "Art is made from its limitations," notes producer Sara Klee.

Byrne is not unfamiliar with the obstacles facing independent filmmakers. His production company with Sara Klee, Friction Films, has produced several short films including "Olfactory Glands", "Winter Shorts", "Falling Through Air" and "The Runners", which was screened at the 2001 Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival. Another short, "One Way" was screened at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art in 2002.

"Fresh performances and a bold vision are the things we focused on with GREAT LAKES," notes Byrne. Twin Cities-based actors Heidi Jo Langseth (BLUES BROTHERS 2000, THE BRIDGE) and Jeff Gilson (VIXEN HIGHWAY, PARADISE) played the lead roles of Dara and Nobel. Dara, fresh out of prison and on a mission to scatter her mother's ashes in Lake Superior, meets Nobel, an endearing bundle of tragic flaws, and sparks fly between these lost but likeable souls. Together they set off from Minneapolis to Duluth on what they think will be a redemptive and romantic road trip to the North Shore but actually turns out to be tainted by a fatal accident.

The screenplay for GREAT LAKES won the 1996 Minnesota Independent Film Fund (MIFF), a development grant awarded to Minnesota independent filmmakers. For the past eight years, MIFF, administered by IFP/MSP and funded by the McKnight Foundation, has awarded three filmmakers $25,000 each plus access to a steering committee made up of nationally recognized film industry professionals.