KNOXVILLE, IOWA (January 11, 2011) - The thirteenth annual International Reel Wheel Film Festival, celebrating the automobile and auto racing in film, will move to April 22-24 in 2011, and will feature three new documentaries, Sean Buckley's "Follow The Corn" about Indiana non-winged sprint car racing, Randy Anderson's "Stateline S peedway, The First Ten Years" about the Busti, New York, dirt track, and Bob Leff's "Touched by an Angell: The Story of Angell Park Speedway" in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Also being screened in the theater on the second floor of the host National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum over the three days are "Red Dirt Rising", "Racing Dreams" and "Short Track". Knoxville Raceway's 2011 practice night for winged 305-, 360- and 410-cubic-inch sprint cars is scheduled for Saturday evening, April 23. "Racing Dreams" won the "Best Documentary" film honors at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2009.
According to museum curator Tom Schmeh, "For the past several years, we've held the film festival during the Knoxville Nationals . But, last year's Friday night rain out of racing forced us to cancel our film festival in the fan fair, which was very disappointing. Thus, we've decided to move the thirteenth annual film fest to Knoxville Raceway's practice night weekend, making it a great kick-off to the 2011 racing season here. In fact, we also have scheduled our Sprint Car 101 Third Thursday Series program for Thursday, April 21, and it will be a 'Salute to Gil Sonner'. We think we have an all-star line-up for those four days and nights!"
The International Reel Wheel Film Festival event schedule is as follows:
Friday, April 22
7 p.m. - "Stateline Speedway: First Ten Years, 1956-65" documentary (2010)
by Randy Anderson
- The first ten years of Stateline Speedway in Busti, New York (90 minutes)
8:30 p.m. - "Follow the Corn" documentary (2010) by Sean Buckley
- Inside the world of Indiana sprint car racing (66 minutes)
Saturday, April 23
10 a.m. - "Short Track" film (2008) by Marie Hopkins
- Life experiences of five-time stock car racing champion (100 minutes)
11:30 a.m. - "Racing Dreams" documentary (2009) by Marshall Curry and Bristol Baughan
- The lives of three young aspiring World Karting Association racers (96 min.)
1:30 p.m. - "Red Dirt Rising" film (2010) by James Suttles and Kathleen Bobak
- Based on a true story of three stock car racers in the 1940's (90 minutes)
3 p.m. - "Touched by an Angell: The Story of Angell Park" documentary (2010) by Bob Leff
- The story of Wisconsin's Angell Park and its history of midget car racing (104 minutes)
Sunday, April 24
12 Noon - "Touched by an Angell: The Story of Angell Park" documentary (2010) by Bob Leff ** encore presentation **
- The story of Wisconsin's Angell Park and its history of midget car racing (104 minutes)
2 p.m. - "Follow the Corn" documentary (2010) by Sean Buckley ** encore presentation **
- Inside the world of Indiana sprint car racing (66 minutes)
3:30 p.m. - "Stateline Speedway: First Ten Years, 1956-65" documentary (2010) by Randy Anderson ** encore presentation *
-& nbsp; The first ten years of Stateline Speedway in Busti, New York (90 minutes)
The "Salute to Gil Sonner" will be held on Thursday, April 21, from 7 until 9 p.m. on the second floor of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum. The free and open-to-the-public program about the career of the Knoxville Raceway Hall of Fame inductee from Des Moines will be both educational and entertaining. Practice Night at Knoxville Raceway will be held on Saturday, April 23, from 7 until 10 p.m., with free admission in the grandstands. Those individuals interested in the thirteenth annual International Reel Wheel Film Festival on April 22-24, 2011, are encouraged to visit the museum's web site at www.sprintcarhof.com
