The grand prize for last weekend’s Memphis Indie Film Fest was won by Germantown residents and filmmakers.

“The Path of Fear” took the top award in “Best Hometown Narrative Feature” category. Old School Pictures and Nightshadows Entertainment, along with Executive Producer Pam Chapman, shot the film earlier this year on a shoestring budget, but premiered to a sold-out crowd in June at the Malco Trinity Commons on Germantown Parkway.

Old School Pictures consists of a group of young filmmakers who all met while students at Houston High School. Brad Ellis and Joey Watson directed “The Path of Fear” while Matt Weatherly and Mark Norris did editing, acting, and all other areas of film production in the 79-minute feature film. Allen Gardner, also a member of the group, has gone on to professional acting in Los Angeles. The rest of the group are all attending The University of Memphis, all majoring in Film.

This supernatural film, the seventh for this Germantown team, was shot on digital video using a Canon GL-1 camera. Editing software used was Adobe Premiere, a nonlinear editing system used on a personal computer. This was Old School Pictures’ first entry in a film festival.

“The Path of Fear” revolves around five teenagers who, while hanging out around an old abandoned movie theater, unknowingly awaken the presence of a 12-year-old girl who years before fell to her death from the upstairs balcony. Local actors Marie-Claire Hardy, Julianne Dowler, and Natalie Jones give a chilling performance, as well as the rest of the local cast.

Director Brad Ellis stated, “We would like to thank all of our friends and family from Germantown who came out to support us last week during the Indie Fest at the Muvico Peabody Place. We are all so excited over the big win, and we are all looking forward to using our prize money to create more local entertainment for everybody.”

To find out more about Old School Pictures, go to their website at www.oldschoolpictures.net.