When independent filmmaker Vijay M. Rajan moved to the area about three years ago so that his wife could launch her own business, he didn’t expect to do a lot of movie-making in Champaign County.
However, as he began to plan out “Dark Soul River,” a psychological thriller set in the Midwest, he learned that there were a lot of local resources to pull from — such as the recently-launched Flyover Film Studios in Rantoul, where Rajan has been filming scenes over the past week.
“I love the entrepreneurial spirit in Champaign and Urbana,” he said. “We’ve been welcomed into so many places for locations. The Champaign film office helped us get so many things, deals on hotels, logistics, things like that. It was a very open community, really, to helping us get the resources we needed.”
“Dark Soul River” centers on two leads: Nathanael Ambrose, the “Kaw Valley Killer,” and Saarathi, a Brahmin Hindu from India and the brother of one of Ambrose’s victims. A week before his execution, Ambrose says he will share where more victims are buried, but only with Saarathi.
“It is a dark and morbid story, but I think that there’s a lot of hope and belief in good when it comes to the war of good versus evil,” said Rajan, who is both writer and director of the film. “As much as it’s inspired by ‘Silence of the Lambs,’ my ending is very much an inversion of ‘Silence of the Lambs.'”
The film is shot almost entirely in Champaign County, with the exception of some scenes filmed in Kickapoo State Park and along the Middle Fork Vermilion River as a stand-in for the Kansas River.
Some familiar locales residents might recognize in the finished project include the Royer House and the Rantoul Recreation Center.
Rajan added that he’s very grateful to Flyover Film Studios, as he had previously planned to shoot the interrogation scenes — which make up a third of the film — in his own home.
Being able to create custom sets on Flyover’s soundstages, on the other hand, allows the crew to line up more creative shots and makes the movie, which has a budget of under $300,000, “look like a million-dollar film,” he said.
More information about the movie and a link to donate can be found at filmmakerscollab.org/films/dark-soul-river/.
“We have very, very high hopes for this film when it comes to distribution,” Rajan said.
Newman watering hole for sale
The Corn Crib of Newman, located at 107 E. Yates St., is for sale.
Co-owner Erica Burris said that she and her husband, Scott, put the property on the market about 18 months ago.
While the two of them have loved running the Corn Crib, she said that the current business climate for restaurants is challenging, particularly in smaller towns. Additionally, the couple has three kids to take care of, along with a farm and a hearing aid business Erica helps her mother with.
“I don’t feel like we’re able to give this business the care that it deserves and the energy it deserves,” she said. “…It deserves to be great.”
When asked if she and her husband plan to keep the restaurant open until they find a buyer, Erica said she is trying to decide what to do next and will “stick it out” as long as she can.
Her goal is to have a way forward by this summer, whether that’s a new owner who will keep the building open as a restaurant or one who will convert it into something else.
It’s Erica’s hope that, whatever’s next for the building, it will continue to benefit the local economy and be a special meeting place for the community.
“When this place is packed, like especially on a Friday night, and there are families here and there’s people in the bar and watching sports or enjoying happy hour and then you have families on the other side in our restaurant, everybody talks,” she said. “Everybody goes to each other’s table and you hardly see people sitting.”
The current asking price for the property is a little under $300,000; more information is available at a listing from Keller Williams The Real Estate Center of Illinois at homesearchil.com.
New vintage store aims to “resist” fast fashion
Resistance Threads, a new vintage clothing store at 405 S. Neil St. in Champaign, will have a grand opening at noon on March 29.
“My shop is more than just a store,” wrote owner Emily Petak on social media. “It’s a place of expression, community, and conscious fashion. My goal is to help people shift from fast fashion to slow, intentional shopping while offering a range of pieces at different price points from more affordable finds to rare, one of a kind gems.”
Petak added that while she currently specializes in 1990s fashion, the shop’s ever-changing inventory will feature a mix of “true vintage” and modern items.
Urbana retail strip sold for over $3 million
Gateway Shoppes at Five Points, a 12-suite retail center on East University Avenue that includes Po’ Boys, recently sold for $3.375 million, announced Marcus & Millichap.
The firm listed the property on behalf of Prairie Holdings Newton, LLC and procured the buyer, Nikolas Chugay.
“Our client has invested in a portfolio of multi-tenant retail properties across the U.S.,” said David O’Keefe, first vice president investments at Marcus & Millichap. “This deal was particularly attractive due to its 8.47% going-in cap rate, proximity to the University of Illinois, and a strong mix of e-commerce-resistant tenants.”
