Film shot in Rantoul premieres, putting spotlight on growing film industry in central Illinois

(WAND) — A film shot in central Illinois has made its world premier. WAND News sat down with the director and production company behind Black Mold, to learn more about the project.

John Pata has always been fascinated with abandoned buildings and all things horror.

"Some scientists in England were thinking that was what led to people believing in hauntings. That they weren't necessarily seeing ghosts, but that they were exposed to a mold that was causing hallucinations and so on," Pata told WAND News.

So, when he decided to take his passion and make it into a movie, a Champaign film maker suggested the decommissioned Chanute Airforce Base.

"So my producers and I came down in the beginning of 2021 and we scouted and said 'Yes! This is absolutely where we need to shoot'," Pata explained.

He connected with Shatterglass Studios to direct his film Black Mold in Rantoul.

"A lot of it was shot down the street from here in the abandoned hospital that we shot a lot of it in," Luke Boyce, Partner and Producer for Shatterglass Studios, told WAND News.

The film premiered at Panic Fest in Kansas City, winning best Indie feature, and putting a spotlight on the film industry that just started to take off in Champaign County.

"It shows what you really can do — that you can do a lot here and in some cases you can do more than you an do in a metropolitan area where there's more red tape and it's further to drive different places," Boyce explaind.

He is helping build a workforce that can film and produce films like Black Mold.

"There is such a strong pool of talent that is both in front of, and behind the camera. So I think there is a very strong potential of making this a very strong collective community," Pata said.

Pata is working to bring more projects to central Illinois. He told WAND News, bigger things are coming.

"I really thing that in the next 3-5 years there's going to be some bigger developments about projects happening in Illinois," Pata explained.

Black Mold will be shown at festivals before it becomes available to the public. The director plans to hold a special screening for Rantoul.