Feature-length thriller set in Sioux Falls ready to finish production

Picture this. It’s a thriller that combines roller derby, an all-female soundtrack and a chase through a cornfield.

And it’s all set in the Sioux Falls area.

It’s called “Valentine Crush,” and the local writer and director are looking for crowdfunding to finish the editing and post-production process.

To get the buzz going around this feature-length film, they’re hosting a Kickstarter launch party Thursday evening at Covert Artisan Ales & Cellars. The hope is to connect the movie to the community it’s based in before it finishes production and hits the festival circuit, said Jamie Wede, executive director and producer.

“To make something of this magnitude in Sioux Falls … I know it’s going to get attention,” Wede said.

The film is set in Sioux Falls for a few reasons. One, both Wede and writer Leah Simmons live here, and, two, the cast and crew were able to shoot here during the pandemic.

Another reason for the South Dakota setting was to show another perspective of the roller derby life. Simmons, who was part of the Sioux Falls Roller Dollz for 12 years, said women in roller derby often are portrayed as coming from a big city.

“The modern roller derby movement is really this grassroots movement of small-town skaters like Sioux Falls, like Fargo, like Omaha,” Simmons said. “It was important to represent that story for people in the sport.”

“Valentine Crush” tells the story of a hot-headed roller derby competitor who meets her No. 1 fan who is more than a little obsessed with her.

It’s got all the makings of a “damsel in distress” story, but that’s not the roller derby way, Simmons said.

“She’s not going to cry and beg for help,” she said. “She’s going to kick his ass.”

The entire film was shot in eight days, in part at a farmhouse near Beresford. But Sioux Falls residents will see familiar settings and hear others mentioned in the dialogue.

Downtown bar The Top Hat gets a mention, and the interior of a bar scene takes place at Club David with the exterior shot at the Red Rock Bar & Grill east of town.

The first shot of the film shows the main character skating through downtown Sioux Falls, Wede said, and she stops into Zandbroz Variety to hang up a flier.

For Simmons, seeing her story come to life on film is surreal. A lifelong writer, she’d written scripts for a local horror and sci-fi podcast, as well as various short stories, but she never imagined writing a movie.

Then, she met Wede. When she mentioned she was working on a script, Wede, who studied film and has a background in the industry, asked to see it, and she sent it over.

“I read it and said, ‘This could be a movie,’ ” Wede said. “I’ve been wanting to shoot something for a long time, and finally I was like, you know what, I just need to do this.”

A month later, they were meeting with a California-based film director and friend of Wede’s, and from there it snowballed. They put together a cast, scouted out locations, masked up and filmed the entire script in just over a week.

The whole experience has been exciting and terrifying at the same time, Simmons said, but she’s happy to be telling a story about roller derby, a subculture she said needed to have its story told.

“I hope it’s something that,” Simmons said, “if anything, inspires more women writers and filmmakers to see that the stories they have in their head are valid and should be shared.”

The Kickstarter launch event starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11, at Covert Artisan Ales & Cellars, 434 E. Eighth St. It will feature craft beers, music from artists featured in the movie, plus the Windy City Bites food truck.