Photograph courtesy of Cindependent Film Festival
Cincinnati’s celebration of independent filmmakers, Cindependent Film Festival, created by multi-award winning filmmaker Allyson West, is returning for the fourth time with a special guest in tow for opening night. Network comedy star H. Jon Benjamin will be in attendance to show the short film he co-stars in, Relationship to Patient, which is written, directed, and produced by Covington native Caroline Creaghead.
Benjamin, best known for his voice performances as Bob Belcher in Bob’s Burgers, Archer in Archer, and Can of Vegetables in Wet Hot American Summer is featured in Creaghead’s movie as a man in the hospital who the main woman (played by Eleanore Pienta) is trying to find and talk to.
According to Creaghead, the short is based on a real experience she had. “I was seeing someone who I knew previously, we were friends… and then it became romantic, and then it became nothing. And then, like, a year after the last time I talked to him, he reemerged,” says Creaghead. “Then he revealed that he was sick, and it was cancer, and it was bad. As we were getting closer again, he was getting sicker, and it was a very bizarre experience.”
Relationship to Patient is also the first film that the Covington native has written and directed with a cast and budget. Her show business career began in the Brooklyn comedy scene. For years she was a curator and producer of stand-up shows with more alternative performers like Kristin Schaal, David Cross, and H. Jon Benjamin. It wasn’t until she briefly moved back to Cincinnati from New York that she began to create her own projects.
“I kind of always wanted to direct, but I just thought other people are allowed to direct, I’m not allowed to direct,” says Creaghead. “So I would do things with my friends back home, we made a little pilot at Camp Ernst. I was always looking for a way to, for example, develop a show with comedians and then try to sell it to tv.”
In 2018 Creaghead moved to Los Angeles and with the connections she had made in the Brooklyn comedy scene, began working as a producer on short films like Flex. After the experience that inspired Relationship to Patient happened around the pandemic, she know it was time to fully create something of her own. “He was a writer, and right after he died, I just felt this, you know, indescribable force pushing me to write it all down.”
As someone who was already in the LA short film scene, it was easy for Creaghead to find a creative team that she could fully trust to execute her vision. The harder part was funding the project. “I put a lot of my own money in, but I needed more, and so I did a Kickstarter campaign. It felt uncomfortable for me at first, you know. It was a big thing for me to put myself in the position so like to ask and receive what I needed and centering myself.”
Photograph courtesy of Cindependent Film Festival
Creaghead ended up hearing about Cinependent from old Cincinnati Mini Microcinema friend and local artist C. Jacqueline Wood. She jumped at the opportunity to submit as she recognizes the strength of the local film scene. “I’m looking forward to plugging in more with the filmmaking community in Cincinnati, because I know that it’s such a healthy and growing community with a lot of vibrant contributions to cinema.”
She’ll be bringing along the film’s co-star H. Jon Benjamin to the premier at Memorial Hall on Thursday, September 19. If you want to watch the short and meet Benjamin and Creaghead, passes can be purchased here.
Cindependent Film Festival will take place from Thursday, September 19 to Saturday, September 21. Each day will feature themed film blocks, master classes, screenplay salons, and more. Read more about the festival and its films and events here.
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