It's springtime now, and filmmakers nationwide are beginning to premiere their wares at film festivals.

Mike Pasley of Waterloo is one of these accomplished artists. The twenty-something director, who now has two feature-length works to his name, will premiere his new film "The Stevie Wondershow" on April 25 at the Bare Bones film festival in Muskogee, Okla.

The film, which was shot in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area, was written by Pasley. It was shot using a team of producers, designers and actors from across the country, though it also involved many locals from the community. In order to complete the film, Pasley put in late nights working on the movie for the last few years, all on top of his full-time job.

The writer/director is, in short, living his dream. "The Stevie Wondershow" marks the first time Pasley's worn both hats on the same project.

"I am doing it - I'm just not quite making a living at it, yet," he said.

The film follows Stevie, a self-conscious man who makes audacious home videos in his free time. When one of these videos is leaked to a manipulative co-worker, Stevie begins to learn the dark side of human nature as he gains celebrity status in his community.

Pasley worked on the script for a year before having an opportunity to shoot the movie. His chance came when he met Ryan Wehner and Andrew Tomayko while working on another film, "Frag."

"Frag" is a documentary about videogames that Pasley directed for the Cedar Falls-based Cohesion Productions. The project was his first full-lenth production. Wehner and Tomayko were freelance consultants on the film.

The personality of the three producers gelled and soon they were talking about making their own feature-length film.

"After being around those guys for about three days or so, something just kind of clicked and we realized that, if the three of us get together on this project, we would have a talented and ambitious well to draw on," Pasley said.

When they began the initial stages of production on the film, meeting at a Super 8 somewhere between here and Albuquerque, the men had very little material to work with.

"Basically the only thing we had at that point was the three of us and a script," said Pasley, whose first experience in the film industry was shooting music videos for local artists. "We asked ourselves, what do you really need to make a movie and the answer was: 'A script and a camera.' We had both."

Fully realizing the financial difficulties that they would confront when making the film, the three decided that they would focus on making the movie itself and not on any potential profits.

"We decided not to make it be about money ever," said Pasley, a University of Northern Iowa graduate. "That could turn out badly because, of course, people could lose interest, but it could also become something magical by transcending those worries."

The three, as well as the rest of the cast and crew, worked for free.

But their efforts may end up paying off at the Bare Bones festival.

"Any festival can open doors like getting the attention of distributors, studios, et cetera, especially if you have a good audience that is really engaged by your movie and you get a lot of buzz going about it," Pasley. "Having a premiere is a very iconographic event for any movie. Seeing any movie in a theater is so much more exciting than seeing it at home. Everything about it feels more cinematic."

For now, Pasley is just happy to have made the film. He says he likes living in Iowa, and attributes some of his success to residing in the area. "In a place like this," he says, "you may not have many opportunities but you have many resources."

While other aspiring directors move to larger cities in order to work from the bottom up through the strata of the film industry, Pasley made the decision to stay here. In addition to the low cost of living and available resources, he admits that his decision was made partially by selfishness and impatience. "Do I want to try to make movies or do I want to make movies?" he asks.

His answer: "I want to make them."