The city has been overrun by evil killer robots — in one local filmmaker’s latest project, at least.

“Damaged,” an independent film by Dan Mundt, lecturer in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, will premiere Saturday night in the Kocimski Auditorium in the Design Building.

The film’s plot centers around a city overrun by disembodied machines, and one female soldier — played by Megan Finch, senior in communication studies — who attempts to stop them.

“[The main character] finds herself playing out the last part of a battle that really seems to have already been lost,” Mundt says.

The film has a plot and characters like a feature film, Mundt says, but his choice to leave out character and city names makes it feel like an art piece.

“It’s very strange and very visual; although nobody has a name, they are all distinct characters,” he says. “The story could be set anywhere; it could be here in Ames.”

Mundt says the plot is difficult to understand without actually viewing the film.

“It’s a story about people told in a completely different way,” he says. “I doubt anyone in the audience will have seen anything quite like this movie before.”

Mundt says he first began making films during his freshman year of high school.

“When ‘Star Wars’ came out, I thought, ‘Ooh, that might be fun to do,'” he says. “The idea for [this film] has been rolling around in my head since 1976 or 1977.”

Most of the cast and crew for “Damaged” were ISU students at the time of filming. Production began in May 2002 and finished in August. “Damaged” was filmed almost entirely on the ISU campus during the hot summer months, which Mundt says was difficult for the crew to handle.

“Megan was running around dressed in battle fatigues in 85 to 90 degree heat,” he says. “I don’t recall her complaining, but [the crew] complained a lot.”

Dru Frykberg, library associate with the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, helped Mundt with the film. Frykberg says the film’s unique plot may appeal to a wide audience.

“[‘Damaged’ is] a hybrid between a black-and-white no dialogue art film and an action science fiction movie,” Frykberg says. “It’s very dark and poses a lot of questions, making you really think.”

Two other films will also be shown with “Damaged,” including “54,” a five-minute short film produced by ISU alumni Rua Pokladnik and Cody Jans and “Persistence of Vision” by Andy Langager, ISU graduate student in journalism and mass communication.

Mundt says he plans to submit “Damaged” to www.ifilm.com, a Web site for independent filmmakers. He says he is also considering submitting “Damaged” to the Sundance Film Festival, a festival honoring outstanding independent films and filmmakers.

“People have said we should send it to Sundance, even though they don’t usually look for movies about evil killer robots,” he says.

“Damaged” was made for around $3,000, a feat Mundt says he couldn’t have accomplished outside of Iowa.

“One of the great things about making a movie in Iowa is that people don’t ask you for money for much of anything,” he says.