Chris Lofing, a 2009 Beatrice High School graduate, has a vision.

Five years from now, Lofing hopes to be on the set of a major motion picture in Hollywood, learning the craft of moviemaking in preparation for his own career as a film director.

For Lofing, however, waiting five years seems like a long time.  That’s why Lofing and a group of Beatrice students, teachers and parents spent the better part of a year creating a movie of their own: “Joker.”

The film tells the story of a young boy who one day grows up to be the Joker, as depicted by Heath Ledger in the box office hit “The Dark Knight.”

“I started writing the script in November, we started shooting in December, finished shooting in late April,” said Lofing, who spent the better portion of his summer vacation wrestling with editing and setting music to his film.

In August, Lofing debuted the film to friends and family at Beatrice Movies, filling most of the seats.

Lofing screened his movie for the second time Tuesday night at the Hevelone Center for Performing Arts at BHS.

“Joker,” stars BHS graduate Jesse Cross along with Brent Frahm and Jean Spilker.

Lofing said having experienced actors like Frahm and Spilker added to the reality of the project.

“They both agreed to do it so I gave them a call whenever it was time to shoot and sometimes it worked out and sometimes it didn’t,” Lofing said.

BHS English teacher Jodie Fakler plays a teacher who takes an interest in the young Joker while a gang of thugs is led by BHS senior Ross Jensby, with Troy Summers, Mason Carey and BHS graduate Nick Bell tagging along.

The movie was filmed in and around Beatrice, cast as the fictional Bentonville suburb of Gotham City. Beatrice residents will recognize Chautauqua Park, Riverside Park, Valentino’s, as well as other businesses and streets used throughout the film.

Lofing drew on “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan’s inspiration of redefining the Batman story to provide the genesis for Batman’s greatest adversary: the Joker.

“In the movie they hinted at origins of the Joker character,”  Lofing said. “I never heard a concrete background for the Joker.”

Knowing that his budget and technical ability would fall short of creating a Batman movie, Lofing began writing a script for a background story for the Joker.

“I knew I could have a lot of fun and learn a lot doing it,” Lofing said.

Lofing portrays the Joker in his teenage years, bullied at school by a gang of small time thieves, abused and beaten at home by his alcoholic father. By the time anyone takes  interest in the future supervillain, he has been cast too far into the darkness, which he begins to embrace.

A tagline for the film reads, “When all you have is the darkness, embrace it.”

Lofing said the entire filmmaking process was a great learning experience for his preparations in going to film school.

“My expectations for the movie were never to profit from it,” Lofing said. “For me, it was for the experience. It helped me learn a ton of new things.”

Joker is the second film Lofing has produced after receiving a camera during his freshmen year of high school.

“I got a camera in my freshmen year,” Lofing said. “And I had made a few small films for my friends and family when an idea hit me to do a ‘Halloween’ movie — John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween.’”

While he expected only a few people to see the movie, it became a greater success than he could have hoped for.

“The night I premiered it at my house a lot more people showed up at my house than I thought were going to,” Lofing remembers.

When the movie ended, the audience gathered at his house clapped and cheered and a new dream was born.

In October, Lofing will attend the Los Angeles-based New York Film School.

“I have always loved entertaining people whether it was on stage or telling jokes, but this seemed like a really fun way I could entertain people and enjoy doing it,” said Lofing. “That’s when I decided to pursue a career in filmmaking.”