"Cherry" is the film that almost wasn't made in Michigan. In fact, it originally was set to shoot in Virginia before a serendipitous trip to Ann Arbor two summers ago changed its course.

Producer Matthew Fine, a sculptor from Virginia, says he was exhibiting his artwork at the Ann Arbor Art Fairs when he caught wind of the generous new tax incentives Michigan was offering to filmmakers who brought their film productions to the state.

"I remember sitting in my booth at the art show and I called the Film Commission Office and spoke with the head of the Film Commission," Fine says. "That really was the genesis of it. The Michigan film incentive is 100 percent the reason why we were here."

Two years later, the Michigan-made independent film is complete and its makers have been screening it at film festivals around the country and in theaters across the state.

The Michigan Theater in downtown Ann Arbor will present two special screenings of "Cherry" on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

The film is not rated. Run time is 95 minutes.

Jeffrey Fine, the film's writer/director and brother of Matthew Fine, is expected to attend and answer questions from the audience following the 7:15 p.m. screening.

Matthew Fine and lead actress Laura Allen sat down with AnnArbor.com recently to talk about making "Cherry," which premiered earlier this year at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. Most of the film was shot in Kalamazoo in late 2008.

"Part of the joke we're using is it's kind of like the presidential primary: Michigan is going to be our New Hampshire," Fine says. "We need to get the vote out, let the people see the movie, and if they respond in the right way, we feel like our distributor will be able to book it in a whole lot more theaters around the country. And part of the story that we're telling is about Michigan's film incentive and how great it was to be in the beautiful town of Kalamazoo."

The storyline in "Cherry" revolves around Aaron (Kyle Gallner), a bright but sheltered freshman who arrives at an Ivy League college to join its elite engineering program. There he meets Linda (played by Allen), a 34-year-old former wild child who has returned to school to straighten out her life. Aaron is a virgin, hence the title "Cherry."

When Linda invites Aaron home for dinner, he meets Beth (Brittany Robertson), Linda's punky, sarcastic, teenage daughter who develops a crush on Aaron. Aaron quickly finds himself caught in the middle of a dysfunctional triangle somewhat reminiscent of "The Graduate."

Allen, who also stars in the new television show "Terriers" (Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on FX), says "Cherry" provided her the opportunity to play a unique, dynamic role.

"Linda's an alcoholic, she's a mother of a teenager, she's a party girl and an artist, and she's troubled," she says, "but I think we really root for her throughout the film. She's a relatable character who is a smart but just made some poor choices early in life.

"People should really go see this movie," Allen adds. "It targets a wide range of an audience. I mean, a lot of students would appreciate it."

The filmmakers looked at numerous campuses around the state before settling on Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College. They say they needed a school that had an Ivy League feel and the K-College quad and WMU's East Campus fit that description.

Matthew Fine says the entire film was shot for less than $1 million, which is cheap for a feature-length production. He says the Michigan film incentive helped stretch limited dollars.

"We were one of the first movies to successfully get through the Michigan film incentive process," he says. "And the incentive really allowed us to do a couple of things that we wouldn't have been able to do — for instance, shooting on the RED, which is a high-end digital camera, which really at the end of the day the film looks beautiful.

"Every dollar counts, so we wanted to put every dollar on the screen, and our incentive ended up being almost 33 percent of the film. So we got 33 percent more bang for every dollar."

Fine says the film has had great audience response so far.

"I think one of the biggest accolades was having Michael Moore pick our film for the Traverse City Film Festival," he says. "He hand-selects every film. He was really enthusiastic about our movie and we showed it to 950 people in a 945-seat theater and we got a standing ovation afterwards, and that was accolades enough."

Fine says "Cherry" also provided him a great opportunity to collaborate with his brother, who loosely based the film on experiences from his own freshman year of college.

"I am not a film producer by trade, but basically we got together and just decided through will and a lot of sweat equity that we were going to make this thing happen," Fine says.

"And the funny thing about independent filmmaking," he adds, "is it gives you the opportunity to make every choice yourself, as opposed to the stereotypical Hollywood convention. So we were able to make choices that were unique and individual. And I think at end of the day, when you watch the film, you can just tell that it was hand-crafted."

Ryan J. Stanton is a digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.