Industry

  • Tribeca Film Institute Selects 11 New Film Projects for 10th Annual Tribeca All Access Program

    Ten filmmakers with unfinished projects were selected out of 560 submissions from across the country to participate in the 10th Annual Tribeca All Access (TAA) program. TAA will support each project with an initial $15,000 grant as well as offer year-round support, guidance, and resources for filmmakers to help advance their projects toward completion.  TAA will present the 11 projects—6 narratives and 5 documentaries—at a three-day career-development program from April 22-24, during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), April 17-28, 2013.

    Two projects will also be selected as recipients of the juried Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Award; an additional $10,000 grant will be awarded to one documentary and one feature project. 

    : 2007 TAA alum Cherien Dabis, whose latest feature May in Summer, opened the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Past TAA-supported films have gone on to premiere at film festivals around the country, received distribution deals and garnered critical acclaim. These include titles such as:

    When I Saw You, Palestine’s official entry for the Academy Awards, directed by Ann-Marie Jacir (2012), winner of the NETPAC prize for Best Asian Film at the Berlin International Film Festival;

    American Promise, directed by Michele Stephenson and Joe Brewster (2013), winner of the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Achievement in Filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival;

    Four, directed by Joshua Sanchez (2009), winner of the Urbanworld Film Festival and Independent Spirit Award nominee;

    Circumstance, directed by Maryam Keshavarz  (2011), Audience Award-winner at the Sundance Film Festival;

    Una Noche, directed by Lucy Mulloy (2012), winner of Best New Director at the Tribeca Film Festival and Best Script at the Brasilia International Film Festival;

    Gideon’s Army, directed by Dawn Porter (2011), alumni introduction to her producer HBO Documentaries, winner of the Best Editing Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival; and

    Free Angela & All Political Prisoners, directed by Shola Lynch which will open in theatres nationwide on April 5, 2013 and is Executive Produced by Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith and Jay Z

    Five grants will be awarded to documentary projects in various stages:

    Long Year Begin, Directed and Produced by Malika Zouhali-Worrall and David Osit – An icy vault in the Arctic Circle safely stores seeds from around the world, but there is no such vault for humans or nations. Long Year Begin offers a poetic meditation on humanity’s perpetual quest for self-preservation. 

    Roots & Webs, Directed by Sara Dosa, Produced by Josh Penn – Amid the bustling frontier world of Oregon’s matsutake mushroom camps, an unexpected father-son pair endures a tumultuous mushroom-hunting season. They grapple with wounds from Southeast Asian wars, attempting to find the high-priced mushroom before snowfall. An odyssey into the woods, into the memory of war and survival, Roots & Webstells a story of family from enigmatic woodland realm.

    (T)Error, Directed and Produced by Lyric R. Cabral and David F. Sutcliffe – (T)Error captures the spectacular unraveling of an active FBI counterterrorism sting operation, and the dramatic aftermath that occurs when the target of the investigation realizes that a government informant is setting him up.

    Time Is Illmatic, Directed and Produced by One9, Produced by Erik Parker – A feature length documentary film told through the lens of rapper Nas and his bluesman father Olu Dara, Time Is Illmatic deconstructs Nas’ indelible rap album Illmatic and the socio-economic and cultural conditions that inspired the landmark work and gave voice to a generation.

    Unveiling Shirin, Directed and Produced by Nariman Hamed, Produced by Victorien and Anna Lena Vaney– A feature length documentary film about the artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat that takes us inside Shirin’s world and explores her life and work. It is the story of her life and challenges as a female Iranian artist living in exile.

    Five grants will be awarded to narrative projects in various stages:

    If You Stay, Written, Directed, and Produced by Roja Gashtilli; Written and Directed by Julia Lerman – Iranian-born, American-bred Elham “Ellie” Amiri runs out of patience with her All-American lover and America when neither seems to want to commit to her.  Coming of age meets coming to America in this moving and imaginative comedy about youth, identity and sexual politics in NYC.

    Khoya, Written and Directed by Sami Khan; Produced by Karen Shaw; Executive Producer Guneet Monga– After the death of his adopted mother, a Canadian man travels to rural India desperately searching for the birth family he’s never known and seeking to unravel the mystery surrounding his adoption.

    The Lobbyists, Written, Directed, and Produced by Terence Nance; Produced by Andrew Corkin; Produced by Chanelle Pearson; Produced by James Bartlett – A conman with no past and a former CIA agent join forces to “lobby” politicians by blackmailing them into voting for progressive legislation.

    Obvious Child, Written and Directed by Gillian Robespierre; Produced by Elisabeth Holm – In this subversive romantic comedy about growing up without regret, 27 year-old emerging comic Donna Stern (Jenny Slate) gets dumped, fired, pregnant, and has the best worst Valentine’s Day of her life.

    Papaw Easy, Written and Directed by Martha Stephens; Written by Karrie Crouse; Produced by Brett Potter – Under the watchful eye of his vain, ‘Modern Christian’ uncle, a shy young boy forges an unlikely partnership with a foul-mouthed, down and out playboy.

    The narrative project selected to participate from the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is:

    Combarde, Written and Directed by Boris Rodriguez; Produced by Anne-Marie Gelinas and Concepcion Taboada – A union organizer in Mexico loses his job and joins a band of corrupt detectives planning to kidnap the company’s owner.

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  • Eight Filmmakers Selected For 2013 Film Independent Directing Lab

    Film Independent selected eight filmmakers and projects for its 12th annual Directing Lab. This year’s Lab Mentors include Karen Moncreiff (The Trials of Cate McCall, The Dead Girl), James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now, Smashed) and Angela Robinson (True Blood, The L Word). 

    Starting today and continuing through mid-April, the Directing Lab is an intensive program in Los Angeles, designed to assist directors with strong, original voices develop new narrative feature films, improve their craft, and advance their filmmaking careers in a nurturing yet challenging creative environment. 

    The 2013 Film Independent Directing Lab filmmakers and their projects are:

    A Death in the Andes – In a desperate attempt to save his mother from a rare disease, Carlos, a fiery campesino from the Bolivian highlands, ventures to the city and attempts to abduct an American doctor. As they are caught up in a world of urban criminals and a violent local protest, he is forced to confront both his distrust of foreigners and his fear of death.

    Nicholas Greene is a British filmmaker based in New York. His short film, Salar, made in Bolivia with the country’s only film school, won the 2011 Austin Film Festival Jury Award and was shortlisted for the Oscars. He was selected for the Cine Qua Non screenwriters lab in Mexico and the Berlin Talent Campus in 2011. As a producer, he works with Jolyon Symonds, and has two projects in development with the BFI: Travels with My Aunt, based on the novel by Graham Greene, and The White Tiger, based on the Booker prize winning novel by Aravind Adiga. He previously worked for Paramount Pictures and holds an MFA in film from Columbia University. He works as an editor for non-profit documentary projects.

    Carolina Highway Killer – A truck stop hustling party girl faces off against one very bad trucker.

    Jacob Hatley is a writer/director whose first feature, Ainʼt in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm, premiered at SXSW and won the top music award at the Nashville Film Festival. He has directed several internationally screened short films, including China, which won the First Lookʼs Gold Medal atthe Directorʼs Guild of America. In addition, he has helmed music videos for artists such as Shawn Mullins, Levon Helm, Marty Stuart and Yonder Mountain String Band. He splits his time between North Carolina and Los Angeles.

    Folsom Street – A lesbian couple, in early 1990s San Francisco, undergoes shock waves of changing perception and identity when one of them changes sex while their neighborhood is pillaged by the Dot Com boom.

    Krisy Gosney is writer/director and native Californian. Her script Folsom Street (formerly Manhandled) has won a screenwriting grant from the San Francisco Film Society/KRF; and participated in the 2010 IFP IFW Emerging Narrative program. The script was also a semi-finalist in the 2010 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. Gosney has made several award-winning shorts (“Gator Armstrong Plays With Dolls”, “Wanted”) and has written several shorts for award-winning directors (“Peeling”, “Between You and Me”). Her stage-plays include Are These Your Panties? (Bay Area Criticʼs Pick) andTake It Like A Man. Gosney has a MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA. And, sheʼs been awarded a James A. Michener Fellowship, Carl David Memorial Fellowship and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Screenwriting Fellowship. Last year, Gosney was a Film Independent Screenwriting Lab fellow with her feature film project Folsom Street. Currently, she is an executive producer on Dead History Project a web series featuring paranormal investigation and historical research. Gosney currently splits her time between Hollywood and Oakland, California.

    God Love Stu – The incredible true story of Stu Rasmussen, who convinced his conservative hometown in Oregon to elect him as the first transgender mayor in history.

    Aldo Velasco is a filmmaker and playwright born in Guadalajara, Mexico. His short films have screened at the Sundance, SXSW, and Los Angeles Film Festivals, among others. In 2009, he received a grant from ITVS (Independent Television Service) to write and direct the short film “Tent City” for the first season of the online Futurestates series. Aldo is also an editor of feature films. Recently, he edited Chittagong, the epic Indian historical drama directed by Bedabrata Pain. He also edited Grace Leeʼs political mock documentary Janeane From Des Moines, which recently premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Velascoʼs play The True History of Coca-Cola in Mexico has been produced in several theatres around the country, including the San Diego Repertory Theatre, the Empty Space in Seattle, and most recently the GALA Hispanic Theater in Washington, D.C.. His short film “INFITD” was selected by UCLA Professor Chon Noriega as one of the 100 Best Chicano Films of all time. Aldo has worked as a private investigator in Los Angeles. His investigation of the Mario Rocha case was featured in the film Marioʼs Story, which won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2006.

    New Mexican Rain – Itʼs 1983 and 11-year-old Rain wants sex. With her parents just divorced, sheʼs about to understand what that really means.

    Amber Sealey is a Los Angeles based filmmaker and performer who was born in England and raised in Santa Fe. Her second feature as writer, director and actor, How to Cheat (Winner Best Performance Award LAFF 2011, Winner Best Narrative Film & best Acting BendFilm 2011) was called “amazing…laugh-out-loud hilarious” and “one of the most relevant and eloquent portraits of modern marriage to date.” How to Cheat premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival and has gone on the screen at the Montreal World, BendFilm, Indie Memphis, Cinequest, Oxford Film Festival, and Cucalorus; it is being distributed by FilmBuff. Her first film, A Plus D (available on IndiePixfilms.com) premiered at Montreal World, where critics said, “Fact and fiction are obliterated…edgy, anguished, funny… The acting is astonishing. I thought of Cassavetes, Winterbottom.” It went on to screen at Indie Memphis, Filmstock UK and San Francisco Indie. Amber was shortlisted for the 2012 Film Independent “Someone to Watch” Spirit Award and featured in the “Futures” section of IndieWire. Sealey has worked predominantly as an actor in theater, voice over, television and film (both in the US and the UK). She is the voice of many audio books including the Meg Cabot Princess Diaries Series. Schooling includes: The University of California, Santa Cruz; The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and The Central School of Speech and Drama (both in London). As an actor, her films have screened at various festivals including Sundance (The Good Night with Gwyneth Paltrow and Penelope Cruz), Santa Fe International, Seattle Underground, Austin and Ashland Independent. As a performer and devisor she worked in London for 6 years with the award-winning physical theatre company, SHUNT. As a performance artist, her work has been shown at the Edinburgh Fringe Festval, Hoxton Hall, Battersea Arts Centre, 291 Gallery, Bongo Club in Edinburgh, Croydon Film Festival, the Museum Of and the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theatre. She likes to show off by telling people her husband is a rocket scientist who just helped land the Rover, Curiosity, on the planet Mars (he really did) and by showing people photos of her adorable daughter (she really is).

    Straight Edge – Vick, a lonely and sickly sixteen-year-old, changes forever when he falls into the rebellious, tumultuous and sometimes violent world of straight edge punk culture.

    Daniel Casey is a writer/director and native of Detroit, Michigan. He made his indie debut in 2007 with a shoe-string budgeted feature titled The Death of Michael Smith. That film, which premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival and received a special jury award, continued on to play festivals across the states and internationally. In 2009, one of Caseyʼs follow-up screenplays, Jimmy Six, made the Hollywood Blacklist, and was purchased by Whitewater Films. Since that time, Casey has been making his living via screenwriting work for various studios and production companies, including 20th Century Fox, Imagine Entertainment and Universal. Casey is also remained active in directing where possible, premiering narrative shorts ʻWonderboyʼ and ʻCargoʼ at the Cinequest and Slamdance film festivals in 2011. Presently, Casey is eagerly anticipating a return to feature directing, having recently completed the screenplay for Straight Edge, a project he hopes to shoot in late 2013. Additionally, Casey received an MFA in film directing from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, a BFA in digital cinema from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, and is an alumni of the Sundance Screenwriting and Directing Labs. In 2007 Casey was also awarded a Tom Yoda Scholarship, and in 2008 was the recipient of an Annenberg Foundation Grant.

    Sunday Billy Sunday – In an unholy collision of religious fervor and psycho-pathology, Father Billy Acosta, desperate to talk to God, sets out to kill 99 teen campers in East Texas, hoping to spark Divine Intervention.

    Morna Ciraki is a film director and producer. She began her directing career in music videos. Music video work includes “One of These Days” for Japanese pop star Seiko Matsuda, featuring Quincy Jones and shot by Academy Award-winner Janusz Kaminski. She has also produced dozens of music videos. Ciraki has worked as a producer and production executive for former Universal Studios President and producer Thom Mount (Natural Born Killers, Bull Durham, among many). She has developed screenplays for directors Stephen Frears and Oliver Stone, and produced a feature film Have Dreams, Will Travel, starring AnnaSophia Robb, Val Kilmer and Heather Graham. Ciraki served as the London based production executive for Reliant Pictures on Stephen Frearsʼs Cheri, starring Michele Pfeiffer and Kathy Bates. Born in Zagreb Croatia, Ciraki has the distinction of obtaining two law degrees on two continents (one from the University of Zagreb in Croatia and one from Pepperdine University), and serving as part of a criminal defense team at the International War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague. Last year, Ciraki wrote and directed a short film “Grace Paine: The Bombay Beach Incident.” She has co-written with Mark Wheaton (Friday the 13th, The Messengers) the Euro-centric political thriller Panthers. Morna is working on her feature debut, a teen horror/thriller Sunday Billy Sunday, written by Wheaton, adapted from his Amazon bestseller. Ciraki lives in Los Angeles.

    Untitled Amazon Project – When armed loggers threaten to evict their family from their rural home in the Amazon, two brothers smuggle rare lumber in hopes of selling it on the black market for money to save their land.

    Alex Moratto is a Brazilian-American filmmaker. He is a graduate of the UNC School of the Arts, School of Filmmaking where he was a Kenan Scholar and studied film directing under Peter Bogdanovich. His thesis film The Other Side won the 2010 Jury Award from the Directorʼs Guild of America for Latino filmmaker. Moratto attended Werner Herzogʼs 2010 Rogue Film School Seminar and was the recipient of the 2012 North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship for Screenwriting.

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  • Four directors from India, Italy-US, Brazil and UK-Germany Win 2013 2013 Sundance Institute | Mahindra Global Filmmaking Awards

    Sarthak Dasgupta, THE MUSIC TEACHER from India; Jonas Carpignano, A CHJANA from Italy-US; Aly Muritiba, THE MAN WHO KILLED MY BELOVED DEAD from Brazil; and Vendela Vida & Eva Weber, LET THE NORTHERN LIGHTS ERASE YOUR NAME from UK-Germany-US were announced yesterday as the winning directors and projects of the 2013 Sundance Institute | Mahindra Global Filmmaking Awards. Each of the four winning filmmakers will receive a cash award of $10,000 in addition to other prizes.

    The awards were presented at a private ceremony at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.S.A., by Rohit Khattar.

    The winners of the 2013 Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award are:

    Jonas Carpignano / A CHJANA (Italy/US): After leaving his native Burkina Faso in search of a better life, Ayiva makes the perilous journey to Italy; though he finds compatriots along the way, they are unprepared for the intolerance facing immigrants in their newly-claimed home.

    Jonas Carpignano is an Italian-American filmmaker currently based in New York City and Rome. While raised and educated in New York, he has spent periods of time in Italy where he began his career working as an assistant director. Since enrolling at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Carpignano has made several short films that have screened in numerous prestigious festivals throughout the world. Recently, he was awarded the Martin Scorsese Young Filmmaker Award, and his latest short film A Chjàna won the Controcampo Award for Best Short Film at the 68th Venice Film Festival.

    Sarthak Dasgupta / THE MUSIC TEACHER (India): The life of a small town music teacher takes a sharp turn when an estranged ex-student, now a celebrity in the city, comes to visit after several years. The teacher, now lovelorn, prepares to meet her, not knowing if she still bears the same feelings about him as she did those many years back.

    Sarthak Dasgupta’s debut feature is the critically acclaimed The Great Indian Butterfly, which screened at several International Film Festivals before its release in 2010. Sarthak holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and a Master’s degree in Business Management.

    Aly Muritiba / THE MAN WHO KILLED MY BELOVED DEAD (Brazil): After the death of his wife, Paulo mourns her each day by repairing her clothes and tending to the personal belongings she’s left behind. One day, he finds a video tape that will change his life. 

    Aly Muritiba is a partner at the independent production company, Grafo Audiovisual. As writer-director, he has directed six short films, a tele film and a feature film. His most recent short film, A Fábrica, is a winner of 60 film awards (including Best Live action in CFC World Wide Short Film Festival, Best Short Film in Cartagena das Indias and Honorable Mention in Clermont-Ferrand short film festival). A Fábrica was recently shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short.

    Eva Weber / LET THE NORTHERN LIGHTS ERASE YOUR NAME (UK/Germany): When 28-year-old Clarissa discovers on the eve of her father’s funeral that everything she believed true of her life was a lie, she flees New York and travels to the Arctic Circle to uncover the secrets of her mother who mysteriously vanished many years before.

    Originally from Germany, Eva Weber is a London-based filmmaker working in both documentary and fiction. Her multi-award-winning films have screened at numerous international film festivals, such as Sundance, Edinburgh, SXSW, BFI London, and Telluride; and have also been broadcast on UK and international television. Her film, The Solitary Life of Cranes was described as “one of the most absorbing documentaries of the year” by The Observer newspaper in the UK, and selected as one of the top five films of the year by critic Nick Bradshaw in Sight & Sound’s annual film review in 2008. Eva is currently developing a number of feature projects, including the fiction/documentary hybrid ‘Ghost Wives’. She has also been selected to direct the 20-minute fiction film, ‘Field Study’. Funded through the British Film Institute’s shorts scheme, filming is scheduled for late spring 2013.

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  • 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards Filmmaker Grant Winners Announced

    Film Independent announced the winners of its four Spirit Awards filmmaker grants today at its annual Spirit Awards Nominee Brunch hosted by Salma Hayek and Jeremy Renner.

    Winners for the remaining categories will be revealed at the 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, February 23, 2013. 

     

    Adam Leon, director of Gimme The Loot, received the Someone to Watch Award. The award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award, which is in its nineteenth year, includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant. The finalists for the award included Rebecca Thomas for Electrick Children and David Fenster for Pincus.

    Peter Nicks, director of The Waiting Room received the Stella Artois Truer Than Fiction Award. The award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not received significant recognition. The award is in its eighteenth year and includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Stella Artois. Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims for Only The Young and Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel for Leviathan were also finalists for the award.

    Mynette Louie received the Piaget Producers Award. The award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The annual award, in its sixteenth year, includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget. Finalists were Derrick Tseng and Alicia Van Couvering.

    Laura Colella for Breakfast With Curtis, which premiered at the 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival, received the third annual Jameson® FIND Your Audience Award. The award helps one low-budget independent film find a broader audience. The award included a $50,000 marketing and distribution grant, funded by Jameson® Irish Whiskey. The other finalists were Sara Lamm, Mary Wigmore, Kate Roughan and Zachary Mortensen for Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin And The Farm Midwives and Jeremy Kipp Walker and John Mitchell for History Of Future Folk.

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  • Filmmaker Mary Sweeney Named New Chairman Of Film Independent’s Board Of Directors

    Filmmaker Mary Sweeney (The Straight Story, Baraboo) has been elected as the new sitting Chair of the Board of Directors for Film Independent. She takes over the position from outgoing Chair, filmmaker Bill Condon (The Twilight Saga – Breaking Dawn Part I and II, Gods & Monsters), who has served as Chairman for the last three years. On the Executive Committee, Sweeney joins current Vice Chair, writer/director Rodrigo García (Mother and Child, In Treatment); Secretary, director/producer Alan Poul (The Backup Plan, The Newsroom, Rome) and newly seated Treasurer, Landmark Theatres C.E.O. Ted Mundorff. Condon will remain on Film Independent’s Executive Committee as a member-at-large.

    “We could not be more thrilled to have Mary leading our board at this time,” said Film Independent Co-President Welsh. “She brings such a wealth of knowledge, energy and commitment to the organization and to independent film.”

    “We are so thankful and appreciative for Bill’s incredible leadership during his tenure,” said Film Independent Co-President Mc Manus. “We know Mary is equally devoted to our mission and look forward to working with her to realize our vision.”

    Film Independent produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards, Los Angeles Film Festival and Film Independent at LACMA film series.

    Film Independent’s current Board of Directors is comprised of the following industry leaders: Randy Barbato, Adriene Bowles, Effie T. Brown, Bill Condon, Laura Dern, DeVon Franklin, Sid Ganis, Rodrigo García, Vondie Curtis Hall, Michael Helfant, Marcus Hu, Laura Kim, Sue Kroll, Kasi Lemmons, David Linde, Allan Mayer, Ted Mundorff, Gail Mutrux, Tom Ortenberg, Alan Poul, Cathy Schulman, Mary Sweeney, Nancy Utley and Forest Whitaker.

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  • Film Independent Announces The 3 Films Nominated for the 2013 Jameson Find Your Audience Award

    [caption id="attachment_3089" align="alignnone" width="550"]Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and the Farm Midwives[/caption]

    Film Independent announced the nominees of the 2013 Jameson® FIND Your Audience Award, which is one of the four Film Independent Spirit Award filmmaker grants to be handed out at the January 12 nominee brunch. Funded by Jameson® Irish Whiskey, a Premier Sponsor of the awards, the $50,000 crash grant is designed to assist a feature narrative or documentary filmmaker in building the audience for his or her film. The winner will be highlighted at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, February 23, 2013. 

    The nominees for the 2013 Jameson FIND Your Audience Award are:

     

    Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and the Farm Midwives
    Sara Lamm, director
    Zachary Mortensen, producer
    Kate Roughan, producer
    Mary Wigmore, director

    Breakfast with Curtis
    Laura Colella, director/producer

    History of Future Folk
    Jeremy Kipp Walker, director/producer
    John Mitchell, director

    Now in its third year, the Jameson® FIND Your Audience Award was established when Film Independent saw the need to meet independent filmmakers’ biggest challenge today: getting their films out into the marketplace. Previous year’s winners were Benjamin Murray and Alysa Nahmias for Unfinished Spaces and Jeff Malmberg for Marwencol. As part of the grant process, Film Independent will provide ongoing consultation regarding distribution, marketing and publicity.

    In order to be considered for the Jameson® FIND Your Audience Award grant, applicants must be the director or producer of a recent American narrative or documentary feature with a production budget of $2.5 million or less that has not yet received significant distribution. The film must have screened at a film festival no earlier than September 1, 2011 and no later than August 31, 2012. In addition, applicants must be a past Spirit Award nominee or winner, Los Angeles Film Festival alumnus or completed one of Film Independent’s Artist Development programs (Labs, Project Involve or Fast Track) or solicited by Film Independent. Films with innovative, alternative marketing or distribution plans were encouraged to apply. Films that have overall North American distribution deals or that have not yet begun a film festival run were ineligible.

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  • Filmmakers Win Twelve Filmmaker Fund Grants From Rooftop Films

    [caption id="attachment_2766" align="alignnone" width="550"]Rooftop Films Summer Series screenings[/caption]

    In addition to the Summer Series – which takes place in unique outdoor venues every weekend throughout the summer – Rooftop Films also provides grants to filmmakers. Rooftop Films announced the 2012 Filmmakers’ Fund grantees with 12 grants, including a new $10,000 cash award from AT&T, plus grants from DCTV, Eastern Effects, Edgeworx Studios and the Adrienne Shelly Foundation.

    Rooftop Films’ Founder and Artistic Director, Mark Elijah Rosenberg, said of the grants: “We would not be able to make the Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund grants without the support of our community—our audience and our sponsors—so it’s wonderful to be able to represent the diversity of that community with a wide range of films this year, ranging from comedies and animation to serious films addressing global political issues. Each of these filmmakers previously screened at our festival, so it’s a wonderful opportunity for us to give something back to them and help them make new films which will sure to make a big impact in the near future.”

    The 2012 Grantees are: 

    ROOFTOP FILMS & AT&T FEATURE FILM GRANT:
    Bill and Turner Ross, untitled Texas / Mexico film

    ROOFTOP FILMS & DCTV COLOR CORRECTION GRANT:
    Tony Gerber and Maxim Pozdorovkin, Citizen Bout

    ROOFTOP FILMS & EASTERN EFFECTS EQUIPMENT GRANT:
    Alison Bagnall, Funny Bunny

    ROOFTOP FILMS & EDGEWORX POST-PRODUCTION GRANT:
    Shaka King, Newlyweeds

    ROOFTOP FILMS EQUIPMENT GRANT:
    Jeremy Saulnier, Blue Ruin

    ROOFTOP FILMS & ADRIENNE SHELLY FOUNDATION SHORT FILM GRANT FOR WOMEN:
    Talibah Newman, Sweet Honey Chile’

    ROOFTOP FILMS & DCTV EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES SHORT FILM GRANTS:
    Julia Pott, Neighbors “Diamonds”
    Jesse Moss, Reality Party

    ROOFTOP FILMMAKERS’ FUND SHORT FILM GRANTS:
    Nellie Kluz, Gold Party
    Stephen Irwin, The Obvious Child
    Edwin Martinez, The Last Doo Wop
    David and Nathan Zellner, Part-Time Jobs
    Mauricio Arango, We Won’t Always Be Hyenas

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  • Maryam Keshavarz and Paolo Marinou-Blanco Win 2012 SFFS / Hearst Screenwriting Grant

    Screenwriting partners Maryam Keshavarz and Paolo Marinou-Blanco won this year’s $15,000 San Francisco Film Society/Hearst Screenwriting Grant for continuing development of their script, The Last Harem. Musa Syeed received an honorable mention for his script The Doctor.

    The Last Harem is described as “A battle between a young female musician and the mother of the newly ascended boy-king for the affection of the new monarch and control of the palace’s extensive harem will determine who becomes the most powerful woman in the Persian empire.”

    Circumstance, Maryam Keshavarz’s first narrative feature, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, and won the Sundance Audience Award. The film also won Best First Film at the Rome Film Festival and the Audience and Best Actress Awards at Outfest, and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. The Last Harem is slated to be her third narrative feature as a director.

    Paolo Marinou-Blanco’s first feature, Goodnight Irene, premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival to much critical acclaim, went on to travel to dozens of international festivals and was theatrically released in Europe in 2008. The Last Harem is his first collaboration with writer/director Maryam Keshavarz.

    Honorable mention fillm, Musa Syeed’s The Doctor’s synopsis, “A lowly construction worker in New York City has managed to convince his family in India that he’s still a doctor. When they send his younger brother to live with him, he maintains the charade by working at the one clinic that will let him practice without a license.”

    Musa Syeed’s debut feature film Valley of Saints premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for World Cinema: Dramatic and the Alfred P. Sloan Prize. He previously co-directed Bronx Princess (Official Selection, Berlinale) and produced A Son’s Sacrifice (Best Doc Short, Tribeca Film Festival), both of which aired nationally on PBS.

    Previous winners of the SFFS/Hearst Screenwriting Grant are Ian Olds and Paul Felten for The Western Habit (2011), Eric Escobar for East County (2010) and Mora Stephens for Made in the USA (2009).

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  • Tribeca Film to release Ed Burns Toronto bound The Fitzgerald Family Christmas

    Tribeca Film will release writer/director/star Edward Burns’ new film, The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, a family drama that reunites Burns with cast members Connie Britton and Michael McGlone from Burns’ award-winning debut film The Brothers McMullen.

    The film will have its world premiere on Sept. 9 as an official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival. Tribeca Film plans a late-November day and date release across multiple platforms timed to the holiday season.

    The Fitzgerald Family Christmas follows Burns’ 2011 release Newlyweds, which was a breakout success for the two-year-old Tribeca Film distribution label, ranking as one of last year’s top-selling VOD titles.

     

    With The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, Burns returns to the working-class, Irish-American roots of The Brothers McMullen. Reuniting with McMullen co-stars Connie Britton (“Friday Night Lights”), and Michael McGlone, along with Noah Emmerich (Little Children, Beautiful Girls), Kerry Bishé (Argo, Red State) and Caitlin FitzGerald (Damsels in Distress, Newlyweds) Burns seamlessly weaves an ensemble story of adult siblings dealing with the desire of their estranged father (Ed Lauter, The Artist, The Longest Yard) to return home for Christmas for the first time since he walked out on his family 20 years ago. Family rifts emerge, and like with any family, Christmas brings a mixed bag of complicated emotions and dynamics. Alliances form, old wounds are reopened or glossed over, and the possibility for a new hope and forgiveness emerges.

    “Having returned to my own filmmaking backyard with my most personal work, The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, I’m thrilled to partner with my old friends at Tribeca,” said Edward Burns. “We’ve been working closely together for over a decade and I’m happy to have their support to launch the film this holiday season.”

    “Family dynamics around the holiday are a rich vein, brought to life on screen by Ed Burns’ unique ability to create relatable, intimate and affecting moments,” said Geoffrey Gilmore, Chief Creative Officer of Tribeca Enterprises. “Deeply felt performances from a strong ensemble cast make the Fitzgeralds a family that recalls the McMullens but with a fresh and wry perspective all its own.”

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  • Four Films Awarded Grants from San Francisco Film Society Documentary Film Fund

    The San Francisco Film Society today announced the four winning projects in the second round of SFFS Documentary Film Fund grants,.

    The 2012 winners include Mike Plunkett, director; Anna Rose Holmer, producer, Charge – $20,000; David Sampliner, director/producer, My Own Man – $40,000; Shaul Schwarz, director; Lars Knudsen, producer; Jay Van Hoy, producer, Narco Cultura – $20,000; and Johanna Hamilton, director/producer, Untitled 1971 – $20,000

    2012 Winners
    Mike Plunkett, director; Anna Rose Holmer, producer, Charge – $20,000
    Charge is a character-driven story about Bolivians’ relentless fight to control their country’s abundant natural resources.

    David Sampliner, director/producer, My Own Man – $40,000
    As Sampliner turns 40 and faces marriage and fatherhood, he finds himself in an identity crisis. Stalled in his career and feeling alienated from other men, the filmmaker decides to get in better touch with his manhood. He explores a range of manly pursuits and seeks out a broad spectrum of men to explore the complex world of contemporary masculinity. For more information visit myownmanthemovie.com.

    Shaul Schwarz, director; Lars Knudsen, producer; Jay Van Hoy, producer, Narco Cultura – $20,000
    Narco Cultura explores the phenomenon of narcotics culture in North America through the personal stories of those entangled in the drug wars, from cartel-sponsored musicians and filmmakers to a crime scene investigator.

    Johanna Hamilton, director/producer, Untitled 1971 – $20,000
    Hamilton continues her exploration of social movements and the limits of dissent, this time turning her lens to domestic contradictions in North America.

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  • Tribeca Film to Release Indie Film Resolution from 2012 Tribeca Film Fest

    The “genre-defying tour-de-force” film Resolution which captivated audiences and critics at its Tribeca Film Festival and Fantasia International Film Festival premieres earlier this year will finally get a release. Tribeca Films will release the directing duo Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson’s “naturalistic-yet-otherworldly thriller” with a planned early 2013 theatrical release day

    Moorhead and Benson brilliantly straddle the line between raw thrills and honest emotion as complex characters and powerful performances drive this ambitious, unconventional narrative about two friends, one a junkie forced to go cold turkey in an isolated cabin. But what begins as an attempt to save his friend’s life quickly takes an unexpected turn “sure to please even the most seasoned horror fans” (Sound on Sight). “Much of Resolution’s fear factor happens in your head,” the Montreal Gazette raved, due to its “constantly shifting tone, from male-bonding buddy movie to occult thriller, psychodrama, horror and more.”


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  • Tribeca Film to Release Berlin Film Fest and Tribeca Film Fest Prize Winner War Witch

    Tribeca Film acquired U.S. rights to Kim Nguyen’s award winning War Witch (Rebelle), described as “a powerfully poignant film shot in the Congo with an exceptional lead performance by Rachel Mwanza, a newcomer who was discovered on the streets of Kinshasa.” In her very first acting role, Mwanza has already garnered critical acclaim for her astounding performance winning the Silver Bear- Best actress award at the Berlin Film Festival, where the film made its world premiere in competition, as well as the Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film Award at the Tribeca Film Festival.  The film took home the “Founders Award” for best narrative feature at Tribeca, where it made its North American premiere. 

    The film, with a screenplay by Nguyen, stars Mwanza, Alain Bastien, Serge Kanyianda, Ralph Prosper and Mizinga Mwinga. The film was produced by Pierre Even and Marie-Claude Poulin of Montreal-based ITEM 7. Tribeca Film plans a release across multiple platforms in the first quarter of 2013.

     

    War Witch tells the story of Komona, a young girl whose life is anything but normal.  Kidnapped by African rebels at the age of 12, Komona was forced at gunpoint to slaughter her own parents and fight as a child soldier against the government in the jungles.  But Komona was no ordinary solider.  Due to her ability to see gray ghosts in the trees that warn her of approaching enemies, she was deemed a sorceress and bestowed the title of War Witch by the supreme leader of the rebels, Great Tiger. War Witch exudes visceral energy and emotional power as Komona’s journey ultimately finds her in love with a fellow child soldier named Magician (Serge Kanyinda), but pregnant with another man’s child. Saddled with the reality that a life of normalcy is forever beyond her grasp, Komona must find a way to resolve the actions of her past. 

    “This film has spectacular resonance at a time when the world has been awakened to the situation of children being conditioned to wage war in Africa,” said Geoff Gilmore, Chief Creative Officer of Tribeca Enterprises. “Director Kim Nguyen balances heartbreakingly emphatic scenes of conflict, romantic yearning, and lyrical and dreamlike storytelling.  We are so proud to be bringing this award winning film to wider audiences and look forward to taking this exhilarating journey with the filmmakers.”

    “I am thrilled to have Tribeca Film distribute War Witch. Hearing the team talk about the film is a true inspiration and I am incredibly thrilled to be working closely with them for the release in the U.S.”, said writer-director Kim Nguyen. “We are confident that Tribeca Film’s passionate team can bring this special film to a wide audience in the U.S. and are very pleased to have them as U.S. distributor,” added Marie-Claude Poulin and Pierre Even for Item 7. 

     

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