Industry

[caption id="attachment_2560" align="alignnone" width="550"]Anurag Kashyap, kalki Koechlin and Sudhir Mishra attend Mumbai Mantra | Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab 2012.[/caption]

The inaugural Mumbai Mantra | Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab 2012 has selected eight feature film projects of Indian screenwriters.

These Screenwriting Fellows will have the opportunity to work intensely on their feature film scripts with the support of Creative Advisors (established Screenwriters and Directors).

This year’s Screenwriting Fellows who will go through a five day workshop (March 11-16) at a Club Mahindra Resort are:

Charudutt Acharya (Sonali Cable Centre)
Shonali Bose & Nilesh Maniyar (Margarita, With a Straw)
Vikas Chandra (Toothache)
Rajnesh Domalpalli (Avani)
Prashant Nair (Umrica)
Anusha Rizvi & Mahmood Farooqui (Opium)
Ajitpal Singh (Manjhi)
Kartik Singh (Public School)

The group of Creative Advisors, include Guillermo Arriaga (Amores Perros, 21 Grams), Marcos Bernstein (Central Station, Foreign Land), Michael Goldenberg (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Contact), Asif Kapadia (The Warrior, Senna), Shekhar Kapur (Bandit Queen, Elizabeth), Kasi Lemmons (Talk to Me, Eve’s Bayou), Anjum Rajabali (Rajneeti, Aaraakshan), José Rivera (The Motorcycle Diaries, On the Road), Howard A. Rodman (Savage Grace, Joe Gould’s Secret), Malia Scotch-Marmo (Hook, Once Around), and Audrey Wells (Under the Tuscan Sun, Guinevere).

The Mumbai Mantra | Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab is the first step in a three-year creative and strategic partnership that includes a robust plan to help Indian filmmakers connect to ever-increasing global audiences.

In addition to the annual Screenwriters Lab, the group has also instituted the Sundance Institute | Mahindra Global Film Making Award (GFA). The 2012 award winners were Etienne Kallos / Vrystaat (FREE STATE) (South Africa), Ariel Kleiman / Partisan (Australia), Dominga Sotomayor / Tarde Para Morir Joven (Late To Die Young) (Chile), and Shonali Bose / Margarita. With a Straw. (India).

Read more

[caption id="attachment_2546" align="alignnone" width="550"]Finalist Kat Candler, Hellion,[/caption]

San Francisco Film Society and Kenneth Rainin Foundation announced the 11 finalists for the seventh round of SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants of up to $300,000, to be given to one or more feature films that through plot, character, theme or setting explore human and civil rights, discrimination, gender and sexual identity and other social issues of our time.

Winners of the spring 2012 SFFS/KRF Grants will be announced in early May.

Finalists

Kat Candler
Hellion, screenwriting
Hell-raising twelve-year-old Jacob puts a kid in the hospital as retribution for beating up his kid brother. When he gets out of juvenile hall, his single dad and brother pay the price for his continued delinquent behavior. For more information visit candlerproductions.com.

Ryan Coogler
Fruitvale, screenwriting
Fruitvale is the true story of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family and strangers on the last day of 2008.

Robinson Devor
Untitled Sara Jane Moore Project, preproduction
A fascinating look into the mind and actions of Sara Jane Moore, a former socialite and suburban mother turned San Francisco radical. Drawn into the city’s social upheaval of the early 1970s, Moore became a double agent, working for both the government and several leftist revolutionary groups, until she was publicly exposed as an FBI informant. Suddenly outcast, isolated and fearing for her life, Moore attempted the ultimate act of revenge and self-preservation.

Lance Edmands, Kyle Martin
Bluebird, postproduction
In the frozen woods of an isolated Maine logging town, one woman’s tragic mistake shatters the balance of the community, resulting in profound and unexpected consequences. Told through fragmented and intersecting story lines, Bluebird examines the struggles of regret and redemption at the frontier of modern America.

Carlton Evans, Matthew Lessner
Ross, development
A hardworking young man’s staid, well-established life is upended after he posts an offhand comment to his Facebook profile, drawing the attention of numerous secretive government agencies and setting off a bizarre chain of events.

Mohammad Gorjestani, Malcolm Pullinger
Somehow These Days Will Be Missed, screenwriting
After years of being denied permission, the Etemadi family has finally been granted their visas to leave Iran. Mehdi, his wife Mina and their two kids are excited to start a new life in bustling Silicon Valley. But when they arrive, life is far from what they imagined. With their money quickly running out, Mehdi reluctantly turns to the dark world of illicit drugs, which ultimately proves to be his greatest awakening. For more information visit mkshftcllc.tv.

Leah Meyerhoff, Heather Rae
I Believe in Unicorns, postproduction
Davina is an unusual teenager, resentful about a childhood spent caring for her disabled mother. An older boy breaks through her shell and soon they run away together in a whirlwind of romance and adventure. As their new relationship turns emotionally and then physically abusive, she attempts to escape to a fantasy world but ultimately must learn to face her stark reality and reconnect with the mother she left behind. For more information visit unicornsthemovie.com.

Judy Phu
The Lovely Rejects, postproduction
A film about youth, uncompromising rebellion and love, The Lovely Rejects is the story of two young lovers with chronic illnesses who meet during chemotherapy. Tired of being in debt and of their endless struggle for health insurance and medical treatment, the two decide to go on a crime spree. For more information visit judyphu.com.

Ben Snyder
Salvage, development
Seymour Rubin has a problem. He’s 72 years old and runs an automobile salvage yard. His business is failing, his employees are on the verge of a revolt and his oldest friend and best worker is leading the charge against him. He has alienated his family, attacked his only friend and risks losing his beloved yard. He must embark on a journey of salvation.

Ray Tintori, Josh Penn
Untitled Cabal Project, screenwriting
Young revolutionaries in love take on the world and each other in a kaleidoscopically complicated universe that’s coming apart at the seams. For more information visit court13.com/films/ray-tintori.

Michael Tully, George Rush
Ping Pong Summer, production
It’s the mid-1980s. A shy teenager who lives in Maryland loves two things: rap music and table tennis. When he relocates to the beachside community of Ocean City, the most epic summer of his life begins. In addition to falling in love, he realizes his dream of becoming a ping-pong champion. For more information visit gmrush.com.

Read more

Noah Cowan, Artistic Director, TIFF Bell Lightbox, announced the appointment of Chris Kennedy as the new programmer for The Free Screen, TIFF Cinematheque’s renowned ongoing free series that features independent and avant-garde works.

“Chris has long been a champion of Canadian and international experimental film and video,” said Cowan. “His commitment and experience within the local and international experimental film and video community as well as his active participation in artist-run culture in the city make him a great asset to our Programming team. We are thrilled to have him on board.”

Kennedy is an accomplished programmer, curator and filmmaker with over a decade of experience programming experimental film and video. He was part of the programming committee for Toronto’s Pleasure Dome for six years, where he was instrumental in programming the Jack Smith retrospective and topical programs on Culture Jamming and the Second Gulf War. As Programmer for the Images Festival, he played a key role in organizing the Canadian Spotlights of Vincent Grenier and Robert Lee, introducing local audiences to Renzo Martens and Egyptian video art, and bringing in live performances such as Aki Onda and the show-stopping mash-up, Hop-Fu! He has also been guest curator for the New Nothing Cinema and the San Francisco Cinematheque, as well as a Board member for the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre. Kennedy’s films have shown in many national and international film festivals including Media City, the Berlin International Film Festival and the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

“This is a crucial time for experimental media in general as the definitions and formats continue to be challenged,” said Kennedy. “I’m delighted to have the opportunity to build on The Free Screen’s reputation of bringing experimental work to a curious and engaged audience, and plan to keep on exploring its connections with global cinema and contemporary art during this exciting time.”

Since its inception, The Free Screen has showcased work by established and emerging artists engaged in fields ranging from avant-garde film and animation to visual arts, essay films and video art, often with leading artists in attendance to discuss their work. The series has been overseen by some of the country’s most important programmers, including its founder Susan Oxtoby, Toronto-based filmmaker and programmer Chris Gehman, and Andréa Picard, Wavelengths curator and curatorial head for the Visions programme at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Kennedy’s first season as The Free Screen programmer will launch on March 21 with a salute to Jan Peacock. One of Canada’s most important video artists and one of the winners of this year’s Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts, Peacock has influenced and guided successive generations of artists in their explorations of the video medium. Jan Peacock: Using Clouds for Words is a survey of her oeuvre that includes gems such as her early video, California Freeze-Out (1980), made while a graduate student at UC San Diego and included in the influential California Video show curated by Kathy Rae Huffman for the 1980 Paris Biennial; Wallace & Theresa (1985), in which she memorializes her friend Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, an artist and writer whose life was cut brutally short; and (Bliss) (Dread) The Road Rises to Meet You (1987), a key piece made during the maelstrom of the AIDS epidemic. The screening will be preceded by a looped version of her most recent work, touch 1.0 (2012). Peacock will be in attendance to introduce the film and for a Q&A session after the screening. 

On April 11, The Free Screen, in co-presentation with the Images Festival, will feature the Toronto premiere of American collage-artist and filmmaker Lewis Klahr’s The Pettifogger (2011). A narcotic mixture of noir-driven intrigue and brooding, contemplative passages driven by strong mood music and found dialogue from radio potboilers, Klahr’s longest piece to date is an elliptical narrative of a year in the life of an American gambler and con man (the “petty fugger” of the title), circa 1963. The filmmaker will be in attendance to introduce the film and to do a Q&A session after the screening.

Tickets to The Free Screen are free and are available as of 10 a.m. on the day of the screening in person only at the TIFF Bell Lightbox box office.

via press release

Read more

The San Francisco Film Society announced that Iraqi director Oday Rasheed will be in San Francisco for the Film Society’s third Artist in Residence program, April 2 – 16. Rasheed’s schedule will include programs in each of the Film Society’s core areas — education, exhibition and filmmaker services — including visits to Bay Area high school and college classrooms, a screening of his feature Qarantina and networking events with the local film community. Rasheed’s residency is funded by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation.

“We are thrilled to have this opportunity to bring one of the few working Iraqi filmmakers to San Francisco for our next residency,” said Joanne Parsont, SFFS director of education. “Oday Rasheed’s films and personal experience will undoubtedly provide a unique perspective and learning experience for hundreds of local students, filmmakers and filmgoers. We also look forward to fully engaging him with the Bay Area filmmaking community during his two-week stay with us. We are grateful to our community partner, Global Film Initiative, for connecting us with Rasheed and to the Kenneth Rainin Foundation for providing the funding that has allowed us to continue this enriching program for the second year in a row.”

Oday Rasheed was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1973. He founded the production company Enlil Film and Arts and cofounded the Iraqi Independent Film Centre, an educational center in Baghdad for young filmmakers. His first feature film, Underexposure, received the Best Film Award at the Singapore International Film Festival in 2005, the Golden Hawk Award at the Arab Film Festival Rotterdam in 2005 and the Best Script Award at the Oran International Arab Film Festival in 2007.

Rasheed’s melancholic, beautifully shot sophomore feature Qarantina (Iraq/Germany 2010) plays Tuesday, April 3 at 7:00 pm at San Francisco Film Society Cinema (1746 Post Street). The screening will be followed by a discussion with the director and a special guest moderator.

A broken family under patriarch Salih lives uneasily within the gated courtyard of a dilapidated house in Baghdad. Meriam, Salih’s daughter, has fallen silent, refusing to tell her father what’s wrong. Salih’s young second wife, Kerima, and his preteen son, Muhanad, provide Meriam with some protection from her father. Meanwhile, with the family hard up for money, Muhanad must work in the street shining shoes and, more ominously, the entire household must cohabitate with a sullen and imperious boarder, a man who works as a hired killer and has taken Kerima as his mistress. In Qarantina Rasheed gorgeously captures today’s Baghdad, a moody and colorful place in the grip of a brooding listlessness. This stunned atmosphere is furthered by the performances of the formidable cast, who suggest unexpected sources of resilience in the wake of catastrophe. Written by Oday Rasheed. Photographed by Osama Rasheed. With Asaad Abdul Majeed, Alaa Najem, Hattam Auda. In Arabic with subtitles. 90 min. Distributed by Global Film Initiative.

Visiting artists are selected based on their filmmaking experience, compelling body of work and desire to share their knowledge with emerging filmmakers and film students. Under the auspices of the Film Society’s Education department, Rasheed is scheduled to visit several middle school, high school and college classes during his residency. In collaboration with Filmmaker360, the Film Society’s filmmaker services program, Rasheed will also have the opportunity to meet and network with Bay Area filmmakers.

Prior Artists in Residence have been Federico Veiroj of Uruguay and Ido Haar of Israel.

Read more

[caption id="attachment_2429" align="alignnone" width="550"]SEAN COMBS in Get Him to the Greek[/caption]

Grammy® Award-winning rapper/producer/actor/entrepreneur Sean Combs has signed on as an executive producer of the studio’s new documentary UNDEFEATED, which has been nominated for the 2012 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature. Combs will also be an executive producer on TWC’s planned feature remake of UNDEFEATED.

It opens in limited release on February 17.

Set against the backdrop of a high school football season, Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin’s documentary UNDEFEATED is an intimate chronicle of three underprivileged student-athletes from inner-city Memphis and the volunteer coach trying to help them beat the odds on and off the field. Founded in 1899, Manassas High School in North Memphis has never seen its football team, the Tigers, win a playoff game. In recent decades, the last-place Tigers had gone so far as to sell its regular season games to rival schools looking to chalk up an easy win. That began to change in 2004, when Bill Courtney, former high school football coach turned businessman, volunteered to lend a hand. Focusing on nurturing emotional as well as physical strength, Courtney has helped the Tigers find their footing and their confidence. The 2009 Summer/Fall football season promises to be the Tigers’ best ever – perhaps the season that finally breaks the 110 year-old playoff jinx. For players and coaches alike, the season will be not only about winning games – it will be about how they grapple with the unforeseeable events that are part of football and part of life.

“I am excited to partner with Harvey Weinstein on this incredible project. UNDEFEATED is a great American story with a lot of heart and soul. It had a profound effect on me and I couldn’t get it out of my mind when I saw it. There is so much truth and so much hope in this film, and I feel passionately that everyone who sees it will be inspired,” commented Combs.

Said Weinstein, “There’s a moment in UNDEFEATED when the coach tells the players, ‘Football doesn’t build character – football reveals character.’ I think that’s one of the reasons football is so important to me. But that line could just as easily apply to UNDEFEATED itself. In telling the story of a football team, this film says so much about individuals, about community and about our country. I’m so proud of UNDEFEATED, and we feel very fortunate to have Sean on board to bring this story to audiences now and in the future.”

{youtube}ckku5qEt-vA{/youtube}

Read more

Film producer Stephanie Allain (John Singleton’s Boyz n The Hood, Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan) is the new Los Angeles Film Festival Director, replacing Rebecca Yeldham, who recently decided to step down for personal reasons.

Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Spirit Awards, announced the selection of accomplished film producer Stephanie Allain as its new Los Angeles Film Festival Director, starting immediately.  She succeeds Rebecca Yeldham, who recently elected to step down for personal reasons.  Stephanie will be working closely with Festival Managing Director Gloria Campbell and Festival Artistic Director David Ansen, as well as Associate Director of Programming Doug Jones, Senior Programmer Maggie Mackay and Programming Coordinator Jenn Wilson.

“Stephanie has served on the Film Independent Board of Directors since 2007 and been involved in many aspects of the organization. She’s chaired the Spirit Awards Nominating Committee and been a huge supporter of Project Involve, as well as our year-round educational programs,” said Co-President Sean Mc Manus. “Stephanie has a clear vision for the Festival, a stellar track record as a producer and a deep commitment to the Festival’s filmmaker-centric focus.”

“We so appreciate all that Rebecca has done to grow the Los Angeles Film Festival into what it is today, and usher it into its new, vibrant home downtown.  Rebecca’s creativity, taste, and warmth attracted top-notch filmmakers to the Festival, and she departs with a world-class curatorial team in place,” said Co-President Josh Welsh. “To have Stephanie carry on Rebecca’s great work and build upon it is a dream come true.”

“My passion for Film Independent has only grown over the years, and I couldn’t be happier to become even more involved in an organization that puts filmmakers first and supports them in specific and tangible ways,” said Stephanie. “The Los Angeles Film Festival is a unique celebration of cinema and a hub for filmmakers and film lovers, especially for those of us who live and work in the film industry. I can’t wait to dive in and develop creative ways in which we can expand the Festival and its programs.”

Stephanie Allain is a film producer and former studio executive who has been an advocate for visionary filmmakers for more than two decades.  As a Columbia Pictures executive, she was instrumental in the making of John Singleton’s Boyz n The Hood, which garnered him two Academy Award® nominations and set the bar for contemporary urban dramas. She spent a decade at the studio launching the careers of first-time filmmakers including Singleton, Robert Rodriguez and Darnell Martin.  Several of the films she supervised, including El Mariachi and I Like It Like That, garnered awards at the Cannes, Telluride and Sundance film festivals. During her tenure at Columbia Pictures, she rose through the ranks to become Senior Vice President of Production–the highest creative production position for an African-American for over a decade.

From 1996-2000, Allain served as President of Jim Henson Pictures, where she produced Muppets From Space, Elmo In Grouchland and Caroline Thompson’s Buddy. In 2000, she headed production at 3 Arts Entertainment, producing Biker Boyz and Good Boy!  In 2004, she formed her own production company, Homegrown Pictures, and produced Craig Brewer’s Hustle & Flow, which won the Audience Award at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, an Academy Award® for Best Original Song and earned a Film Independent Spirit Award and Academy Award® Best Actor nomination for Terrence Howard.

In 2005, she produced Sanaa Hamri’s directorial debut, Something New, for Focus Features, with the film earning two nominations for the NAACP Awards.  She also produced Brewer’s Black Snake Moan, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci.  In 2008, Allain traveled to her native New Orleans to produce Hurricane Season, starring Forest Whitaker and Taraji P. Henson, for The Weinstein Company.  Most recently, she produced Tina Gordon Chism’s directorial debut, We The Peeples, starring Craig Robinson and Kerry Washington, which will be released by Lionsgate in 2013.

Allain is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the Producers Guild of America.  She recently sat on the Board of Film Independent and currently serves on the Board of Women In Film. She has chaired the Spirit Awards Nominating Committee, juried numerous festivals and has taught at USC’s Peter Stark Program and the Entertainment Studies Division of UCLA. She lives in Los Angeles with her composer husband, Stephen Bray, and their fast emptying nest.

Read more

[caption id="attachment_2211" align="alignnone"]Sean Mc Manus and Josh Welsh[/caption]

The Film Independent Board Chairman Bill Condon announced that Senior Director Sean Mc Manus and Director of Artist Development Josh Welsh have been appointed to newly created positions of Co-Presidents. They succeed Executive Director Dawn Hudson, who departed in June to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences as CEO. In their new positions, Mc Manus and Welsh will work together to lead the organization and run its year-round programs that nurture independent filmmakers and expand the audience in which their work can be appreciated.

“The Board of Directors and staff are delighted to have Sean and Josh as Co-Presidents. They are a seasoned team whose skills and expertise complement one another beautifully. They collectively possess 25 years of experience, in every area of the organization, and it’s clear they have a shared vision that will take Film Independent to its next level of growth. We’re confident they will build upon the solid foundation Dawn established and will successfully usher Film Independent into the future,” said Condon.

“Josh and I are incredibly passionate about Film Independent and its mission, and we are eager to step into our new roles and jointly lead the organization’s robust portfolio of programs. We are also deeply appreciative of Dawn and her 20-year legacy of creating a uniquely warm and welcoming organizational culture. Dawn instilled core values in us and in Film Independent, especially freedom of expression, artistic excellence, inclusiveness and accessibility. We are honored to follow in her footsteps and are ready to move full steam ahead,” said Mc Manus.

“Sean and I have a long track-record developing and administering programs together, so this will be a very natural transition for us and for the staff,” said Welsh. “We’ve inherited a thriving organization with a strong, committed team in place on the Board and on the staff. I’m so excited to work with Sean in this capacity as we continue to expand existing programs and develop new ways in which Film Independent can provide vital support to the independent film community.”

“Selecting a new permanent leader for Film Independent one of the most important decisions our Board has ever made. We took it very seriously and explored many candidates. We found ourselves uniquely inspired by Sean and Josh’s complimentary talents, their complete dedication, and their combined potential to strengthen Film Independent’s existing programs while developing new initiatives to serve filmmakers’ needs. It became clear to the Search Committee that creating a shared leadership position was the best possible way to expand the organization’s reach and carry it into the future,” said Search Committee Co-Chair and Board of Directors member Alan Poul.

Read more

[caption id="attachment_48" align="alignnone"]The interior of the San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema[/caption]

The San Francisco Film Society and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation announce the January 10 opening of the application period for the Spring 2012 SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants. The grants are given twice a year to filmmakers for narrative feature films that through plot, character, theme or setting significantly explore human and civil rights, discrimination, gender and sexual identity and other urgent social justice issues of our time. The grants also support films that have a significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community. Between 2009 and 2013 the SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants will award nearly $2.5 million, including more than $1 million awarded in the first six grant rounds. The letter of inquiry period for the seventh round of SFFS/KRF Filmmaking grants — totaling up to $300,000 for screenwriting, development, preproduction, production and postproduction — opens January 10; the early deadline is February 1 and the late deadline is February 8.

Winners of the Spring 2012 SFFS/KRF Filmmaking grants will be announced in early April. 

For additional information, including guidelines and application, visit sffs.org/Filmmaker-Services/Grants.

SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants are made possible by the vision and generosity of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. The grants support work by local filmmakers as well as attract projects of the highest quality to the Bay Area, providing tangible encouragement and support to meaningful projects and benefiting the local economy. In addition to a cash grant, recipients will receive various benefits through the Film Society’s comprehensive and dynamic filmmaker services programs.

Five filmmaking teams working in various stages of production were awarded funds in the most recent round of SFFS/KRF grants:

Lance Edmands, Kyle Martin: Bluebird
$97,000 for production
In the frozen woods of an isolated Maine logging town, one woman’s tragic mistake shatters the community balance, resulting in profound and unexpected consequences.

Eric Escobar: One Good Thing
$15,000 for screenwriting
A jaded and bitter locksmith spends his days locking families out of their foreclosed homes. When a morning lockout turns up the abandoned child of a long-lost friend, his cynicism is put in check as he races to find the missing parents. For more information visit kontentfilms.com.

Ian Hendrie, Jyson McLean: Mercy Road
$35,000 for screenwriting
Based on true events, Mercy Road traces the political and spiritual odyssey of a small-town Christian housewife as she slowly turns from a peaceful pro-life activist to an underground militant willing to commit violence and murder in the name of God.

Chris Mason Johnson: Test
$60,000 for production
The year is 1985. The youngest, skinniest and most mocked member of San Francisco’s new contemporary ballet company begins a friendship with a brilliant dancer with a bad boy reputation in the same troupe. As lurid headlines threaten a gay quarantine, the two friends navigate a world full of risk that is also full of promise. For more information visit thenewtwentymovie.com.

Oden Roberts, Azura Skye: Rosie Got Her Gun
$100,000 for production
Following a series of arrests, a troubled young woman struggling to avoid prison time is visited by an opportunistic Army recruiter. For more information visit odenroberts.com.

Read more

Sundance Institute has selected 12 projects for its annual January Screenwriters Lab, an immersive, five-day (January 13-18) writers’ workshop at the Sundance Resort in Utah. Participating independent screenwriters – drawn from around the world, including the United States, China, South Africa, and Europe – will have the opportunity to work intensely on their feature film scripts with the support of established writers in an environment that encourages innovation and creative risk-taking.

Michelle Satter, Director of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, said, “We are very excited to support these filmmakers who are giving voice to a world in transition with a diverse range of stories, genres and contemporary themes. Fueled by their creativity and a deeply personal stake in these stories, the filmmakers are infusing their scripts with rich characters, authentic worlds and uniquely singular visions.”

The Fellows will work with a distinguished group of creative advisors, including Lab Artistic Director Scott Frank, Lisa Cholodenko, Geoffrey Fletcher, Naomi Foner, John Gatins, Susannah Grant, John Lee Hancock, Nicole Holofcener, Malia Scotch Marmo, Walter Mosley, Jessie Nelson, Martin Rejtman, Howard Rodman, Susan Shilliday, Zach Sklar, Dana Stevens, and Joachim Trier.

“Our Feature Film Program continues to build its legacy of identifying and supporting innovative artists, and each of these projects holds potential for contributing to that legacy in new and different ways,” said Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute. “The January Screenwriters Lab is the first step in a year-round program of creative and strategic support that has recently expanded to include a robust plan to help filmmakers connect to ever-increasing audiences.”

2012 January Screenwriters Lab Fellows and Projects:

Jonas Carpignano (writer/director) / A Chjàna (Italy/U.S.A.): 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.

Ioana Uricaru (writer/director) / After the Wedding (U.S.A./Romania): Mara, a Romanian immigrant with a young son, soon discovers her recent marriage to an American is not enough to secure their place in the country. As she learns more about the system, an unfamiliar culture, and her husband, she must decide how far she will go to preserve her new family.

Ioana Uricaru was born and raised in Romania, relocating to Los Angeles in 2001. She co-directed the Romanian omnibus Tales From the Golden Age (Official Selection, 2009 Cannes Film Festival) and her short film Stopover premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to After the Wedding, Uricaru is currently developing the feature Paperclip, which was a recipient of the 2011 Sundance/Sloan Commissioning Grant.

David Lowery (writer/director) / Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (U.S.A.): Embracing the atmosphere and tone of a modern-day Western, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints tells the story of an outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas countryside to reunite with his wife and the daughter he never met.

David Lowery is a filmmaker from Texas. His work, including the award-winning short film Pioneer, has screened and won awards at film festivals around the world, including Sundance, SXSW, Festival Internacional de Cortos FIB (Spain), and Ashland Independent Film Festival. Filmmaker Magazine named him one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2011.

Marielle Heller (writer/director) / Diary of a Teenage Girl (U.S.A.): In the haze of 1970’s San Francisco, a teenage artist with a brutally honest perspective tries to navigate her way through an affair with her mother’s boyfriend. Adapted from the graphic novel by Phoebe Gloeckner.

Marielle Heller is a New York based screenwriter, actor and playwright. Her theatrical production of The Diary of a Teenage Girl premiered in New York City in 2010 at 3LD in association with New Georges. Along with writing partner Caitlin Goldberg-Meehan, Heller has written a pilot for ABC titled The Big Apple, and is developing a movie for the Disney Channel. As an actor, she has performed in theatre all over the world, including at Berkeley Rep, The Barbican in London, Birmingham Rep, Soho Rep, San Diego Rep, and Magic Theater.

Ryan Coogler (writer/director) / Fruitvale (U.S.A.): Fruitvale is the true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.

A filmmaker from the Bay Area, Ryan Coogler spent most of his life dodging tackles on the football field before discovering a love for making movies in college. After earning a degree in Finance from Sacramento State, he headed south to attend USC’s MFA program, where he made several award-winning short films including Locks (Tribeca Film Festival, Dana and Albert Broccoli Award for Filmmaking Excellence), Gap (Jack Nicholson Award for Achievement in Directing), and Fig (HBO Short Filmmaking Award, DGA Student Filmmaker Award). After graduating, he returned home to Richmond, California, where he works as a guidance counselor for juvenile delinquents.

Chloé Zhao (writer/director) / Lee (U.S.A): As his two best friends plan to leave for college, a Lakota teen wonders if his future on the reservation is pre-ordained when a tragedy forces him to take dangerous action to protect his family.

Chloé Zhao is an MFA thesis candidate at NYU’s Graduate Film Program. Her short film Daughters premiered at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and won Best Student Live Action Short at the Palm Springs International ShortFest. Zhao was raised in China and England and currently lives in Brooklyn.

Susanna Fogel (co-writer/director) and Joni Lefkowitz (co-writer) / Life Partners (U.S.A.): A straight girl drunkenly promises her lesbian best friend she won’t get married until gay marriage is legal – a promise that becomes awkward when her boyfriend proposes and her friend remains a slacker who’s years away from even thinking about marriage.

Susanna Fogel and Joni Lefkowitz have co-written several scripts for film and television, most notably The Washingtonienne for HBO, What Was I Thinking? for New Line and Lynda Obst Productions, and an original web series for Warner Brothers entitled Joni and Susanna, which Lefkowitz produced and Fogel directed. They are currently developing an independent comedy It Is What It Is, which is set to star Evan Rachel Wood, Olivia Thirlby and Sigourney Weaver.

Daniel Mulloy (writer/director) / Mitrovica (Great Britan/Kosova): In post-war Kosova, an Albanian woman scavenges with her young son; when she is approached by a Serbian stranger, she doesn’t realize his offer of help will ultimately tear her life apart.

Daniel Mulloy’s short films, including Baby, Dad, and Antonio’s Breakfast, have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and between them won over ninety international awards, including several BAFTAs, a BIFA and a European Academy Award nomination. In addition to Mitrovica, Mulloy is currently developing the feature film A Cold Day with Focus Features; both films will star Arta Dobroshi.

Logan Kibens (co-writer/director) and Sharon Greene (co-writer) / Operator (U.S.A.): In this existential comedy, when a programmer is hired to create the ideal personality for an automated call center, his attempts to quantify what it means to be human throws his life into chaos.

Logan Kibens has written and directed over 50 short films. She was awarded the 2011 HBO/DGA Directing Fellowship and was selected as one of Film Independent’s 2011 Project:Involve fellows after completing her CalArts thesis film, Recessive. The short has screened nationally and internationally at film festivals including Outfest, Frameline, Reeling, and Zinegoak, among others. Kibens worked as a commercial editor for eight years, and is an award-winning projections designer for theatre and dance.

Sharon Greene is a Chicago playwright turned screenwriter. Her play, Fake Lake, was on the
Best Plays of 2008 list of both Time Out Chicago and The Chicago Tribune, and was supported by a grant from the NEA. A recent graduate of USC’s Writing for Screen and Television program, her original television pilot Cherryland was nominated for the Student Humanitas Prize for Drama.

Pengfei Song (writer/director) / Underground Fragrances (China): As Beijing races to keep up with China’s growth, and its poor are pushed underground to live in crude tunnels, a young migrant worker finds community and compassion, putting a human face on China’s rapid development.

Pengfei Song was born into a family of Peking Opera performers in Beijing. After graduating from high school, he went to Paris to study film directing at L’Institute International Image et du Son. Upon his return, he discovered a new China, which inspired him to develop Underground Fragrances to reflect the changing lives of the people of Beijing. The project, which will be his first feature, was selected for Cinemart and the TorinoFilmLab in 2011.

Etienne Kallos (writer/director) / Vrystaat (Free State) (South Africa): Set during the annual corn harvest in the Free State, Vrystaat explores the rites of passage into manhood for a new generation as they navigate identity and sexuality within the fractured realm of post-Colonial Africa.

Etienne Kallos is a Greek/South African filmmaker with an MFA in film directing from NYU. His work has screened at festivals worldwide, including Sundance, Cannes, Berlin, and Telluride. His film Eersgeborene was the first Afrikaans-language film to be awarded a Lion for Best Short Film at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. He recently developed Vrystaat at the Cannes Cinefondation Residence program in Paris.

Adam Mansbach (writer) / We’re Entertainment (U.S.A.): On the Gulf Coast of Florida, a failed actress working as a children’s party entertainer shows the new guy the ropes; together they share a day that changes them both in unexpected ways.

Adam Mansbach’s most recent book, Go the Fuck to Sleep, was a #1 New York Times bestseller. His novels include The End of the Jews, winner of the California Book Award, and Angry Black White Boy, which is taught at more than a hundred universities. His work has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, GQ, Esquire, The Believer, and on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. He has a graphic novel and two other novels forthcoming, as well as a sitcom in development at CBS.

Read more

[caption id="attachment_2049" align="alignnone" width="530"]Ian Olds and Paul Felten with Advisor John Lee Hancock at Sundance (Image via Sundance)[/caption]

Ian Olds and Paul Felten have been selected to receive this year’s $15,000 San Francisco Film Society/Hearst Screenwriting Grant for the continuing development of their script The Western Habit. Additionally, Jason Cortland received an honorable mention commendation for his script Lumberjunkies.

“The SFFS/Hearst Screenwriting Grant comes at a crucial moment in the life of our script The Western Habit,” noted cowriter Olds. “The film is at a tipping point and this grant will allow us the crucial time to develop and craft the best possible version of this story. Making independent films is such a slog at times, but the Film Society’s financial and moral support will galvanize us to finish the script and move it toward production.”

WINNERS
Ian Olds is a director of both narrative and documentary work. Most recently he directed Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshband, which was acquired by HBO and nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Journalism. His credits include the Iraq war documentary Occupation: Dreamland, which was short-listed for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and won a 2006 Independent Spirit Award. Olds’ narrative short films have played numerous festivals around the world including Sundance and Rotterdam. He has received a Princess Grace Award and a Rockefeller Foundation Media Arts Fellowship, and was named one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker magazine in 2009. Olds received his MFA from Columbia University’s film department and was a fellow at the Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters Lab in 2011. Olds began his career as the editor and cowriter of Cul de Sac: A Suburban War Story. Olds is currently codirecting an experimental feature film with James Franco.

Paul Felten received his MFA from Columbia University’s film department and is a 2011 Sundance Screenwriting Fellow. His prose has appeared in The Brooklyn Rail and the anthology Before and After: Stories from New York. Felten and Olds have cowritten several scripts including the script for Olds’ short film Bomb, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007.

The Western Habit
An Afghan journalist is exiled from his war-torn home to a small, bohemian community in Northern California. He struggles to find a new life for himself while juggling a low-paying job on the local police blotter, a meddling avant-garde theater director and a sexually charged relationship with his roommate, who is also the town sheriff. For information visit fixerdoc.com.

HONORABLE MENTION
Jason Cortland studied writing and film at the University of Oregon and earned a Master’s degree in screenwriting at the University of Texas. In 1998 he was a postgraduate fellow at the James Michener Center for Writers. Since 1996, he has collaborated on writing and directing films, videos, and multi-channel installations with Julia Halperin. Their feature film Now, Forager has been profiled in the Village Voice and Indiewire, and will premiere in early 2012. Their short video Interstate (part one) screened at the Berlin Director’s Lounge and was featured in the Journal of Short Film, Volume 6. Cortlund’s work has been honored by Texas Commission on the Arts, Texas Filmmaker’s Production Fund, Austin Film Fund, Houston Film Commission, Hershey Foundation, City of Austin Cultural Contracts, Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association and Centrum Institute.

Lumberjunkies
In a small logging town in Northern Oregon, two brothers circumvent the decline of the timber industry by stealing trees off public lands at night. Following a series of accidents, they have a falling out. The youngest goes to work for their estranged father on a legitimate salvage logging crew. With loyalties shifted, a history of family betrayal leads to an explosion of violence.

The 2010 SFFS/Hearst Screenwriting Grant was awarded to Eric Escobar for East County, a drama set in the economic downturn in which a deputy sheriff who is drowning in debt moonlights for his brother’s eviction agency.

Read more