I recently became a Tribeca Film Fellows mentor.

The film fellowship program, which falls under the umbrella of the Tribeca Film Institute aims to give high school students “a deeper knowledge of higher education and career opportunities in media through intensive workshops and direct contact with seasoned filmmakers.”

I was honored to host a large group of students in my editing suite as well as meet one-on-one with my specific mentee, who coincidentally, is also working on a magical realist film. By the end of the week I think I had learned as much from the fellowship experience as anyone!

Learn more about the Film Fellows program here

Julia Garner: already a cinema veteran at 19

Unicorns actress Julia Garner is profiled in the NY Times Already a Cinema Veteran at 19

“Ms. Garner — a freshly minted 19-year-old with wide-set blue eyes and lips rouged in Nars’s Fire Down Below, a name that makes her blush — has become quite a big deal since her 2011 feature-film debut as a fledgling cult member in Sean Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene.” Though she started acting only about three years ago, she’s already appeared in 10 movies, like “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” alongside Emma Watson, and “Not Fade Away,” in a scene she said David Chase wrote for her. And now she has her first starring role, in Rebecca Thomas’s “Electrick Children,” to be released Friday.”

Read the full article here

Amy Seimetz is an Artist to Watch

Unicorns actress Amy Seimetz is featured in Indiewire’s Breakout Artists to Watch

“Over the last few years, Amy Seimetz hasn’t come anywhere near threatening to crack the mainstream, but has served as a sort of “Zelig”-figure for a particular kind of American independent film, crossing paths with many of the most notable players in the scene in some way or another. The latest is Shane Carruth; the actress stars in the “Primer” director’s sophomore feature “Upstream Color,” and while the filmmaker’s work doesn’t quite serve the actors in the way of some of his contemporaries, Seimetz has picked up strong enough notices that it could see her go on to bigger things from here on out.”

Read the full article here

Julia Garner is featured in Variety

Unicorns star Julia Garner is featured in the Variety’s “Five Who’ll Thrive“

You could say that Garner’s career began at Sundance. Her first job, at 16, was playing the youngest cult member in “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” which premiered in competition in 2011. Now 18, Garner returns to Sundance with “We Are What We Are.” An English-language remake of a Mexican thriller, the film revolves around a family’s “toxic secret, which affects everyone in the film,” says Garner, who plays the family’s middle child. The busy New York-based actress attracted attention on the festival circuit with last year’s “Electrick Children,” and is now poised for wider acclaim, thanks to several upcoming projects, including the period piece “You Can’t Win” and “The Last Exorcism 2.” “I love doing thrillers,” she says. “It’s easier for me to make them than watch them.”

A filmmaker confronts Hurricane Sandy

When the hurricane hit, my first impulse was to grab a bike and a camera, but that soon gave way to a face mask and a shovel.

I began to think a lot about the role of the artist in a time of crisis. Is it more important to document or to lend a helping hand? Are those things necessarily mutually exclusive?

Ultimately, I found an uneasy compromise between the two. In the mornings, I organized large groups of other filmmakers to help with demolition and cleanup. And in the afternoons I would sneak away with my camera for an hour or two.

It became a bit schizophrenic – the filmmaker’s impulse to find beauty in destruction vs the human impulse to alleviate suffering. I think there is power in images, and in the long term documenting is just as important as physical labor, but it is still a tricky line to walk.

It has been inspiring to watch production designers break down drywall, costume designers sort through donated clothing and editors learn how to siphon gas. Although the scope of the situation is daunting, we can continue to help one basement (and one image) at a time.

]]> http://unicornsthemovie.com/blog/hurricane/feed/ 0 http://unicornsthemovie.com/blog/hurricane/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/UnicornsMovie/~3/E40vIqn4HUM/ http://unicornsthemovie.com/blog/vote/#comments Tue, 06 Nov 2012 19:00:03 +0000 unicorns http://unicornsthemovie.com/blog/?p=1125

Unicorns for President!

The life of a Tribeca Film Institute Ambassador

I have been officially chosen to be a “Tribeca Film Institute Ambassador” which means that last night I attended the TFI annual benefit gala and advance screening of Skyfall.

Unicorns is nominated for a Gotham Award.

We are thrilled that I Believe in Unicorns has been nominated for the Calvin Klein “Live the Dream” grant at the 2012 Gotham Independent Film Awards
and Unicorns actress Amy Seimetz has been nominated for “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You” for her debut feature Sun Don’t Shine.

2012 Gotham Award Nominees:

Best Feature
Bernie
The Loneliest Planet
The Master
Middle of Nowhere
Moonrise Kingdom

Best Documentary
Detropia
How to Survive a Plague
Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present
Room 237
The Waiting Room

Best Ensemble Performance
Bernie
Moonrise Kingdom
Safety Not Guaranteed
Silver Linings Playbook
Your Sister’s Sister

Breakthrough Director
Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky for Francine
Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin for Now, Forager
Antonio Méndez Esparza for Aquí y Allá
Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild

Breakthrough Actor
Mike Birbiglia in Sleepwalk with Me
Emayatzy Corinealdi in Middle of Nowhere
Thure Lindhardt in Keep the Lights On
Melanie Lynskey in Hello, I Must Be Going
Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You
Kid-Thing
An Oversimplification of Her Beaut
Red Flag
Sun Don’t Shine
Tiger Tail in Blue

Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ grant
Leah Meyerhoff, director, I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS
Stacie Passon, director, CONCUSSION
Visra Vichit Vadakan, KARAOKE GIRL

Check out more about the awards here

Animated dragons and unicorns oh my!

For the last month I have been living inside an animation cave. Literally.

We have been busy building a miniature forest in my living room, lighting smoke bombs on the roof, melting ice cubes in fast motion, making a dragon puppet breathe bursts of sparklers, igniting doll parts with flame throwers and exploding a cupcake or two.

As always, the process is at least as important as the product and if filmmaking isn’t an adventure then what’s the point?

Inside the NYFF Artists Academy

I am honored to be among a dozen filmmakers selected for the Emerging Visions Artists Academy program at the 2012 New York Film Festival.

NYFF’s Artists Academy will offer an immersive creative experience for 12 up-and-coming filmmakers. Taking place on Wednesday, October 3 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, established filmmakers will “delve into the creative process and artistic collaboration through case studies and talks.”

Confirmed participants include writer/director Paul Schrader, cinematographer Ed Lachman, and avant-garde filmmaker Robert Lepage . Film director, screenwriter and former film critic Schrader will present a case study of his latest project, “The Canyons,” walking filmmakers through the entire process of production, including a successful Kickstarter funding campaign. Visionary film director and playwright Lepage created a spectacular new Ring Cycle for the Metropolitan Opera last season. As he rehearses a new opera for the Met, he will talk to filmmakers about his vision for combining creativity and new technology.

Regarding the new program, the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Executive Director Rose Kuo said in a statement: “Artists Academy will nurture emerging filmmakers to develop their creative skills and to discover new approaches to storytelling with moving images. It will be a collaborative workshop in which master filmmakers will mentor new talent.”

The 12 filmmakers selected (and their latest projects) to take part in the NYFF Artists Academy:

Rodney Ascher, ROOM 237 (documentary feature)
Daniel Carbone, HIDE YOUR SMILING FACES (narrative feature)
Russ Harbaugh, LOVE AFTER LOVE (narrative script)
Simon Jaikiriuma Paetau, WITHOUT ARTIFICIAL TITS THERE IS NO SALVATION (feature script)
Ana Lazarevic, BACHA BAZI: BOYS FOR PLAY (feature script)
Leah Meyerhoff, I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS (narrative feature)
Olivia Newman, FIRST MATCH (narrative feature)
Lucas Smith, GHOSTS OF THE ARAL SEA (documentary feature)
Kim Spurlock, THE WHISPERING GIANT (feature script)
Musa Syeed, THE DOCTOR (feature script)
Greg Vander Veer, MISS HILL; CHURCH FOREST (two documentary features in post-production)
Susan Youssef, MARJOURN AND THE FLYING HEADSCARF (feature script)

Read more about the Emerging Visions Artist Academy here