UNICORNS director Leah Meyerhoff recounts her experiences at Tribeca All Access

I was delighted to be in the company of such talented filmmakers as Ondi Timoner, Nate Dushku, John Christou, Lily Greenfield Sanders, Ryan Koo, Isaac Chung, Andrew Bujalski, Grainger David and Dara Bratt and enjoyed getting to know them and their projects better as the week progressed.

Mentors Dara Bratt, Leah Meyerhoff, Ben Dickenson

The program kicked off with a Film Fellows session where established filmmakers were partnered with aspiring high school students for a full day of mentoring activities. I was lucky enough to be partnered with two brilliant teenage girls who were full of enthusiasm and ideas. By the end, I think I had learned as least as much from them as they had from me.

Dyana Winkler, Leah Meyerhoff, Tamir Muhammad

Next up were the industry sessions, which basically entailed meeting a new producer/distributor/sales agent every half hour, all day long. It was a hectic format to be sure, but surprisingly effective. I made some fantastic connections and already have had several productive follow up meetings.

Natalie Mooallem, Lucy Mulloy, Leah Meyerhoff

I saw my friend Lucy’s film Una Noche opening night which was absolutely stunning and it was exciting to see her pick up so many awards by the end of the festival. Other movie-going highlights included Bradley Rust Gray’s Jack and Diane, Harmony Korine’s 4th Dimension, Kat Coiro’s While We Were Here and Ben Dickenson’s First Winter.

Megan Billman, Joe Stillwater, Leah Meyerhoff, David Kupferberg

Perhaps best of all, the festival brought together many members of the I Believe In Unicorns team from far and wide.  I would like to thank Natalie Mooallem, Tamir Muhammad and Dyana Winkler for welcoming us to Tribeca All Access.   This film has been a labor of love from the beginning and it is experiences like these that make it all worthwhile.

Unicorns gallop across the cover of WHOA Magazine

Anthony “Train” Caruso writes:
“Staying true to life, the engaging charismatic director chose to return to the San Francisco Bay Area to shoot inside the house she grew up in and cast her own mother in the film. Thus art reflects life reflects art in a beautiful kaleidoscope of abstracted truth. Meyerhoff’s decision to “write what she knew” not only had a profound emotional impact on herself as an artist, but brought a new level of authenticity to the screen. Hopefully by watching this very personal story of family illness and interrelationship violence, other teenagers in similar situations will realize that they are not alone.”

A digital download of their entire spring issue is available for purchase here

Check out this conversation with Unicorns star Peter Vack in Interview Magazine

Amanda Duberman writes:

DUBERMAN: Can you talk about some other upcoming film projects?

VACK: Last summer, I shot this movie called Unicorns. It’s a story of a 16-year-old girl whose mother has MS. She has a lot of responsibility, and she has to take care of herself and her mother. She retreats often to this fantasy world. So the movie is part magical realism, and part sort of hyper neo-realism. She meets this 20-year old drifter character, who I play, and the two spark this really intense—you know, that type of relationship that you can only have when you’re young, where it’s that first love that becomes very intense very quickly. But ultimately it becomes very unstable and volatile. So the movie is at once very realist, but also has this element of fantasy. It’s the first feature of the director Leah Meyerhoff.

Unicorns actor Joshua Leonard stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Carol Kane in  Clutter.

Indiewire writes:
“Clutter” stars Joshua Leonard (“Humpday,” “The Blair Witch Project”) as Charlie, an artist who is trying to keep himself away from the hectic home life he was raised in. After a water stain on his mother’s garage door is interpreted as a holy apparition of the Virgin Mary, the house gets inundated with pilgrims hoping to catch a glimpse of the garage door Madonna. Christian tourists aren’t the only one who takes notice of Charlie’s childhood home, though; the county health department does, too. Charlie’s mother, Linda, played by Carol Kane (“Annie Hall,” “Taxi”), is a hoarder and has created what the authorities deem an unhealthy living environment.

We are pleased to announce that Unicorns is a finalist for the SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grant

San Francisco Film Society and Kenneth Rainin Foundation announce 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. Additionally, the grants support filmmakers, from anywhere in the world, with projects that will have a significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community. The total amount to be disbursed from 2009 to 2013 will be nearly $2.5 million, including more than $1 million awarded in the first six grant rounds. Winners of the spring 2012 SFFS/KRF Grants will be announced in early May.

Check out the full press release here

Unicorns director Leah Meyerhoff was a mentor for the Make a Film Foundation

Make a Film Foundation grants film wishes to children with serious or life-threatening medical conditions and helps them create short film legacies by teaming them with noted actors, directors and writers. The ‘Vidz 4 Kidz’ program gives these children the opportunity to create ‘mini-movies’ about their lives and challenges which, in turn, offer them hope.

Unicorns director Leah Meyerhoff is a guest speaker at the upcoming Brooklyn Girl Film Festival

“Leah Meyerhoff is a successful filmmaker on the festival circuit and beyond. She will be screening her award-winning short film Twitch and discussing the path she took in transitioning from the making of short films and music videos, to directing her first feature film Unicorns.”

More information here.

Roadside Attractions acquires Blue Like Jazz, a new film featuring Unicorns lead Natalia Dyer.

Nigel Smith at IndieWire writes:
Roadside Attractions has acquired U.S. rights to Blue Like Jazz, prior to its world premiere in the Narrative Spotlight section at the upcoming 2012 South-by-Southwest Film Festival. The film, directed by Steve Taylor (The Second Chance) and based on the hit semi-autobiography by Donald Miller, will open theatrically on April 13. Lionsgate will handle DVD, VOD and TV releases. Blue Like Jazz stars True Blood star Marshall Allman as Don, a 19-year-old sophomore in Texas, who decides to escape his religious upbringing.”

Unicorns star Julia Garner is interviewed by The Playlist about her various projects including Electrick Children, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Unicorns, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, HairBrained and Twylight Zones.

Jessica Kiang writes:
“Seeming even younger than her 18 years, Julia Garner, the lead in Rebecca Thomas’ debut feature Electrick Children delivers one of those performances that marks a new star in the ascendant…
And how about Unicorns?
It’s about a girl who ends up being in a relationship with this guy and they run away, they take a road trip and I play her best friend who is a closeted lesbian and she’s in love with her best friend.”

Check out a separate IndieWire interview with Julia’s Electrick Children co-stars Rory Culkin and Liam Aiken here

Unicorns co-producers Kwesi Collisson and Mark Mathis have found distribution for their previous project Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best

The Hollywood Reporter writes:
“Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired all North American rights to The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best, the debut feature from writer-director Ryan O’Nan.  The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and will be released in theaters later this year in concert with a live tour by the title band.
Arielle Kebbel, Melissa Leo, Andrew McCarthy, Christopher McDonald, Jason Ritter and Wilmer Valderrama appear in the film with O’Nan and Weston. Jason Michael Berman and Kwesi Collisson produced the project, which had its U.S. premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival recently. Ruth Mutch, Sergio Agüero, Thomas B. Fore, Sandra R. Berman and Mark G. Mathis are executive producers.”