All About Indie Filmmaking

Sundance 2012: A Whirlwind!

2012-01-23T07:27:00.000-08:00

I thought I would have time to be relaxed and blog to my heart's content but it has been wonderfully frenetic with networking and panels and films.

Sundance is a producer's dream. Someone said one party at Sundance is like 100 lunches in Hollywood. It's so true. In one party, I meet so many people with whom I'd like to work or consult or just get to know. I actually find it hard to watch many movies because there are so many awesome networking opportunities.

On a sad note, indie veteran Bingham Ray, who recently took over the San Francisco Film Festival, suffered two strokes and I heard Tracey Morgan collapsed at a gala here. Sundance is really tough on your body. The high altitude and frigid weather is hard to navigate - then add in the free drinks and food at all the parties and often no time for a real meal and you have a physical trauma waiting to happen. I went to the HBO party last night and after being on my feet all day, I too found myself sitting down toward the end just to summon more energy.

Well, we're off to a breakfast with Focus Forward and then hopefully on to some movies! Another busy day at Sundance.

The Road to Sundance: v/h/s, directed by multiple directors

2012-01-20T13:25:00.000-08:00

Answers from Radio Silence, a group that directed one of the segments. Here is their bio.

Radio Silence is Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez & Chad Villella. Formerly known as Chad, Matt & Rob, their previous works include the popular series of "Interactive Adventure" movies: The Treasure Hunt, The Birthday Party & The Teleporter. Their segment "10/31/98" for the horror anthology movie, V/H/S marks their feature film debut. After a slew of viral videos that have been seen by over 55 million viewers worldwide, the group is currently working on a full-length feature venture as well as developing several concepts for television.

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?

The movie is called V/H/S and it’s part of the Park City at Midnight screening series. There are 6 segments in the movie (the other directors are Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Adam Wingard, Joe Swanberg and David Bruckner), ours is called “10/31/98.” We wanted to make something fun and hopefully provide a fresh take on the found footage style. The idea for our segment was something we’d be toying with for awhile and when we got involved with “V/H/S,” it seemed like the perfect place to finally make it.

How long did it take you to make your film?

Our segment of V/H/S (“10/31/98”) took 4 days to shoot and just over a month for us to edit, mix sound, and complete visual FX.

How did you finance your film?

The good folks of The Collective and Bloody Disgusting Selects approached us to be involved with the project. They put a lot of time and energy into getting such a cool and interesting group of filmmakers involved in something with such a unique and experimental style of storytelling.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?

The most challenging part of making our segment of the movie was choosing a story and writing it in a way that allowed us to be incredibly loyal to the rules of the found footage style without making something that felt extraneously long or too reliant on the gimmick of the ever-present camera. The limitations of this style really challenged us to write something action packed but specific enough to play out in what appears to be several long continuous takes. We were essentially editing the film during the shooting process -- blocking and staging the action in a way that really allowed us the creative freedom to build out the scariness of the world without ever making it feel like it wasn’t completely real. The location we chose to shoot in was essential to this -- we were all legitimately afraid to be in the house we used for our 3 principal nights of shooting -- and this location not only dictated our story from beat to beat, but really influenced all of the performances in a very real way.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?

The only advice we’d give is to represent your own voice and story as strongly as you can. It’s really clear to us when we’re watching a film if the filmmakers enjoyed the process of creating it and that’s only possible if you tell a story that you believe in

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?

This is a hard one to answer since every movie is such a unique combination of the variables and the problems we needed to solve to make this project in the short amount of time we had influenced us in a very specific way. But given a similar set of limitations, we’d probably make a very similar movie. Basically, you do the most you can with what you’ve got and you hope for the best.

Sundance 2012 Experience - Arrival

2012-01-20T13:15:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting in the T-Mobile Lift Stella Artois Cafe and having lunch on Stella Artois, which, of course, includes a mug of Stella. As my brother would say, "Very nice." And it is.

After a very long morning commute from LA, it's a wonderful respite to arrive at the Stella Artois cafe. I had a killer morning flight at 6:15a. This meant I had to be up at 3:15a. Ugh! Not sure how I'm even awake right now. The Sundance energy helps.

As soon as I landed in Park City, after a lovely shuttle ride, I dropped my bag at our house rental and headed to the Sundance Headquarters to pick up my press credentials. This is the first year I've attended as press so it's a New World to me.

At the HQ, they lost my credentials and I had to resubmit an application and have a photo taken. So much for having my nice photo on my credentials. Everyone gets to look at my hat head for the next 4 days.

With some food in my belly, I'm ready to tackle the films. Between the press and public screenings, there's a lot to plan. Of course, I was so swamped by the work on my own films prior to leaving that I didn't have a chance to pre-plan properly. So I'm the one in the corner with her head in her film guide, frantically figuring out my plan of attack.

More soon...

The Diary of Preston Plummer Set to World Premiere at Miami International Film Festival

2012-01-17T20:28:00.000-08:00

Our film (written and directed by Sean Ackerman and produced by moi) The Diary of Preston Plummer, starring Trevor Morgan, Rumer Willis, Robert Loggia, Erin Dilly and Christopher Cousins, will have its World Premiere at the Miami International Film Festival on March 5, 2012! It will be held at the Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts. This theater seats 1500 so come one, come all!

Just prior to the screening there will be a tribute to Robert Loggia (one of our stars of Diary). Red carpet begins at 6:30p and the tribute will start at 7p with the screening right after. It should be a really fun night! Cast and filmmakers will be in attendance.

Who doesn't want to go to Florida in March?

If you want to see it in your city, Demand It here!

Here is the trailer and the behind-the-scenes for The Dairy of Preston Plummer:

The Road to Sundance: Tumult, directed by Johnny Barrington

2012-01-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it? TUMULT, INTERNATIONAL SHORTS DRAMA. I was inspired by my faulty knowledge of Scotlands history and a love of tourism. Tourists are beautifully innocent - like little lambs... and I always see warriors fighting when I visit historical sites.

How long did it take you to make your film? 18 months

How did you finance your film? Creative Scotland and Channel Four

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?
Working in the Scottish winter with semi naked warrior actors. We worked them like slaves and they gritted their teeth against the snow/hail/sleet/lightning and thunder. If the weather was worse the film probably would not have been made and there would definitely have been a few hypothermic lawsuits.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted? My experience was blissful. It was entered and I forgot that it had been entered - thinking the chances were miniscule. And a few months later: A phone call that I will never forget from my producer telling me we were accepted, I thought I was hallucinating, I had to ask her to repeat the good news again so I could fully believe what she was saying.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?
I would like to strive to make exactly the same film again - right down to the finest detail. An idiotic exercise but it could prove hugely rewarding in a masochistic kind of way. I would take my own coffee mug next time and provide more warmth for the poor semi naked warriors. They were honourable and courageous at all times.

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?
No distribution. I hope it is seen and enjoyed by as many people as possible in festivals online and on television.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?
Ignore Sundance. Concentrate on making and finishing a film you love, then think about festivals. It will find its own festival journey path. To me, Sundance is the city of gold - the Mecca of all festivals - and I feel blessed to be accepted, but to think you can tailor-make a film for a certain festival is the kiss of death.

The Road to Slamdance: The First Season, directed by Rudd Simmons

2012-01-13T11:19:00.000-08:00

*Note: this is a film in Slamdance. I decided to focus on Sundance initially as I am only one blogger and can't handle covering both festivals, but I received the answers to my questions for this film and said, why not post them? Filmmakers, if you ever want to discuss your experience making your film in this blog. Just reach out! I'll do my best to accommodate. I'm actually looking to expand this blog and will think about adding a filmmakers section where we can all tell our behind-the-scenes stories. Filmmaking is a journey for all of us.

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?THE FIRST SEASON tells the story of Paul and Phyllis van Amburgh who, believing that a small, family farm is the best place to raise their children, take their life savings and buy a defunct dairy. With three children and a fourth on the way they fight to defy the odds and become full time farmers.

The film is told in an intimate cinema-verite, fly-on-the-wall style. I've always loved that kind of filmmaking; the very nature of the style forces the filmmaker to simplify. It's the complete antithesis to making a dramatic film which involves hundreds of people and truckloads of equipment.

In our case, I shot and recorded sound; there was no one else on location. In this kind of filmmaking, I think that the filmmaker needs to disappear, both on-location during the shoot and as a stylistic voice in the finished film. When a cinema-verite film works, the story unfolds as if one is sitting in the same room as the characters. It's just like a dramatic feature film, only it's real.

I've known Paul and Phyllis Van Amburgh for a long time and when I heard that they were buying a farm, I thought it would make an interesting film. Paul and Phyllis are both extraordinary people and what they were attempting to do had a built-in conflict. The structure was also there, one year divided by the seasons which would become visual markers for the various acts in the story.

How long did it take you to make your film? Five years. I lived with the farm family and filmed for the first 6 months of their starting the dairy. Then, over the course of the next 3 years, I did follow-up visits, shooting additional material, landscapes and interviews. When I felt that there was nothing else to shoot, we started post-production which took another year to complete.

How did you finance your film?The film is self-financed. Since I was doing all of the work, and filming on HD video, the shooting of the film was very inexpensive.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?Believe it or not, I think the most difficult part of the film was finding the stamina to keep going for so long.

I love character driven stories as opposed to plot driven. By their very nature, character driven films are made up of details that unfold as the story progresses. In the case of THE FIRST SEASON, those details are the small, day to day stories that define the lives of the Van Amburgh family. It's not a film about a big dramatic event, but a very intense, dramatic story about a day to day struggle. Filming that day to day struggle, I was never sure if we had a film. It wasn't until we started editing, did I really understand what the film could be.

Now, I'll admit that, shooting for five years and not knowing if there was a film in the material sounds like a crazy way of working. But once I made the commitment to the Van Amburgh family, I couldn't not make the film. I was going to find a way to make it work.

Tell us about your experience getting into Slamdance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?I was surprised, I had applied to a number of festivals and had prepared myself for the rejection, knowing that it was going to be a year-long (or longer) process where we would be accepted at some festivals but turned down by most. One morning, while walking my daughter to school, my phone rang and I got the news. I really didn't believe it so I waited until LA opened and called the Slamdance office to see if it was really true.

As far as advice? I think the most important traits a filmmaker needs are tenacity and perseverance. Make every film as if it was the only film you will ever make and then be prepared to hang in for the long term to make sure it gets the best chance of being seen by its audience.

The Road to Sundance: Ok Breathe Auralee, directed by Brooke Swaney

2012-01-13T11:05:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?
OK BREATHE AURALEE (Shorts competition) is about a baby-crazed woman, Auralee, who finds herself drifting away from her baby-reluctant boyfriend, Colin and searching for something more. It's part of an overall feature-length character driven piece that focuses on Urban American Indians, the four elements and the mystical in the quotidien. So basically, I really wanted to make a movie that was kind of surreal with interesting (and not necessarily always likeable) characters. I have a bunch of female friends who have reached a point in their lives where they want to pop out a baby (and no, that's not me), but I wanted to explore what that must be like. Auralee is also adopted away from her Native community (like many people of a certain generation) and I wanted to do a story about that, but not have it be so over-the-top about identity politics, rather more quiet and character specific to really get into her experience.

How long did it take you to make your film?
On and off, over a year. Shooting only took up around 7 days, but the edit was a doozy.

How did you finance your film?
Friends, family, some through an indiegogo campaign (where we failed to reach our goal), some through a foundation, and some funds from the NYU graduate film program, and some of my own pocket money.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?
I think the most challenging part of making this film has been living hand to mouth and doing some serious couch surfing, while turning down more respectable work in order to finish the film. The edit was the hardest. After putting together an assembly cut based off the script, we knew that the film wasn't quite working. It took months to find an editor to figure out the puzzle of the plot and the feel of the film before it all clicked. But I knew it was in the footage there somewhere.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?
Oh man, it was amazing. Thrilling! I've never gotten so many emails and texts and facebook messages when it was officially announced. Really weird, good weird. I'd point towards honing your craft and telling a good story. The story is key. Ask yourself is the story something that you would want to watch on the interwebs and be inspired?

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?
Oh maaaaan. I think if I was asked this question four months ago, I would have wanted to change a lot. But now that the film has been finished properly (with a great sound design and color and score and everything), I don't think I would change a thing. When it all comes together, those little things that you'd want to change become obsolete.

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?
More festivals! No distribution yet, but we're working on that. We'd love for more people to see the film, whether they want to or not and whether they like it or not!

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?
Work with people who inspire you to do your best. And keep at it! I've been submitting to Sundance for ten years now!

OK BREATHE AURALEE - TEASER TRAILER from Brooke Swaney on Vimeo.

The Road to Sundance: Dr Breakfast, directed by Stephen Neary

2012-01-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?

My film's called "Dr Breakfast" and it's playing in Animation Spotlight. It's about a lonely man whose soul bursts out of his eyeball at breakfast. The soul flies all around the world eating everything. Meanwhile, two deer bathe and dress the man's catatonic body.

I had some really old drawings of a soul bursting out of a man's eyeball--I save all my sketchbooks. And I wanted to try building a film based on a continuity of emotion rather than logic. I started thinking a lot about the creative process. For me it's very bumpy. There's lots of starting and stopping. Perhaps days of mundane work will go on before a little moment of eureka. And the whole time you're lucky just to have friends that tolerate your quirks and keep you sane. So most of all, this film is about that rejuvenating nature of friendship.

How long did it take you to make your film?

I worked on the Dr Breakfast off and on for about a year. I think I had various drafts of the script before that, but it didn't congeal until later. From there I did all the storyboards and animation. I live in New York City, but work in Connecticut, so most of the work was done on the train. Laptops, portable light-boxes, and lots of stares from strangers.

How did you finance your film?

I draw storyboards at a feature studio called Blue Sky for my day job, but really Dr Breakfast wasn't extremely expensive to make. The most expensive thing is my time--many boring hours. I paid my friend Robin Arnott to do some great sound. And Nick Koenig wrote some awesome music. That money all came from the day job. Wish I could have paid them more though, cause it really sounds quite good.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?

Making an animated film takes so long, the hardest part for me is sticking with early decisions. When you're working on a personal project with no real deadline or expectations, it's easy to get lost. I had to trust my instincts, stick to my storyboards, and just make the thing or else I knew I could wind up working on it forever.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?

I have no idea. I'm still pretty sure they made a mistake. I would say, just do your thing, make your art, enjoy. I've applied before, but I'm glad that this was the film that broke through for me.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?

I would have changed a couple shots, adjusted things here and there. But at some point you've got to let go. I always think of this Chuck Jones quote, it goes something like, "Short films aren't made, they are abandoned."

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?

You can actually already see Dr Breakfast online. I put it up online a few weeks before finding about Sundance.

http://vimeo.com/26942241

and youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exvJEilKgEg

I might go with distribution at some point, but as an unknown filmmaker, the exposure is the biggest help. I'd love to keep sending to festivals. And I definitely want to keep developing these characters.

For More Information:
Stephen Neary's Blog

Dr Breakfast - TRAILER from pizzaforeveryone on Vimeo.

The Road to Sundance: Juku, directed by Kiro Russo

2012-01-13T10:46:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?

Our film is titled JUKU. The Jukus are mine thieves, expert miners who choose to risk their lifes in order to obtain large quantities of mineral. There are hundreds of stories about Jukus "Pirates" of the mine. When I was a child my grandmother told me many stories about the mine, she was from the mining town of Huanuni where we filmed the short film and I was always very curious about these stories and this world. On the other hand, JUKU has a lot to do with experimenting with light.

We start from the premise of how to handle a short where almost nothing is seen, and everything heard; this in a context that has gone through our

cinema´s and narrative history in different kinds of ways: the mines. JUKU will be screening at Sundance in the Shorts competition Program 5.

How long did it take you to make your film?

It took about a year and a half, we stopped a lot because there was not to much budget that made the post production process too long.

How did you finance your film?

The film is a very low budget production, a lot of the money we spent was actually from my savings account. The equipment was largely lent to us by friends and local production companies.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?

One of the main complications we came across was the decision of the mining company to choose our acting crew for us. Our casting for the leading role had to be made among the team we had been assigned. Therefore the sort of casting and meeting with the crew had to be made on the first shooting day. Of course, the help of the mining company and the sort of joy that the miners had in making this possible was the main reason that this film was made succesfully. Another complication, and this one in a technical level, was the illumination. It was very clear from the start, that the characters of this short had to be mainly represented by the lights they were carrying, it was a specification I gave to Pablo Paniagua, the photography director. Finally he came across the idea of using a very little 1000 w fresnel connected to a motorbike battery hidden in the suit of the main character.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?

I found out about our film getting accepted in Sundance while I was in a Script and cinematography workshop, at first I didn´t really realize what it meant, of course I knew about the size of this accomplishment, but I didn´t foresee the help that this recognition is going to give us in order to make the feature film we´re working on “Viejo Calavera”. We´re really proud of being the only latin american short film, and we are very glad to be representing.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?

I would make it less solemn, it has too little humor.

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?

We hope JUKU enters another festivals, hoping that the possibility of raising funds for making “VIEJO CALAVERA”, the feature I will be directing, will be fruitful.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?

I think that one should be sincere with the things one does.

The Road to Sundance: Una Hora Por Favora, directed by Jill Soloway

2012-01-11T10:51:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it? UNA HORA POR FAVORA is in Shorts Program 1. I was inspired to make it because my best friend and muse and actress in my film wanted to add to the current canon of "Hey, Girls Are Funny Too!" TV and movie stuff. Beyond that it was great to make a comment about objectification and using people. Much like the rose ceremonies of The Bachelor and the line-up of the hookers on HBO's Cathouse, the male immigrant workers of LA are available daily to choose from, like a buffet. This film pushes that idea to an extreme when Michaela's character chooses someone who not only refuses to be used but also insists on showing her a part of herself she never wanted to see.

How long did it take you to make your film? About three months.

How did you finance your film? With my own money!

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it? Being willing to ask for feedback, listen to it, and let enough time pass so that I could synthesize peoples' reactions into my own meaningful creative solutions.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?
Working with Michaela was great because we're so relaxed and comfortable collaborating. So having close friends nearby is one trick. I think it makes you do your best work. Yet I am sure that asking Wilmer Valderrama to be in the film helped. He is not only famous but also incredibly talented. So maybe the pointer is, don't ignore going after names or established talent; they are often game to participate-- but don't forget to keep your creative besties close at hand.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different? Not really, I couldn't have asked for a better result!

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?
As my film is a short, distribution isn't really an option. It will be part of Yahoo Shorts, an online contest where it will be available to see for the length of the fest. You can't vote until Jan. 19, but the link to participate is www.sundance.yahoo.com.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance? I guess just DO IT. You have to be headstrong enough to get it made but not so bull-headed that you're unwilling to collaborate or listen to constructive feedback, which is absolutely necessary.

The Road to Sundance: Teddy Bear, directed by Mads Matthiesen

2012-01-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?

Teddy Bear [which plays in the World Dramatic Competition] is in many ways inspired by a short film I directed four years ago. The film is called Dennis and was in competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. While making the short I got to know the bodybuilder Kim Kold who is playing Dennis. Kim was a non-actor and I met him doing casting sessions in the Danish bodybuilder community. I remember doing the first casting with him. He came in the room and starting doing the lines. I knew by that instant that this guy was something special. He could act and visually he was all I was looking for. Later in a master class I showed Actors Studies legend Frank Corsaro the short film and after seeing it he said: “Why don’t you make it into a feature?” This got me thinking and after meeting with the scriptwriter Martin Zandvliet we slowly started to work on the idea. Kim Kold was up for the challenge of doing a feature and we set out to do the film. And 2-3 years later I finished the film.

How long did it take you to make your film?

It took around 2 years to make it. And I have been working on it for 3-4 years from when I got the idea.

How did you finance your film?

The film is mainly financed thought the Danish government (The Danish Film Institute). Additional there are some television pre buys, fond money, distributions pre buys and private finances in the movie.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?

It’s hard to pinpoint one single challenge that was the hardest while doing this film. But one of them was definitely the fact that I wanted to work with “real” people in the cast. Most of the actors in the film are real people (“non actors”) casted in the environment we were filming. From the outset, it was my idea to create a credible story world with believable characters, almost documentary in tone. The story itself is, of course, wholly fictitious in which the “non actors” are acting, but the “cast” was composed of real people deployed in the real settings we portray in the film. The bar girls in Thailand are real bar girls, the men around them are the real people who hang out in these places, and of course, Kim Kold (main character) is a real professional bodybuilder. The characters were cast in their real locales, and the film was shot on location in the midst of all the crazy stuff going on. Real people on “real sets” were used to create a credible world, to get as close to the “truth” of the characters. Working mostly with amateurs was a big challenge but also a gift because you get a great deal of authenticity when you work with real people in real environments.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?

Sundance is a great opportunity to get you film out in to the world. For me the audience is an important element of why I have made this film and I think that with Sundance I have the possibility to get out to a much broader audience. I really hope that the film will connect with people and give them a good experience. Having the film shown at the festival has been on my mind from the start of the production of the film. It somehow began at Sundance with the project four years ago with the short film Dennis, and luckily I get to come back and show Teddy Bear. I’m very pleased that the film ended up like it did and that it was selected for the competition. I hope that Teddy Bear will make a tribute together with the other films at Sundance, and make it an inspiring festival of 2012.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?

I don’t really think much about what I could have done differently. I do think of what has gone wrong so I can do it better next time. But making a film is a process where things are decided in an ongoing flow so how the film ended up is the consequence of many different elements in the process and in many ways it couldn’t have been done differently at the time.

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?

Hopefully the film will travel the world on film festivals after Sundance. Just after Sundance the film will be competition for the best Nordic film at the Göteborg Film Festival which is one of the big Scandinavian festivals. The film will come out in the cinemas all over Denmark just after Sundance and hopefully we will be able to sell the film to other territories.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?

I think that filmmakers should find their own individual path in the process. I can provide one advice: Go make your films whatever it takes! Make your film with little or no finance if the alternative is that you won’t get it made. The more films you make the better you get at it, the more you learn about telling stories though the film media.

The Road to Sundance: The Arm, directed by Brie Larson, Sarah Ramos & Jessie Ennis

2012-01-11T09:31:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it? "The Arm" will be showing the Narrative Short Competition at the Sundance Film Festival. The idea started as something very simple. I walked into Sarah's house and she asked me if I thought text messaging was funny. I said yes. We then spent the next few hours coming up with a story depicting the aloofness of this new type of communication and how easy it is for things to be misconstrued. Jessie was added to the team a few months after and was very present in the re-write.

How long did it take you to make your film?We wrote in on the 3 hour Greyhound bus ride from Dallas to Austin. It took a month of pre-production, three days of shooting, followed by another month of post.

How did you finance your film? Sarah and I covered the minimal $800 it cost to shoot. We were fortunate enough to find people who were willing to work for free, most being close friends and family. Our Cinematographer, Blake McClure owned a 5D and I had a lighting kit. Funnily enough, our only big cost was breakfast burritos, and the many 5 hour energies I downed throughout filming.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it? Tacking down a frozen yogurt shop was by far the most difficult. Our first choice was the yogurt shop that inspired the short - they fell through a few weeks before filming. Our second had a manager that yanked us around quite a bit. Weeks of unreturned phone calls and hoops made impossible to jump through. We gave up on them a mere 3 days before filming. The shop we eventually shot in, The Chill saved the day. We always had this panning reveal at the beginning and that could have never been accomplished without bar seats. The Chill had them perfectly - plus their topping selection was by far the grandest. Mini cheesecake bites?! Hello?!

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?
It was never our intention to submit to festivals - we just wanted to make something. Jessie, Sarah, and myself all love and have watched so many films, good and bad; it's easy to complain about boring, repetitive, bad movies instead of making your own. Discovering weird, out-of-the-box filmmakers like Todd Solondz inspired us to make riskier choices because we found them amusing and assumed if it genuinely made us laugh and care, it might do the same for other people!

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different? I'd love to do it all over again, just to re-live the experience. But not because I feel there is anything to change. We are very proud of what we made.

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?
We've submitted to a few other festivals; just playing the waiting game at this point. As of now it will be screening a few times at Sundance and then directly after at the Santa Barbara Film festival. Distribution would be very exciting, but getting into Sundance has already exceeded our expectations.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance? Entertain yourself. Don't make it for Sundance, or anyone. Make something for yourself, it's the most rewarding. And then if other people like it, you'll feel even greater. But if they don't, you followed your instincts, you're figuring out your voice, and who cares what anyone else thinks? Haters gonna hate.

For More Information:
Download of The Arm Trailer

The Road to Sundance: Bobby Yeah, directed by Robert Morgan

2012-01-11T09:18:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?

My film is called BOBBY YEAH. It’s playing in the Shorts Competition. It’s a crazy 23-minute stop-motion horror film about a petty thug who gets into some very, very deep trouble. I’d made a series of successful short films before, and was writing some feature projects and was sort of trapped in development hell with them. After a few years of this, I just dropped everything and decided to burn off some creative frustration with another short. I was sick of writing, so I decided to make this film without a script. So I just started shooting the first thing that came to mind, watched it back, then basically made up the next moment, shot it, and so on. The entire film was made up chronologically as I went along, so I had no idea where the story was going as I shot it.

How long did it take you to make your film?

I shot it in my spare time over a 3 year period.

How did you finance your film?

There was no budget as such – pennies really - I paid for the main bulk of the production myself through a teaching job. When I’d finished my final cut and sound edit, I showed the film to Alain de la Mata and Geoff Cox at blueLight, who agreed to finance the sound mix, picture grade and mastering.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?

The actual shoot was great fun. Because of the nature of the process, it was constantly surprising to me where the story was going, so I was discovering it as I went. I was my own producer and financier, so the film was able to find its own natural pace of production. The hardest part was handing it over to the picture-graders at a certain well-known post-production house in Soho. They have a great reputation, but because we didn’t have much money, they clearly didn’t give a shit about the film, and did a very lackluster job. I ended up getting blueLight’s money back and grading it myself from scratch in After Effects. Lesson

to filmmakers: don’t collaborate with people who are not passionate about your film!!

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?

BlueLight and I entered it very late because for some reason we had it in our heads that it would need to be a premiere to be considered. At the last minute I realized this wasn’t the case and we got it in just before the final deadline. I didn’t think we’d be selected, because the film is really, really far out, but figured it would at least be worth trying. Of course I was wrong to doubt – Sundance has a track record of supporting weird and wonderful films. As you can imagine I was pretty thrilled when I found out! As for pointers to other filmmakers, I can only speak from my limited experience – don’t try and second guess what an audience will want – just make the film that you want to make.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?

I’m happy with the film, but if I were to make it again, I’d do all the post-production mastering myself, and only go outside for the transfers to tape. I'm a complete control freak!

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?

I’m touring festivals with it at the moment. I think blueLight may have some plans for distribution but I’m not sure I can talk about that just yet. I have a facebook page for the film, which is the best place to go for screening / distribution news: www.facebook.com/bobbyyeahfilm

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?

I think you need to listen to your instincts and make films that you really want to see. And nowadays you don’t need loads of money, so just get on with it! Plus, there’s nothing worse than finishing a film and not being proud of it (I’ve been there in the past). With this film I just made sure it was everything I wanted it to be, with no compromises. I think that’s why people respond well to it.

The Road to Sundance: Dol (First Birthday), directed by Andrew Ahn

2012-01-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it? My film is titled Dol (First Birthday). It is in the US Narrative Shorts category at Sundance this year. The film is about a gay Korean-American man who attends his baby nephew's "dol," a traditional Korean first birthday celebration. I made the film to come out to my parents. I wanted to show my parents a complex portrayal of a gay Korean-American man, someone they could sympathize with. I thought that by showing them a film, I could give them a better understanding of who I am.

How long did it take you to make your film? The entire process took about a year and a half.

How did you finance your film? I self-financed my film, but found many ways to save. I received a lot of support through my school, CalArts, and also looked for unique programs like Panavision's New Filmmaker's program that help offset costs for low-budget productions.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it? The most difficult part of the filmmaking process for me was the edit. I struggled with the fact that I knew I was going to come out to my parents by showing them the film. I felt like I had to make the perfect film, a film so good that they could accept their gay son. It was excruciating! I had to compartmentalize. When I was in the edit room, I was editing, trying to shape story and character. I couldn't worry about my parents.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?
Getting into Sundance has really helped me find motivation to keep going. Filmmaking feels less and less like a hobby, more and more like a career.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different? No, I've learned so much by making this film, artistically, personally, and professionally.

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?
Dol (First Birthday) does not have distribution yet. I hope to secure that soon! However, it will be playing in the festival circuit throughout the next few months. Hopefully it plays in a town near you!

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance? Make personal work -- films that you are passionate about, that are unique to your experiences. Establish a point-of-view, a voice that audiences haven't heard before.

Dol Trailer from Andrew Ahn on Vimeo.

The Road to Sundance: L Train, directed by Anna Musso

2012-01-10T22:18:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?
L TRAIN was conceived in Hawai’i. I was there working on a film, THE DESCENDANTS, as assistant to the director, Alexander Payne. I’ve been very lucky to work for Alexander and to have the extension of my education that comes with watching him make films. Yet, for a young aspiring filmmaker, sometimes it can also be torturous watching someone else live your dream every day, waiting for your chance.

One day we got to talking during one of our long car rides through the islands. He sensed in me what I was just about to discover: I needed to stop watching and make my own chance. Thus began a series of conversations in which I’d throw out ideas. After a litany of disconnected ramblings, I began to really think about why it was that I needed to make a film. We spoke about great filmmakers who have this thing inside them, this wonderful “Sit! I must tell you about this.” quality. Film can be a beautiful tool for social consciousness and I couldn’t help but think about those things that I needed to tell stories about, people that I felt needed to be seen on a screen. Finally, I found myself talking Alexander’s ear off about these two women to whom I felt the world owed its attention. Two women to whom I owed my own attention. And their story is our film.

How long did it take you to make your film?
About a year from soup to nuts.

How did you finance your film?
I begged, borrowed and stole. I took loans from kind and generous people and I saved as much as I could. I also received amazing donations from Ad Hominem, The City of Chicago, FotoKem, Kodak and the extraordinary Fletcher Camera of Chicago.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?
I woke up on the morning of the Third Worst Blizzard in Chicago History and looked out the window. Whiteness. Nothing else. The streets, shut down, the 'L', shut down. I cursed the Film Gods and all twenty-two people who sent me text messages congratulating me on getting the snow I'd wished for. I looked out the window again in a panic. My mother called me and the first words out of her mouth were, "Hope you got a good alderman." What? What does the alderman have to do with this? In Chicago, a lot. The only way to get our truck down any street would be a city plow. We'd have to spend the day digging out a spot and wait for the plow. It's funny where our fate sometimes rests. And then I looked out the window again only this time, I realized something: "Sure I don't have a camera, I don't have a crew, I can't open my front door. But holy cow look at all this awesome snow!!! This is going to look amazing on film!!!" Before the storm was over we would get 21.2 inches of snow. And the plow did come. (Thank you, Alderman Levar.) And let's just say, the irony is not lost on me every time someone asks if the mounds of snow in the film were created by visual effects.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?
Sundance is a dream come true. It's like getting to the top of some mythical mountain you've been thinking of forever. Except getting to the top of any peak one instantly turns around and discovers there is some other higher peak. But Sundance is a dream come true. My advice would be, "Only have fun and have no stress at all." And, "If you figure out how to do that, tell me how."

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?
How much time do you have?! No, really, there were lessons learned. It was a giant extension of my education. I can honestly say though, that, at the end of the day, I would not alter a single frame. The mistakes ultimately turned into my film and directing is, I think, sort of the process of discovering the film through the experience, warts and all.

The Road to Sundance: CAN, directed by Rasit Celikezer

2012-01-10T22:06:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?

“CAN” is about families and their children. It tells about parenting as well as individuals who try to hold on to their lives; and suit themselves in the standard of judgements of the society.

Can is one of the 14 films, which will be competing in the Sundance 2012 World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

Still having people struggling inside the Turkish family structure and social values, has always inspired me. I always thought of it as a fact of our lives that had and has to be told . And recently being a father has increased my desire to do it.

How long did it take you to make your film?

With every single process of filmmaking, It took me 11 months to finish the film. The 6 months of this time was for the story and script-writing; The remaining 5 months for pre-production, production and post production. But it took me only 3 weeks to shoot it.

How did you finance your film?

I am the main producer of the film, and I have two co-producers. We three, are the financers of the film as well; we didn’t have any sponsors or corporations to help us finance the film. (But I have to indicate that, we had a little support from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Turkish Republic, for the publicity of our film in Sundance.)

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?

The most challenging part of the filmmaking process was budgeting. I didn’t have any difficulties, other than that. And I solved that problem by including my friends into the project. To be honest, I feel pretty lucky about that.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?

Sundance is a big and important “castle” for me, as it is for every other independent filmmaker. I waited for the call for their entries, easily submitted my film; and I got selected! Now I’m taking the pride in and feeling the success of being able to share my dream there. I haven’t experienced anything yet. I think my experience will start as soon as I get there; and as soon as I get to see the reactions of the audience after ‘CAN’ is screened.

Pointers… I really don’t know, this could be discussed for long hours, but taking the previous Sundance films I have seen in to consider, I can say, over all, they have special stories regarding ‘people’ ; and story-telling wise they are deep, new, effective and surprising. Those are the points I have considered in making my film as well.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?

For now no! But who knows what I will be thinking about it in time?!

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?

The publicity of Can has started in my country. It will be in the movie theatres in Turkey, by the end of March 2012. My distributer is Tiglon. We are planning to make it available for the theatres in Germany as well. But during Sundance, we will get together with my consultants to consider the calls we got from the festivals in Europe and the Far East and strategize our festival route. At this point, my expectation is my film to be effective in other continents as well. And I believe I will not have a problem in achieving that, considering the festival calls we are receiving each and every day.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?

Work without giving up! Work hard; and find the right, most importantly find your own expression.

can subtitle (English) from Burak Akidil on Vimeo.

The Road to Sundance: Spoonful, directed by Jenee LaMarque

2012-01-10T21:59:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?
My film is called spoonful and it's part of the U.S. Shorts Competition. The film is inspired by the strange event that followed my best friend Craig's memorial service in New York back in 2003.

On the day of the memorial, my friend Megan's breasts became horrifically engorged with breast milk. Her daughter was back in California and she didn't have a breast pump. She tried desperately to manually express the milk and was in tears about her failure to relieve her pain. On the couch at our friend Helen's apartment, I took the liberty of poking Megan's breast with my pointer finger. It was as hard as a knee cap. So Helen and I decided that we would "help" Megan drain her breasts ourselves. That sounds weird, huh? It was weird. But somehow---in the delirium of our grief---it made complete sense to us. Grief sense.

It was an event that I've always looked back on with fascination and wonder, a tangled sort of mystery that I've always wanted to engage with. So the challenge I gave to myself with making this film was to take this bizarre (and thematically rich) situation and fictionalize it. I wanted to create a story where the central conflict would be the engorged breast and the "helping out" would be logical outcome for the three women involved. spoonful came out of this challenge, and the three of us mourning our friend's death morphed into three sisters mourning the death of their father.

How long did it take you to make your film?
I wrote for three weeks, we filmed for two days and then we edited for about two months.

How did you finance your film? I financed my film completely from my own savings. Because both time and funds were pretty limited, we decided to shoot the entire film in one location. We knew going in that the "special effects" would have to be the story and the performances. We borrowed a lot of our equipment from friends and our fantastic producer Steven J. Berger fought to get us deals on everything else.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?
The most challenging part was casting an actress who was a real lactating mother and also "got" what we were trying to do. We overcame this by simply finding the incredible Robin Reiser. I never dreamt we'd get someone as great as Robin. She's an amazing stand up comedian and just brings so much life and light to what could have been a heavy performance.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?
I found out that spoonful got into Sundance the night before Thanksgiving, and I promptly lost my mind with excitement. There was screaming involved, there was jumping involved, there was a flurry of phone calls to the cast and crew involved. God bless you, Kim Yutani, you made my year with that phone call!

It's important to me to make films that circle thematically around the things that I feel most strongly about. Consequently, there's a lot that speaks to my experience of life in the film: my dark sense of humor, my feelings surrounding the loss of a loved one, my strong belief in breastfeeding, and my experience of becoming a mother and fiercely needing to draw new boundaries with the people around me. These are all things that I know were interesting to the wonderful women in the film as well.

Speaking of those wonderful women, I can't help but believe it was beneficial to spoonful to have some talented Sundance alums in the cast; Marianna Palka is the writer/director/star of Good Dick and Frankie Shaw is in both The Freebie and this year's End of Love. Frankie is also one of my closest friends and Marianna is one of Frankie's closest friends. There was already this lovely pre-existing intimacy in the cast and I think these real relationships helped to make the film what it is.

As a director, I also worked hard to create and maintain an environment where the cast and crew felt safe to take creative risks. We ended up all feeling incredibly close on set and this manifested in a lot of laughing and crying together. There were many, many boob jokes. Boob jokes (much like poop jokes) somehow never get old. At one point, we also sat in a room and all cried while listening to Luther Vandross's "Dance with My Father." Truly awesome.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?
Yes! I wish I would have had more time writing. But we wanted to make the Sundance deadline, so we ended up shooting a script that wasn't totally ready. It gave us some grief in the editing room which could have been saved by some simple script trims. It's so much easier to edit words on a computer screen. Now my motto is "be ruthless about editing your script down to the bone." I hope I've learned my lesson.

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?
I have no idea what's next for the film. I'm at the point where I just can't wait to see how people react to it. Sundance is our very first stop, although we've started submitting to other festivals. We'll see what happens! Steven and I are in the midst of casting our first feature, The Pretty One, so after Sundance that's what we'll be mostly focused on.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?
Well, I'm sure everyone's path to Sundance is extremely particular to them, so I'm not sure how instructive I'll be, but I can say something of my thought process behind making the film.

I think it's important to surround yourself with like-minded people that share your values and aesthetics. My collaborators (Steven J. Berger, Mattias Troelstrup, Emily Batson, Emilio Ramirez, and Heather Mathews) are all people that I truly respect and admire. I absolutely believe that each of them is a visionary artist. spoonful also marks my first collaboration with my husband (composer, Julian Wass), working with him was one of my long standing dreams. I realize I am quite partial but I think he's a genius composer.

It was also important to me to make a film that felt authentic to me and in some way represents my point of view and my deepest beliefs. And I knew I could only accomplish this by letting my freak flag fly. I figured if I wasn't going to get in, I didn't want it to be because I had held myself back.

The Road to Sundance: Meaning of Robots, directed by Matt Lenski

2012-01-10T21:49:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?

US Documentary shorts

The benevolent Mike Sullivan has been shooting a stop-motion robot sex film in his apartment for the last 15 years. Obsessed with constructing the miniature robot porn stars, his apartment now overflows with thousands of them leaving him only tiny paths for him to walk and no place to film his epic.

In the Spring of 2011, after years of hiring him to build miniature sets for my films I asked Mike Sullivan for his help on an art project. During the process I got a peek into his world and discovered that it was anything but miniature.

What I found was a man dedicated, overwhelmed, slightly lost and happy to share it with honesty and a little humor.

I also found thousands of Robots with wieners.

This is a character exploration, a documentary, a Henry Darger-esque allegory set in one studio apartment on 27^th street in New York City. I was inspired to make this film out of love and respect for him.

How long did it take you to make your film?

From pre production to through completed post– 4 months. But if you include the time it took to build our relationship be invited in to his world you could say 4 years and 4 months.

How did you finance your film?

I funded this myself. And while technically the entire budget was 175 dollars to rent a wide angle lens, countless dollars were spent in time by devoted crew. We shot, edited, reshot, and more. Whatever it took to make it better.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?

It always felt easy. Like meeting someone who would one day become a dear friend. The most challenging part came after hearing Mike's story. And wanting to help him make his movie.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?

I guess that was the other challenging aspect... what to do with it when it was done. I was encouraged to submit it by my dear friend, the executive producer, Jake Perlin. And I got the acceptance call the night before thanksgiving. Which was great because I actually had something tto talk about with my family on that day of dreaded face-stuffing, and awkward conversation – Thanksgiving

If I didn't get it in I wasn't going to be crest fallen though. I want to help Mike make his movie so I was planning to start a kickstarter page to help him with that and use the film to promote it.

My advice? Keep making your film better and do WHATEVER you want. Go back change things. Be totally precious and and not precious at the same time... oh... and work with people you respect. If you respect them, respect their ideas and the creative process.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?

No.

For More Information:

Meaning of Robots Teaser

The Road to Sundance: A Morning Stroll, directed by Grant Orchard

2012-01-10T21:35:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?

My names Grant Orchard and I’m the director of ‘A Morning Stroll.’ It’s a short 6 minute animated film that’s playing in the International Shorts section at this year’s Sundance Festival.

It’s about a man who spots a chicken walking down a busy Brooklyn street. Basically it's like a 3 part riff on 'Why did the chicken cross the road?'

Initially I wanted to make a quick one minute film. I’d loved a one paragraph story published in Paul Auster’s ‘True Tales of American Life’ about a woman who spots a chicken walking down a busy city street.

It got me thinking of how ordinary those elements are, but how subtly, slyly surreal they are together.

At the same time I was reading ‘Exercises in Style’ by Raymond Queneau. It’s a book that retells the fairly ordinary story of a man on a bus 99 times in 99 different styles.

I think those two influences converged and gave the basis for ‘A Morning Strolls’ triptych structure. It’s the meeting of a man and a chicken on a busy New York street, told 3 times over three different time periods.

So what was originally a one minute film became a 3 minute film in 3 chapters. Basically I got a bit carried away.

How long did it take you to make your film?

Too long. Just shy of 2 years. The company I work for, STUDIO AKA, agreed to make it without any external funding for it, which was brilliant of them. So we had to use people within the company when they weren’t working on paying commercials, which frankly isn’t very often. We’re usually very busy, so it was an incremental accumulation over two years. Also I got ill for about a year which didn’t help the process. My puny body is such an inconvenience at times.

How did you finance your film?

As a company we self financed it. Currently in Britain there’s absolutely no funding for short animated film. TV channels can’t quite seem to find a way to air them, and the British Arts Council has been pretty much stripped by the government of funds.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?

It’s basically one story, told 3 different ways. But I wanted to keep all the compositions, camera moves and shot lengths exactly the same in all 3. The only things that changed were the designs and the characters reactions to one another. This required us to set up a template for each section and rigorously stick to it. Sounds quite simple, but we had to find a way of telling the 3 different strands of the story within that template. Proved to be quite taxing and a little bit too much like hard work!

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?

Just make sure you are aware of the submission deadlines. We only just managed to submit our film in time, so when we heard that we had been selected we were over the moon.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?

Oh yes, always. There’s always something I’m not happy about. Bits of animation, design. I’m very fiddly and fussy. In general I’m happy with it though. I think. It’s just when I see it I see the faults, it’s the problem of working on something over a long period of time and seeing it so many times.

I made a film about 8 years ago called ‘Welcome to Glaringly’ that I’m thinking of re-making now. The story and timings work but the sound and visuals don’t do it for me anymore. I just can’t leave it alone.

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?

It’s currently been Oscar shortlisted, so it would be nice if that could go onto the next stage.

It’s just started its festival run, and it’s already doing pretty well. It’s got another year or so of that then who knows, but I believe that we already have a handful of distribution offers on the table.

Hopefully it will have some kind of life beyond that. There are so many short films, and so many good ones being made that I hope it will be one that’s remembered a few years on from now.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?

Just the terribly hackneyed bit of advice which is to make what you want to make, rather than make what you think people want to see. It’s clichéd but very valid.

Cheers

The Road to Sundance: My Best Day, directed by Erin Greenwell

2012-01-10T18:56:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?
"My Best Day" >NEXT Category
"My Best Day" is about a young woman who goes looking for the father she never knew in a small town on the 4th of July. To get to him she'll have to first navigate her new trailer park family, including a sister addicted to off-track betting, a grade school brother who wrestles the neighborhood mailman and a charming but suspicious buddy, Eugene, who is "just sleeping on the couch".

The inspiration to make the movie was based on wanting to touch about deeper themes in regards to identity; all the characters are searching to be their truest selves in spite of their perceived status. Comedy is often my weapon of choice to bring the "pain" and what better place to bring mishaps than a tight trailer? Shooting in a small town harkens back to my roots as I grew up in Missouri.

How long did it take you to make your film?
The seed of the idea for the plot has been in my head since 2005. The script was written two years ago. We raised money and applied rewrites concurrently. I had the good fortune of having the script in IFP's "Emerging Narrative Category" at their IFP 2010 Project Forum as well as part of a Dialogue Study panel in IFP's 2011 Script to Screen Conference. Both these experiences were transformative to the rewriting as I had access to feedback from other filmmakers, writers and audience members. We preproduced for 3 months, shot principal photography in 18 days and edited the film immediately for a couple months while scoring with our composer.

How did you finance your film?
The film has been financed through a few angel investors, friends through a Kickstarter campaign and my own money.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?

Having faith that is was better to make this movie with what I had than hanging onto the hope that more money would come. My budget kept ascending in concept but no more money or resources where coming in. I therefore kept reconfiguring possibilities and I was going crazy "If we shoot with THIS camera we wont have money for THIS. But if we shoot HERE we can't afford THAT. But if we have THIS much money we need to do THIS…."

Finally a producer friend put the brakes on and said, "Stop. How much do you have? That's what you are shooting with. Now walk the production backwards from that. The budget does not change from this point forward."

THAT is when you finally get to be creative because you know what you are truly working with and can strategize with your team and make your own decisions. For a director, that is very freeing. And for every department, they knew what to ask for and could get excited with solutions. Locking the budget created strong and specific choices creatively. It unified our overall vision towards the movie.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?
Getting the call that your film was accepted to Sundance is the instant buzz you would imagine and then the stakes immediately get higher "Sure I got into Sundance but what if it doesn't (insert worry here over and over)". This points to a deeper truth; that acceptance from the outside is gravy. As a director, I have to be the one to know I did the best I could with my film.

I have been rejected from Sundance countless times over the years. Everyone has. One year I was desperate. I begged a friend to "get me in" (he was in a lab and knew programmers). He (gently) laughed and said "I can't 'get you in' and your movie isn't ready yet. Even if I could get you in, would you really want to be seen with work that isn't your best? Keep editing and make it right for YOU." He was right. I spent months editing the film and till this day I can watch it and feel proud, regardless of whatever festival it went to.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?
No. Not because there weren't mistakes I made but because I learned from those mistakes and they will take me to the next round but DIFFERENT set of mistakes on my best movie. We learn from failure and learning brings us to "success". Success doesn't teach us anything-it's just nice to have. I really stayed the best I could in the moment of fixing mistakes or at least not repeating mistakes instead of dwelling on them. I imagined a figure skater falling early in her routine. At that point it is all mental. Yes, you just fell on your ass but you can do the rest of the program solid-get up!

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?
As someone who has been crushed by rejection and tortured by expectations of success; Don't dream about getting into Sundance. Reason being, if you don't get in (and you have roughly a 95-98 percent chance of not getting in) that rejection suddenly invalidates your entire movie and might stop you from making the next one. Visualize your movie and take one action that creates another action to get it done and you will suddenly find yourself saying "How the hell did I end up on this set? This is great!" Stay in the action of making your art. It's hard to believe but your art is the most coveted thing already because you MADE it.

For More Information and Trailer:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2880782028008

Live Q&A with Angelina Jolie Here Tomorrow Evening (Jan. 12th) at 8pm EST/5pm PST. Watch It Here!

2012-01-10T17:15:00.000-08:00

Please join Angelina Jolie in a Live online Q&A on Thursday Jan 12th at 8pm EST/5pm PST to discuss her writing and directing debut, In the Land of Blood and Honey. Here!

The Road to Sundance: The Return, directed by Blerta Zeqiri

2012-01-10T10:48:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film.
Our film is The Return (Kthimi) is part of the Shorts Competition and screens with Shorts Program II. It’s the first Kosovar film ever selected to Sundance.

What inspired you to make it?
Producer Blerim Gjoci: The issue of disappeared people is a universal problem, not just for countries that have experienced war and tyranny. People with a disappeared member of their family have always been in my mind as the people to whom, as artists and as a society, we owe them at least to tell their story, what goes on behind those walls when no one is watching. We owe them to share what they go through, at least a glimpse of their life. This is why when this script came to my hands, I felt it not just a great script, but also an obligation for me as an artist to produce it.

Director Blerta Zeqiri: Ever since the war in my country, I think a lot about how strong a human mind is, how much a person endures, how easily people adapt to, sometimes, unbearable situations and continue to live “normally” anyway.

When Blerim sent me the script and asked me if I was interested in it, I immediately gave a positive response. I loved the plot and I was very much intrigued by the situation the characters were facing.

The man that returns from “the dead” to find out that his wife has given birth to a child of rape, was a situation that no one would wish to be in. It was a very challenging piece for me to imagine what would happen to them. What will they talk about? What will their first night together look like? How will the wife find the right moment to tell her story?

How long did it take you to make your film?
We worked for 10 intensive days. We shot for 3 days, then spent 7 days editing, doing color correction, sound mixing, translation, graphics, subtitles, etc.

How did you finance your film?
Producer Blerim Gjoci: I was lucky to participate in some big films in the region, and upon returning to my country I always felt that I could do more. So I started holding this script competition, first
dedicated to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. The high level of interest was astonishing, and this motivated me to continue it. I raise a budget each year for filmmakers with great ideas, and see what
we can produce each year. This film is from the same budget, and in 2011 I produced seven films that way, including The Return.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?
Director Blerta Zeqiri: Blerim called me and asked, Would I be interested in working on an extremely short deadline? He sent me the script, which had a wonderful plot and a deadline of 30 days to finish
the film. We didn’t have a lot of time, so I wanted to do the film in mumblecore style. Blerim agreed, and the process started: Finding the right cast for the film. Finding the crew. Build characters with the actors, etc. In fact now that I think of it, the whole process of making this film was a big challenge to me. Since I come from a small town where one of the biggest massacres of the Kosovo war happened, and many people that I knew were declared missing or experienced tragedies similar to those in the film. This is why treating the subject of war and how it affects people’s lives was my biggest challenge. I would constantly ask myself: Will people who experienced the same tragedies as my characters believe what I am telling them? Will they be offended by anything? And most importantly, will it look real to them?

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?
We didn’t do anything special to get accepted, we just submitted the film.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?
Director Blerta Zeqiri: I’m pretty satisfied with the film, so I don’t think I would change anything.

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?
Producer Blerim Gjoci: Our hope is that the film will continue to have success in festivals. Of course we are hoping to reach the Oscars! We would love to get distribution for The Return and also the many other great short films we have made.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?
Director Blerta Zeqiri: I have no idea how films get accepted to the festival, but I think for me the success came because we worked hard, we believed in the film, Blerim believed in me, and a little bit of luck that we made the right film at the right time.

Producer Blerim Gjoci: Someone said this before me, but my advice is: if you want to make a movie, only shoot it if the story is begging to be told.

The Road to Sundance: Song of the Spindle, directed by Drew Christie

2012-01-10T09:29:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?
My short film is an animation called Song of the Spindle. However, it is playing in the US Narrative short category at Sundance since the emphasis is more on the story as opposed to great animation techniques. It is essentially a conversation between a man and a sperm whale. Each one is trying to convince the other that he is smarter. I was inspired to make it because I heard on the Thom Hartmann radio show that some whales have spindle neurons, the neurons in the brain that some scientists say "make us human" by being responsible for compassion and understanding. I also created it to enter into an online film contest called the Possible Futures Film Contest. Song of the Spindle got an Honorable Mention Award.

How long did it take you to make your film?
It took me about 1 and a half months to write, record the narration, storyboard, animate, edit and set the music to.

How did you finance your film?
I paid for the film myself. However, since it was an animation and I was the only person working on it, I didn't have to pay any other cast/crew.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?
The most challenging part of the process was definitely writing. I wrote many drafts, starting with a very science fiction oriented draft that borrowed heavily from the Kurt Vonnegut book Galapagos (my favorite of his books) and after many revisions which my girlfriend, Amanda Moore, helped me with, I arrived at the final version. Since I am not a professional writer, it is a very hard process for me to revise and trim down the script.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?
I still don't know how or why my film got in. The whole thing is actually a mystery to me, however I would say that something that looks eye catching and perhaps is substantive or strikes people on a deeper level but can in some way incorporate humor would be a good route to go.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?
Nope.

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?
I don't know what is next for my film. I do not have distribution at this moment.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?
I would say that writing seems to be a major factor in making something of quality. Write something that people really respond to and the production end is what everyone seems to have down now with 5D's and Macbooks filled with FinalCut and after effects, etc.

For More Information:
http://democracyforthecartoons.blogspot.com/
http://vimeo.com/drewchristie

Song of the Spindle Official Trailer from Drew Christie on Vimeo.

The Road to Sundance: About Face, directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

2012-01-09T17:28:00.000-08:00

ABOUT FACE: Director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (Will be in the Premieres section out of competition.)

What inspired you to make it?
I went to a party two years ago attended by former models and left thinking their story would be amazing. I was right. Moral of story... go to lots of parties.. it's a great way to get ideas.

How long did it take you to make your film?
It took two years to make the film. I worked on it off and on, while completing The Latino List, my latest doc for HBO.

How did you finance your film?
I sold cupcakes, made from my secret recipe. They are irresistible. I sold a lot of them. The chocolate with mint frosting were the best sellers.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?
Licensing old photos and b-roll is not easy. Our budget was limited. Some people were very helpful, some were awful. As a photographer myself, I deal with requests for images a lot...so I understand it from both sides.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?
I was thrilled to get into Sundance. The festival really focuses attention on your film. Sundance is huge for any filmmaker, perhaps even more so these days with so many great films out there. Getting in to the festival meant that people who were not related to me or paid by me to like what I do...they actually liked the film! I'm very excited to see ABOUT FACE with an audience on January 22nd at 2:30 PM!

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?
I would have loved the luxury of the same camera person on each shoot. It wasn't possible this time around, but I think it would be helpful... just having a short hand with the same person... not having to explain what I want over and over again to new people. I hired freelance camera and sound people. Some were better than others.

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?
HBO bought the film. I'm very excited about our summer release. HBO is wonderful to work with and really supportive of their filmmakers. This is my 6th doc with them, so I can say this from experience.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?
Not really. Festivals can take only so many films. But if you do get lucky enough to get in to a festival, be prepared. My best advice is while making the film, shoot plenty of on the set photos and images of your principle actors or participants. You will really need them later for publicity and promotion. Making a film is hard, but promoting it and getting attention for it after, is enormously important. So kiss up to blogs like this one!

The Road to Sundance: The D Word, directed by James Redford

2012-01-09T17:11:00.000-08:00

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?
My film is titled "The D Word: Understanding Dyslexia." It is a long overdue examination of the dyslexic experience - a reality that presents gifts as well as challenges for one in five people globally. I know this because my son is dyslexic and my wife is an educator who became passionate about helping dyslexics and their families navigate the school years and beyond. It will premiere at Sundance out of competition.

How long did it take you to make your film?
Over two years. We will finally be finished a week before it premieres.

How did you finance your film?
The film was financed by the Seedlings Foundation. The goal was to create a film that inspired as well as informed.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?
We wanted to highlight the scientific basis for dyslexia without losing the audience. Ultimately, I settled on using animation to bridge the gap between information and entertainment. Finding the right animation can be overwhelming. I had been to an art exhibit in San Francisco that featured the work of Myrzk and Moriceau - including an animated music video for Sebastien Tellier. I explored other possibilities, but their work haunted me. After having my doubts as to whether or not they were the right choice for the film, I finally approached them. Good thing, too. Their work for the film was brilliant!

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?
I have been rejected as often as I have been accepted, so I was very honored to be included. But one must realize that it is only the beginning in terms of a long road toward getting your film to a broader audience - especially if you have your eye on grass roots and community outreach.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?
I was lucky enough to get some extra shoots, extra animation money, and extra edit days, so in a way I got to do things over again within the overall production. This was a stroke of good fortune - and enlightened thinking - that one must not assume will come around again.

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?
I am not at liberty to say exactly who, but the film is being acquired for broadcast as I type. The film also has a solid outreach plan that includes everything from additional online content to community and grass-roots screenings. Once it has its broadcast, our energies will go into making sure that people who most need to see the film - dyslexics, their families as well as the broader education world - have access to the film.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance? are your hopes for the film?
Tell stories that are urgently important to you - stories that you feel will fill a hole in the societal fabric. If you are intensely curious and obsessed with the topic and/or story, it will most likely be contagious to your audience.