ADAM BOWERS EXPLAINS “WHY FILMMAKERS DON’T NEED MONEY”

By Dan Schoenbrun

Over at IFP, filmmaker and comedian Adam Bowers has a hilarious new blog entry entitled “Why Filmmakers Don’t Need Money.” In the post, Bowers argues that poverty breeds creativity.

As he writes:

“Think about it: when do filmmakers make their best movies? When they’re at their most miserable and desperate. Raging Bull pulled Scorsese out of his biggest career slump, and Beethoven’s 4^th saved David Mickey Evans after the disastrous Beethoven’s 3^rd, which obviously suffered from too many studio notes (“Can we have him destroy FEWER dining rooms?” What idiots!). So, if you really want to help a filmmaker create their masterpiece, the least you could do is slash their tires. I’ve currently got a Kickstarter going to make that happen for myself.”

It’s a timely piece of satire, especially considering the industry focus on price tags amidst Sundance buying season. Towards the end of the piece, Bowers breaks his ironic tone to make a genuine (or somewhat less ironic) plea to his indie cohorts:

“It’s time that we, as a community, come together on this and say “No more.” We need to let the world know that we’re artists, and artists use a different currency than regular people.  Our pennies are the looks of wonderment on audiences’ faces. Our nickels are theaters full of laughter. Our quarters are when someone is so caught up in a story that they’ll sit for two hours with a bladder full of Mountain Dew.”

Bowers, who took his no-budget comedy New Low to Sundance in 2010, is currently developing his sophomore project, We’re A Wasteland with Adele Romanski and Brad Petrigala. Read his full post over at IFP.… Read the rest

SOME GUY IN THE EMERGING VISIONS PROGRAM (P. 2)

By Adam Bowers

(If you started reading this post with the hope that Part 2 will be as lengthy and informative as Part 1, get ready to be completely satisfied.)

I just got back from the day-long program, and I’m happy to report that my fly was exactly where it needed to be (which is up, in case you were wondering). But, I had a great time. It was as fun and educational as I’d hoped, with none of the pantsing that I was sure would occur. All of the filmmakers got to know each other, hear some great talks and contemplate eating a cookie that fell on the floor (although, the last one might have just been me, not sure).

I’m currently so tired that both of my eyes are actually closed as I type this, so I’ll have to go into more detail in my final installment. For now, I’ll include a photo of one of the day’s events, in an obvious attempt to pad this blog post.

See you in a day or two. … Read the rest

SOME GUY IN THE EMERGING VISIONS PROGRAM (P. 1)

By Adam Bowers

Forgive me if this post comes across clunky, as this is my first blog that has nothing to do with cats.

Instead, I’ll be writing about my experiences during the Emerging Visions Program, which takes place all day tomorrow, on Monday, which I’m told was chosen because Monday is the day people “emerge” from the caves of their dark apartments and return to the outside world after a weekend of healthy sobbing. I’m excited to emerge, myself. Hopefully it’ll put an end to people saying I have the body of a caterpillar.

“But, Adam,” you ask, with a look of concern, “what is the Emerging Visions program?” Well, first of all, you’ve really got to relax. Secondly, Emerging Visions is a program put on by IFP and the Film Society of the Lincoln Center, who have come together to spotlight up-and-coming filmmakers from their various programs. It’s taking place during the New York Film Festival, which is best known (to me) as being “that festival that’s doing the Royal Tenenbaums reunion that I won’t be able to stay in town long enough for.”

The idea behind it is to not only introduce us wobbly-legged, Bambi-like filmmakers to each other and others in the independent film community, but also to provide guidance as we enter this profession, which I’ve heard is as stable as a career in dental hygiene. Basically, it’s like in Angels in the Outfield, when the angels helped that awful baseball team cheat their way to victory. I think that makes Joana Vicente Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Why would anyone help others like this, in this day-and-age of Wal-Mart stampedes? I’m not sure, but from my experiences with them so far, the people behind these two organizations seem to just be all-around wonderful, and I guess that’s what wonderful people do. I use the word “guess” because I’ll never know for myself, obviously.

I’ve just come out of another IFP event, the Project Forum, which I was at with what will hopefully be my second feature, We’re a Wasteland. Like my first film, New Low, it’s a … Read the rest

25 NEW FACES – PART 5

By Filmmaker Staff

Susan Youssef

At the IFP Narrative Lab, a mentor said of Susan Youssef’s first feature, Habibi Rasak Kharban (literally, “Darling, Something’s Wrong with Your Head”): “It’s a classic story, like Romeo and Juliet.” True, but the roots of Youssef’s story go back far further. The film is an adaptation of the 12th-century Sufi parable Majnun Layla, which was itself based on a 7th-century Arabic story. Over the years, the tragic tale of undying love between a woman and the wandering poet her family forbids her to marry has formed the basis for countless works of art, from Shakespeare’s classic to several Indian films of the 1920s to even pop songs like Eric Clapton’s “Layla.”

Youssef is currently in post on her feature, and it’s been a long road. “I’ve been working on the film for eight years, continuously,” she says. “I’ve never fought for something so hard before — I’ve defined my whole existence around this film.” The feature began in 2002 when Youssef traveled to Gaza while in post on a short documentary, Forbidden to Wander. She noticed all the graffiti on the walls there, and decided to make Majnun Layla’s poet one who scrawled his works on walls for all to see. She received a Fulbright scholarship to work on the script and, later, brought on an Islamic specialist as a co-writer. In 2007 she traveled to Gaza with the intention of shooting the film there, but the violence was too heavy. Realizing she needed a backup plan, she visited the West Bank and figured out ways she could cheat it for her Gaza locations. She also cast Palestinians with Israeli passports so that she’d be able to shoot in the West Bank if she had to. “In 2009 I finally raised enough money to make the film, and I had an organization sponsoring my application [to shoot] in Gaza, but it was denied. We went ahead and finally shot in the West Bank, although the film is still the first film set in Gaza in 15 years.”

Youssef was born in Bay Ridge, … Read the rest

25 NEW FACES

By Filmmaker Staff

The 25 new faces of independent film.

“NEW LOW” | director, Adam Bowers

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Saturday, Jan. 23, 6:00 pm -- Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City]

There were a couple of reshoots during production, most of which were short and painless. But after we shot a pretty complicated scene at a time-sensitive location, I watched the footage on the camera in my car while the cast and crew went and got dinner, and I knew that the scene was unusable. So I had to go meet up with everyone, who were so relieved to be done with such a tricky scene, and tell them that we had to do it all over. The problem was we shot at dusk in front of a restaurant which we couldn’t go back to. Luckily the first shoot was such a mess that the end of the scene, taking place in front of the restaurant, ended up being filmed after it got dark.

So on the last night with one of our lead actresses, after we got done shooting her final scenes at around 3 a.m., we went back to that location and reshot it. We were so groggy by then that we broke the 180-line during the first half of the scene, so I had to end up using the first version of that part anyway, and shuffle some things around to make the shift from sunset to nighttime work. So, even with the reshoot, we were just barely able to make it work in post.

A lot of other no-budget films probably would have just dealt with the footage we had from the first shoot, so I was at least happy that we had high-enough standards for our film to know that the footage didn’t meet them.… Read the rest