SPIRIT AWARDS’ “FIND YOUR AUDIENCE AWARD” IS NOW OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS

By Dan Schoenbrun

This past February, the inaugural Jameson FIND Your Audience Award was open only to films nominated that year for a Spirit Award. The winner, Jeff Malmberg’s documentary Marwencol, received a sizable distribution and marketing grant. For the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards, happening February 26 in LA, Film Independent is changing things up and opening the award so that filmmakers can apply.

Between now and December 2, narrative and documentary filmmakers with a feature out on the fest circuit who are eying a self-distribution strategy can apply here for the $40,000 grant. One large caveat though– the award is open only to filmmakers already associated with Film Independent (meaning that in order to be eligible, you must have already been nominated for a Spirit Award, played at the LA Film Festival, or been through one of the organization’s Artistic Development programs.) However, in a recent e-mail, FIND Director of Artistic Development Josh Welsh indicated that the award may be opened up wider in future years.

You can read more about the grant and eligibility details here.… Read the rest

NEW BREED L.A. #6: “THE INTEGRITY OF STORY”

Here’s the latest of our videos by Sabi Pictures in collaboration with the Workbook Project on L.A. Film Festival filmmakers and their creative processes. This installment: “The Integrity of Story.” The final episode in this series will be up Monday, so if you haven’t caught up with the others yet, check out the links below.

NEW BREED LOS ANGELES – Episode 6 from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.… Read the rest

NEW BREED L.A. #5: “MAKING PEOPLE NOTICE”

Here’s part five of the New Breed Los Angeles series looking at the creative filmmaking process through the eyes of several filmmakers attending this year’s Los Angeles Film Fest. Today’s episode focuses on the time-honored question of how to get people to notice your work. Speaking are Marwencol director Jeff Malmberg and The New Year director Brett Haley.

NEW BREED LOS ANGELES – Episode 5 from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.… Read the rest

NEW BREED L.A. #2: “ENGINEERING SERENDIPITY”

Here’s the second of the New Breed videos on the creative process filmed this year by Sabi Pictures at the Los Angeles Film Festival and presented by Filmmaker and the Workbook Project. Appearing in this episode are filmmaker Julius Onah (one of our “25 New Faces”), filmmaker Jeff Malmberg, actress Trieste Kelly Dunn (another “25 New Face”), director Brett Haley and producer Ted Hope.

NEW BREED LOS ANGELES – Episode 2 from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.… Read the rest

NEW BREED L.A.: “NOTHING YOU HAVE TO HAVE”

Premiering below is the first of a seven-part series entitled “New Breed Los Angeles” presented by Filmmaker and the Workbook Project. Produced and directed by SABI Pictures, the series was shot at the Los Angeles Film Festival and features festival participants talking about their creative process. From the filmmakers:

For the community of working-class filmmakers at New Breed a constantly evolving creative process of telling our stories is the one thing we can count on in these changing times. Embarking on journeys through deeper methods of collaboration & engaging with fans across various platforms is certainly exciting – but one thing is for certain, the creative needs to be the driving force behind any and all approaches in order to preserve the integrity of the story (and the core reason we make our art).

In the previous series “New Breed: Park City,” several knowledgeable artists had converged for Sundance and Slamdance & graciously shared with us their perspective on the state of the industry, film festivals & distribution. As we (and you) continue to weigh and explore distribution offers and new DIY opportunities, one of the things that keeps coming up is the creative process. More specifically, how we want to evolve our collaborative creative process in our next features.

The creative process is itself hard to get handle on as it is different for every filmmaker – and each filmmaker needs to develop their own in accordance with the needs of the film. But there is always room to learn & to experiment, and most importantly to share and discuss what works for you.

In this series we begin at the beginning & explore what what perhaps drew us all into making movies in the first place: the mystery of the creative process. What follows are short documentaries with creative tips, techniques, learning lessons & personal experiences from a handful of artists we encountered at the Los Angeles Film Festival 2010.

Episode One is titled: “Nothing You Have to Have.” Featured in this episode are Julius Onah, Jeff Malmberg, Brett Haley and Ted Hope. … Read the rest

SILVERDOCS WINNERS ANNOUNCED

AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival (held June 21 to 27) announced its distinguished winners. Best Feature directors receive $5,000.

Best US Feature: WO AI NI MOMMY (I LOVE YOU, MOMMY) directed by Stephanie Wang-Breal, which documents eight-year-old Chinese Fang Sui Yong and her adoption by a Jewish couple from Long Island who name her “Faith.” The film follows Faith and her parents’ twist-and-turn journey over a year and a half.

Best World Feature: THE WOMAN WITH THE 5 ELEPHANTS directed by Vadim Jendreyko, which chronicles eighty-five-year-old Svetlana Geier who has dedicated her life to language. Considered the greatest translator of Russian literature into German, Svetlana has just concluded her magnum opus, completing new translations of Dostoyevsky’s five great novels-known as the five elephants.

Special Jury mention: STEAM OF LIFE directed by Joonas Berghäll and Mika Hotakainen, whose film allows the viewer to become a fly on the wall as it listens in on men-naked men-talking to other men in the sanctuary of Finland’s ubiquitous saunas.

The Sterling Award for Best Short Film: THIS CHAIR IS NOT ME directed by Andy Taylor Smith, which documents Alan Martin, whose cerebral palsy confines him to a wheelchair and inhibits his speech, but he refuses to limit himself. When he gains access to technology that enables him to find a voice, his life is transformed. Utilizing stunning visual vocabulary and subtle re-enactment, the film presents a cinematic experience as unique as the subject himself.

A Special Jury Mention: BETWEEN DREAMS directed by Iris Olsson which tells the story of a hundred souls lost in dreams in the dead of night as they cross a Siberian moonscape aboard a battered train.

A second Special Jury Mention: THE POODLE TRAINER directed by Vance Malone, which chronicles Irina Markova, a Russian poodle trainer who has dedicated her life to training her 20 colorfully costumed poodles.

The Cinematic Vision Award: MARWENCOL directed by Jeff Malmberg. The film captures Mark Hogancamp who suffers a savage beating with near-total amnesia and severe physical injuries. With no money for traditional therapy, … Read the rest

THE SXSW 2010 WINNERS

The winners of the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas were announced tonight. Here is a complete list of the awards:

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE – Marwencol (Director: Jeff Malmberg)
Runner-up: War Don Don (Director: Rebecca Richman Cohen)

NARRATIVE FEATURE – Tiny Furniture (Director: Lena Dunham)
Special Jury Award – Best Ensemble: Myth of the American Sleepover (Director: David Robert Mitchell)

SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Best Individual Performance: Brian Hasenfus in Phillip the Fossil (Director: Garth Donovan)

Feature Film Audience Awards

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE – For Once in My Life (Directors: Jim Bigham & Mark Moormann)

NARRATIVE FEATURE – Brotherhood (Director: Will Canon)
Short Film Jury Awards

NARRATIVE SHORTS – Cigarette Candy (Director: Lauren Wolkstein)
Runner Up: Teleglobal Dreamin’ (Director: Eric Flanagan)

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS – Quadrangle (Director: Amy Grappell)
Runner Up: White Lines and The Fever: The Death of DJ Junebug (Director: Travis Senger)

ANIMATED SHORTS – The Orange (Director: Nick Fox-Gieg)
Runner Up: One Square Mile of Earth (Director: Jeff Drew)

EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS – Night Mayor (Director: Guy Maddin)
Runner Up: Kids Might Fly (Director: Alex Taylor)

MUSIC VIDEOS – Cinnamon Chasers, Luv Deluxe (Director: Saman Keshavarz)
Runner Up: Grizzly Bear, “Forest” (Director: Allison Schulnik)

TEXAS SHORTS – Petting Sharks (Director: Craig Elrod)
Runner Up: The Big Bends (Director: Jason William Marlow)

TIME WARNER CABLE & OVATION YOUNG FILMMAKER SCHOLARSHIP for TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHORT – Give the Dog a Bone (Director: Edward Kelley)
Runner Up: The Sleep Project (Directors: Whitney Bennett & Matthew Cunningham)
SXSW Film Design Awards

EXCELLENCE IN POSTER DESIGN – Feeder (Designer: Joseph Ernst)
Runner Up: Amer (Designer: Gilles Vranckx)
Audience Award Winner: Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission (Designer: Michael Anderson)
Special Jury Award: Equestrian Sexual Response (Designers: Martim Vian & Zeke Hawkins)

EXCELLENCE IN TITLE DESIGN – Zombieland (Designer: Ben Conrad)
Runner Up: earthwork (Designer: Stan Herd)
Audience Award Winner – earthwork (Designer: Stan Herd)
Special Jury Award: Enter the Void (Designers: Gaspar Noé and Tom Kam)
SXSW Special Awards

SXSW WHOLPHIN AWARD – Quadrangle (Director: Amy Grappell)

SXSW CHICKEN & EGG EMERGENT NARRATIVE WOMAN DIRECTOR AWARD – Lena Dunham for Tiny Furniture
Special Award –

… Read the rest