SXSW BLOG: “YELLING TO THE SKY” PRODUCER BILLY MULLIGAN, PT. 2

By Filmmaker Staff

The below post was written by Billy Mulligan, producer of the SXSW film, Yelling to the Sky.
Six days of nonstop on-the-go hustle, with a few moments of pause for food coma recovery. That’s my SXSW in a nutshell.

As a SXSW first-timer, I had heard countless times that it’s important to take the time to appreciate the Austin foodscape. After finally experiencing some of the culinary delights myself, it can’t be stressed enough that the Trailer Food culture that is ingrained into every fiber of the city is enough of a reason for any man, woman or child to make Austin a destination city. Whether the truck is off the side of a major highway, or clustered beside an outdoor music venue off the beaten path, the picnic tables beside the city’s 1,300+ trucks are the city’s premiere restaurant tabletops. What’s even better is that the trucks are manned by gracious and kind 20-somethings who take real pride in the deceptively intricate dishes they prepare, whether it be a fish taco or fried Oreo.

For some time into the near future, I will be day-dreaming about the homemade delicious gorgeousness found in the hand-crafted, made-to-order gourmet donuts at Gordough’s. Don’t be scared that these made-to-order treats weigh as much as a brick. You only live once and Gordough’s is just one of the magical places where you should sit back, relax and feast until you start losing whole minutes of time to a sugar-fueled blackout.

But on to the movies…From the moment we set foot in the city, the Yelling to the Sky team (writer/director/producer, Victoria Mahoney, lead actress, Zoe Kravitz and director of photography, Reed Morano) was on a clear mission — publicizing our screenings. We share every filmmaker’s very real fear of not knowing if five or 105 people will show up for any given screening. At SXSW, the stakes are raised even higher because you are not merely competing against other movie screenings, but rather, countless distractions in the form of any-time-of-day or night parties, panels, concerts, comedy shows, or, say, the occasional World’s … Read the rest

“YELLING TO THE SKY” PRODUCER BILLY MULLIGAN, PART ONE

By Filmmaker Staff

Producer Billy Mulligan, who is attending SXSW with Victoria Mahoney’s Yelling to the Sky, is filing a series of guest blog posts. Here’s the first.
I’ve just touched down on Texas soil, a first for this pale-skinned, mid-winter-hibernating New Yorker. It’s a truly wonderful thing to be here conveying my experiences promoting a film I produced that is extremely close to my heart. The film is Yelling to the Sky, a narrative feature born from the rib of debut writer/director/producer, Victoria Mahoney. The occasion is our North American premiere this weekend in the Spotlight section of SXSW.

We have flown down to Austin right off the heels of our World Premiere in Competition at last month’s Berlin Film Festival. Even before Yelling was in the can, we put a lot of weight into the conversation about which festivals, if we were fortunate enough to be accepted, would convey the right message about our film’s potential to the industry and audiences alike.

Our film needed to align with festivals that would expand the perception of where the film could travel. We also wanted the festivals — whether considered on their own, or together as a 1-2 punch — to show what type of filmmakers we were aiming to be in the long run. We worked hard and made concrete business decisions that assured the film would be singularly considered by all of our top festival choices. Upon receiving impassioned invitations from Dieter Kosslick in Berlin and Janet Pierson at SXSW, we knew these two enormously different festivals would be a dynamic combination to launch the film.

The film stars the brave and beautiful Zoe Kravitz as a teenaged girl struggling to persevere as she witnesses her family members succumb to their demons, while her high school peers antagonize her at every turn. The story presents characters dealing with substantial issues such as bullying, drug abuse, domestic violence, unplanned pregnancy and mental illness. These are topics that mean completely different things to people in every culture, in every different age group, in every town on the globe. Throughout every step … Read the rest

ROBBO IN BERLIN FOR “YELLING TO THE SKY”

By Scott Macaulay

Filmmaker Victoria Mahoney premiered her first feature, Yelling to the Sky, in Competition at the Berlin Film Festival this month, and arriving in the city with her was British graffiti artist Robbo. And by the time of the film’s premiere, the city was the richer for a wall-sized mural of the film’s lead character, Sweetness (Zoe Kravitz). Below, Mahoney writes about the process of finding a home for Robbo’s work. Her story has an ironic coda given Robbo’s recent street rivalry with Banksy. Read on.

I always knew I’d be mounting a graffiti piece in tandem with the premiere of Yelling to the Sky. Since the day I finished the script, I’ve been holding a private wish for a graffiti piece in conjunction with our opening. It was a must. The only question was “who” and “how.”

Robbo and I met in London in November 2010. I pursued him with a fever, had no humility whatsoever about begging him to do the piece. He is a myth and a legend in the graff world, and, like our film, he’s an underdog.

Robbo and I spent the two-and-a-half months leading up to Berlinale going back and forth about which photo and why. He’d send me samples. I’d send him notes. The two of us carried on nonstop until we landed upon the photo he felt most inspired by. He was extremely specific about what he wanted and didn’t relent until he felt in synch. I was so grateful to realize he wasn’t just throwing a piece up for whatever heat it would bring him; instead he held such a strong measure of integrity from the first day to the last.

Many people thought I was crazy to have commissioned the likes of Robbo without a wall in place. “You’re going to Berlin without any idea of a wall, no contacts, no connections. You’re just going to show up and ask someone to loan you a wall?” I’d get this cockeyed look, smile (the smile all indie die-hard filmmakers live by) and calmly-confidently respond, “Hell yes.” The thought was never … Read the rest

SXSW 2011 LINEUP ANNOUNCED

By Jason Guerrasio

Released today, the South By Southwest Film Conference and Festival has announced the features lineup for this year’s fest, which will take place March 11-19 in Austin, Texas.

130 features (consisting of 60 world premieres, 12 North American premieres and 16 U.S. premieres) will screen this year from a record-high 1,792 feature-length films submitted to SXSW producer Janet Pierson and her team.

Highlights include opening night film Source Code, from Duncan Jones (Moon), Jodie Foster‘s The Beaver, Greg Mottola‘s Paul, Sundance Grand Prize doc winner How to Die in Oregon, Errol Morris‘ Tabloid, Victoria Mahoney‘s Yelling to the Sky, Azazel Jacob‘s Terri and a special screening of Catherine Hardwicke‘s Red Riding Hood.

See the complete lineup below. The Midnight, SXFantastic and shorts lineup can be found here. And news on their closing night film.

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION

96 MINUTES
Director & Writer: Aimée Lagos
Four young lives. One night. One terrifying event. These 96 minutes will change everything.
Cast: Brittany Snow, Evan Ross, Christian Serratos, J. Michael Trautmann, and David Oyelowo
(World Premiere)

A Year in Mooring
Director: Chris Eyre, Writer: Peter Vanderwall
In his first leading dramatic role, Josh Lucas walks an isolated line between solitude and redemption. This quiet cinematic journey tells a of tale grief, solace and peace. Cast: Josh Lucas, Ayelet Zurer, James Cromwell, Jon Tenney, Taylor Nichols (World Premiere)

American Animal
Director & Writer: Matt D’Elia
Jimmy – eccentric, delusional, dying – feels betrayed when roommate James gets a job. During one night of drinks, drugs and women, a classic battle of wills ensues as James prepares for work and Jimmy goes mad. Cast: Matt D’Elia, Brendan Fletcher, Mircea Monroe, Angela Sarafyan
(World Premiere)

Charlie Casanova (Ireland)
Director & Writer: Terry McMahon
A ruling class sociopath knocks down a working class girl in a hit-and-run and uses a deck of playing cards to determine his fate. Cast: Emmett J. Scanlan, Leigh Arnold, Damien Hannaway, Ruth McIntyre, Tony Murphy (World Premiere)

FLY AWAY
Director & Writer: Janet Grillo
A … Read the rest

MAHONEY, JULY SELECTED FOR BERLIN COMPETITION

By Scott Macaulay

Several of the films that will appear in Competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival were announced today, and I couldn’t be happier to see two anticipated films by two of our “25 New Face” filmmakers on the list. Miranda July will be traveling from Sundance to Berlin with her new movie, The Future, and first-time filmmaker Victoria Mahoney will be debuting with her Yelling to the Sky. I’m particularly thrilled to see Victoria’s film there because the project was part of the IFP Narrative Lab this year, for which I was a mentor. I saw the film at the rough-cut stage, was blown away by it, and picked Victoria for this year’s list, not knowing when the film would be finished or where it would premiere.

Here’s what I wrote about Victoria this year for Filmmaker. I can’t wait for everyone out there to see this film. (Photo: Richard Koek)

Writer-director Victoria Mahoney began her artistic career as an actress in theater and then film. “Shelly Winters was my teacher,” Mahoney says. “If you touched your hair too many times in her class, she’d come over and cut off your bangs. She taught me the gift of stillness.”

After working off-off Broadway, Mahoney went to L.A., did a number of pilots, a few European films, and a season of Seinfeld (she played Gladys Mayo, owner of the clothing store Putumayo). But then there were all those “ridiculous films I did to sustain myself. And that’s when I began to feel [artistically] ungratified. So, I slipped into writing. I went to Cubby — that’s what we called Hubert Selby, Jr., who taught the masters program at USC. He gave me a skill set for writing instead of my [previous] fantasy of being a writer.”

Mahoney says the seeds of Yelling to the Sky, her powerful, emotionally nuanced debut feature about a New York City teenager growing up in a mixed-race family, go back 10 years. “I had seen Chekov’s Three Sisters many times, and I loved and identified with it. I thought I’d do a contemporary … Read the rest

25 NEW FACES

By Filmmaker Staff

The 25 new faces of independent film.