Posted by editor@vimooz.com on October 20, 2009 under Awards, Screenwriting | 
Mora Stephens (r) winner of the 2006 Independent Spirit Awards' John Cassavetes Award for Best Feature
The San Francisco Film Society today awarded the Hearst Screenwriting Grant to Mora Stephens for her script Made in the USA.
The Hearst Screenwriting Grant of $15,000 is given to a mid-career screenwriter who has been a practicing writer for at least five years and who has previously written a minimum of one feature screenplay.
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Posted by editor@vimooz.com on October 6, 2009 under Screenwriting |
San Francisco Film Society and The Kenneth Rainin Foundation announced the ten finalists and 
two honorable mentions for the second $35,000 SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grant, to be given to a narrative feature film with a social justice theme being made in the San Francisco Bay Area. Over the next five years SFFS and KRF will disburse a series of annual grants totaling more than $3 million.
The SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants support films that through plot, character, theme or setting significantly explore human and civil rights, antidiscrimination, gender and sexual identity and other urgent social justice issues of our time. The grants, which run 2009-13, will be awarded in the spring and fall of each year. Finalists and honorable mentions for the fall 2009 grant follow.
FINALISTS
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Posted by editor@vimooz.com on September 24, 2009 under Screenwriting |
The San Francisco Film Society announced today the ten finalists for the Hearst Screenwriting Grant. This grant, supported by a gift from William R. Hearst III, and the Djerassi Residency Award/San Francisco Film Society Screenwriting Fellowship are the major components of the SFFS screenwriting initiative and the newest elements of the Film Society’s rapidly expanding Filmmaker Services program. The recipient of the Hearst Screenwriting Grant will be announced in late October.
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Tags: Britta Sjogren, Caveh Zahedi, Chesley Chen, Christina Chan, Hearst Screenwriting Grant, Jacob Kornbluth, Krisy Gosney, Marjory Kaptanoglu, Mateen Kemet, Mora Stephens, San Francisco Film Society, Sarah Bassine
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on July 24, 2009 under Screenwriting |
The San Francisco Film Society announced this week an exciting new partnership with William R. Hearst III that will launch the second SFFS screenwriting initiative, the newest element of the Film Society’s rapidly expanding Filmmaker Services program.
The Hearst Screenwriting Grant of $15,000 will be given to a mid-career screenwriter who has been a practicing writer for at least five years and who has previously written a minimum of one feature screenplay. The grant is open to writers residing in the United States whose project expresses both a unique personal perspective and an artistic approach to the subject. Priority will be given to writers whose previous short or feature screenplays have been produced as an independent film. This grant is supported by a gift from William R. Hearst III.
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Posted by editor@vimooz.com on April 28, 2009 under Industry, Screenwriting |
- Sophie Barthes’ Cold Souls
Sundance Institute last week announced the 12 projects selected for its annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah from June 2-26, 2009.
Over its 28 year history, the program has supported an extensive list of leading independent filmmakers and films including Cary Fukunaga’s Sin Nombre, Sophie Barthes’ Cold Souls, So Yong Kim’s Treeless Mountain, Cherien Dabis’ Amreeka, Cruz Angeles and Maria Topete’s Don’t Let Me Drown, Alex Rivera’s Sleep Dealer, Fernando Eimbcke’s Lake Tahoe, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s Half Nelson, Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know, Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now, Debra Granik’s Down to the Bone, Josh Marston’s Maria Full of Grace, Peter Sollett’s Raising Victor Vargas, John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream, Kimberly Peirce’s Boys Don’t Cry, Tony Bui’s Three Seasons, Walter Salles’ Central Station, Chris Eyre and Sherman Alexie’s Smoke Signals, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Hard Eight, Tamara Jenkins’ Slums of Beverly Hills, and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs.
The projects and participants selected for the Directors Lab from June 2-20 are:
- All Fall Down/Jonathan Wysocki (writer/director), U.S.A.
- Beasts of the Southern Wild/Benh Zeitlin (co-writer/director) and Lucy Alibar (co-writer), U.S.A.
- Goodnight Moon/Elgin James (writer/director), U.S.A.
- My Brother the Devil/Sally El Hosaini (writer/director), U.K./Egypt
- Porfirio/Alejandro Landes (writer/director), Brazil/Ecuador
- The Narrow Frame of Midnight/Tala Hadid (writer/director), Morocco/U.S.A.
- On the Ice/Andrew Okpeaha MacLean (writer/director), U.S.A.
- The Story of Ram/Ritesh Batra (writer/director), U.S.A./India
These Fellows will be joined at the Screenwriters Lab from June 21-26 by the following projects and participants:
- The American People/Keith Davis (writer/director), U.S.A.
- Hello, I Must Be Going/Sarah Koskoff (writer) and Todd Louiso (director), U.S.A.
- Land/Jan-Willem van Ewijk (co-writer/director) and Abdelhadi Samih (co-writer), Netherlands/Morocco
- Little Wings/Emily Tang (co-writer/director) and Chow Keung (co-writer), China Read more of this article »
Posted by Robert Samardick on April 23, 2009 under Awards, DVD, Film Festival, Interview, People, Politics, Screenwriting, drama |
The title of Alan Brown’s second feature film, Superheroes, may be misleading. Anyone expecting an action packed story of costumed vigilantes will be disappointed to discover the movie is instead a darkly psychological look into the mind of an Iraq War Veteran. They might also be disappointed to find that the movie hits a nerve in the American Mentality, that Brown leaves moments lingering and resolution unavailable. Most disappointing about Superheroes is that you didn’t hear about it sooner.
The film gained rave reviews on the festival circuit, something Brown is used to. His directing debut was the critically acclaimed short film O Beautiful, a Sundance favorite. He has been called a “rare talent” and described as one of the most promising new faces. Brown got into film while he was drunk at a party. He met a camera man. They decided to make a movie. This is Do-It-Yourself Filmmaking at it’s finest. Oh yeah, he’s also written an award winning novel.
Superheroes is currently being distributed through IFC and will be available on iTunes soon. A rare combination of bleak style and haunting dialogue, it is a brilliant story as well as an important cultural document for our times.
Q: Superheroes is a very dark film dealing with the psychological scars of war. How did you come up with the idea? Was your main motive to write a political piece?
AB: I was active protesting the Iraqi War, and worked hard to defeat Bush in 2004. I was devastated when he was reelected, and felt I had to do something creative, to turn my anger and frustration into art. Otherwise I would continue feeling powerless.
The specific idea for the film came from an article I read about a mother removing shrapnel from her soldier son’s back. I started reading about and thinking about shrapnel and it became a metaphor for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the central image of the film.
Q: Dash Mihok is so convincing as a war vet, what did you have him do to prepare for the role?
AB: We talked through the script, and he did have a chance to rehearse some of his scenes. And I sent him articles and put him in touch with vets. But he really did his own preparation. He’s just an enormously talented actor with this vast reservoir of creativity. And we did have an exceptionally good and fruitful director-actor rapport, so there was a lot of creative energy on set while we were shooting.
Q: The end of the film (not to give anything away) conveys a sense of hopelessness. Can the audience pull out any optimism of the film?
AB: Not, in my opinion, regarding wars and their emotional and physical effect on those who have to fight them.
Q: Personally, do you see a light at the end of the tunnel? Can America come out of the war and begin to recover?
AB: I think it will take America, and the world, decades to recover from the eight devastating years of the Bush administration and the destruction those greedy, selfish politicians wrought. And we now have hundreds of thousands of ex-soldiers back home with injuries and emotional wounds, and very little resources to help them. It’s a national and international tragedy.
Q: Why is Superheroes a “true indie”?
AB: It was independently financed. We begged and borrowed (but did not steal ) from friends and relatives and produced the film for a very, very low figure, and shot it in 18 days. And it was a ‘true indie’ in the best sense of the term as well – most everyone involved got involved because they believed in the script and the project and me, and they dedicated their time and energy and talents to making ‘Superheroes’ happen. It was personally and creatively very fulfilling.
Q: What have been the best reactions to the film?
AB: Of course, the film has won quite a few prizes at film festivals, and that’s very gratifying. Film festival audiences are made up of people who really know and care about film. And we’ve had only positive reviews. But the ‘best’ reactions have been from vets, from doctors who work with vets, and from journalists and others who have spent time at war and in Iraq, and who were moved by the film.
Q: The worst?
We haven’t really had any bad reactions to the film – unless you count Hollywood agents and distributors and producers, who just can’t understand why we’d bother making a film like this.
Q: Is making a political film a death wish for filmmakers who want to get distribution? Why have movies become so apolitical and how can the new generation of filmmakers change that?
AB: It depends on what kind of distribution you’re aiming for. We’re very pleased that IFC picked up ‘Superheroes,’ and will soon release the DVD. And that it has been on television via IFC Video-on-Demand, and was just released through Amazon , and will soon be on iTunes. So for a small, grim, political drama, that’s pretty good. Honestly, as proud as I am of the film, I know that if we’d had a theatrical release, nobody would have come to see it. Americans have no interest in the War. Only horror films and romantic comedies are profitable these days.
I hate the keep returning to the Bush administration as the root of all evil, but it was Bush who told everyone to go out and ‘shop’ after 9/11. It was to their advantage to promote a culture of consumerism, and to keep the war out of the news and out of people’s consciousness. They were very successful at that. But I think it’s our duty as artists and filmmakers to give voice to our political views. Every decision we make is a political decision, and our films should reflect that. Don’t give up.
Q: It seems to me that your choice to remain independent has a lot to do with what you’ve encountered working with big studios. Can you talk about your experience with “Hollywood” filmmaking and how it has solidified your decision to remain independent?
AB: In truth, I haven’t worked with big studios, though I have regularly dealt with ‘Hollywood’ – agents, managers, producers, et al. I did work for Miramax (back when it was the Weinsteins’company) on the screenplay for the film version of my novel, ‘Audrey Hepburn’s Neck,’ (available from Washington Square Press) and had the unpleasant experience of seeing one of my main characters changed from gay to straight because of a development executive’s homophobia. And on my first feature, ‘Book of Love,’ I had to sign away the final cut of the picture to the Hollywood producers who financed it – and then had to stand by helpless as a completely inexperienced, cinematically-illiterate, none-too-bright producer came in and edited out some of the very best moments in my film. That was devastating to me, and made me very, very angry. Money buys power - most often for people who have no talent but end up with control of your film.
All that said, if Hollywood would give me the money to make one of my films, I wouldn’t turn it down. But obviously my aesthetic and voice aren’t commercial.
Q: Future plans/Projects?
AB: I’m working on a number of projects simultaneously, including a contemporary adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, using Shakespeare’s text, and set in an all-male military academy. I’ve also written a stage play, ‘Nights in Falluja,’ which is about a gay soldier in Iraq, and deals with the colossal stupidity of our government’s homophobic ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ policy. As I’m not a theater director, I’m working on it with Kevin Newbury, a wonderfully talented theater and opera director. Political theater is exciting to me, so I’m jazzed about our collaboration. And then I have a new screenplay, a dramatic thriller about the moral choices we make and their consequences. And one or two other projects. Sometimes it’s dizzying, and I long for the days when I could just devote myself for months to a single writing project. But that’s not realistic or useful these days. You never know which project will ‘pop,’ which one will allow you to survive and keep making films.
Q: Where can we see Superheroes?
AB: ‘Superheroes’ is currently available on Video-on-Demand on Amazon.com. Here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026SHD8Q
It will also soon be available on iTunes, and on DVD, distributed by IFC.
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on March 24, 2009 under Industry, Screenwriting |
- Victor Wolf, America Ferrera in “How the Garcia Girls Spent their Summer”
Maya Entertainment, the Latino-owned film entertainment company that brought “How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer” to the big screen, is teaming up with Blockbuster Inc., to support the growing Latino filmmaking industry in the U.S. and spotlight quality examples of its work.
Together, the companies are presenting two programs. The first is Maya Independent sponsored by BLOCKBUSTER(R), a 10-city film festival featuring internationally acclaimed films, actors and filmmakers. The second is Project Goldenlight, a national screenwriting competition.
Maya Independent sponsored by BLOCKBUSTER(R) will take Latino-themed films and exhibit them theatrically as part of a mid-year, 10-city tour, including at theaters owned and operated by Maya’s sister company Maya Cinemas. Following the theatrical tour, the films will be available for rental exclusively at BLOCKBUSTER stores beginning with Hispanic Heritage Month in September 2009.
Project Goldenlight, the second facet of the relationship, is a screenwriting competition in which esteemed industry experts will select an original screenplay from a pool of contestants to be developed by Martinez, who also manages the development team at Maya. Depending on the output of the project, the final product will be released theatrically and then have an exclusive rental window at participating BLOCKBUSTER stores.
The Project Goldenlight competition is scheduled to launch in the spring through www.LatinoReview.com in association with The National Association of Latino Independent Producers (”NALIP”) Producer’s Academy.
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on March 11, 2009 under Foreign Film, People, R.I.P., Screenwriting |
- Left, Federico Fellini; center, actor Leopoldo Trieste; right, screenwriter Tullio Pinelli, around the time of Lo sceicco bianco. (Image via flickr)
Italian screenwriter, Tullio Pinelli, 100, died Saturday in Rome, according to European newspapers. The cause of death was not announced.
Pinelli co-wrote more than a dozen of director Federico Fellini’s films, including “La Strada,” “La Dolce Vita” and “8 1/2 .” Four of his films with Fellini were nominated for Academy Awards.
He also worked with several other leading Italian directors, including Pietro Germi, Mario Monicelli and Roberto Rossellini. [via]
Posted by Robert Samardick on February 10, 2009 under Academy award, Industry, Screenwriting |
"Milk" is the sure bet for best Original Screenplay, mainly because it faces no competition
In the last seven years, six of the Oscars for “Best Picture” have gone to adapted screenplay films. Whether it be the short stories that inspired Million Dollar Baby, The American remake The Deaprted, The high grossing Lord of The Rings or last years No Country, they were all composed from previous work. Crash was the only orginal screenplay able to steal an Oscar in recent years, barely beating Brokeback Mountain (adapted from a short story). While Hollywood is know for it’s trendsetting, this is a troubling new pattern that exposes how hard it is to create an original story through the studios.
And it will get no better. The terrible economic climate means Studios will be taking less chances on films, adapting a popular book is the safe way to go. This is problematic, safety and art don’t mix, the death of the original screenplay means the death of new stories. Everybody always says “the book is better than the movie” but when Twighlight and The Lord of the Rings are grossing hundreds of millions in theaters, the studios could care less.
Even some of the most original writer/directors have turned to adapting books rather than creating new stories. Spike Lee gave up his Bamboozled’s and Do The Right Thing’s for 25th Hour’s and Inside Man’s, silencing his amazing cinematic voice. Both the Coen Brothers and Paul Thomas Anderson did adaptations last year, both were prime best picture contenders. After a disappointing response for Burn After Reading it will be interesting to see what books are passed under the table to Joel and Ethan.
The problem with this trend is that the films have been good. Really good. There will be Blood and No Country were amazing stories handled by amazing directs, the result was perfection. Something seems evil about it. The films were so good that there is no reason at all for the studios to even look at original screenplays. Just buy the rights to some New York Times bestseller and let Danny Boyle handle it, it’ll be worth the investment. No other art form is so reliant on adaptations for quality and economic return.
Original stories will have to come from the underground. Independent filmmakers don’t have money to buy book rights, they have to rely on their voice and their ability to tell a story that can compete with the already popular novels being compressed to film. Look at Juno, it won best original screenplay but it never should have. Simply put, there was no competition. All the big boys were fighting for “best picture” and they let a first time writer slip in and nab the award. This trend will continue but the competition will be fiercer, Independents will have to make up for the lack of originality being pumped into film. This year is the same though; the best original screenplay category is a joke. Milk will walk away with the gold easily, and even that was an adaptation of someone’s life.
So no matter who wins the best picture Oscar this year the trend will stay the same. Look at the nominees. All are adaptations.
Posted by Robert Samardick on February 3, 2009 under Film Festival, People, Screenwriting |
Rona Marks isn’t that girl in a horror film who runs away screaming from the killer. She’s the one chasing after him with a camera. Or her. Because c’mon, why can’t the killer be a woman? Or two women. Two twin sisters. Getting weird enough for you yet? Not for this director. Rona Marks is taking her psycho-coming of age film “Strange Girls” on the road and creeping out the festival crowds, re-inventing horror without the help of those yucky boys.
Q: What is Strange Girls About?
RM: Twin sisters, Georgia and Virginia Gruczechy, unable and unwilling to talk to anyone but each other, live a nearly comatose life in the Mayfield Psychiatric Institute. After the shocking murder of their psychiatrist, they are released onto the rusty streets of Pittsburgh where they carve out a twisted and insular life writing romance novels and corresponding with prisoners by post. Living on their own proves liberating at first, but when Virginia becomes infatuated with a real boy, she starts to crave independence from her sister. Georgia feels her sister slipping away and does everything in her power to keep her reined in, from guilt trips to murder. Strange Girls is a perverted coming-of-age story about twin sisters trapped in a web of intolerable co-dependence.
Q:How did you come up with the idea? Was the film inspired by other works?
The idea for Strange Girls was born of a desire to explore the rotten underbelly of female relationships and turn that into a film I would actually like to see. I am fascinated with male directors’ depictions of women in horror and suspense films. But is the fear of women, or in the case of Strange Girls, womanhood the exclusive domain of men? I think there’s a space in cinema for women to reflect on the horror of their own existence and experience. Otherwise, we end up with the same old roles being played out time and again: virginal heroine, sexy temptress and psychotic, castrating mother.
The photos of Diane Arbus generally, her one of twins in particular, left a deep imprint on me as a child. I’ve had a fascination with the grotesque ever since, which probably led me to the horror genre as much as anything. In keeping with that theme, I read a lot of true crime books and the twins in my film are an amalgam of several, bizarre twin crime cases I had read about. Using twins is a great way to externalize an internal conflict: one twin wants to grow up and experience life, the other wants to stay a child and maintain the status quo, which in this case is both sick and familiar.
As for the films that inspired this one… There are so many. I have always been a fan of realists such as Ken Loach and Pasolini and I tried to keep the film rooted in the crumbly, working-class Pittsburgh that I saw growing up. I also love films that successfully mix high and low art, films between “arthouse” and “grindhouse”, films like The Honeymoon Killers or The Baby. Of course, the film buff will see nods to The Shining, Psycho, The Devils, and Pink Flamingos in Strange Girls as well.
Q: What is you favorite scene from the film?
My favorite scene in Strange Girls involves a hand drill, rope bondage, a long tube, and a pound of sugar…. I’ll say no more.
Q: Is the film in any festivals/ have any upcoming screenings/plans for release?
My next screenings are on February 8th and 11th at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco as part of the San Francisco Independent Film Festival. I’ll be at the theater on the 8th for Q&A.
I’m currently fielding offers from sales agents, but, given the current market, I may yet decide to self-distribute. Self-distribution is a pain in the ass, in that you need to be a marketing Wiz (which I am not) on top of all the other skills you need to make a film. In the long run however, it may prove to be the best move. I’ll get back to you on that one.
Q: Why is the film a “true indie”? How do you feel about the direction Indie film is going?
Strange Girls is a true indie in that I raised all the money myself from family and friends. As a result, I was not obligated to water down my vision to please anyone. There are no famous people involved, no studios, and, frankly, not that much money. I took the greatest financial risk with this project, so no one dared to try and dictate how I should run the show. The film is personal and a bit “out there” and probably would not have been green lit by any reputable “indie” production company.
It’s hard to say what direction “indie” film is going because it has come to mean so many things. People throw the word “indie” around in a way that is technically correct (yes the films they speak of are produced independently of a major studio) but meaningless in spirit. What is so indie about a $10 million film, with A-list actors, a safe 3-act story structure and pedestrian film language, that reaffirms the usual attitudes and values at the end? In other words, I haven’t been excited by a Sundance film in a long time. What ever happened to “indie” as cutting edge? Obviously, the introduction of high quality, inexpensive video has led to a deluge of new filmmakers getting in the game. But has it led to an explosion of creative filmmaking? It may have, but will we ever know? It seems that anything that veers away from a few recognized and acceptable courses cannot find distribution.
I am hopeful however, that the democratization of filmmaking through video will eventually lead to filmmakers with strong, unique voices getting their stuff out there. If other people are as bored as I am with 90% of the films coming out, it may lead to movement. It’s on the horizon.
Q: What are the Best/Worst reactions you’ve got from viewers?
Hands down worst reaction was during the Q&A at the Woods Hole Film Festival:
“I don’t want to attack you but- I thought your film was really racist and misogynist. Can you talk about the statement you were trying to make?” and some blogger called it a Z movie. (as in- less than a B movie)
Best reaction was from Calum Waddell on Fangoria.com:
“One of the years finest indie horror flicks.”
“Strange Girls is a good film. It may even be a great one.” – BadLit.com
“Bizarre, beguiling, brutal and beautiful, this killer debut harks back to the visions of some of latenight cinema’s greatest cult filmmakers.” – Edinburgh International Film Festival
A fan on the film’s MySpace page wrote something to the effect of:
“Watch out Pittsburgh, Zombies are out! Twins are in.”
Q: How are violence and gore portrayed in the film?
My trepanation scene is the most tasteful thing about the film. But seriously, although there are a few murders, I think the most horrific scenes in Strange Girls involve psychic violence. Having said that, I can accept enormous amounts of gore and violence as long as it serves the story. If the violence has no purpose, I get angry. I don’t like to spend my valuable free time wallowing in misery.
Q:Future plans/projects?
I always keep a few irons on the fire. The only one I can really talk about at this stage is another no-budget feature entitled “The Crab”. It’s my anti-American dream movie about an embittered drunk with ectrodactyly (“Lobster Claw” syndrome) who becomes obsessed with his one remaining friend’s girlfriend. Chaos ensues…. And that’s all you get!