"Do Over" Update: Hometown premiere; Flatland award

"Do Over" had two great screenings at the Austin Film Festival last month. It screened in front of Missed Connections, a very funny indie romantic comedy directed by the editor of such studio comedies Role Models and The Dictator. We screened Thursday night, October 18th, at the Texas Spirit Theater at the Bob Bullock Museum and Friday night, October 19th, at the Alamo Village.

By the end of that same weekend, "Do Over" also received the Chris Caddell Filmmaker Award at the 2012 Flatland Film Festival in Lubbock, which is awarded to a regional film. This is our second award after winning Best Comedy at the Iowa Film Festival earlier this year. This is also the second short I've directed that has won an award at Flatland, following "Test Day" in 2005. Unfortunately, it's also the second time I've been unable to attend Flatland, which looks like a fest that expands year after year. The first time I missed it, I was living in LA; this time, I just couldn't be in two places at once. (I hope to attend in the future and hope audiences enjoyed "Do Over" as much as the judges apparently did.) 

I've had films that I edited screen at Austin Film Festival but never something I directed. Honestly, it was a relief to finally be able to screen in one of the major festivals in Austin. It helps me to be viewed as not just an editor in this community but also as a writer and a director. The film played well both nights. On the second night at the Alamo Village there was one gentleman in the back of the theater who laughed loudly and heartily. Whatever joke set him off I was grateful that it did because his laugh alone filled the entire theater. If only I could plant him at every screening.

DO OVER screens at AFF this weekend: 10/18 - 10/19

Adam gives himself a pep talk before his big date with Sara

The short film I co-wrote and directed, "Do Over," screens on Thursday 10/18 and Friday 10/19 as part of the Austin Film Festival. It screens in front of the romantic comedy Missed Connections, which has played numerous festivals throughout the year. 

For anyone in the Austin area: The Thursday screening is at 7:15 PM at the Texas Spirit Theater at the Bob Bullock Museum. The Friday screening is at 730 PM at the Alamo Drafthouse Village.

Missed Connections is a comedic romance about a guy named Neal. Neal’s been trying to get over a traumatic break up with his ex-girlfriend by doing what anyone would do… tricking women on the Internet. Neal’s plan is going amazingly well, until he meets Jane, who just may be as devious as he is.

"Do Over" is about Adam, who has his first date with Sara planned to the moment. And he'll try everything to make sure that moment goes just right.

Co-written with Taylor Allen (who also edited), produced by Andrew Logan, with cinematography by Ricardo Diaz, I made "Do Over" at a time when I was itching to switch from the editor's chair to the director's chair. I wanted to keep the story simple but relatable; Taylor and I both wanted something that delivered as much heart as it does laughs. While we honed our gags we also made sure the story wasn't held hostage by them. I don't want to over-write about something that is, at its core, a crowd-pleasing entertainment, but I stand by we always put character and emotion first so that the jokes actually mean something and aren't there for their own sake. 

I'm very proud of our cast and crew. I found Garrett Jester and Jacobi Alvarez at the private school I teach at. Garrett is a great personality and a kind soul. He's funny, he's not self-conscious, and extremely intelligent. Great kid. Jacobi is a natural at screwball comedy, but she offers so much more. I think I could cast her in just about anything. She's as innocent as she is lovely and I hope that never changes. Brett Shaw - who doesn't get enough credit because of his limited screen time - is a scene stealer.

As far as I'm concerned, the night belongs to Missed Connections, but I hope that "Do Over" can serve as funny, sweet lead-in to what looks to be a winning indie comedy. I am really happy to finally be able to show the short to a local crowd. I grew up here, we shot the film here with a badass Austin crew, and I've always dreamed of showing something I directed at one of our major local film festivals.

Click here for more information about our screening.

And go here to see where else "Do Over" is playing this fall.

FOURPLAY AGLIFF/Polari Screening

Last Friday evening, the feature film Fourplay was unleashed on Austin, TX by way of the former Austin Gay and Lesbian film festival/now-rebranded-Polari Film Festival. As I've documented here in the past, Fourplay is comprised of four short films that explore sexual intimacy in a number of ways. It is at times shocking, funny, intense, frustrating, confusing, and emotional but always humanistic.

I served as editor for the first three short films: "Skokie"; "Austin"; and "Tampa." Rita K. Sanders edited the final segment, "San Francisco."

The film screened at the historic Paramount theater in downtown Austin. While I have had a number of films screen here in the past, it never gets old when your work plays at the Paramount. The theater is almost one hundred years old. It can seat somewhere near 1,200 hundred patrons. It's home to live performances (I saw Woody Allen's New Orleans Jazz Band there a year ago), red carpet premieres, and the Classic Films Summer Series.

With a warm and funny introduction by Paul Stekler (who represented co-sponsor the Department of Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas at Austin), plus some further kind words by film programming director Curran Nault, director Kyle Henry was brought on stage to thank everyone for coming to the screening.

The opening credits for Fourplay sets the mood in graphic detail. Like the rest of the film, its playful while it also doesn't shy away from the content it explores. I think the credits is a great lead in to "Skokie," a short that manages to find the cross section between desire and absurdity.

This post will not serve as a review of the film (seeing as how you would never trust my judgement on it) nor will I go into detail as to how I think the audience responded to each segment. Let's just say I think the fun and adventurousness of the project is found in how each short has the potential to elicit a wide range of reactions from its audience. Each one has the potential to be just as divisive it has the potential to be embraced. I think we entertained 99% of the audience Friday night, but there may have also been a few who felt the movie crossed a line for them - and that's perfectly fine.

Afterward, we had ourselves - as Kyle quipped - Altman-esque Q and A. This project was years in the making and involved a number of talented cast and crew that took up the entire Paramount stage. We provided insights into some of the productions elements in the movie; Carlos Trevino, the writer of three of the shorts, discussed his inspiration, including a personal revelation even I had not heard before; and our only four legged member of the cast - Sassy the dog - made a delightful appearance.

I was not expecting to be called up seeing as how large the cast is, but I was humbled and honored to be the last to be invited up to the stage by Kyle as "the man who put these all together." (Full disclosure: It was a team effort shared by myself, Kyle, Rita, and producer Jason Wehling).

Curran asked if the project had an impact on our own sexual lives. Glad I didn't have to answer that one! He also asked everyone at one point how we got involved with Fourplay, and we went one by one telling our stories. The common thread: We all wanted to work with Kyle and the project had a significant impact on each of us. For my part, I explained that I was working late one night in the halls of UT-Austin RTF (probably in 2009 or 10... hmmm....) when Kyle pulled me aside out of the blue and asked, "Will you screen something for me? It's over twenty minutes and I'm just looking for a fresh pair of eyes." We had been familiar with each other's work (and hung out at local parties and bar gatherings); he provided amazing notes and assistance on the first feature I edited, Spencer Parsons' I'll Come Running. While I jumped at the opportunity I was also nervous. What if it isn't good, I thought. I don't want to tell Kyle I don't like his movie.

He showed me "Fourplay: San Francisco." It was just Kyle, Carlos and me in a screening room at UT. When it was over, I felt bad for a different reason: I had few notes. I really, genuinely loved the movie. What the hell were they showing it to me for? Isn't it done? I thought. Kyle, always the consummate professional, was just trying to find ways to make it better from where it already was. Maybe they just needed a cheerleader that night because they found one in me. I was an instant fan of the project.

I knew he had three other segments to come as he was making each short one at a time. Seeing as how Rita did such fantastic and beautiful (seriously - beautiful) work with "SF," I just assumed she would cut the next one. But Rita moved away from Austin (now based in LA, she's doing great!), and then I got a call from Kyle asking me if I'd help him with "Austin." He was so apologetic that he didn't have much to pay me, but I knew I'd be gaining invaluable experience and mentorship if I could cut even just one of these shorts for him.

And I did. And when "Austin" was done, things were quiet for a little while as he balanced editing a documentary and prepping "Tampa." When he called me for "Tampa," I thought, Well, he still wants to work with you - didn't screw this one up, Fabelo! (Something like that, I'm sure, if not exactly like that). And we cut "Tampa," which is the most purely visual storytelling I have ever done seeing as how there's nary a line of dialogue. And finally, after some time went by, he called me again for "Skokie." Voila, Fourplay was assembled into one feature from four beautifully complex, vibrant parts.

Great write-up on FOURPLAY in Austin American-Statesman

I'll admit this much: Of all our local publications, I did not expect such coverage from what seems to be a center-right paper like the Statesman. Maybe that's just the front page and not their movies section.

Teeing up tonight's centerpiece hometown premiere of Kyle Henry's Fourplay - a feature made up of four short films about sexual intimacy, of which I edited three; the fourth was edited by the talented and delightful Rita K. Sanders - the Austin American-Statesman published this glowing article by Charles Ealy. In it he writes:

... [T]he fact of the matter is this: “Fourplay” is so good, so uncomfortably revelatory and so resonant that the word needs to get out quickly. This is the festival’s best film, as well as one of the most provocative features of the year.

It’s like four perfect short stories from Flannery O’Connor or Eudora Welty, with one exception: All of them are sexually adventurous — and no, not in the way that Hulga gets her wooden leg stolen by a traveling Bible salesman in O’Connor’s “Good Country People.” While O’Connor usually implies sex, Henry dives right in.

That's a great take on the movie! I'm very proud of this project's adventurousness. I grew as an editor with Kyle's guidance and I collected a few morsels on wisdom for when I direct my next project.

Fourplay screens at the historic Paramount Theater tonight, October 5th, at Austin's PolariFest!

DO OVER screens at Dallas Video Festival

"Do Over" screened at the Dallas Video Festival tonight as part of the prestigious Texas Show program. It's the screening that closes out the festival. You can tell the programmers put a lot of work curating and presenting this particular program. We were in the company of many strong films that have represented Texas film on the festival this year, including Kat Candler's "Hellion" and Hannah Fidell's "The Gathering Squall" to name just a few.

Our screening went very well. We received lots of laughs and even more "awwws" when this joke-driven film takes a turn toward something heartfelt and sweet. The Dallas audience was kind to us and open to all the films.

Director Bart Weiss led the Q and A afterward. He talked to each filmmaker by moving down the line and holding the mic for us, making the questions more conversational. By the sound of the laughs, co-writer/editor Taylor Allen and I hopefully entertained the audience with our banter as much as we did with our film. Or we made asshats out of ourselves. A win is a win, I guess.

I wish I could have stayed longer to chat with audience members or other filmmakers, but alas, I have to head back to Austin early to get some work done on Bryan Poyser's The Bounceback. However, it was nice to see this message on our Facebook page by Adam C. Garrett:

Saw your short at the Dallas Video Fest, thought you should have won hands down. Great work.

Picking up a new fan at each screening is the best award we could ask for!

Off to bed. Long drive ahead of me, but I have this to look forward to on my way back south:

If you would like to know where "Do Over" plays next this fall, visit this page.

DO OVER Fall Festival Run

I'll be the first to admit: My short film had a quiet summer. After winning Best Comedy at the Iowa Film Festival, we did not hear much until late in the summer. Let me clarify - we did not hear much in the way of positive news. I'm not going to pretend we haven't had our share of rejections, and I'll even go so far as to say I was a little worried we may not screen anywhere after Iowa. The rest of the year would have this cloud of disappointment despite our award and previous screenings.

Just as soon as I was getting down on myself, good news rolled in. Before I knew it September, October, and November started filling up with "Do Over" screenings. Is it too revealing to admit that I'm as relieved as I am grateful and excited to be screening at these festivals (three of which have past as of this posting):

September

Cinesol - 9/8 - 9/9: Even though I have ties to the Rio Grande Valley, I was unable to attend this screening due to scheduling conflicts. I wish I could have. I'd like to make inroads in the film community in south Texas. But word got back to me that the film played well and was well received.

Atlanta Shortsfest - 9/15: Again, I was unable to attend this festival. Short films just don't have the kind of travel budget I wish they could. Heck, most indie features don't have much of a travel budget. While The Goat Farm Arts Center doesn't sound sexy on paper, the photos on their web site make that a fest look like a wild party. I'd love to attend with another project in the future.

LA Shortsfest - 9/12: This festival I did attend. Of the fests to travel to long distance, I could not turn down the chance to network in the heart of the industry. I also have a handful of close friends there and also managed to catch The Master in 70MM at the Arclight the night before I left. Totally worth it.

Dallas Video Fest - 9/30: I will be attending this screening at the end of the month. "Do Over" screens as part of the Texas Show program which is lovingly curated with the best in short filmmaking coming out of Texas in 2012.

October

Austin Film Festival - 10/18 - 10/19: Obviously, I'm very excited for this screening for myself and the rest of my cast and crew. There is nothing like finding appreciation in your hometown and to be able to share your work with your peers. We screen in front of a feature in the Comedy Vanguard section - Missed Connections - which will hopefully expose us to a different audience than if we were in a shorts program.

The Flatland Film Festival - 10/20: This will be the second time I have a short screen at the Flatland Film Festival in Lubbock. It will also be the second time I cannot attend. The first time, back in 2005, my short "Test Day" screened there and won both the Grand Prize and the Audience Award. I think the festival may have been a little miffed I wasn't there for the first year of their fest. I was living in Los Angeles at the time, just starting out in the industry and I couldn't afford to fly out to Lubbock. This time, Flatland is scheduled against the Austin Film Festival. As much as I'd love to visit this festival in northwest Texas, I can't pass up the hometown screening for "Do Over."

The Rumschpringe International Short Film Festival - 10/27 7PM - That's a tough one to fit onto our poster, lemme tell ya. But we're excited to be screening at this great little festival in Lancaster, PA. In German, Rumschpringe means "to jump around." To learn more about RISFF, go here. Our schedule can be found here.

November

The Brownfish Short Film Festival - 11/1 - 11/3: I'm very excited to be screening in New York City! That will mean we were able to screen in both major markets for the industry and cover quite a bit of ground between all these festivals. I won't be able to attend Brownfish, but maybe some of my recently re-located crew will be able to.

The Rockport Film Festival - 11/1-11/3: Whoa, we're in two festivals at once? What kind of magic is that. Ah, yes, that' right: We're living in the digital age. Very pleased to be covering so much ground in my home state. Wish I could attend this one, but I got some personal matters to attend to that weekend. "Do Over" screens Friday, November 2nd at 1 PM.

There are other fests I'm waiting to announce until they go public on their web sites. So maybe I'll come back to this post and update it as I make those announcements. I can say that we'll have, as of this writing, at least three more festivals to brag about. I'm just happy to be getting my work as a writer and director seen. I've worked hard as an editor on other people's projects. I feel like the next step for me as a filmmaker is to be considered a director just as much as I'm seen as an experienced editor. 

As John Cassevettes said: There are no geniuses. It's just a lot of... hard work and trying to get it.

FOURPLAY is AGLIFF's Centerpiece Film!

Looking at my posts from this summer it looks like I was a member of the Fourplay PR team, which maybe I am (unofficially - at this level of filmmaking, you have to do everything you can to get the word out yourself!).

In October, the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (which is going through a rebrand to the name Polari) will feature Fourplay as its centerpiece film. We will screen October 5th at 845 PM. It's a screening not meant for kiddies (as though the title itself wasn't warning enough).

"Fourplay: Austin"

I'm very excited to finally screen our work in Austin where it was mostly shot and produced from. I'm also nervous about what the response might be. There is some controversial material, for sure, but hopefully people accept the film as all in good fun, audacious, and a (positive) conversation starter rather than anything malicious.

I attended AGLIFF's launch party last Friday at Cheer Up Charlie's. Everyone there was supportive and pumped for the start of the festival season. AGLIFF has a close community and a rabid fan base, it seems, and I think the festival is going to provide a diverse and adventurous program. I only wish I could have won something from the raffle - I bought twenty tickets!

Directed by Kyle Henry, Fourplay is an anthology-of-shorts feature film that explores four tales of sexual intimacy. Executive produced by Jim McKay and Michael Stipe.

A Little Redesign

Trying a little redesign to better tie the blog to my website, david-fabelo.com. I'm pretty swamped right now but I'd like to tweak both the blog and the web site in the coming weeks, if possible, even if it's simply changing the main image on both the web site and the blog (so the first thing you see isn't my goofy smile. Not that I'm ashamed, mind you; I smile like that when I'm making movies!... Okay, maybe we should still take it down so it's possible an image from one of my films, maybe...?...).

I took a trip to LA Shortsfest last week where "Do Over" played its first Los Angeles area film fest. The film played well and it was great to get back to LA to visit friends, collaborators and just get the rhythm of that city under my feet even if only for a few days. Some nice laughs and warm round of applause for the film. I hope people enjoyed it.

LA isn't the only festival "Do Over" has played recently. In September, so far, it has screened at the Cinesol Film Festival in the Rio Grande Valley, LA Shortsfest as I mentioned, and on Saturday September 15th it screened at Atlanta Shortsfest. I'm still waiting to see when they announce their award winners. "Do Over" for Best Romantic Comedy, maybe? We'll see...

And there are still more festival announcements to be made! I'll admit I'm waiting on one in particular to announce their line up so I can do a write up that covers all of the festivals I just listed and a few more in the fall. I've had a lot on my plate lately so I've been doing a poor job of updating this blog regularly. What have I been up to?

Aside from meeting the festival requirements for "Do Over" and trying to keep up with its promotion, I've also been editing a narrative feature called All That Remains. I've also been serving as post production supervisor on Bryan Poyser's forthcoming feature, The Bounceback. That combined with teaching part-time and keeping up with some major developments in my personal life have kept me occupied.

Things may wind down a bit in a month or two as some of these projects and other things get off my plate. Until then, look out for my next random update at TBD point in the future. In the meantime, thanks for checking in.

Website Down

Apparently Go Daddy has been targeted by a member of Anonymous:

Read here

This means david-fabelo.com is down for a little while. I'll take this opportunity to say it's been a busy time for me since my last post as I continue to oversee my short film Do Over during its festival run as well as edit a feature narrative, All That Remains. Plus a ton of other great personal life events. So the news blog hasn't been updated as frequently as it should.

That said, I plan on making some time for an extensive overview of what's been going on and what's coming up. I should also be able to announce another festival for Do Over in the coming days.

So for any readers or new visitors looking for information on director/editor David Fabelo, consider this blog home base until Go Daddy solves their ominous web issues.

Hmmm... Sorta feels like the end of Escape From L.A.:

FOURPLAY Update

Fourplay gets a great write-up in H2N's Outfest 2012 preview

Poster by Yen Tan

Really feeling the love from Hammer To Nail. Not only did newly minted Austinite Michael Tully write this review for Fourplay: Tampa, but now Paul Sbrizzi has described the feature thusly:

"No one is making films like Kyle Henry’s Fourplay these days. Its sunny, hyperreal tone and very American characters thrust into unabashedly sexual situations are reminiscent of the youth-oriented comedies of the post-hippie, pre-AIDS late-‘70s and early ‘80s—think Eating Raoul and Kentucky Fried Movie, or the TV show Soap."

Check out Sbrizzi's preview here,

I'm proud to have had a role in contributing to the film's positive reception: I edited three of the four shorts in the feature, Skokie, Austin and Tampa; incredible editor Rita K. Sanders edited the emotional, poignant fourth segment San Francisco.

Fourplay premieres at Outfest 2012 this Sunday, July 15th in Los Angeles.

Directed by Kyle Henry, written by Carlos Treviño and Jessica Hedrick, shot by PJ Raval and produced by Jason Wehling, Fourplay is an anthology-of-shorts feature film that explores four tales of sexual intimacy. Executive produced by Jim McKay and Michael Stipe.

Saved By The MiniDV

Earlier this week, the outdated yet resilient technology known as MiniDV tape nearly saved my ass.

I work part-time as a filmmaking instructor at a private school. We haven't gone completely tapeless yet (working on it!) and throughout the school year I'll pick up some extra work making promo videos or filming live performances such as school plays on our Panasonic DVXs (one of the best built DV cameras - period).

One of the performances I recorded last year was of The Laramie Project, a powerful play that resonates as much today as it did when it was first published. The kids did a great job. They even held a discussion about the issues the play explores after each performance. I commend the school for allowing this to happen. Trust me - some private schools, including some in our system, wouldn't go near this material.

Anyway, between the two cameras we shot six MiniDV tapes' worth of the Laramie performance, three tapes per camera. I used six of our computers to capture (remember Log and Capture?) all these tapes at once so I wasn't capturing them one by one (remember when you had to factor capture time into your workflow?). Once that process was complete, I moved the newly made quicktime files onto an external drive, I synced the cameras together in Final Cut Pro 7, and intended on taking the drive home and editing the program for a DVD.

But I neglected that last part for about six months.

Spring cleaning

At the end of the school year we clear a lot of media from our computers. No one had brought up the Laramie DVDs since I captured the footage, so when I saw the quicktimes on the hard drive I assumed we didn't really need to make the DVD anymore. 

I must have deleted the footage in early May.

At the end of May, with seniors who had performed in the play graduating, there was renewed interest in a DVD. Forgetting what I had done only a few weeks prior, I said, "Sure, no problem, I can whip that right up."

Yesterday, I picked up the hard drive intending to finish what I had started only to discover the footage was gone. I had broken a cardinal rule of mine: Always triple-check that you don't need this or that footage before you delete it.

I panicked. I did not look forward to telling the theater teacher there would be no Laramie DVD. I cursed and kicked things (alone in the class room, of course) and yelled at my past self. I'm juggling several projects right now. The last thing I need is the stress caused by such a careless oversight. I paced around the classroom hoping that a solution would present itself.

And it did.

Sitting on a bookshelf, stacked in neat order, I found the original MiniDV tapes. As though Past Me had whispered to himself, "Just in case..."

It's a painful format to work with, but at least it's REAL

Re-discovering the MiniDV tapes made me think about if we had recorded our projects on memory cards and we had only backed it up to one drive (then erased the footage off the cards), recovering that footage would have been impossible and I would have disappointed a colleague and several of our students.

This happened the same week the new Macbook Pros were announced. To hell with the Superdrive - no one burns DVDs anymore! At least, Apple would like you to stop burning DVDs.

On the other end of the media spectrum I picked up LTO tape backups for a feature film I am post supervising. This footage was shot on the Arri Alexa and while we have it backed up across three 4TB external drives, making LTO backups created a physical backup that, in theory, will last us thirty years. You know - for the eventual director's super-duper cut in 2042. They are sitting on a shelf in a bag in my closet, waiting for the day they can come to the rescue the way the MiniDV tapes did for me.

This is not a post meant to lament change - change is good, it's necessary, and it's a part of life. But I couldn't help but think of a few of the virtues of physical media. Physical media would have saved me in this instance in a way that virtual media might not have. The experience just made me very aware of the transition we're in the middle of, and how it can it be a good thing that it takes a while for old technology to die out. Just yesterday I spent the better part of my day creating DVDs of my short film for festival submissions (won't be as easy, in the future, whenever I upgrade my Macbook Pro). That after also submitting digitally via the Without A Box online screener - one foot in one world, one foot in the other.

Look, I haven't come to any compelling conclusions or insight. This is more of a think piece. The media-destruction-scare followed by the MiniDV-save just got me thinking about Virtual and Physical media. We're at an interesting pivot point in technology where physical boundaries are being eroded.
Someday we may keep high end, data intensive (like uncompressed 8 bit video) media online that takes up tons of drive space. Will it become so routine that we catalogue video the way we catalogue emails? (Google and wevideo have already teamed up to offer online, collaborative video editing - has anyone used this?) Imagine trying to search for video of a family member in your Video Inbox without remembering exactly how you catalogued it. Will it be a quick find? Or take just as long as if you had left a tape in an archive bin in your office closet?

We're building a new world in the Cloud, day by day. But clouds have no ground for you to stand on. And one day I'll lose some footage again, look for my trusty MiniDV - low resolution and all - and it won't be there to come to my rescue.

Outfest Line Up is released - FOURPLAY is in competition!

FOURPLAY will make its official world premiere (after a sneak preview at Frameline 36 in San Francisco) at the 30th Outfest Film Festival this July. It will compete in the narrative competition. Looks like a great crop of films in the competition with us, including Jonathan Lisecki's GAYBY (which is hilarious and shot by my friend Clay Liford) and SUNSET STORIES from directors Silas Howard and Ernesto Foronda, both of which I saw this year at SXSW. Not only is it a charming film, SUNSET STORIES was also shot by FOURPLAY's cinematographer, PJ Raval.

Here's Indiewire's Outfest Announcement.

Follow the FOURPLAY BLOG (NSFW)

FOURPLAY is a feature comprised of four short films about sexual intimacy. Directed by Kyle Henry, each story mixes tones and gender relationships and approaches sex for what it is: an emotional, physical and sometimes transcendent experience. Shot over the course of four years, the film was funded partially by Kickstarter campaigns, the Texas Filmmaker's Production Fund, and other funding; it is executive produced by Jim McKay and Michael Stipe's C-Hundred Films and was shot on multiple formats, including the Sony EX3, the Canon 5D, and the Red camera.

About Outfest

Outfest is the leading organization showcasing, nurturing and preserving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender film images and artistry. For 29 years Outfest has led the charge, spotlighting emerging talent, creating community between filmmakers and audiences and offering a world-class forum for stories that reflect and often transform LGBT lives.

Since its founding in 1982, Outfest has showcased over 4,500 films for audiences well over half a million people. Our festivals, year-round screening series and special events bring together film lovers, innovative artists, celebrities, entertainment industry professionals … and some of the hottest parties around!

Outfest is also the only nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that the extensive but threatened LGBT film heritage is preserved. Since the beginning of the struggle for LGBT equality, visionary filmmakers have recorded their lives, challenges and triumphs on film. Outfest is committed to saving, preserving and providing access to that precious, affirming heritage for generations to come.

FOURPLAY feature to screen at Frameline 36 in San Francisco

I am pleased to announce that on Sunday, June 17th the feature film FOURPLAY will screen at the 36th Annual Frameline Film Festival. FOURPLAY is comprised of four short films which take place in four different cities around the US. Each story explores sex and intimacy through melodrama, comedy, suspense, and the absurd. It's funny, it's sad, it's heartfelt and it's important filmmaking from director Kyle Henry.

I edited three of the four short films - SKOKIE, AUSTIN, and TAMPA. Rita K. Sanders edited SAN FRANCISCO. The films are explicit, yes, but also deeply emotional and gripping.

If you are in the San Francisco area, please check it out if you can.

Frameline 36 Screening times

More about Frameline 36 (from their web site):

"Founded in 1977, the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival is the longest-running, largest and most widely recognized LGBT film exhibition event in the world.... Frameline’s mission is to strengthen the diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and further its visibility by supporting and promoting a broad array of cultural representations and artistic expression in film, video and other media arts."

AN ORDINARY FAMILY available to watch on iTunes and YouTube!

You can now check out an indie I edited on iTunes and YouTube, Mike Akel's An Ordinary Family.

Click here for iTunes

Clicker here for YouTube

And if you need a preview of this award-winning and heartfelt feature film:

My short film "Do Over" wins Best Comedy Film at the 2012 Iowa Film Festival!

My short film "Do Over," which I co-wrote and directed, was named Best Comedy Film by the 2012 Iowa Film Festival. Awards will be presented on June 25th. The festival runs June 25th-27th.

I share this award with my chief collaborators - producer Andrew Logan and co-writer/editor Taylor Allen - as well as with a hard working, dedicated Austin, TX based cast and crew.

I've never been to Iowa before. Although the main venue for the festival is in... Illinois? Well, I've been to Illinois already! It's a long story, but oddly enough the awards will be handed out in Moline, IL.

No matter where the award is handed out, this is wonderful news and I am humbled by it as I'm sure there were many great films in contention and many others that were not fortunate enough to be a part of the festival. For as many acceptances and positive feedback we have received, we have also dealt with our fair share of rejection. I write this simply to say to anyone reading this who is currently or about to send their film out into the world via festival submission: It's tough (and it's expensive) but there's an audience out there for your work and it makes the process so worth it when you find them.

Here are the full list of winners of the 2012 Iowa Film Festival.

Learn more about the feature narrative I'm currently editing, "All That Remains"

I've known director Marko Slavnic since the seventh grade. We both went to film school together and both pursued film careers after college. Now we get to work together on Marko's feature All That Remains, which I'm editing for him.

Another former classmate of ours, Leila Kalmbach, wrote this piece about the film. Check it out and consider donating to the Kickstarter campaign.

My script wins an award at Las Vegas Comedy Festival

A short sketch I wrote called "iPad: Weather Control" won "Best Other Script, Skit, or Commercial" at the 2012 Las Vegas Comedy Festival. I had no idea they had announced the winners until my friend and AD on my short "Do Over" Derek Franzese texted me congratulations. Thank you, Derek!

By the way - check out Reticent Pictures, the home for Derek and his team's comedy shorts.

As for "iPad: Weather Control," it's a spoof on iPad apps and Apple fanatics (and don't get me wrong - I do all my work on Apple products; it's just some friendly spoofing). Don't know if I'll be able to shoot it as it involves some complex special effects, but maybe someone out there will see this award and think, "I should give this guy some money to make this. I want to see this 'other' script made right away!"

See all the other winners here.

"Test Day" gets some exposure

The short film I made at the University of Texas at Austin, "Test Day," has been generating a bit more activity than usual in the last week or so. An educator in Los Angeles posted it to her facebook page, I received an email message via YouTube asking me where I fall on the issues the film explores (if that sender happens to read this post, I apologize for having yet to respond - I will!) , and now assistant professor Gabriel T. Saxton-Ruiz of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has posted it to his blog. Hmm... is something in the air? "Test Day" has always sparked debate and discussion, but aside from placing it on my website, I haven't ever let it out there on the internets for whatever reason. Maybe that should change.

50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain Blog by Gabriel Saxton-Ruiz: He re-posts some very interesting and engaging articles about Latino identity that I think is worth checking out.

If you're curious: "Test Day" played numerous film festivals from 2005 to 2008 and won prizes at festivals such as the 8th Cine Las Americas, the 1st Flatland Film Festival, the 2008 Phoenix Film Festival, and the 2005 Sidewalk Moving Picture Film Festival. I have included it at the bottom of this post. Hope you enjoy!

Texas Independent Film Network: AN ORDINARY FAMILY screenings

The Texas Independent Film Network was founded a few years ago by friends Louis Black and Ryan Long: "TIFN has built a circuit throughout the State of Texas, including population centers like Austin, Dallas and Houston. This is a chance for audiences across the state to see amazing films that might otherwise not appear in their cities, all the while supporting indigenous filmmaking right here in Texas."


For the month of April, TIFN will be showcasing AN ORDINARY FAMILY, a feature dramedy I edited for Mike Akel. If you live in Texas and want to see if it will be playing in or near your city, CLICK HERE.

KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN: "All That Remains"

While I am pushing myself to write and direct more and more, what butters my bread is still my work as an editor. Editing is  more than a day job - it's still my favorite part of the process of making movies. I love shaping performance, seeing the structure of the script build back up after production, tearing that apart and finding new and interesting ways the footage can be put together. I love to edit, and I have been fortunate enough to build my editing career around editing feature length films.

I teach part-time now as a way to ensure I have a steady pay check (and to keep my shooting skills sharp and get inspired by my students' enthusiasm and wacky ideas), so editing a feature can be a challenge with that schedule. Since January, I've been cutting part -time on a feature written and directed by a friend I've known since the 7th grade, filmmaker Marko Slavnic. His film is called All That Remains. It is a drama about two Bosnian brothers following the directions their father left them in a letter just before he died. The through-line is simple and direct, but the emotions and Bosnian history are complex and we believe makes for a heartfelt, beautiful story about identity, family, loss and coming to terms with a painful past.

Movies are an expensive art form and Marko needs help to finish this out this summer. Please consider making a donation to and spreading the word about his Kickstarter campaign. Check out the video on the page to learn more about the film, Marko's perspective on the story, and to get an idea of the look and feel of the project.

FESTIVAL ALERT: Aspen Shortsfest Program Guide Online

My short film "Do Over" will screen at the 20th Anniversary of Aspen Shortsfest on Friday, April 13th at 5:30 PM. It will screen at the Wheeler Opera House, which from photos looks like an incredible venue to see your film screen. I'm looking forward to traveling to Aspen for the first time to support the film, though I'm not looking forward to the prop plane I may have to fly on from Denver to Aspen to get there.

Other Austin, TX films playing the fest include Kat Candler's "Hellion" which stars Jonny Mars and Jenny Goddard's "Happy Voodoo."

"Do Over" also screens this Saturday, March 17th at the 1st Inaugural Sun Valley Film Festival. Wish I could go to that one as well, but I have work to do here at home.

Aspen Shortsfest - International Competition Program 7

Indiewire article

SXSW '12: In The Cut Panel

Not to get too sentimental here but I've been attending SXSW pretty much every year since maybe... high school? Maybe even 8th grade? And I'll admit, over time, being a panelist became a small dream of mine. I just thought it would be so cool to sit in front of a room full of filmmakers who are there to hear you tell stories about your career and what you've learned, given that you've developed the body of work to earn your place behind the microphone. I always thought I would earn my spot when I was younger. The question was in what capacity.

I've served on a SouthBy panel once before. I filled in for my friend, New York based editor Michael Taylor, who had to cancel his appearance at the last minute. I only had one feature credit and was in the middle editing my second, so I always felt I never had any business being on an editing panel with the Frank Reynolds, editor of the Oscar nominated In The Bedroom. Now I have a much more extensive, nuanced editing and directing background. I don't feel so self-concious this time around that I'm not worthy enough to be a speaker at SXSW.

That being said - I'm on a panel with Sandra Adair and Kyle Henry. While I may have amassed my share of feature and shorts editing credits, by no means to I count myself in the same league as what they have accomplished. Don't get me wrong - I'll have a thing or two to say later today. But I'll also be listening as much as the audience will. In fact, I hope listening as much as speaking helps make me a better panelist and a better filmmaker.

Anyway - today, Monday March 12th from 5-6 PM in room 13AB at the Austin Convention Center, you can bring in you feature sample reel and get some pointers on how to improve it so it helps you raise some money... or bring it in to get some praise that you've done a job well done... or just come by to see what other filmmakers are doing to try and sell their films. All in all, it should be a very practical and informative approach to an editing panel.

Cinequest 22: Films, the Return of P2, and Room Service

On Saturday morning, March 3rd, our team was treated to a complimentary breakfast while Panasonic gave a brief presentation on their upgrade of the HVX-200, called the HPX 250. This camera has been on the market for almost a year, but this was the first time I got to handle it. With a similar body as the DVX and HVX, it's maybe slightly bigger and a tad heavier - which is not a knock against a camera that belongs to a family that I have long enjoyed working with. Its 10 bit 4:2:2 recording is what they're really trying to sell you on, as well as the return of P2 media.

Unfortunately, my time with it was limited and I think they had the cameras running 60i only because they were hooked up to monitors in the room, so I couldn't really play around in 24p. The sample video they were rolling on one of the screens, however, looked beautiful. The blacks were deep, the colors popped, and the camera seemed to be able to achieve some real nice narrow depth of field. I think returning to this line of camera could be immensely fun, especially if you're shooting a doc or something in a doc style.

I just don't know if I can go back to a fixed lens. Not that the 7D would give you a better image compared to this camera. But I might shoot with the AF-100 first before I shoot something on the HPX-250. That being said, the codec the HPX-250 shoots on sounds like an upgrade from the AVC prosumer codec the AF-100 still shoots with. So... maybe it's a toss up and it doesn't really matter. What still matters is the story you're trying to tell, not always what you tell it with.

Some movies I'd like to mention that stood out to me during the fest:

1) "Silent River": What a harrowing short. Of the dramatic shorts I saw, this one was the best by far. About Romanians trying to cross the Danube into Germany, there were at least two plot twists where in a short I might only expect one and each with were subtly set up, all rooted in character. The end of the film leaves your mind wondering what acts two and three of the feature might be. I love continuing a film in my mind long after the lights come up.

2) "Hatch": Another European drama, this time from Austria, dealing with class, ethnicity, homosexuality, parenthood, adoption, abandonment - all in a tight 15 to 20 minutes? This along with "Silent River" are great models for how to tell a dramatic short that stands on its own, but where the characters continue to live outside the frame.

3) "And Winter Slow": Very solid short film shot in the icy Adirondacks. Great milieu and performances, with solid direction by Brian Lannin.

4) "God and Vodka": Some of this self-reflexive narrative can be a little too precious at times, but when your two leads have banter and chemistry like they do here, the whole of the film becomes stronger than the weakness of a few of its parts. That's a convoluted way of saying this is a charming, earnest without being too on the nose film led by two charming actors and buoyed by luscious cinematography and locations.

5) "Overdue": Another charmer of a short, this one followed ours in the comedy shorts program (Programmer Chris Garcia got cute with following "Do Over" with "Overdue" - get it?! I tease, I tease...). Following a Brooklyn couple as they try as many natural methods as possible to induce their overdue child, this film is pushed by the editing in a similar way that our film is, so it was really interesting to see them back to back. Once "Overdue" falls into its rhythm and is pushed by its quirky accapella score, the laughs build on top of each other. Then the film finds some pathos I wasn't expecting that ends up treating the central couple with an even hand. Very nice work - and adorable last shot.

6) "Vampire Vampire Vampire Vampire": This uneven short  took me two viewings before I fell under its spell. There's a lot of potential here, and much of it resides in the talents of director and co-star Brenton Stumpf. A comedy about fads and why you should never jump on one before thinking twice about it, its more John Hughes with fangs than horror comedy. I look forward to what Brenton shoots next.

7) "The Relationship Doctrine of Don Blanquito": This was the only doc in our shorts program, but once Don Blanquito - a Beverly Hills white rapper who cements his career and legacy in the favelas of Brazil - takes over the screen and unleashes his philosophies on relationships, marriage, and life there was no question why the film belonged in Comedy Favorites. The maxim "80% of directing is casting" holds true here as Don Blanquito is a slam-dunk subject for any movie. His philosophy can be summed up accordingly: "Get that vagina... get that vagina."

8) "Zoltan: Gangster of Love": I have no idea why this Fellini spoof set in a poor Hungarian village was programmed before a documentary about Twitter, but it was a blast of pure energy and cinema. A Fellini spoof of any kind is probably a cliche, but when you have villagers having chickens laying eggs in their hands as an aphrodisiac, well... You've got me hooked for at least the next ten minutes.

9) Sunflower Hour - This Canadian feature length mockumentary about four oddballs and outcasts vying for one spot on a children's puppet show opens strong, drags a bit in the middle, then has a rocking, laugh-out-loud-nonstop last third until it peters out just... a... tad during its epilogue. Director Aaron Houston shows great promise in this, his debut feature, as he not only demonstrates he can deliver on the comedic situations he sets up, but he gives each of his characters well-defined arcs that help keep the story grounded even as things on screen veer off the rails. I rarely feel for the characters in the mockumentary format - even in Christopher Guest's movies I still feel some of the distance the genre can place between the viewer and the characters - but in Sunflower Hour everyone - even those characters I despised - won me over. I was pleased that everyone's story felt closed and had evolved from where we they had begun. My only quibble about the end is that I felt like David - who is the heart of the movie - gets his final triumph offscreen and we're told how achieves it rather than let us see it. The last joke would have still worked even if the scene had been staged a little differently. But now I'm backseat directing, and where I sit it's easy to lob such quibbles at the screen. At the end of the day, Sunflower Hour was an immensely entertaining, enjoyable film that puts the talents of a promising comedy director on display.

While I made it to one last Cinequest Meet-Up Sunday night, my final day was spent with my fiance and old friends in San Francisco. We mostly walked around The Mission district, had some ice cream, a delicious burrito, and stood in a creepy train station - all in the order. My best friend since junior high lives in the area, so he picked us up at a stop halfway between SF and SJ, kindly taking us back into San Jose so we didn't have to traverse SJ's public transportation services all by ourselves.

We were so tired the morning we were leaving we decided to have room service at the hotel, which actually was quite reasonably priced. If you ever find yourself in San Jose, stay at the Sainte Claire, an older hotel with great service, fast and free wifi - and which may or may not be haunted.

San Jose is an odd place. I say that with love, as I was continually fascinated by its oddness. Its odd because its a strange mix of rich and poor, townies and retirees, college students and rabid teenagers roaming the streets in skateboarding packs. During the day, life downtown seemed non-existent. A wandering Asian-American man randomly told us our first day there that China rules the world, and the bar tender at this below ground bar where we ate lunch was maybe too friendly, with a smile that creepily never seemed to recede.

Go to one of Cinequest's many parties or venues, however, and you always felt welcome. I was never lacking in good conversation with someone (well, there was the aspiring actress I encountered that asked me what gender romantic comedy I had screening at the festival... Come again?) and the locals there are proud of the festival and proud of their city. The film community there seems only separated by distance, as many of the filmmakers I met seemed to know each other and had worked together.

Cinequest, overall, was a great experience. I would love to return with another film in the future.

One more chance to catch "Do Over" in Shorts Program 7: Comedy Favorites - Saturday, March 10th, 6:30 PM.

Cinequest 22: Screening #2

Our second screening was held Sunday, March 4th at 10:30 AM at Camera 12 Cinemas. My fiance Angela and I got up early to meet my producer Andrew Logan and his wife Lauren for breakfast at Flames, a downtown diner with more ways to cook eggs than I have every seen on a single menu. They were busy and I was getting anxious to be at the theater early, so Andrew and I left a few minutes ahead of Angela and Lauren to be at the theater by 10. (It was Andrew's idea to leave early - he could saw I was wavering between waiting it out and just forging ahead, asking our super-supportive significant others to handle the checks. It was a sweet gesture by a collaborative producer who has known me long enough to tell when I am freaking out, whether I have any right to or not.)

Members of Team "Do Over"

When we arrived at the theater, our 17 year old lead actor, Garrett Jester, was there waiting for us with his parents and his little brother Mason. It was so wonderful that they flew all the way up to San Jose for the screening. I wasn't sure if they'd be able to make  screening outside of Austin, but Cinequest was the lucky one chosen to have Garrett grace it with his charm and earnestness.

What was great about having Garrett at the festival, even if for only a little while, was how new and exciting being in a film that was playing at a festival (far away from home) was to him. You could just tell he had no expectations going into the film other than he just wanted to see it. His family has been supportive of him every step of the way and they were glowing with anticipation, too. After the screening their plans were to head east for a spring break college visit. He's a good kid with a great family.

Our second screening went even better than the first, I'd say. There was a slight technical issue at first where they had cued the tape early and you saw a bit of the countdown and 2 pop before the movie started (guess I need to add more black next time after the 00:00:00:00 mark). But from there, the movie played and there were several more laughs than there were on Friday night, and there were even some fresh laughs in places that hadn't quite hit the first audience the same way as the it hit the second one.

"Do Over" is the first film in the Shorts 7 program and I think it helped prime the Sunday audience really well for the rest of the films. I think the program played even better Sunday than it had on Friday. It helped there were no technical issues like there had been previously (we got to finish "Fuck Lance Armstrong"), but this audience also just had a slightly different energy than Friday's (no knock against Friday attendees - there was just something different in the air). I was not expecting this for a Sunday morning, so it was a welcome surprise.

After the screening, nearly every film had a question directed toward it, including ours. A gentleman started off by saying how much he enjoyed the film and then asked how many days we took to shoot. I briefly mentioned I was Garrett's teacher at St. Stephen's Episcopal School and wanted him to answer because of the affect our schedule had on his schooling. Garrett made a crack about how we started shooting Friday night straight through to the following Monday morning, making it sound like we shot day and night all weekend. I think the audience enjoyed his anecdote about how he went to school on Monday having not slept in 40 hours and had to rehearse for a play that week. (I knew if we were fortunate enough to receive a question I'd hand the mike right to Garrett, no matter what we were asked. It's an opportunity I always wanted him to have, to talk to his audience, and plus - he's always gold because he's so damn funny.)

In fact, Garrett was a major hit in the lobby after the screening. He signed an autograph for someone and someone else wanted to take a photo with him. I wish I could take that kid to all the screenings - the Cinequest audience loved him.

We have one more screening at Cinequest 22: Saturday, March 10th - 6:30 PM. Check it out if you're in San Jose!

Mike Akel's AN ORDINARY FAMILY screens at the ReRun in Brooklyn 03/08/12!

Mike Akel's heartfelt, sensitive and super funny examination of how two brothers try to find a way to bridge one very large gap between them screens tomorrow night (03/08/12) at the ReRun Theater in Brooklyn.

AN ORDINARY FAMILY - named one of ten must see films of 2011 - "simply explores the dynamics within a family who is struggling to accept each other and perhaps even themselves in an awkward, but warm and spectacularly comedic manner" (Eric Shlapak). 

Check it out if you're in NYC and want to catch something warm, funny and sweet, and that was made with a ton of love and collaboration. (Full disclosure: I am the film's editor.)

Festival Alert: DO OVER to screen at Aspen Shortsfest!

Just wanted to quickly announce that after Sun Valley Film Fest this March, DO OVER will makes its way to Aspen Shortfest in April. As its web site points out, Indiewire calls Aspen Shortsfest one of the "50 leading film festivals" in the world. It also happens to be an Oscar qualifying festival. Just sayin'...
Exact screening dates and time to come soon. For more info, visit: aspenfilm.org

Cinequest 22: Leisurely Saturday

The day in between our two screenings was fairly laid back and was not always spent centered around the film festival.

This morning we went to a breakfast and presentation put on by Panasonic. They showed off their newest camera, the HPX 250, which brings back the P2 workflow that's been fairly absent since the HVX 200. The difference between the 250 and the 200 is the 250's updated Intra-AVC codec which allows you to shoot 10 bit uncompressed onto P2 cards. The body is very much like a DVX or HVX, only just a wee bit larger and a wee bit heavier.

I was able to play around with one that was on display. My time with it was limited and I wasn't able to play with all the settings, but the camera does have the potential to replace the HVX for doc filmmakers and students. However, for narratives, unless you're shooting doc style, I don't know if you'd want to leave behind the interchangeable lenses of the AF-100 or the Canon 7D/5D for this particular camera. As always, depends on the nature of the project. Still, the images that were on display form this camera were very impressive and the colors were quite rich.

After breakfast, I, my fiance, and my producer Andrew Logan spent some time at the San Jose Museum of Art. While not a large museum, it was a lovely space and featured a Joan Brown exhibit. I had never seen here work prior to this visit, but I fell in love with her ever evolving and personal style. It was so striking and inspiring how much her work shifted gears over time. To be able to knock lock yourself in to a particular style is very freeing for any artist.

Also there was a fun piece of work that had magnetic costumes that any visitor could stick onto a row of political figures, including President Obama, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, and Arnold Schwarttzeneger. This was a fun piece to play around with for a few minutes and something you don't always get to see at an unplanned art museum visit: an art display you could actually touch and create new meaning with all on your own:

Unfortunately it's getting late, I'm running out of steam, and we have an early day with our second screening beginning at 1030 AM tomorrow. Next chance I jump on I'll try to talk about two movies that stood out to me that we saw today: the mockumentary from Canada about a children's puppet show called SUNFLOWER HOUR and an energetic, oddball, fun Fellini spoof of a short called ZOLTAN: GANGSTER OF LOVE. Until then...