Tuesday, March 27, 2012

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.



Thursday, March 15, 2012

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


Monday, March 12, 2012

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.

Friday, March 9, 2012

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.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

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.)


Monday, March 5, 2012

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

Sunday, March 4, 2012

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...

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Cinequest 22: San Jose, hospitality, and our first screening

Venue for "Do Over" at Cinequest 22
Over the years I have heard so many wonderful things about Cinequest as a festival, as an organization, as a place the fosters networking and puts all of its filmmakers - no matter whether they made a feature or short - feel like their on top of the world. This is my first trip to Cinequest and to the quirky little town of San Jose, CA and I feel like everything I've been told has been confirmed in just a matter of days.

We were greeted warmly at the hospitality desk at the Intel VIP Lounge. We filled out name tags that say "My neverending passion is..." and you fill in the rest with a sharpie (I wrote "spaghetti," both because I thought writing "movies" would be redundant and self-evident and... because I do really love spaghetti.) And when I contacted publicity about putting up posters at our venue at the last minute, they told me to call Dustin and he'd get us whatever we need (thanks so much Dustin!).

Cinequest greets in style
This gentleman to the right was greeting folks at our screening venue throughout the day. Any time I walk inside he'd direct me to one of the festivals patrons or long time supporters so I could tell them about DO OVER. He was jolly and caught everybody's eye. I wish he could be at every venue.

At VIP Soirees and after hours Meet Ups, Cinequest has volunteers or envoys who help connect people at those events. They have served as great facilitators for conversation and networking between filmmakers and festival programmers/organizers. For someone who can be a bit networking shy, this has been extremely helpful. Its a feature I wish every festival could employ. The volunteers here are very outgoing and energetic. They are made up of San Jose State students, aspiring free lance filmmakers, and longtime supporters of the festival.

In a way, Cinequest is like SXSW and Austin Film Festival are to Austin: Huge fests that attract an international audience but that are also supported and attended by the city their based in. I've met quite a few members of the San Jose film community. Everyone seems excited to talk about what you worked on and to tell you about films you should check out if you have time at the fest. I have no idea what the San Jose film infrastructure is like, but I get the sense that there is a loose community here of very passionate filmmakers and positive personalities.

On Friday night at 6:45 PM we had our Cinequest premiere as part of Shorts Program 7: Comedy Favorites. DO OVER played first and it seemed to play well. I wouldn't say it brought down the house as much as I'd have like, but the audience was warm and definitely in the movie's corner. A few big laughs with smaller laughs rolling throughout the film. When we hit the main title, we did audibly hear a "Bravo!" form the front row of the theater. Never heard that before at a screening of one of my movies! That felt good and was emblematic of how the San Jose audience will make you feel like your movie is the only one they came to see.

There were some technical difficulties toward the end of the screening. I feel really bad for the filmmakers of "Fuck Lance Armstrong" (great title - nothing against Lance - that's just a good title). Their movie froze midway through and there was just no getting it  back. Have no idea if it was a projection issue or a format issue. No matter what, you don't wish that upon anybody.

The technical malfunction threw the screening off quite a bit at the end. There was a point where, while festival staff was trying to fix the issue, they had us come up for a Q and A before the last film. The Q and A went fine but after the fest tried to run the last film and it didn't work, the Q and A did not continue. I don't think there was an opportunity for audience members to identify who all the filmmakers were and have a chance to continue the conversation out in the lobby. Hopefully, things will run more smoothly at the second screening.

I have to run, but to get one final subplot in: While hanging out at the Intel VIP Lounge, Elliott Gould - recipient of one of the fest's Mavericks Awards - entered and was being given a tour. The man was in MASH, LONG GOODBYE, CALIFORNIA SPLIT! It was so cool he was there and I got to shake his hand. But the real coup was made our producer, Andrew Logan:

Producer Andrew Logan with Elliott Gould