Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Extras needed


"The Grace Card," a faith-based film with Oscar-winner Louis Gossett Jr. that begins production in the Memphis area next week, is seeking African-American extras for a pair of big church scenes to be shot Oct. 17 and 24.
Interested parties should e-mail contact information to thegracecard@ memphiscalvary.org or call 386-8988. Extras should be willing to be on set for six to eight hours.
"The Grace Card" is being directed by David Evans, writer-director of "Passion Play" productions at Cordova's Calvary Church of the Nazarene, the congregation that helped form Graceworks Pictures. The movie stars actor/comedian Michael Joiner as a bitter Memphis police officer forced to confront his racism when he's brought together with an African-American pastor-cop.

omg/hahaha on DVD



Jokingly dubbed the "Titanic" of the 2008 Indie Memphis Film Festival after it captured most of the event's major awards, Memphis moviemaker Morgan Jon Fox's feature "OMG/HaHaHa" arrives on DVD on Tuesday from Water Bearer Films.
The movie's title is Internet slang for the phrase "Oh my God," followed by laughter.
A tender and impressionistic film structured as a series of video blog entries and stream-of-consciousness vignettes about families, friends, lovers and loners in Midtown Memphis, "OMG/HaHaHa" was named best "Hometowner" feature (devoted to films produced by residents of Memphis and Shelby County), and also earned four other competitive and special awards at the 2008 festival.
The 2009 Indie Memphis Film Festival is underway, and ends on Thursday at Malco's Studio on the Square.
Water Bearer is a company that specializes in art and foreign films, with an emphasis on films with gay themes. Significant directors in the Water Bearer catalogue include Britain's Mike Leigh and Italy's Pier Paolo Pasolini.
A pioneer in local digital filmmaking who has served as a mentor to many younger artists, Fox in July was named one of "25 New Faces in Independent Film" by Filmmaker Magazine, which called Fox "the voice of the YouTube generation."

IM09: Tuesday's Flyer picks




The Memphis Flyer makes its choices for Tuesday here. Pick of the Day is Hometowner winner The Conversion. Doc pick is The Garden, features choices are Cory McAbee's amazing American Astronaut and Stingray Sam, local pick is Mark Jones' On the Edge of Happiness, shorts pick is A City to Yourself. Wild cards: Robyn Hitchcock and Shooting Robert King.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Casting: America's Most Wanted

Notice from LAX CASTING:

Please submit photo or headshot/resume to Angela Frederiksson at 
arayfredriksson@cs.com
if you fit any of the descriptions.  INCLUDE A phone number so we can get in touch with you.






Barreto Character Breakdown:
Main characters:
Janet Barreto: 38 yrs, 350-500lbs, white female. Janet is very lazy, manipulative, and violent with the children. She is a diabetic who doesn’t seem to care where she leaves her insulin needles, and doesn’t make cleanliness a priority. She runs a puppy mill and is a slum lord for a living, and adopts small children from Guatemala like some people collect records. She has very little patience with children, and makes her daughter Marainna care for the small adopted children on her own.
Ramon Barreto: 30s, 165lbs, Hispanic male. Like the song, Ramon apparently likes his women on the trashy side. He is skinny and mean, and instrumental in running the puppy mill business. He is accused of disciplining the children by putting hot peppers in their mouths to make them stop crying and dunking them in barrels of water until they pass out. Despite this harsh behavior, neighbors say he put on a good front. 
Marainna Torres: 17, white and Hispanic female, apprx. 200 lbs. Marainna is Janet’s daughter from a previous relationship, and bears a strong resemblance to her mother. She has been beaten by Janet since her father moved out when she was young and Ramon moved in. Janet basically uses Marainna as a servant and babysitter. She forced Marainna to quit school at age 16 to stay home permanently and take care of all the adopted children by herself. She lives in fear of her mother, and is forced to carry out her duties as the pressure and unhappiness in her builds to a breaking point.
Young Marainna: age 8, resemblance to older Marainna. Young Marainna is afraid of her mother, who beats her often.
Enna Barreto: 2, Hispanic female. Enna was adopted by the Barretos and brought to their home in New Albany, MS. The Barretos abused the poor little girl, and she was subsequently killed when Janet ordered Marainna to discipline the crying child and the teenager snapped. It was Enna’s death that started the investigation into the Barretos. 
Edwin Barreto: 3, Hispanic male. Edwin was also adopted from Guatemala by the Barretos and abused the same way as Enna. When he was recovered by DHS and police from the Barreto household, he immediately formed a special bond with the Chief Deputy Jimmy Edwards. Edwards says that Edwin “picked him” right away. Edwards and his wife began visiting Edwin in foster care, and fell in love with the little boy. Now, they have adopted Edwin into their happy family.
Other adopted children :
Celeste Barreto: 3, Hispanic female
Byron Barreto: 8, Hispanic male
Juan Barreto: 3, Hispanic male
Lucrecia: 2, Hispanic female
Luisa: 2, Hispanic female


IM09: The winners!


Edward Valibus Phillips accepts the award for Hometowner Feature for "The Conversion." Other members of the Corduroy Wednesday team are Ben Rednour (right) and Erik Morrison. At far left is Jimmie Tashie, filmlover, Malco exec and chair of the Memphis and Shelby County Film and TV Commission.


At a modestly rowdy awards ceremony (Elvis Mitchell chided the crowd for not being sufficiently inebriated), awards were handed out for Indie Memphis.

Read John Beifuss' story/blog in the CA here and here.

And Chris Herrington's story in the Memphis Flyer here.

Herrington also provides the Flyer's picks for Monday here.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

IM09: Photos from Saturday

Three cheers each to Nicki Newburger, Robin Salant and Tommy Kha for their continuing devotion to making a photo record of Indie Memphis. See their work on the Indie Memphis homepage, but here are a few Nicki took on Saturday:


Christopher Reyes and Sarah Fleming of Live From Memphis explain how it all works.


Filmmaker Dan Baker at the Filmmaking for the Web workshop.


Misti Rae Warren performs beautifully at the Festival Cafe.


Ben Rednour of Corduroy Wednesday and Christopher Reyes of Live From Memphis try to locate the power button.


Web filmmakers Edward Valibus Phillips, Joe Swanberg, Cory McAbee and Craig Brewer help the rest of us figure it out.


Corduroy Wednesday's Erik Morrison and Edward Valibus Phillips annoy some unidentified blogger.

IM09: Flyer picks today's best


Memphis Flyer film critic Chris Herrington and former New York Times
critic Elvis Mitchell at Saturday's workshop on the state of film criticism.


The Flyer serves up its Indie Memphis Sunday choices here, with The Hand of Fatima as pick of the day. Also: Easier with Practice is feature pick, Ghost Bird is documentary pick, Li'l Film Fest 11 (Musical Horror) is local pick and Nowhere Kids is shorts pick. Wildcard picks include Joe Swanberg's workshop on working with nonprofessional actors, plus the films St. Nick, Hair High and the documentary The Way We Get By. 


Thanks to Chris Herrington for this plug of Li'l Film Fest:
Local Pick: Li'l Film Fest 11: Musical Horror (5:30 p.m., Brooks Museum of Art)
Live From Memphis' Li'l Film Fest series is a very good thing. By giving local filmmakers a manageable task — creating a short film (roughly 5 minutes) on a set topic — the fest has helped to inspire and hone talent in the local scene, while also creating a setting to build the local filmmaking community. The latest Li'l Film Fest — with the promising theme "musical horror" — is being held alongside Indie Memphis. As always, a jury award will be matched by an audience award voted on by those in attendance. Among the notable names in local filmmaking presenting films: Geoffrey Brent Shrewsbury, Jon W. Sparks, HG Ray, and Adam Remsen.





And here's my summary of "The Way We Get By" that I wrote for the Indie Memphis program:


This documentary takes a sympathetic yet unwavering look at three senior citizens determined to maintain purposeful lives even in the face of personal adversity. The trio have assumed the demanding volunteer task of greeting troops coming through the airport at Bangor, Maine. This is no small chore as the airfield has been the departure and return point for hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops going to and coming from Iraq and Afghanistan. For Bill Knight, Joan Gaudet, and Jerry Mundy, this is something they simply must do at any hour of the day or night. Yet they have their own personal issues, such as health, financial problems and for Gaudet, the anxiety of having a granddaughter who will fly helicopters in Iraq. In examining the personal lives of these "troop greeters," documentarian Aaron Gaudet (the son of Joan Gaudet) shows that theaging population of America is tirelessly finding ways to sustain their own humanity, and to teach the rest of us by example.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

IM09: Alternate distribution


Craig Brewer at Indie Memphis 09


Craig Brewer  moderated Saturday afternoon's Cafe Conversation on Filmmaking for the Web with Cory McAbee (Stingray Sam, The American Astronaut), Edward Valibus Phillips (The Conversion) and Joe Swanberg Alexander the Last, Amateur Hour with Joe Swanberg).


The short take: If you thought you had to be creative to make a film, just wait'll you have to think about distribution.


Films are being made for screens of all sizes. "Stingray Sam," for example, was purposely designed to show on all formats -- theater screen to phone screen, full-length or episodic. 


"Young American Bodies" has shown that it's possible to be successful making films for the Web (more later about how "success" is defined).


And locally, "The Conversion" joins "$5 Cover" and "On the Edge of Happiness" as Webisode productions. 


McAbee on merchandising: We've always made music films and now there are different ways for people to hear music. We have these widgets and people can hear some songs from the soundtrack to listed to for free. We also have a making-of series, a kind of Webisode where every week there's a new three-minute documentary of the process of making the film. We have little packages of things you can get for Stingray Sam although someone had a idea for a package where you could get everything at once -- soundtrack, DVD, T-shirt, photo book and downloads. That's what most people are buying.


Swanberg on censorship:
I've been lucky. I first did a show for nerve.com, an adult place. They had no restrictions. We sent the show and they put it on line. IFC, however, is owned by Rainbow Media Network and there is more concern. (Swanberg sent one show to them that included a scene that got their attention). … I got a call from IFC. "We can't put a shot of a woman spreading her legs like that," the guy said. I said, what do you want me to do, take it out? He said, yeah and I said OK, I'd like to put a censor bar over it. He said I couldn't, they were IFC and the slogan is "Always, Uncut." I said, if I remove this, I'm going to be vocal about it in interviews. They came back later and said I could keep it in. I had to fight the fight sometimes and be stubborn. I'm sure it will happen again as we push beyond their comfort level. It's more important to me to make the show I want to than to be on IFC. 


McAbee on technology:
In 1976, everything happened musically. Elvis died, there were the Sex Pistols, rap was beginning. Since then there have been no new genres. It used to be every generation's duty to not represent the one before, but the past two decades it's been reworking of these genres. What young people are doing new is embracing technology and consuming things in new and different ways. They're starting to dictate how they consume and create how they consume. 


Swanberg on presentation:
I'll keep creating for the Web. Anybody in world can go watch it. The other option is what someone like Crispin Glover is doing, no DVD, no bootleg and giving live presentations and charging cash. It makes it really difficult to see but it's an experience to see it. Every feature I've shot I've know will end as a DVD. But for small format, I emphasize closeups and bold solid colors and thinking about compression since they'll go on a two-inch screen.


McAbee on success:
Longevity -- if people want to watch for a long time, if, after five years, people are still interested.


Brewer on success:
When you open up the trade press or newspapers, they tell you who won the race over numbers, usually in the arts. Ask yourself if that is your meter. … You can't compete with a kitten getting a million views -- that's not good business. It's a longevity question. You establish your brand on your own terms. 


Phillips  on success: 
If you play on YouTube the thing is if you go viral. If you do, YouTube sends you an invitation for revenue sharing. And you get a banner and three cents a view.

IM09: Critics convene


John Beifuss sees his name spelled correctly




The panel "When Critics Converse," part of the Cafe Conversation series at Indie Memphis, brought together three film reviewers to discuss the state of film -- and critical -- arts. 


Elvis Mitchell (former critic for The New York Times), John Beifuss (The Commercial Appeal) and Chris Herrington (The Memphis Flyer) participated. Here are some excerpts:




Beifuss: The economy is so bad that everybody is pulling back. Studios don't want to spend the money to ship the prints to Memphis to have them viewed in advance and pay local rep to coordinate screenings. We used to have three or four a week and now it's more like one every two weeks. But you still get a chance to see art and indie films. That's one area where we have influence locally -- people may not have heard of a film until they read it in the local newspaper.


Mitchell: We're in an era of big budget films that studios don't show to anybody ahead of release. It's fascinating -- during a recession, more people want to be distracted and entertained than before and you'd think studios would spend some money, but they're retrenching.


Herrington: Studios want to control the message. More and more, marketing is taking over from criticism.


Mitchell: Fifteen years ago, critics drove that. In towns not in the top markets, people develop relationships with critics and want to know what they think. 


Beifuss: I like the idea of having a local critic writing for your audience. But I don't know if younger people don't really care because everything's online.


Herrington: The problem is not just with distributors and PR agencies. Sometimes good movies are left to die by exhibitors. 


Mitchell: The dirty little secret of newspapers is that the sports section is taken more seriously but entertainment offers most revenue. But a lot of ads went to TV around 2001 where they got a better bang for the buck.


Beifuss: If the Memphis movie scene hadn't blossomed I don't think I'd be writing movie reviews. If this film festival hadn't grown the way it has, if Craig Brewer hadn't emerged and other movies hadn't decided to shoot here, I wouldn't have the specialty of writing about movies.


Herrington: We're locally owned, so I have a lot of autonomy. I don't use wire reviews ever. I always assign them or write them myself, but I have limited space to only run one to three reviews. I don't worry about reviewing big commercial releases. We try to focus more on what we perceive as interesting movies. I lean in favor of what seems be good or can be helped by the review.


Mitchell: There are more movie screens than 10 years ago, but the paucity of movies in theaters is insane to me. There is money to be made. People want to see them.


Herrington: This theater (Malco Studio on the Square) is the only one in the core of the city. But there's so much residential construction that something has to be built. A 6- to 10-screen theater where there is residential growth should happen in the next 5 to 10 years, and free up more screens for indie/art films.


IM09 workshops/panels today




Very cool stuff:


Saturday, noon, Festival Cafe:

Get the ins and outs of The Film Festival Circuit with Chris Holland (Film Festival Secrets) and Heidi Van Lier (The Indie Film Rule Book), who will share years of accumulated knowledge and insight. Learn where and how to submit your film, and get advice on developing your own festival submission strategy.
Saturday, 1 p.m., Festival Cafe:
Join John Beifuss (The Commercial Appeal and The Bloodshot Eye), Chris Herrington (Memphis Flyer) and former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell (host of KCRW's The Treatment) to see what happens When Critics Converse. Learn about the changes that the advent of the Internet has brought to the profession and hear about their personal experiences, perspectives and observations -- and find out why they connect with the films they love best (maybe).
Saturday, 2 p.m., Festival Cafe:
Craig Brewer ($5 Cover) moderates this Cafe Conversation on Filmmaking for the Web with Cory McAbee (Stingray Sam, The American Astronaut), Edward Valibus Phillips (The Conversion) and Joe Swanberg Alexander the Last, Amateur Hour with Joe Swanberg) to discuss the latest trend in independent filmmaking.
Saturday, 3 p.m., Festival Cafe:
Got a question about indie filmmaking? Need to find out what's wrong with your film -- and what's right? Ask Heidi Van Lier, author of The Indie Film Rule Book and the "Indie Film Q & A with Heidi Van Lier" blog for Film Independent. Heidi advises 10-20 filmmakers a year, speaks at colleges and on film festival panels (like this one!), and programs the Slamdance Film Festival. Her first feature, Chi Girl won the Slamdance's Grand Jury Prize in 1999 and sold to IFC Films. Her second feature Monday, will be released soon digitally through Cinetic Rights Management. She is just finishing her third feature, American Decaf, which will hit the festival circuit in 2010.

Breakfast with Memphis Cool Movies



This morning, 10 to noon. Bagels, coffee and filmmakers, sponsored by this blog. Come to the tent at Indie Memphis and enjoy. Guaranteed no rain!

The Flyer's daily picks and guide is here. Chris Herrington likes Pontypool and Zombie Girl as well as The American Astronaut and Strongman. Also noteworthy: The Music Video Showcase at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, October 9, 2009

IM09: Friday and some updates





Indie Memphis is underway with a couple of changes already:

-- The outdoor screenings scheduled for today have been put off due to rain. Look for a resked.

-- Saturday’s free Savage County Sneak has been canceled. Hope springs eternal for a rescheduled event after the festival.

IM09 media wrapup:

The Memphis Flyer's daily picks are here. (Alexander the Last, Stingray Sam, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, Kentucker Audley screening, Jennifer -- wildcard picks are Flipside Memphis and Paranormal Activity)

The Flyer has a general story here and an interview with director Scott Teems of the featured "That Evening Sun" here. The Flyer's print edition also has a pullout section on the festival.

The CA's GoMemphis section has Indie Memphis info. John Beifuss writes about sci-fi westerns here and Bob Mehr writes about Robyn Hitchcock here. Beifuss also has a video report here (go to Featured Videos).

Tonight's Craig Brewer special Paranormal Activity is sold out or nearly so. The last minute addition (reviewed here in the New York Times) might or might not get another screening at some point. If you didn't get tix for tonight's show, keep your antenna up.

Also, follow IM09 on Twitter here: #im09 and be looking for Rachel "@RachelandtheCity" Hurley's posts along with @Indiememphis, @mybrewtube, @jonwsparks, @skeletonkey, @ilovememphis, @valibus, @artsmemphis.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

IM09: Opening Night


Erik Jambor and Les Edwards TCB @ IM09

Indie Memphis director Erik Jambor was prostrate on the floor in the lobby of Studio on the Square. Nothing was wrong, it was just a long haul to this moment when the opening night's screenings had finally gotten underway. In fact, he was pretty pleased with the way things were going.

"We're thrilled with the great turnout," he said. "It's a great crowd in the hospitality tent and the rain held off."

At about 8 p.m., Erik and Les Edwards, a producer and long-time fixture of Indie Memphis, were on their phones and huddled over a laptop, smoothing wrinkles and keeping things moving ahead, toward the post-screening Q&As, the after party and then six more days of glorious film.

The festival volunteers were deftly taking care of business with good humor and making sure filmmakers got wrangled, members were tended to, tickets were distributed and merch sold.

All in the name of bringing a singular cinematic experience to town.

"It's important for us to highlight Robert King and do the tie-in with the exhibition last night and the film tonight," Erik said. King is a Memphis photographer who has spent his life taking pictures in war zones such as Iraq and Bosnia. The documentary of King by British filmmakers Richard Parry and Vaughan Smith was featured Thursday night and an exhibit of King's photos opened Wednesday at Marshall Arts.

Among those there to see "Shooting Robert King" or the feature "That Evening Sun" were Jimmie and Nancy Tashie, Linn Sitler, Hunter Deusing, Haley Giles, Elvis Mitchell, Sarah Fleming, J. Lazarus Hawk, Craig Brewer, Erin Hagee, Mark Jones, Don Meyers, Matt Beickert, Tommy Kha and Robin Salant.

And so was the terrific character actor Barry Corbin who stars in "That Evening Sun." "He hasn't seen the film yet," said Erik, "so that's why he's here, as are some of Dixie Carter's friends. So it's a special evening."

I'll buy your breakfast






Yes, I'll buy your breakfast and maybe I'll drink your milkshake, too.


This weekend's discussions/networking/panels/workshops at IM09 offer hours of info, experience and maybe an epiphany or two for film makers and the people who love them.


And yes, Memphis Cool Movies, this very blog that you're reading as you're driving down Poplar is sponsoring Saturday's Filmmaker Networking Breakfast starring tasty bagels and piping hot coffee from Bogie's Deli. Filmmakers will be there talking about Friday night's amazing films/parties/frolics and pitching future projects. Come and butter a bagel with us Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Festival Cafe out front of Malco Studio on the Square.


Then stick around for the rest of the weekend's tent revivals -- all of which are free, making it ideal for the poor and hungry:


Saturday, noon, Festival Cafe:
Get the ins and outs of The Film Festival Circuit with Chris Holland (Film Festival Secrets) and Heidi Van Lier (The Indie Film Rule Book), who will share years of accumulated knowledge and insight. Learn where and how to submit your film, and get advice on developing your own festival submission strategy.
Saturday, 1 p.m., Festival Cafe:
Join John Beifuss (The Commercial Appeal and The Bloodshot Eye), Chris Herrington (Memphis Flyer) and former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell (host of KCRW's The Treatment) to see what happens When Critics Converse. Learn about the changes that the advent of the Internet has brought to the profession and hear about their personal experiences, perspectives and observations -- and find out why they connect with the films they love best (maybe).
Saturday, 2 p.m., Festival Cafe:
Craig Brewer ($5 Cover) moderates this Cafe Conversation on Filmmaking for the Web with Cory McAbee (Stingray Sam, The American Astronaut), Edward Valibus Phillips (The Conversion) and Joe Swanberg Alexander the Last, Amateur Hour with Joe Swanberg) to discuss the latest trend in independent filmmaking.
Saturday, 3 p.m., Festival Cafe:
Got a question about indie filmmaking? Need to find out what's wrong with your film -- and what's right? Ask Heidi Van Lier, author of The Indie Film Rule Book and the "Indie Film Q & A with Heidi Van Lier" blog for Film Independent. Heidi advises 10-20 filmmakers a year, speaks at colleges and on film festival panels (like this one!), and programs the Slamdance Film Festival. Her first feature, Chi Girl won the Slamdance's Grand Jury Prize in 1999 and sold to IFC Films. Her second feature Monday, will be released soon digitally through Cinetic Rights Management. She is just finishing her third feature, American Decaf, which will hit the festival circuit in 2010.
Sunday, 10 a.m., Festival Cafe:
Join Fuel Film Memphis for Sunday's Filmmaker Networking Breakfast and hear about plans for Filmmaker and Investor Forums, our survey and the January Kick-Off Event, as you enjoy tasty bagels and coffee from Bogie's Deli.
Sunday, noon, Festival Cafe:
Join Steven Beckman (Cinetic Media, Chris Holland and others for Distribute Me: A Conversation on Getting Your Film Out to the World. Hear about how filmmakers are getting their films out there, and learn what options might be right for your next project.
Sunday, 1 p.m., Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
Independent filmmaker Joe Swanberg is acclaimed both for his films (Kissing on the Mouth, LOL, Hannah Takes the Stairs, Nights and Weekends, Alexander the Last) and for his episodic work for the web (Young American Bodies, The Stagg Party, Butterknife). In addition to its unadorned style, naturalistic dialog, and loosely scripted narratives, Joe's work is notable for its use of non-professional actors.
In this workshop, Joe will share his personal experiences and opinions on the appeal of Working with Nonprofessional Actors, as well as challenges and potential problems. He'll also discuss the different ways that nonprofessionals can be used most effectively, such as building characters around the actor and putting them in comfortable situations. Workshop participants will have an opportunity to share experiences and ask questions about their own projects, as well.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Acting class with Darius Wallace

ACTING FOR FILM WITH DARIUS WALLACE
Come join the Actors Community, Tuesday, October 6th, at Caritas Village from 6:30p to 8:30p to begin work on acting for film. We will be preparing to work with writer, director, and actor; Darius Wallace.

Darius Wallace attended Interlochen Arts Academy where he studied theatrical arts. He then attended SUNY Purchase Theatre Arts School in New York, a school of professional theatre. He wrote and produced a one-manshow on the life of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Fredrick Douglas. Darius has toured his one-man shows around the country through mobile productions which has been seen in forty-eight states. The show Malcolm X received rave reviews by the LA Times and LA Weekly. He recently finished shooting the movie Nothing But the Truth with Kate Beckinsdale and Matt Dillion. He is currently in post production on his own movie, 100 Lives, which he wrote, directed and produced.

Directions to Caritas Village are below.

For more information send e-mails to jenneanfarmer@gmail.com.

Directions to Caritas Village
Take Poplar Avenue westbound
Turn right on Merton Street
Turn left on Harvard Avenue
Caritas Village will be to the left
2509 Harvard Avenue