LFF Thanks!

Thanks to all who came out and supported the Li'l Film Festival 4 on Saturday. Independent filmmaking in the Mid-South relies on all of you.

Special thanks to star Amber O'Daniels who is utterly amazing. And another special thanks to her co-star, the fully reliable Markus 'King Indie' Seaberry who is second to nobody in his love and dedication to films and filmmaking. And further thanks to the supporting cast and my family for large amounts of indulgence.

Let us also heap praise on LiveFromMemphis.com which created and sustains not only Li'l Film Fest but is committed to making the most of the creative class in this region. And of course the hard-working Shelby County Film and TV Commission -- Linn and Sharon -- deserve kudos for being there and nurturing the spirit.

So OK, but what's next.

Hey, don't rush me, I'm working on it.

Li'l Film Fest Saturday

From today's CA:

The fourth and final Li'l Film Fest for 2006 takes place at 2 p.m. at the MeDiA Co-op theater at First Congregational Church, 1000 S. Cooper. Sponsored by Live from Memphis, a Web site devoted to art, film and music, this year-end minifest showcases "Politically Incorrect Holidays" with 10 shorts by local filmmakers, including such titles as "Adopt a Freak Day," "Happy Artistic Freedom Day" and "Santa Claus vs. Kung Fu Baby." Thanks to the sponsorship of the Memphis & Shelby County Film Commission, winners of the festival's "Audience Choice Award" and "Jury Award" each will receive a $200 prize.

Admission is free. Visit livefrommemphis.com or call 523-9763.

Casting: In An Instant

'In An Instant' feature

CAST & CREW search for Film - National Distribution Home DVD
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY begins ASAP the month of DECEMBER.

Email headshots, resume, links to website w/demo reels to
BeAboutit@arnitawilliams.com. Include INSTANT FEATURE in Subject Line

CREW
Producers
Line producers
Casting Directors
Camera Operator
Production Assistants
Wardrobe
Make-up
Hair Stylist
Light Technicians
Sound Technicians
Props
Set Decorators
Location Mgr/Loc.Scouts

CAST
Principal/Dayplayer /Background Roles
This is a story about a close knit family that all become suspects in
the mysterious death of the twin sister's mischievous pro-ball
playing husband. Was his sudden death an accident or a planned
incident? Suspense Drama, Mystery, Deception, and Murder?

Kyra - Twin Sister Married. Already Cast

Kristine- Twin Sister Attorney. Already Cast

Devin- Husband, Very Handsome, Athletic, Very Fit and very tall Late
20's early 30's. Ability to play Sports a plus. Lead

Mr. Cook- Twin's father- Handsome fit Male must look 40-60s. Principal

Mrs. Cook- Twins mother- Female must look 40-50. Principal

Ron (Kristine's Fiance)- Very Attractive Male, Late 20's or early
30's

Tiffany- Beautiful, model type, Scandalous Preganant Girl, Blonde
Caucasian- Young looking adult college age

Stacy- Groupie Girls,Sexy, Attractive Model Types. Principal

Kelly- Groupie Girl, Sexy, Attractive Model Type. Principal

Groupie Girls.(2) Young Adult, Sexy, Attractive Model Type All
Ethnicities. Featured

Isaiah- Kyra's Good Male Friend, Any Ethnicity, Tall Handsome,
Articulate, Fit, Lead.

Judge - Mature professional looking

Attorney(3)- Mature professional looking male and female

Jury Members (12) Adults,Any ethnicity, Any Gender. Featured

Police Investigators( 2)

Doctors- 2 male or female

Nurse- 1 male or female
Lab Technician -male or female

www.ArnitaWilliams.com
213-403-4001

Actress between 21-28 (nudity)

Seeking actress Between the ages of 21 and 28. This is for a horror film that already has a distribution deal. Actress will be given a good deferment deal. Race not an issue.
Must be willing to be nude and must be willing to be covered in gore.

The piece is called "Touching you" and it is part of a project called "the sick"
Contact Timm Scalita at scalita1@hotmail.com or at myspace.com/scalita1

Li'l Film Fest lineup -- coming Saturday

Live From Memphis™ is announcing the 4th and final round of Li’l Film Fest for 2006. The festival is Saturday, December 16, 2006 at 2pm at the Memphis Digital Arts Co-operative (1000 S. Cooper Memphis, TN 38104).

LFM thanks the Memphis & Shelby County Film & Television Commission for their support of the Li’l Film Fest: Beginning this quarter, they have generously agreed to provide the awards for the festival, including a new “Jury Award” (in addition to the “Audience Choice Award”). That’s right, we now have 2 awards to give away!!

The following is a list of accepted films and filmmakers:

"Happy Artistic Freedom Day" Jon W. Sparks
"Hot Wheels Night" C. Scott McCoy
"Help a Heathen Day" Patrick Niedzwiedz
"My Little Gingerbread" Alice McLallen & Will Hendricks
"Rationalization Day" Adam Remsen
"Adopt a Freak Day" Byerly, Scalita, & Craig
"Kung Fu Baby vs. Santa Clause" Nick Ross
"George and Martha" Donald Meyers
"25 Feet From Love” Razor Teeth
“Conversion Tactics” Christopher Reyes

The event is free and open to the public; Live From Memphis and the MeDiA Co-op will be accepting donations. Support Local Filmmakers! For More information about the LI’L FILM FEST please visit: http://www.livefrommemphis.com/filmfest or give us a call: 523-9763.

Li’l Film Fest is a new kind of festival, highlighting local talent while showcasing interesting happenings around town. Here’s how the festival works: Every 3 months LFM staff members announce a new theme to the filmmaking community. Filmmakers then put their own unique spin on producing a short film.

The theme for the fourth Li’l Film Fest is “politically incorrect holidays,” meaning that each film submission must somehow relate to that topic. The winners will each be awarded a $200 cash prize and will also be guaranteed a spot in the next Indie Memphis Film Festival. Additionally, the li'l films must not exceed 5 minutes in length.

Live From Memphis™ supports and promotes local musicians, filmmakers, artists, creative businesses, and organizations. It is our mission to connect creatives, grow opportunity, and gain exposure for our creative culture. Please help support our local community by joining, donating, or simply spreading the word.

Wednesday: Micro Cenema Club (free!)

Indie Memphis, organizer of the annual Soul of Southern Film Festival, is featuring works from NextFrame, the University Film and Video Association’s (UFVA) touring festival of international student film and video at the next Micro Cinema Club screening, Wednesday, December 13, 7:30 p.m., Power House gallery, 45 G.E. Patterson. Admission is free and open to everyone.

The December 13 lineup will feature 10 short animated films:

FUGA (Fugue), a man’s encounter with childhood and fleeting memories, directed by Or Moran of the Bezalel Academy of Art & Design, Israel.

Unwilled Inheritance: A Portrait of Three Generations, provides an emotional look at the filmmakers’ distant relationship with his father that is meticulously hand-crafted. Directed by Nathan Broaddus of Hampshire College, MA, this short took second place in the 2006 festival.

Ring of Fire, directed by Rini Yun Keagy of Temple University, PA, explores the shape of things as a volcano loses its head in Indonesia.

Flight, directed by Andrew Allen of University of Washington, WA, provides a condensed history of aviation and man’s fascination in reaching the skies.

In a Distance, But Within View, directed by You-Jin Lee from Rhode Island School of Design, RI, is a visual poem in short stop animation.

Garbus (Hunchback), directed by Joanna Polak, Akademia Sztuk Pieknych, Poland, is a poignant tale about society’s outcast noted for its moving black and white hand-drawn animation.

Latent Sorrow, directed by Shon Kim, of Cal Arts, CA, fuses the abstract with the literal.

Monster, directed by Michaela Ostadalova, Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, Slovakia, and 2006 first place winner, highlights the moment when you discover a monster in your house.

Say Yesss, directed by Christopher Thomas, Temple University, PA, takes a close look at insect love.

Telekontar, directed by Galit Weisberg, Tel-Hai Rodman College, Israel, follows an alien in his journey through malicious yet enchanting landscapes.

NextFrame, now in its fifteenth year, is recognized as the world’s premiere touring festival for showcasing student work and promising visionaries of the next generation of filmmaking. For more information about NextFrame, visit www.temple.edu/nextframe .

The Indie Memphis Micro Cinema Club is focused on showing short films—those that are shorter in length than a feature film—of independent filmmakers from across the globe to promote indie artists and expose audiences to the diverse array of interesting films that before now have never made it to the Memphis market. The Micro Cinema Club is held the second Wednesday of every month at 7:30 p.m. in the Power House, admission is free. December’s screening is approximately 60 minutes with popcorn and beverages provided. Donations are recommended.

Smart City on indie movies

Worth your time is a visit to the Smart City Memphis blog.

It reports that the organization CEOs For Cities has issued City Vitals -- indicators about the largest 50 MSA’s in several categories.

An excerpt:

Memphis tended to rank in the lower middle in most of the rankings, but in the category of distinctiveness, we recorded our strong marks. One of these was the Weirdness Index where we were 19th among the 50 metro areas.

In ... the distinctiveness category, Memphis achieved its highest ranking - #4 in the category of “Movie Variety.” For this, cities were ranked according to their variances between local movie attendance and national movie attendance for the top 60 motion pictures nationally. Perhaps, here, we should call this the Craig Brewer Factor, because clearly, Memphians are drawn to off-beat, indie productions, which should be a pretty obvious hint to the competitive beachhead we could establish in that industry.

Li'l Film Fest 4 -- Dec. 16

Li'l Film Fest 4: "Politically Incorrect Holidays" is just around the corner!!

The li'l fest will be on Satruday, December 16th at 2pm. The fest will be held at the MeDiA Co-op. Come on out and join us in celebrating the end of our first year - Support local filmmakers.

Toast to Living History on Thursday

In celebration of some of the esteemed artisans in our community, True Story Pictures is hosting “A Toast to Living History: The Arts Interviews DVD Release Party & Wine Tasting,” on Thursday, December 7th from 5:30 to 8:30pm in the main gallery at Memphis College of Art in Overton Park. The public is invited to attend.

This dynamic event will celebrate Memphis artists Billy Price Carroll, Larry Edwards, George Hunt, Dick Knowles, Marjorie Liebman, Veda Reed, Murray Riss, Ted Rust, Dolph Smith, Agnes Stark, Mahaffey White, Ernest Withers, and Steve Yee. These artists will be the honored guests for the evening, and event attendees will have an opportunity to meet them and offer them a celebratory toast to their accomplishments.

The event will offer a tasting of the fine wines of Bernardus Winery in Carmel Valley – the Marinus, Pinot Noir, and Sauvignon Blanc - and savory hors d’oeuvres, cheeses, and desserts selected for their pairing with the wines. Attendees will be able to purchase the newly released DVDs of The Arts Interviews: Series One, in which the artists discuss their lives and creative work. These beautifully designed DVDs (there are 10 DVDs in Series One) each feature an individual artist and include an in-depth video interview and a slide show of the artist’s work.

At the event, attendees will also be able to view an on-going presentation of The Arts Interviews documentary (a compilation that includes highlights from each of the interviews), which will be showing on a loop in two different rooms off the main gallery.

Advance tickets may be purchased for $25, or you can get tickets for $30 at the door. To purchase tickets online, go to http://www.truestorypictures.org/special_event.html or call Joann Self, Founder and Executive Director of True Story Pictures, at (901) 274-9092. Parking for the event is free at Memphis College of Art and in the Overton Park area.

Event sponsors are: Tennessee Arts Commission, Greater Memphis Arts Council, Junior League of Memphis, Memphis College of Art, Bernardus Winery, and Jaco-Bryant Printers.

True Story Pictures is non-profit organization with a mission to build relationships and preserve community history by documenting and sharing life stories. Find out more at www.truestorypictures.org.

LTTM: Best of 2006

This month LTTM will be airing a "Best of 2006" episode where we show the films that created the most buzz on our web site, email and in the film community. The following films will be shown in December:

Ad Man - (from episode 2) Directed by Chad Schaffler, Iddo Patt, and Kaleo Quenzer.

The Galapagos Brothers - (from episode 1) Directed by C.R. Smithmier.

The Scot and the Aussie: First Meeting - (from episode 3) Directed by Jerome Bethea and Travis Palmer.

Split Decision - (from episode 1) Directed by Ashley Fowler.

Music for ending credits - The First Christmas - by Nancy Apple and Johnny Surber

Be sure to look for the bonus film at the end of the credits:

Million Dollar Boots - A music video directed by Old School Pictures featuring Lord T and Eloise with a special appearance by Al Kapone.

Screen test for future feature film Victorious

For more info or to enter a film, go here.

Check with the Library Channel web site or our web site for scheduling info. This is a weekly schedule that will begin on December 4th.

Thanks to all entrants. Remember, just because your film was not selected for this month, it does not mean it won't be shown in a future episode. This is a monthly program.

Studio nixed

From the CA story by David Williams and John Beifuss:

Village Roadshow Pictures, a film company behind the Matrix trilogy and other hits, won't be opening a regional headquarters in Memphis.

The company's request for $5 million in city-county incentives, plus increased state incentives above those already flowing from 2006 film legislation, doomed a deal that had been in negotiations for months. It had been touted since the summer as a potential entertainment and economic coup, creating a stream of made-in-Memphis films and some $250 million in production spending over five years.

"It was an innovative concept if the terms had been realistic and workable, but they weren't," said Linn Sitler, Memphis and Shelby County Film & Television commissioner.

The company's proposed terms were rejected Wednesday in a letter to Greg Basser, CEO of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group USA, from Sitler and Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission executive director David Bennett.

Bennett said the Memphis initiative was never a priority for Village Roadshow. Asked if the company was seriously thinking of opening production facilities in Memphis, he said: "I don't think so. I think there was a possibility that it could have occurred if they had gotten everything they had asked for ...

"We don't throw money out in advance to bait companies to come here, and that's basically what they were asking for. It's typical of an economic development deal that the company coming in asks for the moon and sees if they can get it."

Wednesday's letter noted that Village Roadshow was seeking incentives that "would rank among the most generous granted by any state in this country."

In the letter and in a phone interview, Sitler expressed the hope that Memphis and Village Roadshow could "partner successfully at a later date," perhaps resulting in the company shooting a movie here.

But it appears there was no chance of local and state government accepting Village Roadshow's terms for the regional headquarters: "It's asking for too much," Sitler said.

In addition to seeking city-county funding and increased state incentives, Village Roadshow apparently halved the amount of money it would spend in-state to $125 million over five years.

Also, according to Village Roadshow's proposed terms, the company wouldn't guarantee in-state spending. Instead, it used such phrases as "with a goal of" and "every effort will be used."

But Rey Flemings, who led the Village Roadshow recruitment when he was president of the nonprofit Memphis Music Foundation, disagreed with Bennett.

"Village Roadshow's interest in getting this done was sincere," Flemings said. "They're a global company. Whenever they look at doing significant blocks of production, they have to weigh all of the financial incentives."

Flemings left the foundation in September to join Justin Timberlake's organization as the homegrown pop star seeks to relaunch Stax Records.

The Stax relaunch -- which has yet to be officially announced -- would be a partnership with California-based Concord Music Group, whose owners -- Norman Lear and Hal Gaba -- own part of Village Roadshow.

Brewer's 'Moan' going to Sundance

Memphis filmmaker Craig Brewer will return to the Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of "Black Snake Moan," the $13 million followup to his Oscar-winning "Hustle & Flow," festival officials announced Thursday. The festival is Jan. 18-28 in Park City, Utah.

"Black Snake," with Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci and a host of Memphis talent -- is one of 17 movies screening in the out-of-competition "Premieres" category of the festival, devoted to "the latest work from established American and international directors."

There's more at John Beifuss' blog.

Thanks and oops

Thanks to those hardy souls who came to the screening of Memphis Muck and the incredible 2006 Music Video collection produced by Live From Memphis. I apologize again for the technical snafu that only let us see about two thirds of the Muck doc. The software and hardware perpetrators are being tried in a sham court and will be executed immediately upon sentencing.

Very special thanks to Christopher Reyes and Sarah Fleming of Live From Memphis for providing the Music Videos that were screened last month at the Indie Memphis Film Festival. You can see those videos here, but there was nothing like seeing them on the semi-big screen at the MeDiA Co-op. Directors John Michael McCarthy, Christopher Reyes, Clayton Hurley, Banner Gwin and Waheed alQawasmi were among several contributing work that was innovative, startling and memorable.

Another significant thank you to the MeDiA Co-op for being what it is. It provides space and resources for film makers and film lovers. It's been an essential part of the Memphis indie movie community and deserves your support (especially the financial kind).

Nashville Film Fest: deadline extended

Nashville Film Festival is extending 2007 Call For Entries deadline for all Tennessee filmmakers.

Includes YOUNG FILMMAKER (18 yrs and under) and MUSIC VIDEO categories.
Director must be a current resident of TN.

TN Filmmaker Deadline: January 1, 2007

Entry Fee:
Under 40 min....................$45
40 min. and over...............$60
Music Video.......................$20
Young Filmmaker..............$15


Tennessee Independent Spirit Award
Sponsored by the Tennessee Film, Music, and Entertainment Commission, this award acknowledges the best film (in any category) made by a Tennessee resident. Winner receives a cash prize of $1000.

Best Young Filmmaker Award
(Filmmakers 18 and under) Director of film chosen for this award receives a $3000 scholarship to Watkins Film School (Nashville, TN). (Open to all Young Filmmaker submissions.)

NEW AWARD: Rosetta Miller-Perry Award for Best Film by a Black Filmmaker
Acknowledges the best film (in any category) by a black director.
Winner receives a cash prize of $500.

To submit your film, visit nashvillefilmfestival.org for entry form and complete details. You can submit through withoutabox.com or download a PDF version of our entry form. If submitting through Withoutabox you will need to indicate you have received a DEADLINE WAIVER in order to submit.