Friday Film Clip: Breathe. Focus. Octopus.
Breathe. Focus. Octopus. from Jon Gann on Vimeo.
If you ever wanted to see the kind of short film a festival programmer would make, here’s your chance. Jon Gann is the driving force behind the D.C. Shorts Film Festival. Jon and his team made this film as part of the Washington D.C. edition of the 48 Hour Film Project.
Vimeo Awards and Festival
The Vimeo Festival and Awards invites video creators throughout the world to submit their finest original online videos and then come celebrate as we award the best of the best. All the details on how to submit your videos, and/or buy tickets to the upcoming events, coming soon!
I’m not usually keen on online festivals but it looks as if Vimeo will be holding “real world” screenings as well for their awards in Fall 2010. Keep an eye on this one.
Film Festival Secrets Podcast #8 – Dallas IFF, festival jury process, meeting your idols, and more.
In this episode Jesse Trussell and Chris Holland gab about the Dallas International Film Fest, Cannes, and other things.
Links mentioned in the podcast:
- The Dallas Film Festival
- American: The Bill Hicks Story
- Clay Liford’s Earthling
- Pete Docter at Dallas IFF
- Jonathan Lisecki’s Gayby
- Heidi van Lier’s Indie Film Rule Book
- Interview with Withoutabox’s Christian Gaines
- Cannes Film Festival
- Cannes Market
- Universal Soldier IV news
Got questions? We’ll answer ‘em! Send email to chris@filmfestivalsecrets.com or reply to @ffsecrets on Twitter.
Download the MP3 now or subscribe in iTunes.
Photo credit: Retinafunk
Freedom Sparks film festival
LightCube Video is seeking video and experimental film works exploring the themes of Freedom and Independence and their relation to Sustainability: societal, economic and environmental.
Chosen, curated videos will be exhibited at Visual Voice gallery in Montreal, and given online exposure and sales potential on LightCubevideo.com. Online digital formats will be specially formatted for fine art collectors or film distribution.
The FREEDOM SPARKS VIDEO AND FILM Festival will open July 1 (Canadian Independence Day) and run through the 4th of July, (American Independence Day) for two weeks.
THERE IS NO ENTRANCE FEE. Works will be curated by selected independent curators.
DEADLINE: May 30, 2010.
Friday Film Clip: “The Pitch” bumper from Sundance 2010
All of the bumps at Sundance this year were interesting, but as usual there was a clear favorite. This year it was “The Pitch,” which features all of our favorite film clichés. (You might recognize some of them from the list of clichés in chapter 1 of Film Festival Secrets.) This year’s bumps were produced by creative agency Buck – check out the Sundance mini-site where they document the process of creating these shorts.
indieWIRE’s Top 50 Film Festivals – no surprises here.
Yesterday a scrappy little site called indieWIRE (whose brazen continued use of mixed-case letters in their title makes me think of software titles from the early 90s) released a list of 50 “leading” film festivals, including a look at those they consider to be the top ten. Those events who were included on the list expressed their gratitude. Those who weren’t on the list of fifty pondered their exclusion silently or in public. No one likes to be left off of a list of the best of anything (I’d like to be on this list, for example), but I’m sure the organizers of many of those festivals view being left out as a missed opportunity to attract submissions – or just plain attention – to their events. To them I say: you probably shouldn’t be as irked as you are. Here’s why.
We’re looking at the usual suspects. To see Cannes and Sundance at the top of the list shocks no one, and even those surprised at the inclusion of South By Southwest at number four did little more than raise their eyebrows. This looks like more of an attempt to collate indieWIRE’s past festival coverage than it is to make a serious effort at identifying the best festivals worldwide. Filmmakers who discover this top 50 list already know about these festivals or will find out about them elsewhere. As interesting lists go this is pretty weak sauce.
Boston Film Fest sets dates, new venue
After several years of flying under the radar and letting competing showcases take root, the Boston Film Festival is getting organized early and seems ready to take off for its 26th edition.
Translated: the all-volunteer Independent Film Festival of Boston has been kicking the older festival’s ass. (Apparently a 19-year head start didn’t help.) I don’t know much about the fall festival but it seems to me Boston is a town big enough to support (at least) two quality indie film events each year. The current Boston FF site doesn’t give any insight as to the festival’s past programming, so I’ll be curious to see what they come up with for their 2010 slate.
Programmer Profile: Sean Doherty, Estes Park Film Festival
My name: Sean Doherty
My current festival: Estes Park Film Festival
My title: Executive Director
Other fests I’ve worked for: Central Nebraska Film Festival (2005), Florida Film Festival (1999-2001)
Movies that best represent my personal tastes: Sunset Boulevard, The Searchers, Goodfellas, The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
When I’m not watching movies I like to: I like to make movies too! I work for a production company here in Estes Park, CO that makes travel documentaries for PBS. I’m also a long distance runner (just completed my second marathon with a third one coming up this October).
A movie I recently programmed that I consider to be a great personal discovery: I would say it was the winner of our feature film award last year. It was a British film from Paul Cotter called Bomber. It made me laugh and it made me cry. Everything that I love about movies was in this film! We were also so happy to have Paul here to answer questions about the film when it was done screening.
