SAGIndie

Student Filmmakers:

Want to get an “A” in your
film theory class without sleeping
with your professor, have grateful classmates buy you Jager shots, and
basically be the alpha film-nerd on campus? Well, if that’s the height of your
ambition as a student filmmaker, we can help you achieve your pathologically
narcissistic dreams!

Adobe gave us a 10 seat
license of Production Studio to give to the film school of our choice. Of
course, we all wanted to give it to our alma maters, but squabbling over whose
college was most deserving
degenerated into an all-out donnybrook, which left two of our staff in tears
and the other two engaged in a brutal
plastic knife fight in the 7^th floor coffee room.

To settle the matter we’ve
decided to offer the license to the school of the student filmmaker who sends
in the best essay on the following, incredibly unimaginative theme: “Why My
School Deserves a 10 Seat License from SAGIndie and Adobe”. This is where you (and your
innate filmmaker’s aptitude for shameless self-promotion) come in. Write your
essay, send it in, and the rewards mentioned above can be yours.

But first, read the
following rules, and abide by them fully. Some rules are made for breaking.
These aren’t.

1) Each essay must be 350 words or less.

2) One submission per student – though there is no limit
on the number of submissions allowed from each school.

3) Submissions MUST be written by a current student of each respective film school.

4) Multimedia presentations are allowable, but must
include a hard copy of the printed essay.

5) The deadline for submissions is November 3, 2006.

Please send your essay,
including your name, your school’s name, and the name of your faculty advisor
to:

SAGIndie
ATTN: Adobe Contest
5757 Wilshire Blvd., 7^th Floor
Los Angeles, CA
90036

It’s 11:00am in Venice and I have only seen two of the Venice Intensive students all morning, so I am forced to contribute to the blog despite the fact that I am not a very good writer.  No one showed up for breakfast, unless you count Steve Getz who stopped by on his way in from spending all night on the Lido.  And of course he has lost his accreditation!  My roommate strolled in at about 4:30am and decided to sleep in for a couple of hours.  It seems that last night was the party for "Bobby (work in progress)", the star studded Emilio Estevez project, and most of the students somehow managed to  get in.  They always do!!  Aside from the parties, the students seem to be having a great experience in Venice.  They are seeing many films and also working with some of the P.R. firms, getting to see first hand how the publicity machine drives the festival.  Tomorrow is the SAGIndie student party which is sure to be a hit.  I have invited Lindsay Lohan and David Lynch and told them they can bring guests.  I have not received their R.S.V.P. yet, but I am sure I will hear from them today.  How can they refuse!!   We are capturing these events with digital imaging devices and as soon as I figure out how to upload those pictures onto this blog I will share them with the world. 

Oh, there goes Emilio Esteves, Scarlett Johansson, and Josh Hartnett. I must catch up with them to invite them to the party.  More tales of Venice coming soon! See ya!

Walter Harris - Director, Student Programs, The American Pavilion

Venice is a city of natural mystery.  It’s streets are a medieval maze whose twists and turns and dead ends comprise the root system of the stone buildings grown up up to hide them even from maps.  At 2 am its empty streets have all the charm of a child’s sudden frightening loneliness, but to a stumbling Festival goer it’s just another case of where the f am I.

The Venice canal system makes much more sense, but with patience a trek through the maze of alleyways has as mysterious a charm as any writer could hope for in stirring the ashes for some ember or spark of meaningful creativity.

The festival rocks with a variety of offerings, but I am so jet lagged that working for the various sponsors alternatively has more than a little appeal to pass catatonic time. 

I have been blessed to see some very visually beautiful offerings like Queen, Zwartboek, Black Dahlia, the extraordinary eye candy called The Fountain, and the anime flick Paprika.  After Cannes 2005, I was determined to bring "product".   While vacationing in LA from Taos, New Mexico (sounds strange doesn’t it.) I had an animation revelation, bought a wacom digital tablet and began animating away for about a month.  I came up with 3 sets of close up key frames involving 2 political leaders of our day.  With them come my pitch for a feature length animation project of political impact with innovative narrative stream.  All life is politics, after all.  From the simplest to the grandest levels of organization, it is about the units of organization negotiating with the environment, and after Stephen Frears spokes with us I wanted to pitch to him.  After deliberating the merits of an 18 euro gazpacho and deciding to find food elsewhere, I passed Mr. Frears on the way out as he was sitting with someone and looking at least a little receptive to my approach, but my mind was too scattered.  I needed to first eat, and then return with renewed energy.  By then he had eaten and checked out, though a final message was left in his box with a copy of one of the key frames.  So it goes.  As a wise person once said, "Be ready." 

Patience is a good thing to have.  I share a room with Jack.  Our room is the smallest dorm room ever.  Maybe you heard I locked him in and he had to escape by gondola over a side canal which runs under our window.   What a stud. 

Pip Chodorofsky, a Cannes mentor, had a side show venue right near the Excelsior hotel where all the social action is rumored to take place.  It is a "shorts" venue which offered a wide range of viewing over about an hour and a half.

Between the lost luggage, bad diet, late nights, early mornings and lack of some to throw a disk with, its all good.  I’m having a blast.

Marty Meltzer, Venice 9/05/06

It’s funny when a large conversation turns into a quiet hush. The very presence of Spike Lee in front of the Excelsior Hotel did this to the American Pavilion kids. Walter, Lynne, and Armand wrangled him in to talk to us on the terrace of the hotel. We all looked at each other and realized that we had no idea of what to ask of the filmmaker. Though in a rush, he was nice enough to come by our table and meet us, making sure what schools we were from. Unfortunately for Spike, our NYU students were absent from the meeting. I’ll continue this after our screening of Paprika which is in competition. We’re sitting behind the filmmakers.

-Steven Getz, UCSB

It’s about 7:30 in the morning and I’m sitting in my hotel room in my underwear, trying not to wake up my girlfriend, and thinking about the festival.

After my last post we went to the Feed, basically a big street party for Festival pass holders, with lots of food and free beer. It’s a great opportunity to catch up with friends, eat a meal that isn’t either popcorn or Raisinets, and get really drunk before the marathon of films begins. Plus the view isn’t bad.

I have to admit that I always feel a little guilty when I come to Telluride. It’s a festival unlike any other. They don’t announce the films until the day before it starts and almost all of the films already have distribution. So there’s no deal-making, almost no commercialization, comparably little schmoozing, and almost no publicists. I know… it sounds like heaven… and it is. But there’s also not much work to do. The Telluride Film Festival is all about the movies. That’s why every year we’ve thrown a filmmaker reception… and why this year we decided to sponsor the Student Symposium… to justify coming here. But I’ve come to the realize that even if we didn’t throw a party or meet with students, this trip would still be worthwhile, because it gives me an opportunity to see some of the most important films in the coming year. And because it’s so casual, you get to meet people in the most relaxed environment possible. I’ve debated the merits of various films while waiting in line for the next one with actors, filmmakers, and industry executives whom I’d otherwise never have an opportunity to meet.

Before I talk about the movies I saw (because I know you all care about my opinion), I’d like to thank Kodak and the Directors Guild of America for co-hosting the Filmmakers Reception, and Actor/Director Todd Field (whose film Little Children is in the festival) for acting as guest host. I don’t know why Todd looks so serious. It might be because I have my hand on his ass.

Below is Jon Larson from the DGA and some of the student filmmakers.

The big surprise of the evening was when legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog dropped by. Here he is with the party hosts (Ericka Fredrickson from Kodak is on the far right).

And now, some of the movies: The first film we saw was one of the best: The Last King of Scotland, the first narrative feature directed by Kevin Macdonald (Touching the Void). It’s a really well-made historical drama about the reign of Idi Amin and the best thing about it is Forrest Whitaker’s unbelievable performance as the dictator. I actually forgot I was watching a performance.

I also like Infamous, the second film in two years about Truman Capote’s experience writing In Cold Blood. I actually liked this version (directed by Douglas McGrath) better than last year’s. As far as the plots are concerned, the films are almost identical, but there is one major variation, the filmmakers’ point-of-view about the subject… and for me it made all the difference.

I thought Fur was interesting (Meg thought is was boring), but it was by far my least favorite film of the festival. The Berlin Festival winner The Italian was good… but I was a little surprised (and put off) by its "Hollywood ending."

But my absolute favorite film of the festival, the one that I can’t stop thinking about, is Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu’s Babel. I didn’t see Amores Perros (I don’t go to movies where they kill the dog), I liked 21 Grams, but I LOVED Babel. It’s a powerful and complex story involving terrorism and illegal immigration… but at it’s heart, it’s really a story about human beings trying to communicate and make connections with each other. It’s subtle and heart-breaking. It’s like Crash for smart people.

We’re going to try to see one more film before we leave today. Probably Pedro Almodovar’s Volver (which we’ve heard great things about in the theatre lines).

Yesterday morning we took a break from films and went horseback riding through the mountains. It was beautiful and alot of fun. This is Meg and me (I’m the one in the SAGIndie hat) on Flash and Striker. One of the women in our riding party was an actress who thanked me for working for SAG, and the wrangler, a crusty old cowboy named Roudy, proceeded to tell me how he got Taft-Hartley’d on a Coor’s commercial.

There’s no escape.

On Aug. 29th, 2006 the students of the American Pavilion’s Student Filmmakers program embarked on an journey to the 2006 Venice Film Festival, these are their stories.

As of day four it is still taking me awhile to adjust to the Venice Film Festival. For those Cannes alumni expecting to get dolled up and walk on the red carpet, you’re in for a surprise because the glamour that is Cannes does not compute for with the Venetians.  The tone is very mellow and much more intimate than Cannes. The trip to the festival grounds is farther than Cannes takes about half an hour from our apartments. Nonetheless this trip is not without its little adventures, you can still have your fair share of drunken debauchery and celebrity escapades. It feels as though I’ve been here forever but it’s only the fourth day. Still haven’t been able to call home to let them know I’m still alive, which is a huge no no on my part. But to put things in retrospect because Walter needs his computer, this has been a great experience so far, I am glad I am here enjoying the festival rather than sitting for hours as an extra on Pirates 3. I can talk forever but there will be more to talk about as the festival continues.

First, I’d like to thank our friends at the American Pavilion, who have launched a new student filmmaker program at the Venice Film Festival. They asked us if we wanted to come, but alas, we’ve already spent this year’s European bacchanalia budget… I mean travel funds. However, we are still sponsoring the program (which means we are giving them money for a student party, but don’t get to enjoy it).

The AmPav staff has agreed to guest blog on this site from Venice, so if you read something that refers to the Lido, drunk film students falling off the vaporetti, or Walter getting into a karaoke duel with Sophia Loren, they are doing it on our behalf.

Thanks American Pavilion!

Speaking of drunk film students, I am currently at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado (we still have plenty of domestic bacchanalia budget). For the first time, SAGIndie is supporting the Student Symposium and Filmmakers of Tomorrow programs at this Festival and today I spoke to a group of about twenty students from around the world (they weren’t really drunk… I hadn’t started passing the SAGIndie flask when I took this picture). I’m kidding, of course. It was 12:30 in the afternoon. The drinking wouldn’t start for another hour at least. I was really impressed with how savvy they were. The Telluride student program is pretty exclusive. The participants have to apply and complete an essay in order to be considered. There are only about 50 students accepted and they are a really sharp group. They asked really good, sophisticated questions about the various SAG agreements and filmmaking in general. Here I’m answering questions about how I get my hair to stick up like that.
(Hey, check out our brand new, hi-tech SAGIndie banners! Unlike the old ones, these can be put together in less than a minute by a trained monkey… or SAGIndie Director.).

Tonight I’m going to the annual Feed (you guessed it, a drunken bacchanal…) that kicks off the festival and then movies, movies, movies.