Film & Script Submissions Now Being Accepted for 13th Edition of the Hollywood Black Film Festival; New FILM DIASPORA Sidebar Added

The Hollywood Black Film Festival (HBFF) ­­ recognized as one of the leading black film festivals in the world ­­ is now accepting submissions for the 2013 festival, to be held October 2­6, 2013 in Hollywood, CA. Regular feature, short, student and documentary film submissions, Project Stargazer submissions, and scripts for the Storyteller Competition will be accepted through June 16. The late deadline is July 8.

HBFF welcomes narrative features, shorts, student and documentary films for its competitive program. Animation films and music videos submitted are accepted for the non­competitive program only. All films submitted must have been completed after September 1, 2012.

HBFF will introduce a new competitive sidebar this year, FILM DIASPORA, to showcase independent films and filmmakers from the African Diaspora. Feature, short and documentary films submitted to compete in FILM DIASPORA must have been produced by filmmakers residing outside the U.S. ­­ in Africa, the Caribbean, Central or Latin America.

HBFF has a history of screening films from throughout the Diaspora. In addition to opening the 2011 festival with “A Million Colours,” a South African film, HBFF has screened films from Nigeria, Ghana, Central African Republic, Burundi, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Niger, Haiti, Bahamas, Jamaica, Brazil, Cuba, and Trinidad and Tobago. Submissions for the FILM DIASPORA category must have been completed after September 1, 2011.

HBFF accepts film submissions from all filmmakers, however to be eligible for the festival’s competitive program, one of the film’s creative principals, i.e. the writer, director or producer must be Black or of African heritage. All other films will be considered for our invitational program. Please notify the festival in your application if your submission does not meet the requirements for the competitive program and you wish to be considered for the invitational program.

Films that have screened at HBFF include director John Singleton’s box office blockbuster, “2 Fast 2 Furious,” the critically­acclaimed “The Hurricane” (starring Academy Award® winner Denzel Washington), director Kasi Lemmons’ “The Caveman’s Valentine” (starring Samuel L. Jackson), and director Reggie Rock Bythewood’s “Dancing in September.”

Submissions for the 2013 HBFF Storyteller Competition are sought from black screenwriters who are serious about a career as a screenwriter. Submissions of screenplays of 90­120 pages, on any topic and genre, will be accepted.

Project Stargazer, a new partnership with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, is accepting story ideas that clearly feature one or more NASA technologies as a plot element in the story. Submissions must include a logline, synopsis, treatment and an artistic statement describing your creative vision for the project.

All films, scripts and story ideas must be submitted through Withoutabox (WAB) at https://www.withoutabox.com/login/1175. Submission fees for all categories are detailed on WAB. $15 discount available for student submissions.

Festival Dates: October 2 ­- 6, 2013
Call for Entries: April 1 – July 1, 2013
Earlybird Deadline: May 5, 2013
Regular Deadline: June 16, 2013
Late Deadline: July 1, 2013
WAB Extended Deadline: July 8, 2013

Add HBFF to your watch list on withoutabox.com to receive e­mails about call for entries and deadlines.

For more information:

FILM COMPETITION -­ http://www.hbff.org/submit­to­the­hbff­2013­film­competition/
(FILM COMPETITION FAQ’s – ­ http://www.hbff.org/filmmaker­faqs­2013/ )

STORYTELLER COMPETITION ­- http://www.hbff.org/submit­to­the­huff­2013­storyteller­competition/
(STORYTELLER FAQ’S -­ http://www.hbff.org/filmmaker­faqs­2013/ )

PROJECT STARGAZER ­ – http://www.hbff.org/submit­to­hbff­2013­project­stargazer/
(PROJECT STARGAZER FAQ’S – ­ http://www.hbff.org/hbff­2013­project­stargazer­faqs/ )

Like HBFF on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/hollywoodblackfilmfestival.
Follow HBFF on Twitter at https://twitter.com/HBFF.

For more info: http://www.hbff.org, email info@hbff.org.

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About the Hollywood Black Film Festival
Founded in 1998, the Hollywood Black Film Festival aims to enhance the careers of emerging and established Black filmmakers through a public exhibition, competition program and industry panels. Known amongst the entertainment industry’s powerbrokers as, “The Black Sundance,” the festival brings independent works of accomplished and aspiring black filmmakers to an environment encompassing the mainstream Hollywood community and Southern California film­going audiences. The festival’s goal is to play an integral role in discovering and launching independent films and filmmakers by bringing them to the attention of the industry, press and public. For more information on the Hollywood Black Film Festival, visit: http://www.hbff.org, email info@hbff.org

SAGindie is a proud sponsor of the Hollywood Black Film Festival.

There are a lot of interesting things in this article by the great TED HOPE.

“Yesterday, we launched our A2E (Artist To Entrepreneur) program at the San Francisco Film Society with OnRamp (The Direct Distribution Lab).  This is a pilot lab of a pilot program designed to give filmmakers the necessary entrepreneurial skills to achieve a sustainable creative life amidst this changing paradigm.  We will be working out some bugs but hope to launch the second iteration as soon as possible.”

Read the whole thing now over at INDIEWIRE.

MUD is the latest film written and directed by Jeff Nichols. Nichols wrote and directed 2007’s Shotgun Stories and 2011’s Take Shelter (one of my favorite Sundance movies from that year). Nichols has proven that he understands character, and Mud, a true bildungsroman, is no exception. Two impressionable teenage boys living in the rural South discover a fugitive hiding out in marshland, and they agree to help reunite him with his true love.

Matthew McConaughey stars as the fugitive known as Mud. He’s taken refuge in a storm-ravaged, shipwrecked boat in the middle of marshland, a place that typically remains deserted. He has bounty hunters on his tail, as well as police. No one is able to figure out his whereabouts until two teens, while adventuring in their free time, stumble upon the boat.

The role of Mud allows veteran actor McConaughey to really use his acting chops. He impresses as a sun-drenched, weathered man on the run who relies on the good in himself to get by day-to-day. He is a complex man, a fugitive we are supposed to empathize with, but he earns that role, which is largely due to McConaughey’s performance. His two teenage confidents, Ellis (Tye Sheridan, Tree of Life) and Ellis’ friend known as Neckbone (Jacob Lofland), are wonderfully cast youngers who we will undoubtedly be seeing more of in future films.

Mud also boasts a superior supporting cast that includes Reese Witherspoon as Mud’s long-lost love interest Juniper, Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story, Serenity, Martha Marcy May Marlene) as Ellis’ mother and Ray McKinnon (Sons of Anarchy, Deadwood, The Blind Side) as Ellis’ father. The price of admission to see Mud in theaters may well be worth it just to see Michael Shannon (Man of Steel, Take Shelter, Boardwalk Empire) in a comedic role as Neckbone’s eccentric but caring father-figure/uncle. The end result: a superb cast and an experienced writer and director have created an extremely well-crafted coming-of-age story.

The only thing missing may be a slight lack of true innovation. This film is executed to near perfection, but it is somewhat of a by-the-numbers coming-of-age story. When I saw Take Shelter at Sundance a couple of years ago, I was amazed at the character development and the individuality with which the character arc and story arc were based. Mud is more accessible, which basically means more commercial, and Jeff Nichols has admitted as much in Q&As. Overall, Mud was one of the top films I saw at Sundance 2013, and if you see it and enjoy it, check out Take Shelter!

Mud opens in select theaters today!

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In addition to her duties at SAGindie, Ellen Tremiti is also a Contributor for Fanboy Comics, an online conglomerate of geek media, providing its readers with daily reviews, interviews, and podcasts that span the pop culture spectrum. For more interviews, blogs, and reviews by Ellen and the FBC staff, check out the Fanboy Comics website at FanboyComics.net or sign up for the e-newsletter, The Fanboy Scoop, by emailing subscribe@fanboycomics.net.

THE LIFEGUARD is written and directed by Liz W. Garcia. Garcia has a background in television where she co-produced for Cold Case and executive produced for Memphis Beat. The Lifeguard is her directorial debut. The film stars Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Veronica Mars) as Leigh, a former valedictorian who quits her reporter job in New York City and returns to Connecticut to live with her parents.

Leigh leaves NYC for two reasons: the first has to do with the pressures of her job and her general dissatisfaction with life in New York, and the second has to do with an inappropriate relationship with her boss that is going nowhere. Once Leigh arrives home, she tries to assimilate back into the life she once knew, the life of a teenager. She takes a job as a lifeguard and assumes her parents will support her decision to return home. This assumption causes tension between mother, father, and daughter.

While acting as a lifeguard, Leigh also spends time with old friends and makes new, teenage ones, as well. Her sense of right and wrong gets all mixed up as she tries to forget that she is almost thirty, not almost twenty. Her irresponsibility easily lands her in hot water as a relationship develops between Leigh and a teen, Jason (David Lambert). From Leigh’s perspective, everyone should just chill out, like she has, and not put so much pressure on whatever disillusioned expectations she, or anyone else, once held in their teenage years.

The Lifeguard does pose some interesting questions for twentysomethings on the cusp of adulthood, and Garcia’s style shows promise for future projects, but this film’s biggest shortcomings seem to stem from the original script. The plot twists may be handled decently well, but they are predictable; much of the time, the characters lack believable motivation. One of Leigh’s best friends who is now the principal of their old high school makes dubious decisions that are hard to believe, along with the other adult friends in Leigh’s life. The editing also becomes wearisome by the third or fourth time artsy montages are used to create emotion or a dramatic tone, and the plot is similar to the 2012 Sundance film Hello I Must Be Going. In essence, you’ve probably seen this movie before, more than once. The best thing about this film is Kristen Bell’s performance, so if you are a fan of hers, you may enjoy this one. Otherwise, you could pass on it.

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In addition to her duties at SAGIndie, Ellen Tremiti is also a Contributor for Fanboy Comics, an online conglomerate of geek media, providing its readers with daily reviews, interviews, and podcasts that span the pop culture spectrum. For more interviews, blogs, and reviews by Ellen and the FBC staff, check out the Fanboy Comics website at FanboyComics.net or sign up for the e-newsletter, The Fanboy Scoop, by emailing subscribe@fanboycomics.net.

It’s time! Sundance 2013 is just around the corner. The festival kicks off tomorrow, Thursday the 17th and runs until Sunday the 27th. The Sundance Film Festival creates an opportunity for independent film to make its mark on the entertainment industry at large. Last year, I saw Beasts of the Southern Wild, and I remember the electric energy and excitement that surged through the crowd after the screening. It was the type of energy that made me think, this movie is something special.

Which films will stand out this year? Only time will tell…

Below is an overview of some of the films from the 2013 lineup. Hopefully, I’ll be able to see all of them. One film that I do not have a ticket to right now, but that has sparked my interest is C.O.G., the first book by David Sedaris to be adapted into a film.

*Follow Ellen while she’s at Sundance on Twitter and Instagram at @ETphoneh.

*All excerpts taken from Sundance.org. For complete information on any of the films visit Sundance.org/festival.

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Austenland
Jane’s life-size paper doll of Mr. Darcy and her “I Love Darcy” tote may be tattered, but even in her thirties, she hasn’t grown out of her obsession with all things Jane Austen. Careworn by love, she saves enough to fulfill her dream of stepping into Austen’s world and heads to Austenland for an “immersive” vacation to eschew all things modern. And it couldn’t be more perfect. There’s an imposing manor with verdant grounds for afternoon promenades, rosy-faced servants, trusty steeds for hunting expeditions, gilded drawing rooms for evenings spent in polite conversation, and, yes, gallant young suitors. Unfortunately, due to limited funds, she’s relegated to lesser quarters and drearier costumes than fellow bachelorette guests, but her cares melt away as she catches the eye of a young footman, and she’s swept into a romantic adventure she could never have imagined.
Director: Jerusha Hess
Screenwriters: Jerusha Hess, Shannon Hale
Principal Cast: Keri Russell, JJ Feild, Bret McKenzie, Jennifer Coolidge, Georgia King, James Callis

Ass Backwards
Kate and Chloe have been best friends since childhood, when they both tied for dead last in their hometown beauty pageant. Now they are all grown up and living in New York City, where Chloe works as a “girl in a box” at a nightclub and Kate is a CEO…of her own one-woman egg-donor “corporation.” Their past humiliation remains long forgotten until they receive an invitation to the pageant’s milestone anniversary celebration. The unpleasant memories come flooding back, but Kate and Chloe decide to redeem themselves by winning the elusive crown.
Director: Chris Nelson
Screenwriters: June Diane Raphael, Casey Wilson
Principal Cast: June Diane Raphael, Casey Wilson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Alicia Silverstone, Jon Cryer, Brian Geraghty

Kill Your Darlings
While he is attending Columbia University in 1944, the young Allen Ginsberg’s life is turned upside down when he sets eyes on Lucien Carr, an impossibly cool and boyishly handsome classmate. Carr opens Ginsberg up to a bohemian world and introduces him to William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. Repelled by rules and conformity in both life and literature, the four agree to tear down tradition and make something new, ultimately formulating the tenets of and giving birth to what became the Beat movement. On the outside, looking in, is David Kammerer, a man in his thirties desperately in love with Carr. When Kammerer is found dead, and Kerouac, Burroughs, and Carr are arrested in conjunction with the murder, the nascent artists’ lives change forever.
Director: John Krokidas
Screenwriters: Austin Bunn, John Krokidas
Principal Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Ben Foster, Michael C. Hall, Jack Huston, Elizabeth Olsen

Lifeguard
Leigh, a whip-smart former valedictorian on the verge of 30, is living a seemingly perfect life in New York. When her work aspirations and love life suddenly come crashing down, she hightails it back to the cocoon of the Connecticut suburb where she grew up. Picking up right where her teen halcyon days left off, she moves into her old room with her parents, reunites with her bosom buddies who never left town, and steps back into her high school job as a condo-complex lifeguard. As she takes a transgressive journey back to adolescence, including entering into a forbidden affair, Leigh’s bold flirtation with disaster triggers a ripple effect all around her.
Director: Liz W. Garcia
Screenwriter: Liz W. Garcia
Principal Cast: Kristen Bell, Mamie Gummer, Martin Starr, Alex Shaffer, Amy Madigan, Joshua Harto, David Lambert

Afternoon Delight
Rachel is a quick-witted and lovable, yet tightly coiled, thirtysomething steeped in the creative class of Los Angeles’s bohemian, affluent Silver Lake neighborhood. Everything looks just right—chic modernist home, successful husband, adorable child, and a hipster wardrobe. So why is she going out of her gourd with ennui? Plagued by purposelessness, Rachel visits a strip club to spice up her marriage and ends up meeting McKenna, a stripper whom she becomes obsessed with saving. She decides to adopt McKenna as her live-in nanny, and this bold move unleashes unimagined and colorful waves of change into her life and community. It becomes clear that Rachel is feverishly, desperately trying to save her own sense of who she is.
Director: Jill Soloway
Screenwriter: Jill Soloway
Principal Cast: Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor, Jane Lynch

Don Jon’s Addiction
Jon Martello objectifies everything in his life: his apartment, his car, his family, his church, and, of course, women. His buddies even call him Don Jon because of his ability to pull “10s” every weekend without fail. Yet even the finest flings don’t compare to the transcendent bliss he achieves alone in front of the computer watching pornography.Dissatisfied, he embarks on a journey to find a more gratifying sex life, but ends up learning larger lessons of life and love through relationships with two very different women.
Director: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Screenwriter: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Principal Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Glenne Headly, Rob Brown

The East
Someone is attacking big corporate CEOs and forcing them to consume harmful products they manufacture. An elite private intelligence firm is called into action and contracts ex-FBI agent Sarah Moss to infiltrate a mysterious anarchist collective, The East, suspected to be responsible. Skilled, focused, and bent on success, Sarah goes undercover and dedicates herself to taking down the organization. She soon finds, however, that the closer she gets to the action, the more she sympathizes with the group’s charismatic leaders.

After the warm reception he received for 2011’s Sound of My Voice, director Zal Batmanglij returns to the Sundance Film Festival with this stunning sophomore effort, which marks his second collaboration with the irresistibly alluring, multitalented Brit Marling.

Upstream Color
Kris is derailed from her life when she is drugged by a small-time thief. But something bigger is going on. She is unknowingly drawn into the life cycle of a presence that permeates the microscopic world, moving to nematodes, plant life, livestock, and back again. Along the way, she finds another being—a familiar, who is equally consumed by the larger force. The two search urgently for a place of safety within each other as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of their wrecked lives.

Shane Carruth’s sensuously directed and much anticipated sophomore effort (his feature debut, Primer, won the Sundance Film Festival 2004 Grand Jury Prize) is a truly remarkable film that lies beyond the power of language to communicate while it delivers a cohesive sensory experience.
Director: Shane Carruth
Screenwriter: Shane Carruth
Principal Cast: Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth, Andrew Sensenig, Thiago Martins

Mud
Direct from the Cannes Film Festival, consummate storyteller Jeff Nichols, whose Take Shelter premiered to great acclaim at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, returns to Park City with this homespun fable set on the banks of the mighty Mississippi.

Ellis and Neckbone are best friends approaching the twilight of their youth. While exploring, they stumble upon the hiding place of charismatic outlaw Mud (played with controlled charm by a well-cast Matthew McConaughey), who takes a quick liking to the boys and recruits them to his cause: the search for true love and a clean getaway.
Director: Jeff Nichols
Screenwriter: Jeff Nichols
Principal Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland, Reese Witherspoon, Sam Shepard

Lovelace
In 1972—long before the Internet porn explosion of today—Deep Throat became a cultural phenomenon. As the first pornographic feature film to be embraced by mainstream audiences, Deep Throat took a multitude of risks: it boasted a plot, humor, and an unknown and unlikely star named Linda Lovelace.

Lovelace tells the story behind the phenomenon. Fleeing her strict religious family, Linda Boreman falls for charismatic hustler Chuck Traynor, who launches her pornography career. Reborn as “Linda Lovelace,” the charming girl next door skyrockets to international sensation with her uncanny capacity for fellatio. Fully inhabiting this new identity, Linda becomes a spokesperson for sexual freedom and hedonism. But six years later, she reveals a far more sinister narrative—the dark secrets of her own life story.
Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
Screenwriter: Andy Bellin
Principal Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Hank Azaria, Adam Brody, James Franco, Sharon Stone

Ain’t Them bodies Saints
Bob Muldoon and Ruth Guthrie, an impassioned young outlaw couple on an extended crime spree, are finally apprehended by lawmen after a shootout in the Texas hills. Although Ruth wounds a local officer, Bob takes the blame. But four years later, Bob escapes from prison and sets out to find Ruth and their daughter, born during his incarceration.

The barren landscapes of David Lowery’s poetic feature evoke the mythology of westerns and saturate the dramatic space with fatalism and an aching sense of loss. Aided by powerfully restrained performances by Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, and Ben Foster, Lowery incorporates an unnerving tension into the film, teetering it at the edge of violence.
Director: David Lowery
Screenwriter: David Lowery
Principal Cast: Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Nate Parker, Keith Carradine

Crystal Fairy
Jamie is a boorish, insensitive American twentysomething traveling in Chile, who somehow manages to create chaos at every turn. He and his friends are planning on taking a road trip north to experience a legendary shamanistic hallucinogen called the San Pedro cactus. In a fit of drunkenness at a wild party, Jamie invites an eccentric woman—a radical spirit named Crystal Fairy—to come along. What is meant to be a devil-may-care journey becomes a battle of wills as Jamie finds himself locking horns with his new traveling companion. But on a remote, pristine beach at the edge of the desert, the magic brew is finally imbibed, and the true adventure begins. Preconceived notions and judgments fall away, and the ragtag group breaks through to an authentic moment of truth.
Director: Sebastián Silva
Screenwriter: Sebastián Silva
Principal Cast: Michael Cera, Gaby Hoffmann, Juan Andrés Silva, José Miguel Silva, Agustín Silva

The Way, Way Back
The Way, Way Back tells the story of 14-year-old Duncan’s awkward, funny, and sometimes painful summer vacation with his mother, Pam, her overbearing boyfriend, Trent, and his daughter, Steph. Although Duncan has a tough time fitting in and finding his place, he does find an unlikely ally and mentor in Owen, a carefree employee at the local waterpark where Duncan gets a job. Over the course of the summer, as his mother drifts further away, Duncan—with encouragement from Owen—begins to open up and come into his own.

Mining the caverns of human vulnerability for the humor necessary to make life bearable, first-time directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash have transformed their terrific screenplay into a bittersweet comedy that is both charming and insightful.
Directors: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
Screenwriters: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
Principal Cast: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, Liam James

Stoker
After India’s father dies in an auto accident, her Uncle Charlie, whom she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her emotionally unstable mother, Evelyn. Soon after his arrival, India begins to suspect this mysterious, charming man has disturbing ulterior motives, but instead of feeling outrage or horror, the friendless girl becomes increasingly infatuated with him.

Visionary filmmaker Park Chan-Wook, whose Old Boy and Three…Extremes both played at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005, returns with another macabre story, one that marks his first venture into English-language cinema.
Director: Park Chan-Wook
Screenwriter: Wentworth Miller
Principal Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Dermot Mulroney, Jacki Weaver, Nicole Kidman

Super excited to head back to SUNDANCE this week! Below are only a few of the films I’m looking forward to. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @williamprescott as I update from the festival.

AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS written/directed by David Lowery
Starring Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster.

HELL BABY written/directed by Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon
Starring Rob Corddry, Leslie Bibb, Keegan Michael Key, Riki Lindhome, Paul Scheer, Rob Huebel.

IN A WORLD… written/directed by Lake Bell
Starring Lake Bell, Demetri Martin, Rob Corddry, Michaela Watkins, Ken Marino.

TOY’S HOUSE directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Starring Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Alison Brie, Mary Lynn Rajskub.

DON JON’S ADDICTION written/directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson.

THIS IS MARTIN BONNER written/directed by Chad Hartigan
Starring Paul Eenhoorn, Richmond Arquette, Sam Buchanan, Robert Longstreet, Demetrius Grosse.

THE WAY, WAY BACK written/directed by Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
Starring Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph.

AFTERNOON DELIGHT written/directed by Jill Soloway
Starring Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor, Jane Lynch.

MUD written/directed by Jeff Nichols
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon.

C.O.G. written/directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez (based on the story by David Sedaris!)
Starring Jonathan Groff, Denis O’Hare, Corey Stoll, Dean Stockwell, Casey Wilson.

STOKER directed by Park Chan-Wook
Starring Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Dermot Mulroney, Jacki Weaver, Nicole Kidman

What: Getting the Most from Sundance and Slamdance
When: Tuesday, 12/11/2012
Time: 7:30 pm
Where: Film Independent, 9911 W Pico Blvd, 11th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90035
Who: Members +1
Cost: Free for Film Independent Members and one guest (get tickets)

Event Description:

“If you’re one of the lucky filmmakers with a film at the Sundance or Slamdance Film Festivals, you may still be wondering how best to make the most of your time in Park City. Film Independent is here to help, with its annual Sundance/Slamdance orientation. In an informative session, panelists will address issues such as the option of using a publicist and producer’s rep; marketing and self-promoting your film at the festival; dealing with industry executives; and getting into parties. Panelists include Sheldon Candis, writer/director of LUV(released in theaters on Dec. 28), Drea Clark (Slamdance Chair of Narrative Feature Programming) and publicist Annie Jeeves of PR firm Fifteen Minutes.”

And of course you can still attend this event even if you don’t have a film at Park City.

MORE INFO HERE: http://www.filmindependent.org/event/getting-the-most-from-sundance-slamdance

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK is a heartfelt drama based on the novel of the same name by Matthew Quick. The screenplay was adapted by David O. Russell (Three Kings, The Fighter), who also directed the film. Bradley Cooper stars as Pat Solitano, a man recently released from a mental health institution. As he assimilates into a regular routine on the outside, he moves back in with his parents, Pat Solitano, Sr. (Robert De Niro) and Dolores Solitano (Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom, The Five Year Engagement).

A stipulation of the facility’s release of Solitano requires regular visitation with a psychiatrist and mandatory medication. Solitano was previously undiagnosed as bipolar, and he is now dealing with his mental illness, as well as the repercussions of an offense he committed months prior, which landed him in the facility to begin with. While dealing with his mental health issues and his past, he tries to cling to the positive. But, his outlook is mixed with desperation. His wife has a restraining order against him, and he makes it his mission to win her back.

As his plan takes off with mixed results, he deals with the daily interference of his father, a man with his own challenges, including Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Solitano also reconnects with his good friend (John Ortiz, American Gangster, Public Enemies). His friend convinces Solitano to come over for dinner with him and his wife, Veronica (Julia Stiles, The Bourne Ultimatum, 10 Things I Hate About You). To Solitano’s surprise, Veronica invites her widowed sister Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone, The Hunger Games). After that initial meeting, Tiffany, a lonely young woman with problems of her own, attempts, in her own way, to connect with Solitano.

Tiffany and Solitano skirt around real friendship and, instead, form a sort of tortured bond that each participant uses to his or her own advantage. Solitano uses his relationship with Tiffany to get to his ex-wife, as Tiffany and her sister are friendly with her. Tiffany, however, uses that leverage to force Solitano to help her with a couples dance competition. Both characters end up outside their comfort zone as their relationship develops and intensifies.

Cooper handles the devastating highs and lows of Solitano’s bipolar disorder with impressive realism and clarity. The family dysfunction in Silver Linings Playbook is handled with the kind of delicacy and realism that is indicative of a well-crafted drama. Even though the relationship between Tiffany and Solitano is central to the story, O’Russell spends a good amount of time showing the nuances of the Solitano family dynamic. Cooper, Lawrence, De Niro, Weaver, and Shea Whigham, who plays Solitano’s successful brother, all give outstanding performances. Couple that with a very entertaining supporting cast that includes Chris Tucker, and Silver Linings Playbook hits just the right note. Its tone is similar to Little Miss Sunshine and has the potential to be a similar breakout film.

Silver Linings Playbook has a release date of November 21st.

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In addition to her duties at SAGIndie, Ellen Tremiti is also a Contributor for Fanboy Comics, an independent comic book publishing company based in Los Angeles, CA. For more interviews, blogs, and reviews by Ellen and the FBC staff, check out the Fanboy Comics website at FanboyComics.net or sign up for the e-newsletter, The Fanboy Scoop, by emailing subscribe@fanboycomics.net.

Happy Halloween fellow filmmakers! For this holiday-themed blog post, we have joined forces with guest contributor, MATT D’ALESIO. Matt took a look back at one of the most inventive, successful and not-to-mention, terrifying, marketing campaigns in film history: the viral internet marketing for THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.

In June 1998, filmmakers DANIEL MYRICK and EDUARDO SANCHEZ launched the original Blair Witch Project website via their production website haxan.com. The Blair Witch Project then debuted at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival and was immediately acquired by Artisan. The months leading up to the film’s release capitalized on internet-based marketing, a novel concept of the time. Artisan’s Steven Rothenberg, along with the Blair Witch filmmakers, sheparded the film through, what is now considered, one of the best viral marketing campaigns of all time.

Enjoy this retro-look back at the marketing for The Blair Witch Project, and perhaps, think about how viral marketing may fit into the campaign for your next project.

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The year is 1999, people think that planes are going to fall out of the sky when it reaches midnight on the 31st of December and for most people the internet is a baffling playground with geeks and nerds wildly running about.

It’s 2012 now and looking back on the past 13 years, there has been huge advancements in modern cinema, numerous milestones established and instant classic films have been made in every genre. But not a single independent film has gotten even close to the piercing public exposure and virality of The Blair Witch Project’s advertising campaign, even with budgets going well into the millions. The ad campaign, by method or madness, is now an archetype for many budding viral-wannabe advertising campaigns. They used techniques that were way ahead of their time and are that are now firmly in every marketing firms tool kit.

So what did indie film makers, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, actually do? Well they created a website that documented the history of a witch from North Central Maryland, accompanied by various pieces of ‘evidence’ and other pieces of information. The website alone did two things. It provided an authentic point of reference for people to draw from and it also provided something that could be easily spread, shared and sent about to anyone. They also created a promo reel and sent it to producers, filmermaker John Pierson was so taken in by it that he actually thought it was a real documentary, saying `I can’t believe all of this. I’ve never heard about it’. When Pierson featured the film on his show ‘Split Screen’, an Albany police officer called in and said he would help find the filmmakers.

What Myrick and Sánchez did, intentionally or not, was the equivalent of leaving a load of gasoline and matches in the woods, all they had to do was sit back and watch the wildfire spread. Fanning the flames every so often by posting mysterious, cryptic  nuggets of information and rumours on message boards and forums. The people reading this article will probably be split fifty-fifty at this point, half will think ‘Wow! That’s really clever!’ and the other half will be thinking ‘Wow…A hoax, how clever’. Well this hoax aided in gaining these two filmmakers critical acclaim and brought in $248,639,099 in the box offices. Not too shabby for a poxy hoax.

Hoaxes are usually very clichéd, poorly thought out and simply in no way believable but the intricacy and attention to detail behind the hoax for The Blair Witch Project, put it up there with H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds hoax  in 1938, when his live radio reading of alien invasion novel sparked widespread panic and hysteria. Not only was The Blair Witch Project’s viral ad campaign well orchestrated but it was also massively ahead of the curve. No other marketing campaign before (and arguably after) had been able to tap into the power of the online word-of-mouth effect.

Through the potent mixture of a compelling story, pictures, sound bytes, videos and randomly placed clues, they were able to generate a self-perpetuating buzz both online and offline surrounding the film. Whether you were in the group that was convinced the story was true or you were a hard nosed sceptic who wasn’t buying it, the on-going discussion engulfing the movie meant that most people went to see it either through their deep set curiosity, their genuine belief or simply to see what the fuss was about. This culminated in The Blair Witch Project making $48m in it’s opening week alone, that’s the equivalent of $66m today if you’re adjusting for inflation. Not bad for a film that had a budget of roughly around $35,000.

So what exactly can you learn from the Blair Witch Project’s trail blazing, pioneering advertising campaign? Finding an original angle to work from, not only makes standing out easier but it has a much higher share/virality factor, no-one shares “lolcats” at the same rate they did before because once something becomes saturated it loses it’s appeal. Being the first person to do something will gain you more attention, publicity and plaudits than being the 100th person to do something. So don’t imitate someone else’s ad campaign and if you do, find a new angle – make it better.

And finally, what was most impressive about The Blair Witch Project’s viral marketing campaign was their acute attention to the smallest details. From creating a compelling time line of events on their website to using props as ‘evidence’ that people could spread all over. Who else would’ve gone to the trouble of signing up to lots of different forums and discussion groups to keep the debate surrounding the film alive?

It’s simple things like that, that mimics genuine authenticity and that firmly hooks and reels people in. It’s things like that, that create the most successful viral ad campaign ever.

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Written by SAGIndie contributor Matt D’Alesio who is a current Media Studies student at the University of Liverpool. He also runs and owns the company MarketingDegreeAdvisor.com. Forward by SAGIndie’s Ellen Tremiti; additional source.

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