Via NoFilmSchool
Presenter: This event here is called a master class so we all have a little hope that we'll walk away with some enhance knowledge about how to write an screenplay.
Charlie: Oh! you come to the wrong place.
72 minutes with a genius!
The camera work is very distracting, but the content of the interview is golden.
Thanks to the Göteborg Film Festival
Enjoy!
Trailer C@staways from Luís Cerezo on Vimeo.
A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Luis Cerezo, a guerrilla filmmaker from Spain, inviting me to write a post about the internet release of his movie N@ufragos (C@staways). I told him, why you don't send me the movie and maybe I can write a review about it.
I saw the movie, it's so interesting that I offer him to show it through this blog, it's about a group of people that show their intimacy in the internet for money without realizing that they are about to lose control of their own lives. So this Friday the 13tht, for the first time, Guerrilla Filmmaking will air in exclusive, Luis Cerezo's film, only for 10 days. I'm writing the review that would be ready for the day of the premiere.
As part of this event I interviewed Luis and this is what he said about the process of doing this film with $40,000 and more than 100 locations:
GF: How you developed the idea of the film?
LC: I decided to make a film so I spent the whole summer writing a script that I didn't liked it. One night I went to my bed and I said to myself "you're gonna be here until you have a great idea". I start thinking about snuff movies, I imagine how would that be in real time, I imagine people getting together to do atrocities and people watching it online.
GF: How you convinced the talent and the crew to work for free?
LC: Oh! I offer to divide the profit of the film equally among everybody. The crew was conformed for recent graduates from film school, their experience was running around with coffee in biggest sets, so this was an opportunity to do something more challenging.
Over a month ago, right before I started the crazyness with subHysteria, I met with Jamay Liu and Tony Cheng from Tripfilms.
The meeting took place in their unique office located in the east village: "Gramstand Cafe", a cute little place with full WiFi internet connection. It allows the six people team from Tripfilms to use their place as headquarters.
Tripfilms is... I’ve to stop here, only to preface that something so avant-garde that does not have real competition is difficult yet easy to explain. Trip Films is the ultimate video reference for the out of ordinary tourist. For that person that is not only interested in the mainstream landmarks, but is also eager to extend their experience to those hidden and underrated places that are out of the flyers’ kiosk in every city hotel. They start every video with a "Travel Quote", no wonder their tagline is Travel Inspired, it couldn’t be better. I am one of those travelers that really enjoys to live my adventure as a local, and right now, I’ve to say, thanks to Tripfilms, it is really simple. The best thing is that you can find all the mainstream attractions and landmarks without leaving the site, also.
At this point you’re maybe asking yourself “Ok, nice. What this has to do with guerrilla filmmaking? Let me show you an excerpt of how they get their videos!
The Screw Up
Cutter Hodierne is a 21 years old sensation, he's working commercially and was recently signed for representation with Buck Boys, hello? at 21. He was recently commissioned to produce & direct the hit film and music video The Party Roll, for Washington, DC's legendary Chuck Brown. The project featured Mya, George Clinton, Marion Berry, and Grammy-nominated Raheem Devaughn. The piece aired heavily on MTV, VH-1, & BET and had a six-month run on Music Choice and Comcast On-Demand.
I would say the best thing about Cutter it's that he is very humble. I know a lot of people that at his age get their heads filled by success and they just start loosing it, but Cutter keep everything real, he has fun with every piece, because if there's no fun what's the point? He's very passionate about filmmaking and he remembers with nostalgia his days at 8th grade when he started doing short films with his pals to try to understand puberty, "doing films was my obsession" - he said.
He's working in this amazing concept "A Short Film Album", just like a music album but with short films instead. His site CutterShorts.com is plagued with his works and you can see his music videos here.
I have to stop myself, I would like to write more, but I don't want to spoil the interview, but I can say it was very inspirational and I'm not 21.
The interview right here.
In search of the midnight kiss is so far, my favorite guerrilla film of the year, and it is definitely in my top 5 of 2008. It is also one of the few films I've seen that expose male and female points of view, in a very truthful, believable and funny manner. The photography is beautiful, the actors are stellar in their roles and the direction is superb, their budget was $25,000 but I could say that it was 2 millions and you wouldn't feel the difference.
Joe Utichi from Rotten Tomatoes prepared a great interview that came to us via Josh Horrow, thank you very much Josh this is great material.
A little excerpt from Alex Holdridge, director of the film:
"When I read the first review I cried. My last two films have had attention but they never got a chance to survive outside of the festival world and so I knew how critical it was that it was well received. It is the type of film that needs to be championed by critics because otherwise it will never see the light of day. Distributors won't take the time to take a chance on a black and white movie without name recognition in it. I was scared shitless that I was going to have to go back and wait tables again, which I've had to do after every movie. After the last one the paper even did a write-up on "Alex Holdridge will not have to take out the trash anymore," but sure enough, two days later I'm back waiting tables, you know. The manager of the restaurant even put it up on the wall out back so I'd walk past it every time I was taking out the trash".
The whole Interview in rottentomatoes.com
Brave New Theaters (BNT) is the first distribution company powered by you and your network. Yes, there's no misunderstanding: you have always dreamed about opening your film in hundreds of screens internationally right? Well, BNT can give you the tools that you need to make this happen, and thanks to the generosity of Jim Gillian, creator of this great initiative, those tools are totally FREE!
Incredible? Maybe, but it's a reality. When I asked Jim what's in it for him, he answered without any hesitation. "For me? oh! I just want to screw Hollywood," and he's doing it. When nobody wanted to talk about the war in Iraq he decided to self promote Robert Greenwald's film Uncovered. He reached activists all over the country, and people who were interested in watching the film. The result: a broad self-distribution and The Brave New Theaters.
This experience was repeated a couple of years later when nobody in Hollywood wanted to distribute his film Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. Walmart owns 40% of DVD sales in America, and, obviously, Hollywood wouldn't dare get involved. Taking matters into his own hands, Jim turned to The Brave New Theaters for distribution. This decision definitely payed off, with Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price screened throughout America with its apogee at 7,000 screenings in a week.
This interview is pure dynamite, and will open your mind to a new reality. Enjoy it!
Additional information about the Brave New Theaters in the next page.
Scilla Andreen is a mother, a filmmaker, CEO of IndieFlix.com and an
active member of her Seattle community. Yes, in that order, that’s how
I figured she’s a good mother, she put that title first: Mother.
But let’s talk about a broad meaning, we’re talking about a person that
treats every project as a baby, she nurtures it, feeds it, watches it
grow and then feels proud of it. IndieFlix is 4 years old and as Mozart
did, is making the difference since the early years. It’s not only a
distribution company it’s a distribution experience.
She’s very passionate about her life at this moment, she sounds really
happy and she’s decided, along with her partner Carlo Scandiuzzi, to
make IndieFlix the link between the independent filmmaker and their
audience. They recently announced their deal with all the major online
distributors such iTunes, Netflix, Joost, Hulu, Vudu & Tivo.
This is a long interview, almost an hour, but every second is worthy.
We talked about numbers, pay-per-view streaming, DVD Distribution,
Digital Distribution, Non Exclusive Rights and her latest adventure
IndieFest, among many other things.
The Interview.
S. Mohen recently graduated from Chapman University, but before academics achievements she graduated as a filmmaker, when I asked her who are you? she said "I am just a regular girl, I love dancing, love to go to the movies and I have a cat, but if I have to define myself, I've to say that I'm a filmmaker".
I don't consider her to be an ordinary girl though, at 20 years old she already made a feature film against all odds, including some teachers at Chapman that said to her, "you cannot do this it's just too ambitious". It took determination, but she recouped her money, she's developing her second feature and she's producing a web series call On the verge. I think the risk was worthy.
She writes about what she knows. After finishing the script of Happy Holidays her friends started encouraging her to do it. 33 days on set over 6 months, a winter break, a summer vacation and $5,000 later she had it in the can. (A winter break and a summer vacation, I'm wondering if the title of the movie comes from doing this).
It took a lot of courage and support from the crew and actors, sometimes they had to bring their own food to the set, sometimes they took advantage of the meals plans at Chapman but the reality is that they confronted every obstacle, they endured they learned and they made a movie. Dillon Morris, director of photography of the film gave me this trivia: All the people involve in this film were under 22 years old. Kudos to them.
Here the interview.
...and if you want to see the film, you can get it here.
Buddhist Filmmaker Sarah Fisher shared her journey of four years to finish Meditate and Destroy about the journey of author of Dharma Punx, Noah Levine whom after a self-destructive adolescence of criminal activity and substance abuse, now teaches the path of Buddhism. A documentary about punk rock, spirituality and inner rebellion.
After reading Noah's book Dharma Punx, she felt that she needed to tell that story, so she contacted him to explore the possibility of doing a documentary about him, his response was "I've a book release party next Friday, bring your camera".
Sarah talks about her struggle as a guerrilla filmmaker and how sometimes you need to have a tough resolve, proving yourself again and again, about her DIY distribution strategy, about her disappointment in the festivals and the new ways of distribution.
Listen the interview right here.
If you want to learn about future screenings or simply support the film (They still need to clear the music rights, and that cost money), there are different ways, you can pick your favorite, through their website, facebook group, myspace page, follow them through twitter
You're broke and can help? not a problem if you go to Meditate and Destroy profile in Our Stage and become a fan of the film, they'll receive $4 and you will receive a free pass to see the movie during the month of September! Learn how to do this properly.
Sara Simmonds
Jeffrey Wells is one of the most prolific entertainment bloggers around, he publishes an average of 12 posts a day in his blog Hollywood Elsewhere, that's how much information he gets. He's being around for quite a while...
He made this interesting interview with director Alex Holdridge and his actors Scoot McNairy and Sara Simmonds about his latest film In search of a midnight kiss, made with a budget of $25,000.
