So I’ve been a little out of touch, I know. It’s taken some time to absorb what’s been going on since we premiered at the G-Tech 500 seat theater in the Austin Convention Center on Monday afternoon. Everything has been happening so fast. Jeanette Maier, the subject of our film, seemed pretty calm as we all had our photos taken in front of the step-and-repeat (the yellow SXSW logo wall) and there was a huge lineup before anyone got in. I realized this just after I sent a message to two colleagues who I’d been emailing with (but had never […]

Today is the day our film screens at the gorgeous Paramount cinema in Austin. We were there opening night for the raucous screening of KICK-ASS and so it feels like we have big shoes to fill! However a quick glimpse at the theatre at lunchtime with a queue already forming despite the rain, we had some hope of at least filling the 600 seat stalls before we had to worry about the balcony. It ended up being better than we could have expected (I know I keep saying this, but SXSW keeps amazing me!) and we had lines all around […]

THE PREMIERE. I’m not new to the film festival experience but because this is my directorial debut things have really ratcheted up emotionally this time. My sales rep, Josh Braun, and my publicist, Jessica Edwards, have both been working hard to make sure the world premiere of my film, The Weird World of Blowfly, goes as smoothly as possible and has all the right people in attendance. They’re also working hard to keep me from hyperventilating and passing out! It’s a very exciting moment, just before the premiere, filled with anxiety and catharsis. The film is premiering at the Alamo […]

Today’s has been one of those days when juggling the demands of a festival and work back at the office is the big challenge.  Particularly tough when the office is on a different time zone and you wake to a jammed Monday morning inbox that needs clearing before the day starts here in Austin! But that’s the joy of working in teams if you keep communication and delegation going in clear and effective ways.  My business partner Gavin and I caught on up a video Skype chat and went through everything we needed to cover, fellow producer Vanessa went with […]

Day Three at SXSW This morning it was pretty hard to wake up after just a few hours sleep when we were all already running on empty.  But we rallied the troops (just us this time – no Imperial forces!) and made our way over to the Kodak Filmmakers’ brunch.  Sadly we didn’t do much networking as we had precious little time to plan the day ahead and catch up on the all-important social media buzz on the film’s first showing last night.  We did find 5 minutes for Alexandre to have a quick massage in the Filmmakers’ Lounge though […]

So as we walked down the lines of people hoping to get into our screening — all there well before the screening was due to start — it was quite the feeling. It was great to see the Austin Fan Force roaming the crowds and having pictures taken with fans. As we were running through the tech check the theatre and festival staff had put their heads together and decided to put on an extra screening at midnight — in place of a surprise screening — to accommodate the people they already knew wouldn’t get in thanks to the long […]

So, it’s day 2 of the fest and D-Day for THE PEOPLE VS. GEORGE LUCAS. It’s our world premiere tonight and we’ve got a day packed with final preparations, the premiere, party and hopefully not too much panic! The day started well with the news that our screening sold out on the Xpress pass tickets in less than 20 minutes. Some people were in line from 8am. The booths don’t open until 10am. Could we be creating a mini STAR WARS phenomenon here?! Then it was time for Alexandre’s Studio SX interview with Lewis Wallace from Wired Magazine. There was […]

So here we are at SXSW for the world premiere of a documentary I produced, The Canal Street Madam. My badge, accordingly, identifies me as Mridu Chandra, “The Canal Street Madam.” I can’t say that we thought of that when we named the film, but it’s definitely my favorite film festival badge so far! We landed in Austin Friday afternoon with what seemed like enough time to rent our car, ditch our winter coats, and get to the Filmmaker Lunch at Troublemaker studios. We drove up to the studio to find that the weren’t letting more people in, because it […]

Swinging in to SXSW This is my first SXSW, which feels odd for me as I’ve worked as a producer in digital media & film for more than a decade, but shoots & life got in the way of coming before. But this year I’ve got a great reason to be here – I’m one of the producers of the innovative feature documentary The People Vs. George Lucas, here with director Alexandre O. Philippe, fellow prods Kerry Roy & Vanessa Philippe and DOP Robert Muratore. I’m based in the UK, so it was a long flight over here, and I […]

The following interview appeared originally in Filmmaker‘s Fall, 2007 print edition. We don’t cover enough screenwriters in Filmmaker, but that’s not entirely our fault. This magazine is devoted to independent film, and for many, the director is also the writer. Or the script has emerged from improvisation or some other nontraditional means. And while there is a new breed of independent-minded screenwriters today — Charlie Kaufman, Capote’s Dan Futterman and Juno’s Diablo Cody come immediately to mind — many of the “marquee screenwriters” still work almost exclusively in the studio world. By virtue of the unique niche that screenwriter Oren […]