Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
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The Opportunity of a Lifetime
Is there such a thing as an opportunity of a lifetime? During the first two days of IFP’s Independent Film Week, it became clear that the answer is yes and no. Yes, a conversation, a short film, a meeting, a festival acceptance, can be the opportunity that changes everything, but a career isn’t just a year or one film – it’s a lifetime of dedication to craft. In his impressively extemporaneous speech, J.C. Chandor (above) recalled not the glories of having his first feature, Margin Call, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, but the 15 years he spent trying to […]
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Delirium
I haven’t taken many classes on pitching. Wait. I’ve never taken any classes on pitching. Pitching is meant to be a precise, pressurized maneuver that either takes your project to the next stage or closes another door in its face. It is the subject of much study, stress and numerous overpriced workshops. Naturally, one always feels some amount of pressure before a pitch–similar to what I experienced as a dancer prior to going on stage each evening. Regardless of how many past meetings were nailed or how many accolades were received, one rarely goes into these “performances of passion” without […]
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The Best and Worst of the Toronto International Film Festival
Maybe I’m just a delusional film buff, but after a quarter-century of attending the Toronto International Film Festival – now affectionately called TIFF, a less compensatory moniker for Canadians with a complex than the laughably arrogant Toronto Festival of Festivals label of yore – I believe that the event and its component parts echo the unique demographic of this large North American city. The festival’s multiple ethnic and racial sections coexist snugly. More than any other big international film festival, TIFF – proudly uncommercial – is built upon a carefully balanced assortment of heterogeneous cinemas: national and generic, mainstream and esoteric, the spanking new and […]
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IFP to Stream Filmmaker Conference Keynote Speeches
Keynote speeches from IFP’s Filmmaker Conference–taking place during Independent Film Week–will be premiering on IFP’s new YouTube channel. The live video stream can be accessed here. Keynotes streamed live include: James Schamus (CEO of Focus Features) & Christine Vachon (Producer, Killer Films) – Sunday, September 16th @ 4PMET JC Chandor (Director, Margin Call) – Monday, September 17th @ 10AM ET Michel Reilhac (Transmedia Producer) – Wednesday, September 19th @ 10AM ET Orlando Bagwell (the Ford Foundation) – Thursday, September 20th @ 10AM ET To get reminders of these events, as well as new videos about filmmaking every Tuesday and Thursday, subscribe to IFP Digital.
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How to Meet Your Match at Film Week
If this were a personal ad, it would read: 2 SWF ISO BAP for a LTR. Translation: Two sharp-witted filmmakers in search of bad-ass producer for a long-term relationship. See, my writing partner Devon Kirkpatrick and I wrote a script called Brooklyn Flee, it’s in the Emerging Narratives Program at Film Week, and we are looking for a producer. In our script, the two lead characters meet on Craigslist — not in the “Women seeking Women” section, but the “For Sale” section. (No, neither of them are for sale. Wrong movie.) They are two girls living in Brooklyn in their […]
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Film Week: Emerging Narrative Orientation
I strongly suspect that the great folks behind IFP’s Independent Film Week did not inform the Emerging Narrative participants ahead of time of what exactly would be happening at orientation because they feared that then none of us would show up. (I probably would have begged off in some sort of pathetic plausible manner.) Whatever sort of social, mingling thing I envisioned did not materialize. Instead, the bulk of orientation consisted of all the Emerging Narrative participants taking turns standing at the front of the amphitheater, speaking into a microphone, and delivering our two-minute project pitch. Yes, this was ostensibly […]
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Ruba Nadda and Alexander Siddig Return to Tiff with Inescapable
Ruba Nadda, whose Cairo Time captured Best Canadian Feature in 2009, returns to TIFF with Inescapable. Both star leading man Alexander Siddig and are set in the Middle East. However, Inescapable is anything but a charming romance, but rather a fast-paced political thriller set in the most dangerous country in the world, Syria. When he learns that his daughter has gone missing in Syria, Adib (Siddig) leaves his comfy business in Toronto to track her down in Syria. Turns out that the Syrian government has abducted Adib’s journalist daughter and that a shady Canadian diplomat (Joshua Jackson) knows more about it […]
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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Independent Film Week…
As excited as I am about coming to New York for IFP’s Independent Film Week, this story starts somewhere else…. For the last eight days, I have been fortunate enough to be in Toronto, attending TIFF as a 2012 Talent Lab Fellow alongside 24 very talented filmmakers from around the world. Produced this year by the indomitable Helen DuToit (who also serves as the Artistic Director of the Palm Springs International Film Festival), the Talent Lab was led by a core group of fantastic filmmakers – documentarian Jennifer Baichwal (Manufactured Landscapes), producer Stephen Woolley (presenting both Byzantium and Great Expectations), […]
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First Impressions
I’ve never been good at first impressions. The first time I met my ex-gf, I got incredibly drunk and vomited in front of her. The first time I was interviewed for a magazine, I told the story of how I got drunk in front of my ex-gf and vomited. And here I go again, making a bad first impression. That’s probably why I have first-day-of-school nerves about attending my first Independent Film Week. Excited and ready to go, but I’m also a bit unsure of how I’m going to approach the situation. Cool and aloof? Eager and personable, milking it […]
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Mike Birbiglia to Host 2012 Gotham Awards
Mike Birbiglia’s directorial debut, Sleepwalk with Me, has provided one of the underdog success stories in U.S. indie film this year, so it’s all too fitting that Birbiglia has been chosen to host this year’s IFP Gotham Awards on Monday, November 26, 2012 in New York City. IFP’s Executive Director, Joana Vicente, said of the actor/writer/director’s appointment as the 2012 Gothams emcee, “We are so thrilled that Mike Birbiglia will be hosting the Gotham Awards this year. Coming off an exciting year as a debut director, with a hit film under his belt, Birbiglia’s charm and humor are sure to delight our […]
