Urban Action Showcase Recap

This past weekend, "Arm Bar" screened at the AMC 25 theater as part of the Urban Action Showcase. UAS is an action oriented festival in its fifth year. The festival is a two day event, the first day, oddly enough, being the awards ceremony. They held it in the Michael Fuchs theater at HBO, which is a beautiful space with a large screen. (see below)

All the content creators watched ten-second clips of their shorts, features and fan fiction before a very long awards process. My favorite part of the awards was learning about Lu Feng, a prominent actor and choreographer for Kung Fu in the 1970's. He traveled from China for the event and gave a very short and sweet acceptance speech after being honored for his achievements in the genre. There were too many nomination categories to even dream about revisiting here, but I only submitted for the shorts category. "Arm Bar" didn't win anything, but it was nice meeting all the content creators at the ceremony and learning about their specific journeys. One screenwriter, Aaron, even made it to our screening the next day! Thanks, Aaron!

The actual screening was held at the AMC 25 theater in Times Square. Christina and I arrived together and met Latresa, Victoria and Ricardo (who were all actors in the film) at the theater. The event was a very pricey $30 for general admission, and Latresa cleverly was able to get the three of them in for free by doing press for the event under her brand Millennial Renaissance  Media. When Christina and I got there, they were already deep into work, interviewing people for the fest. The festival rented out the fourth floor of the AMC theater and set up a small, but interesting comic con. We wanted to get our moneys worth, so we went to see "Crippled Avengers," a classic Kung Fu flick, starring Lu Feng. It was great to see one of his films after learning about him at the awards ceremony prior. After that was our shorts block. It had one major hiccup, as we all sat through the first half hour of a feature that was supposed to be programmed later that night. It was quite painful to watch, as well. Finally, one of the coordinators came out and explained the issue and we got the show on the road. I was initially wary as to how our film would look and sound on the big screen, but was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. There weren't many people in the theater, (maybe 20... I was expecting way more for 8 shorts) but we got some laughs in the right places as well as some great reactions to other parts of the film.

All in all, it was fun to share this very different type of screening experience with some of the cast and crew and meet some new people along the way. (See pictures below!)

- Ryan

 

About a Donkey Cast & Crew Screening!

Last Thursday night we had a casual cast & crew viewing of the film. We still have a bit of work to do on the sound mix, but it's 99% there! It was so exciting getting to share the film with the cast & crew, and such fun getting to spend time all together again (now over 7 months since we wrapped production)! The overall response was really positive. We have plans for a more formal premiere with the team & supporters next year. But in the meantime, we're working hard to wrap this baby up and start submitting to festivals!

IndieWorks: Halloween Special Recap

Happy Halloween! Last Tuesday was the October edition of IndieWorks, and our annual Halloween Special! As big horror film fans and makers ourselves, Halloween is always a treat for us. We screened 6 spooky shorts and had 45 people in house. A nice sized crowd considering the rainy evening! The films ranged in style, gore, sub-genre and tone. It was a really fun and eclectic lineup than conveyed the different ways horror can be interpreted and portrayed. Some interesting conversations were had!

We'd just like to say thank you to everyone who came out to support the filmmakers and spend the evening with us & them. We do hope you enjoyed all the films and the opportunity to network with other filmmakers and film enthusiasts. We know some connections were made! AND we hope you'll join us again for our November screening on the 14th!

See photos from the evening:

The Films of the night:

The Run-In (Directed by Pete Talamo, Written & Produced by Heidi Kikel)
On her way home from a late night party, Hannah experiences an unnerving encounter with a stranger who leaves her mentally paralyzed.

Mare (Directed by Nicole Solomon, Written & Produced by Nicole Solomon & Sean Mannion)
Sean, an anxious and isolated man, goes about his mundane daily routine with a pleasant twist: an unexpected trip to sunny Brighton Beach. His desire to enjoy the gentle breeze, lapping waves, and sunny skies is put to the test as the beach itself seems to turn against him, culminating in an unexpected and deadly confrontation with a mysterious, demonic creature.

I Baked Him a Cake (Directed by Vanessa Ionta Wright, Written & Produced by Samantha Kolesnik)
Lenora can't wait for Dad to come home to celebrate his birthday. The cake is ready, the balloons are out, and the gifts are piled. Only, where is Dad? 

Through the Wide Gate (Written & Directed by Patrick Clement, Produced by Catherine Kosiba)
A sensitive young woman stalks a romantic rival in this 1970's-revival psychological drama.

Holiday Fear (Written & Directed by Nicholas Santos, Produced by Matthew John Lawrence, Nicholas Santos, Kyle I. Kelley)
In the final act of a slasher film, Bruce attempts to reclaim his manliness and impress the final girl by finishing off the killer.

Smile (Directed by Bill Kirstein, Written & Produced by Bill Kirstein & Ginny Leise)
A man tells a woman on the street to Smile. He lives to regret it.

Watch our Q&A Recap (shot & edited by Kimberly Drew Whiten). *Please know there are some film spoilers - feel free to look for an opportunity to catch the films at a festival or computer screen near you & then come back to watch!

The awards go to...

At the end of the evening, we announced our winning filmmakers for both Audience Choice Award & Silver Whiskers Award. The Audience Choice Award is voted upon by all those in attendance, and the Silver Whiskers Award is judged by the CongestedCat Team based on a system rating 8 categories of StoryDialogue/WritingDirectionActingCinematographySoundEditing, and Production Value, along with a nuanced discussion focused on inclusion and originalityThe Silver Whiskers winner goes on to screen again at our end of year Best of Fest screening next April. 

The Silver Whiskers winner also receives $50 towards a crowdfunding campaign on SeedandSpark.com should they use the platform and a free Social Media audit ($200 value) from 4MileCircus

For the October 2017 lineup, our winning films were:
    Audience Choice Award:  "The Run-In"
    Silver Whiskers Award:  "Smile"

Join us next month for our November edition on the 14th!

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