CongestedCat is Casting!

  • "Revelations" 

Writer/Director: Kelsey Rauber, Producer: Christina Raia

PREMISE:

On a common girl's night, two adult women with burdening secrets can no longer keep them from each other. 

Short (approx. 7 min). Looking for non-union talent only.

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS: 

LINA: A fit middle-aged bisexual woman of color filled with mystery. She's perceived as charming and a flirt. Her love for coming-of-age movies is something only her best friend, Maxine, knows. Which is what they are watching the night she shared her truth.

Tentative shooting date is May 12th. A one-day shoot in Queens, NY.

No pay. IMDb credit, meals, and footage for reels will be provided. Will be a no-budget, casual, community-oriented filmmaking experience. Full disclosure, this is Kelsey's first time directing, but will have the experience of the production company behind it.

All submissions & inquiries to be sent to: kelseyrauber@gmail.com

 Please include headshot, resume and any possible footage. Will initially request a video audition.

A new way to Watch!

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We have a lot of our content (a feature, a web series, a dozen shorts) released publicly now. Maybe you want to check it all out but can't decide what to watch and in what order? Our site features projects in production order. But we recently curated our Vimeo channel albums to be by theme! So now you can find exactly what you're in the mood for quickly & easily via our content!
Check it out! We'll be building this search-ability into our site next. 

IndieWorks: March Screening

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Last Tuesday was the March edition of IndieWorks! The first half was a set of experimental works exploring various forms of struggle. The 2nd half was narrative works that were different in style and tone but unified by a sense of loss and connection. With 5 films, we had 35 people in attendance, made up of a super engaged audience. It was a smaller crowd than usual, but considering there was a nor'easter predicted, it wasn't too shabby! The Q&A was filled with thoughtful comments and discussions! We'd 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 5th annual Best of Fest screening on April 17th -  featuring all our monthly Silver Whisker Award winners of Year 5!

See photos from the evening:

The Films of the night:

Small Fish/Missing People (Directed by Vinny Sacchetti)
The stories of various young people in New York City and their shared struggle of trying to achieve their ideal selves.  

The War (Directed by Jaime Ekkens, Written by Soré Agbaje)
A short mixed media experimental film that incorporates live action footage, stop-motion animation and other animation techniques. It is written and performed by Soré that chronicals sexual harassment and the many ways men target and exploit their power over women on a daily basis. 

Paralysis (Written & Directed by Victoria Negri)
A woman struggles to wake from a nightmare and finds herself where she started.   

Underneath the Sound (Written & Directed by Olga Nikulina)
What would you do if music was your life and you were losing hearing? What would you hope for if your child was diagnosed with deafness? "Underneath the sound" tells a story of a musician who refuses to lose the passion of his life and of a deaf child who gets his chance to hear with a help of the cochlear implant.

Chocolates (Written & Produced by Patricia Selznick, Directed by Mike Cattelona)
Alone together for the first time in years, two sisters go to their family's weekend home to set up for their parents anniversary party. Delicately weaving through their strained relationship, they struggle to relax in each other's company. That is until one sister finds the party favors and suddenly their trip takes a new turn.

Watch our Q&A Recap (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 rating system of 8 categories:   Story, Dialogue/Writing, Direction, Acting, Cinematography, Sound, Editing, and Production Value, along with a nuanced discussion focused on inclusion and originality. The 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 March 2018 lineup, our winning films were:
    Audience Choice Award:  "Paralysis"
    Silver Whiskers Award:  "Chocolates" 

Join us next month for our Best of Fest on the 17th!

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CongestedCat is Casting!

  • "Still Water" 

Writer/Director: Ryan Kramer, Producer: Christina Raia

PREMISE:

A young girl with a vivid imagination gets some much needed advice from her mother on how to overcome her fear of the water... or so she thinks.

Short (approx. 5 min). Looking for non-union talent only.

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS: 

Amber: (Lead) 10-14 yrs old, Any race. Young, but not young enough to have such an irrational fear of the water. Her imagination can be her best friend and her worst enemy. She's also real good at sarcasm. (Must be comfortable with swimming and performing in an action sequence that involves pretending to be pulled underwater. There will be a certified lifeguard on set and all safety precautions will be taken.)

Mother: (Supporting) Early 30's, Any race/ethnicity. (subject to change once the lead is cast) Amber's Mother is a cool Mom. She's fun, but extremely protective over her daughter, and trying to figure out the right balance between smothering and giving Amber the space she needs. She's the source of Amber's poignant sarcasm.

Tentative shooting date is July 28th. A one-day shoot in Long Island, NY.

No pay. IMDb credit, meals, and footage for reels will be provided. Will be a casual, community-oriented filmmaking experience. BBQ on the grill in the family backyard kind of feel.

All submissions & inquiries to be sent to: rkramer47@gmail.com

 Please include headshot, resume and any possible footage. Will initially request a video audition.