Today marks the anniversary of wrapping production of our 2nd feature film, About a Donkey! To celebrate, we reveal our official poster design!
Created by Sean Mannion of 4milecircus.
Queens World Film Festival Recap
"Enough" screened Thursday night at Kaufman Astoria Studios as part of the #Women block. I'm usually a little skeptical of any block whose theme is just "women," as it usually implies it's the only block at the festival with films directed by women. But women directors were super represented all throughout the festival this year, and I was happy to see that my block featured 5 films unified by a kind of "women on the edge" theme - tackling struggles that don't specifically afflict women but were portrayed in nuanced ways that felt authentically and pointedly woman. The audience was small, only about 35 people, but not bad for 6pm on a weekday. And thankfully, the audience was engaged, with a well-run Q&A that artistically tackled the work. See the Q&A below. We cut out most of the other filmmakers' answers, as as to not spoil their films. But the discussion was great overall.
"Arm Bar" screened Sunday at the beautiful Museum of Moving Image theater in the Queens Corner block, which always closes out the festival and has the largest audience because it features 7 to 8 films all by Queens-based filmmakers. Usually the films are also all shot in Queens, but there were a couple in this lineup that weren't. It was a mixed bag but there were some some really excellent films in the mix. "Arm Bar" was super well received by the audience, with the brilliant Latresa Baker's gripping lead performance complimented during the Q&A. Watch the recap below. Again, we kept everyone's intro but only included Ryan's answers, so as to avoid spoilers for the other films. (Thanks QWFF volunteer Maggi Delgado for recording & sharing both videos.)
We hope to be back at Queens World with new work next year! Until then, our next screening will be at Blackbird in April with "Enough."
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!
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
in IndieWorks
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"
