christian lamorte

IndieWorks - November Recap

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Last Tuesday was the November edition of IndieWorks! Due to the weather, it being 2 days before Thanksgiving and only 2 weeks after the terrifying and devastating election results, we expected a smaller crowd. Thankfully, we still had 40 people in house for our screening of 5 shorts. And even more thankfully, we were able to enjoy an evening of celebrating expression and local filmmaking/filmmakers even amongst such uncertainty. The first half of the lineup was a series of animated films (the third mixed with live-action in documentary form), and all addressed trauma or anxiety but with resolutions of hope. The second half was more lighthearted with fun genre twists and turns. Some lovely conversations came out of the lineup. We hope connections were made, as well!

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 hope you'll join us again on December 13th, where we'll take a break from our usual screenings to have a filmmaker focused forum on how artists can use our reach and creative content to organize against the normalization of hate.) 

The Films of the night:

Trauma (Directed & Written by Brett Moody)
Matt, an ageless male in a spacesuit, wakens on the floor of a massive, pitch-black cavern. He is lost, and a meter on his suit warns him that he is running out of oxygen.

Bloop (Directed & Written by Joshua Planz)
A visual poem depicting the last three years of internal thoughts.

Suffering is the Easy Part (Directed by Jaime Ekkens)
A short, partially animated documentary about trauma, trauma's aftermath, depression and the healing process.

The Suitor (Directed & Written by Alvaro Congosto)
October 30th, 1938. During Orson Welles' infamous radio broadcast of War of the Worlds, a lonely man tries to bond with a panicked young woman as they fearfully wait for the end of the world together.

Mantis (Directed by Christian LaMorte, Written by Dylan Gantz)
A young man and a young woman watch TV together.

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 Story, Dialogue/Writing, Direction, Acting, Cinematography, Sound, Editing, and Production Value. 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 onSeedandSpark.com should they use the platform and a free Social Media audit ($200 value) from4MileCircus. And both winners received a free 2016 subscription to Bright Ideas Magazine.

For the November 2016 lineup, our winning films were:
    Audience Choice Award:  "Mantis"
    Silver Whiskers Award:  "The Suitor"

Watch the audience winner and trailer for the Silver Whiskers winner below:

IndieWorks - October (Halloween Special) Recap

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Happy Halloween! Last Tuesday was the October edition of IndieWorks, and our annual Halloween special! We screened 6 genre shorts, and had almost 50 people in house despite the jarring chill in the air! The films ranged in sub-genre throughout the night, but all had a macabre spin and really put us in the Halloween spirit. Some wonderful conversations came out of the lineup; we hope connections were made, as well!

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 hope you'll join us again for our November screening on the 22nd. After two months in a row of speciality screenings, we'll be back to our usual diverse lineups through the rest of Year 4. 

The Films of the night:

Arts & Crafts (Directed & Written by Nina Gielen)
When Misha was small, he and his mother would spend hours creating their own toys and animals out of sticks and leaves. It’s been over a year since Misha’s mother died, and he now lives alone with his dad. Still hoping she might come home eventually, Misha leaves the door unlocked for her every night, much to his father’s consternation.

Burnt Popcorn (Directed & Written by Rafael De Leon)
When a naive young woman is reluctant to break away from an unfulfilling dating situation, her father convinces her to handle it in an extreme way and complete her transition to adulthood.

The Price of Bones (Directed by Brandon Taylor, Written by Samantha Kolesnik)
Caprice and Heather go to extreme lengths to be thin.

Stitched (Directed & Written by Heather Taylor)
A sheltered woman, reeling from the death of her mother, shows her sister how far she will go to be heard.

The Grind (Directed & Written by Christian LaMorte & Alejandro Veciana)
A mini web series satirizing modern movie cliches with absurd, surreal humor.

Sticks (Directed & Written by Mark J Parker)
Four college students reunite on a summer night at a house in the woods. As they tell scary stories around the campfire, the line between imagination and reality blurs, and they get the feeling they may not be alone on the property.

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 Story, Dialogue/Writing, Direction, Acting, Cinematography, Sound, Editing, and Production Value. 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 onSeedandSpark.com should they use the platform and a free Social Media audit ($200 value) from4MileCircus. And both winners received a free 2016 subscription to Bright Ideas Magazine.

For the October 2016 lineup, our winning films were:
    Audience Choice Award:  "The Price of Bones"
    Silver Whiskers Award:  "Arts & Crafts"

Watch the Trailer for both winners below: