Festivals & Awards

Recap of the SUMMIT Premiere at Manhattan Film Festival

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Check out some photos from the night:

Last Thursday was the world premiere of Summit at the Manhattan Film Festival. It was such an overwhelming night for me because I was both excited and extremely nervous. I have a complicated relationship with my first feature film in that I'm incredibly proud of what we accomplished (in large part because of the context in which we accomplished it: the lack of a budget, the insane challenges we faced (read Shooting Summit)) and am so grateful for what I got out of it: I met most of my best friends and favorite co-workers, I learned, really, how to make films & what kind of filmmaker I am, and I gained an audience and dedicated group of people that have continued to follow my work. However, I also understand how flawed the film is and, considering I've made a 10 episode web series and 3 short films since Summit, I feel it's very much a reflection of who I was, not necessarily who I am as a filmmaker. So you can imagine that finally being able to share it with the world was both exhilarating and terrifying.  

As it turns out, people have truly been as eager to see the film as I've been to get it out into the world because we had over 115 people at the screening: many family members of mine and the cast & crew, but also some surprising friends, old & new, and, even more surprising, people I've never met in person who had been following the progress of the film via social media. It was wonderful seeing how excited people were. Of course, it made me more nervous though. 

Sitting through the film was painful, I'll admit, for 2 reasons: one, because it always kind of is; it's the most vulnerable an artist can be, in the room sharing their art with an audience, but even more so when you're 2.5 years removed from the time it was made (and 3.5 from writing & feeling good about the script) and knowing that some of the flaws you see so clearly now they'll see too. And the other reason, I'll try not to harp on a lot because I did my fair share of (private) social media complaining after the screening, but the projector was old, low quality and calibrated incorrectly, so it not only screened my film in SD instead of HD, but was 3 shades too dark and had a green tint on the image. I was pissed, especially considering the festival undoubtedly made at least $1,000 off of my audience that night and that audience deserved to see the film as intended and as I was promised it would be. It's frustrating that they didn't change the settings on the projector when testing the films knowing that they could and should do so; there's no way they watched my film during a test screening and felt it was an accurate depiction of the streaming version I submitted. I said I wasn't going to harp, but it was truly upsetting. As a horror film, mood and atmosphere are so key to a viewers experience and so much of the experience of my film was lost. On top of that, the hard work and talent of my DP, Gaffer, Colorist & really the whole camera department (not to mention my actors who were at times literally too dark to be visible) were completely disrespected. I know it wasn't just my film that suffered, other filmmakers got in touch with me to discuss it. But I digress. You live and you learn, right? Like everything with Summit, this was another learning experience, this time about what to expect from festivals and how much you can try to control everything, but so much is out of your hands. Aside from the projector issue, the festival does have its merits (like the unique revenue sharing model) and I'm happy to have been part of it. I just wish there had been more care put into the screening. The experience did give me a lot of things to consider with other festivals moving forward. 

All of that aside though, the night actually ended up a success. The audience was really engaged with the film. Like really! There were lots of laughs when I hoped for laughs and loud gasps when I wasn't sure if we'd get such vocal reactions. I could feel that the audience enjoyed it. Someone said after the screening, "You had them, they were with you every second; they were absorbed and completely on this ride with you. That's impressive." The visual issues with the projector were undeniably apparent, but it didn't detract from the audience experience too much it seems because the vibe in the room really was present and engrossed! I was able to relax and enjoy the film more because I could feel most of the room doing so. After the screening there was a Q&A and despite fuming (on the inside) about the projector when I walked up on the stage, I was able to let it go (for the moment) and enjoy the night when I realized how many questions the audience had. I really loved being able to discuss the film with an audience that had finally watched it and truly enjoyed it. It was quite exhilarating.  

After we left the screening, a lot of people came over to say wonderful things. I think we met our biggest fan, who literally bowed in front of me and was "star struck" by the actors. That was one surprising and overwhelming encounter, something very cool but not something I think I'll get used to. Some other things said to me personally (I'll mention comments about the film below) were: "Keep going at what you are doing. You're terrific at it" and "That was excellent. You have a long wonderful road ahead. Quote me on that!" I'm not going to let any of that go to my head, but it was pretty awesome to hear. 

We then went to a local bar and hung out for a bit longer, chatting with each other & some audience members that stuck around, celebrating the fact that the film was finally seen. The next day, I got a lot more comments via social media from people who really didn't have to say anything but chose to. It was such a lovely surprise, finally getting objective comments about the film. I quoted a few of the not too spoilery ones below. 

Click to enlarge

That's it for the premiere. We're still waiting to hear from other festivals. July will bring some news. So fingers crossed for more screenings (with better projectors) and opportunities for this film to be seen!

-Christina 

Update

Summit ended up winning Best Horror at the festival!

Summit ended up winning Best Horror at the festival!

I only know of 2 other horror features that screened as part of the festival. There could have been more, I'm not sure. But I know they awarded 50 out of 102 films with awards. It's really cool that we were one of them. 

NYC PictureStart Film Festival "We Had Plans" Recap

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Two weeks ago we had the world premiere of one of our new short films, "We Had Plans," at the 19th NYC PictureStart Film Festival. As a filmmaker who tends to stick to more comedy & genre films, I was a little anxious about what the audience reaction would be to more of an intimate drama. It was my first time directing something so small in scale, but rich in nuance & emotion. I suppose I'm used to being able to judge how the audience feels about one of my films because of the laughter that fills the room or sharp gasps from the crowd, so this was a new experience for me as a filmmaker.

In a small space, there was a nice turnout of at least 40 people. We screened in a lineup of 7 films. All the others in this particular lineup were so strong, in production value, performance and, most importantly, story. I was blown away by the films and have since gone on to like their pages & reach out to the filmmakers that I did not meet personally via social media. Kelsey & I are incredibly proud to have screened amongst such lovely shorts. (I will say though that while we loved the other films, it was disappointing to be literally the only female filmmakers in the bunch.) In terms of our film though, we were very noticeably the shortest short, and the only one to take place in a single room between two people (notably women) having a heated discussion. I wondered how the audience would feel, especially considering we followed a whimsical, landscape-heavy piece (with a gorgeous aesthetic, I might add). As it turns out though, people were engrossed in our film! I could feel it in the room that, while our brief runtime may have surprised people, it no less enamored them. Kelsey heard one audience member in front of us whisper to his companion, "I liked that one," as our credits hit the screen. 

After the screening, we were only able to chat with a few people, but we got some wonderfully surprising feedback. One audience member I had previously met at the Queens World Film Festival, who coincidentally ended up at this screening, said he loved it and that he was on the edge of his seat just as the film cut out, leaving him wanting more. Wanting more was a frequent comment from the audience. Another filmmaker from the lineup, whose film was just beautiful, said to me that he truly loved our film (when I went over with the intention of telling him how much I loved his). He said that he's been wanting to make a film in one space, but has found it difficult to execute. He said to be able to pull that off and take people on a journey with characters and tell a story in such a short time in such a confined space is a real accomplishment and we did that for him. He was "swept up by it." His words were clearly not just flattery, as he had no need to give such raw feedback, and I was utterly shocked and grateful to hear such a lovely assessment. (I wish my feedback for him was as eloquent, but I was so overwhelmed by what he said to me that I just kept using the word love in relation to all aspects of his film.) His friend, who is not a filmmaker, also chose to say something to me before I walked away and said that she loved the film too, and that it felt like watching someone trying to express themselves, and instead just making you feel it. And she emphasized that she "felt it." That was such a wonderfully odd bit of feedback that I really appreciated because I think it's a compliment to all of us, from Kelsey's writing (who was very much putting herself on paper in a vulnerable way), to the actors giving breathtaking performances, to my collaborations with Peter, our DP, and Jordan, our editor, to bring it all together in an intimate and sincere way. (And of course, we did not do it alone, we had an amazing crew of people who all added their personal touches to the film, making it work in many subtle ways). 

Anyway, we ended that night feeling pretty great. So far, the film has been rejected at two other festivals (ones I knew were long shots, but I crossed my fingers for anyway). We're waiting to hear back from about 4 more. Hopefully we'll be able to share this short with more audiences before we put it on Vimeo next year. In the meantime, enjoy photos of us at the NYC PictureStart Film Festival below.  

Photo credit: Mark Jude (pulled from NYC PictureStart's social media). Additional photos from the festival overall found on Facebook.