July's IndieWorks: Hiccup & The Third One This Week

Hey, all! Hope everyone is enjoying this very hot Summer weekend - we are, we're filming scenes for Kelsey!

This past week, we had an amazing turnout for our second installment of IndieWorks with over 50 guests in attendance. Eight great films were screened at the People's Lounge and Bar on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

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 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. It goes on to screen at our end of the year Best of Fest event.

For the Juy 2013 lineup, our winning filmmakers were:
    Audience Choice Award:  "Hiccup" Directed by Todd Bevan.
    Silver Whiskers Award:  "The Third One This Week" Written/Directed by Felix Thompson.

Both filmmakers will be featured in our upcoming "IndieWorks: Insider Series", a video series we are featuring on our blog, in which we get to know each filmmaker and learn about their creative processes, insight on the industry, upcoming projects, and more! It's another way for us to further our commitment to getting local New York City filmmakers connected to their local community. The series will be released bi-monthly, following each IndieWorks screening event, and hosted by Lauren A Kennedy.

Thanks to all the filmmakers & film enthusiasts who came to support one another. We look forward to seeing you next month! And, be on the lookout for the first episode of the Insider Series rolling out next week, featuring Molly McGaughey, Director of "5 in 3", and get ready for our next event on August 7th!

Wednesday! IndieWorks Screening at People's Lounge and Bar

This Wednesday, we present   our July installment of our IndieWorks screening event, hosted at the People's Lounge and Bar in downtown Manhattan!

IndieWorks screens short films produced by emerging filmmakers throughout New York. It provides a platform for those filmmakers to showcase their work in front of an audience and to network with individuals in the local film community.

Admission is free!
Doors open at 6:30pm. Screenings begin just an hour later at 7:30, running approximately 2 hours, with two Q&A sessions with our filmmakers from the evening. Drink specials will be available all throughout the event, and we encourage everyone to stick around after the event for some mingling with the community.

People's Lounge and Bar

163 Allen St, New York, New York 10002-2130

The night's line-up 

Music: A Marvin Gaye Story (7:05)
Director: Damian Bailey

Lamina (3:45)
Director: James Lamberg

Mating Dome (11:00)
Director: John Trigonis

Hiccup (3:00)
Director: Todd Bevan

*Q&A with 2nd Set of Filmmakers 

It Happens Fast (6:00) 
Director: Eric Striffler

Stop, Rewind (7:40)
Director: Harrison Heller

Abel & Cain (10:25)
Director: Sean Mannion

The Third One This Week (4:00)
Director: Felix Thompson

*Intermission for Q&A with 1st Set of Filmmakers

More info: http://www.congestedcat.com/indieworks
21 to drink, 18 to enter.

Come out for a fun night of watching films and networking, this Wednesday, July 17th!

Discover shorts, Find an audience & Build the local film community!

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June's Q&A Session w/ the filmmakers.

Come out for a fun night of watching films and networking, this Wednesday, July 17th!

Discover shorts, Find an audience & Build the local film community!

We Have A Rough Cut!

Hello to all our incredible supporters!

I apologize for not updating more frequently. But it’s for good reason, we’ve been super busy with post-production the past few months and I’m so happy to announce that we have a full rough cut of the film! The runtime is 1 hour and 18 minutes, not including the credits and a handful of exterior shots we plan to pick up this winter.

This week, we’ll be sending the cut to Colin, our sound editor, to start mixing the audio. Our composer, Raymond, has been working on music samples over the past few weeks and he should now be able to really flesh out the score. And, of course, our visual effects artist, Steven, will start working on the title sequence and other effects that need to be done throughout the film. The final step will be color correction. We still have a long road ahead of us, but the fact that it’s cut together and all the footage worked out is such a dream come true for me. It looks amazing & the actors’ performances are just phenomenal. I cannot thank my crew and cast enough for making this film not only happen but a film to be proud of; and I cannot wait to share it with all of you!

We aim to have a teaser cut by September and a full trailer by late October. By February, we hope to have the full final cut and be able to have the cast, crew & backer premiere. Then maybe we’ll have a private screening for anonymous audience feedback. Once April hits, we’ll start submitting to festivals, most notably my dream festival, the Toronto International Film Festival. After the film premieres at a festival, we’ll be able to send all the $25 or higher backers their DVD’s and other rewards.

In the meantime though, we’ll try to share exclusive footage, videos and photos with you through the rest of the process. Thank you again so much for your generosity & support, as well as your patience throughout the completion of this film! We could not have made this happen without every single one of you.

While you’re waiting to see footage, you can check out some of the things we’ve been sharing on our Facebook page, like stills from the film! Also, I’ve been doing a few interviews lately. This is a New York-based podcast where I talk about the crazy things that happened during production and what’s been happening in post, Listen Here.  If you never got a chance to listen to my first interview on the show during the Kickstarter campaign, here it is. Also, this is a great article from the local paper near where we shot in Chatham. We were the cover story!

Thanks again for everything, and I’ll try to keep the updates coming!

-Christina

Venue Search, New York Cine Radio, & Project Updates

New Venue Search for IndieWorks

Earlier this month, we hosted our very first IndieWorks screening event. The night went really well; filmmakers and film enthusiasts came together to share, enjoy, and connect with local indie film in mind. Through the success of our first event, we're making adjustments to ensure each IndieWorks event can be better than the last.

We're currently looking for a new venue that can hold a larger audience (100 people or more), with a reasonably quiet atmosphere and/or a separate room where we can project multiple screens throughout, so all of our guests can view the films comfortably.  We'd like to reach out to our audience to help us find a fun, local venue to accommodate our guests, with no admission fee, and offer a drink special to those attending the event. 

New York Cine Radio Podcast

Two weeks ago, Christina was featured again on New York Cine Radio Podcast. They spoke about her experiences as writer, director, and producer of 'Summit', as well as crowdfunding, IndieWorks, & 'Kelsey: The Webseries'. It's a great listen for aspiring filmmakers who are approaching their first projects. 

Check out the interview here. 

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'Summit' & 'Kelsey: The Webseries' Updates

We've got some updates on our current projects.

'Summit' is currently in its final ten minutes of its initial rough cut - Whoa, that was quick. We'll have more updates as the next few months approach us, when the film is in its final swing of post-production. 

'Kelsey: The Webseries' is also half-way through production! You can follow along with our production updates through our Facebook page, especially if you've ever wanted to be an extra. We're periodically looking for extras to help us fill in some of our more populated scenes. It's an awesome way to hop onto a set and see a production from behind the curtain and help out indie filmmakers!

We'll be updating on progress of our venue search and our first InsiderSeries episodes as it goes on! 

 - Chris

IndieWorks Kickoff: Thanks for the support!

Hey, everyone!  

This past Wednesday we had our very first IndieWorks film series event over at @Room_54, hosted by Lauren A Kennedy and Tony Curtis. If you're unfamiliar with IndieWorks, it's a monthly film series for emerging filmmakers to showcase their work in front of a large audience, offering an opportunity to discover shorts, find an audience, and build the community. For those who joined us Wednesday night, thank you all very much.

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 is voted upon by the CongestedCat Team by a system rating 8 categories of Story, Dialogue/Writing, Direction, Acting, Cinematography, Sound, Editing, and Production Value. It goes on to screen at our end of the year Best of Fest event.

For the June 2013 lineup, our winning filmmakers were:
    Audience Choice Award:  "5 in 3" Directed by Molly McGaughey.
    Silver Whiskers Award:  "The Sucker" Directed by Katie Carman.

Both films will be featured in our upcoming "IndieWorks: Insider Series", a video series we are featuring on our blog in which we get to know each filmmaker and learn about their creative processes, insight on the industry, upcoming projects, and more! It's another way for us to further our commitment to getting local New York City filmmakers connected to their local community. The series will be released bi-monthly, following each IndieWorks screening event, and hosted by Lauren A Kennedy & Tony Curtis.

July 17th is our next event held in Queens and we hope to see you there with a friend or two! For now, keep an eye out for the upcoming Insider Series and check out the winning films we've embedded below.

The Sucker - A short film by Katie Carman

"5 in 3" Directed by Molly Mcgaughey

The June 2013 lineup is listed here, for those who may have missed the event or want to seek out some of the films and filmmakers.

-Chris