IndieWorks: November Recap

November 27, 2013 in IndieWorks

Last Wednesday, we held our November series of IndieWorks at PEOPLE's lounge. It was a fun night with a great blend of filmmakers. Check out the winning filmmakers & photos from the night below.

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 November 2013 lineup, our winning filmmakers were:
Audience Choice Award: "Do It Yer'Self" Written/Directed by Mike Dimitroulakos.
Silver Whiskers Award: "Guides" Written/Directed by Dani Tenenbaum.

So long, 2013.

We'll be taking a break from IndieWorks this December, picking back up in the new year! We'll have three screenings at the start of 2014 leading up to our Best of Fest screening in April featuring all our Silver Whisker winners of our first year of IndieWorks, hopefully at a more theatrical venue, before picking up with year 2 back at PEOPLE's lounge in June. During our downtime for the rest of 2013, we're going to be working on what's next for IndieWorks & CongestedCat altogether. We won't be hiding at all, though; in addition to our bi-monthly episodes of Kelsey & updates about Summit, we'll be bringing you content like our Insider Series and new Strictly Indie Film Views. Ah, what's that last thing, you say?

Strictly Indie Film Views

We're supporters of Independent Film & try to draw attention to what up-and-comers are working on. As such, we've decided to add a series to our blog where we'll be reviewing independent features. Ryan Kramer is our primary author behind this project, and you can read the first of his series now on "Kill Your Darlings."

Be sure to check it out and reach out via twitter @ryankramer.

Kelsey Ep.5 "A Best Friend's Birthday"

November 25, 2013 in Kelsey: The Webseries

Kelsey finally has a date from an online dating site. She's so excited she forgets to stop talking.

www.kelseytheseries.com

#StrictlyIndie Film Views: "Kill Your Darlings"

November 22, 2013

We at CongestedCat are big supporters of Independent Film and try to draw attention to what up-and-comers are working on right now, especially when their work can be seen in theaters. We've decided to add a series to our blog where we review independent features two Fridays out of every month, one currently in theaters and one currently accessible on Netflix. The reviews will be written by team member Ryan Kramer. Check out the first one below and look out for the next in two weeks.

#StrictlyIndie Film View:
"Kill Your Darlings"

At its start, I thought the film might be encumbered by the way the characters speak in literary tongues, but that feeling subsided as quickly as I was thrown into the lives of these colorful individuals.

The story is centered around Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe), who leaves his complicated home life to study at Columbia University. He meets Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan), who apparently thrives off “complicated” circumstances, and the two instantly hit it off.

Coming from someone who isn't particularly fond of heavy handed period pieces, this film makes sure not the delve into that territory. It simply focuses the majority of its attention on the coming of age story of Allen. It’s about love, individuality and loss of innocence. It’s also just as much about obsession as the film’s tagline implies. Every character is utterly enthralled by Lucien Carr. It’s fascinating to see who will get caught in his web of manipulation as this incredible cast rebels against Columbia’s old-school principles of rhythm and meter, and attempts to reinvent poetry and literature all together.

That leads me to the minor (or maybe not so minor to some) flaws of the film. John Korokidas’ original cut of the film stood at a somewhat lengthy two hours and twenty minutes; and by the time the studio cut it down it lost about forty minutes of that runtime. I’m sure it lost some of its character development in that almost hour. This is mostly shown through Allen’s mother, who doesn't get as much screen time as it seemed she should have had. She pops up rather abruptly, in a way that seemed forced, to help Allen with a tough decision right before the film's resolution.

In spite of its shortcomings, Kill Your Darlings was one of my favorite films of 2013, with great performances all around and a poignant directorial debut for John Krokidas. It has limited release in theaters now. Check your local listings for a chance to watch the film on a big screen.

IndieWorks: Halloween Series Recap

November 05, 2013 in IndieWorks

Horrors, Thrillers, Dark Tones, & Gore!

We couldn't pass up the opportunity this October to have a Halloween themed IndieWorks event, so we celebrated the season last Wednesday with our filmmaker friends at PEOPLE's Lounge in the Lower East Side.

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 "Halloween '13" lineup, our winning filmmaker was:
Audience Choice Award: "Birthday Boys" Directed by Rafael De Leon.

We hope everyone who came out had a great time at the event & hope to see familiar faces at next month's! To submit your film, visit www.congestedcat.com/indieworks