IndieWorks: January 2015 Recap

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Wednesday, the 21st, was the January edition of IndieWorks, our first of 2015! We were worried the cold & snow would keep the crowd away, but we ended up with our biggest turn out since our 1st Best of Fest last April with over 70 people in house!!! 

We screened 6 unique & captivating films by talented local filmmakers, and the night was a huge success. Thank you everyone who came out to support the filmmakers and spend the evening with us. We hope you enjoyed all the films and the opportunity to network with other filmmakers and film enthusiasts!

See the photos from the evening:

Unfortunately, Chris, our resident photographer, had a last minute scheduling conflict and could not attend, so our new intern Shane stepped in to take photos. We'll have more adequate coverage at future screenings, we apologize for the lack thereof this month, but we're grateful for Shane's effort on only his first week working with us. 

The films of the night:

Walls (Directed by Patrick Mandeville)
A short comedy about a Star Wars fan hearing the neighbor he's never met, and the ways in which we are involuntarily brought into strangers' lives. 

Atramentous ( Directed by Greg Starr)
A Mockumentary about a naive young filmmaker who decides to make his own blaxploitation film - with only white people.

John Dablovski: Reality TV Star (Directed by Gerard Zarra)
John Dablovski is a delusional young man who believes he is the star of his own reality television show. But when an old friend from the past comes to visit, Dablovski must choose which reality he believes in. 

Zerogon (Directed by Joshua Planz & John Mattiuzzi)
A lonely creature, on a lonely planet, abducted into the false allure of a computer generated world.

The Assassination of Chicago's Mayor ( Directed by D. Schmudde)
A 19th-century newspaper peddler named Patrick Prendergast has delusions of greatness. Evidently slighted by the mayor, this self-anointed messenger prepares for a glorious rise from ignored lobbyist to influential icon. 

Q.U.E.E.N. (Directed by Brittany Fennell)
Follows a sixteen-year old teenager named Imani who struggles to find her voice. Imani uses writing as her muse to say all the things she is too afraid to say. 

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. The Silver Whiskers winner goes on to screen at our end of year Best of Fest event in April, while both winning filmmakers have the option to be featured in our Insider Series! 

The Silver Whiskers winner also receives $50 towards a crowdfunding campaign on SeedandSpark.com should they use the platform, and both winners received a free subscription to Bright Ideas Magazine. 

For the January 2015 lineup, our winning filmmakers were:
    Audience Choice Award:  "John Dablovski: Reality TV Star"
    Silver Whiskers Award:  "Q.U.E.E.N."

 Watch "John Dablovski: Reality TV Star"         Watch the trailer for "Q.U.E.E.N."   

Stay tuned for the 2nd Annual Best of Fest date, where "Q.U.E.E.N." will screen again. In the meantime, join us in 1 week for the February edition of IndieWorks!

 

Summit Cast & Crew Premiere

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On Saturday, January 25th, during the 2 year anniversary of principal photography, we finally screened the film for the cast & crew! I wont say much other than, of course, we had issues at the start of the screening, specifically in the form of the theater projectionist being an hour & a half late. However, once we got going, it went incredibly well. It wouldn't be Summit if something terrible didn't go wrong just before everything goes right. It was lovely to finally be able to share the film with the key people who helped make it. A big thank you goes out to all of them. Now we look forward to sharing it with audiences!