IndieWorks: June 2015 (Start of Year 3) Recap

June 15, 2015 in IndieWorks

Last Wednesday was the June edition of IndieWorks, our first of Year 3! We ended up only screening 5 films instead of our usual 6 because a filmmaker couldn't make it and, since our series is largely about community building, it didn't make sense to screen the film without a representative. But even so, we had an excellent lineup of films and a packed house with over 60 people, including an audience that really seemed to engage with the films and filmmakers.

We'd just like to say thank you to 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, and overall had as much fun as we did!

See photos from the evening:

Photos by our friend & photographer Alyssa Meadows.

The films of the night:

The Way You Love (Directed by Lydia Darly)
A short about unconditional love and forgiveness of the past in order to be free.

Tadaima (Directed by Robin D'Oench)
After the closure of the US Internment Camps at the end of World War II, a Japanese American family returns home and must find the strength to rebuild both their house and family amidst the emotional and physical destruction caused by the war.

In Loving Memory of Uncle Harold (Directed by Lily van Leeuwen)
At a reunion Winnie tries to bring her estranged family members closer together by playing a family game

Places (Directed by Adam Taylor)
A short film about the complication of flirting.

Rolling ( Directed by Adam Volerich)
A teenage couple celebrates their last night together with an evening of drugs and music, but when the party ends before the drugs wear off they find themselves wandering the suburbs with nothing to do.

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. It goes on to screen at our end of year Best of Fest event in April!

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 2015 subscription to Bright Ideas Magazine and have the opportunity to be interviewed for our Insider Series.

For the June 2015 lineup, our winning filmmakers were:
Audience Choice Award: "Rolling"
Silver Whiskers Award: "Tadaima"

See the trailers of both films below:

Join us next month on July 8th!

IndieWorks: Submissions Exclusively Through FilmFreeway

June 06, 2015 in IndieWorks

We start Year 3 of IndieWorks next week and are so excited to begin a new year of celebrating and showcasing indie shorts by local filmmakers. Getting to do this and meet so many wonderful filmmakers and film lovers over the past two years has been such a pleasure and a true honor.

We just decided to put together this quick update to let people know about some changes regarding submissions. Originally, submissions were 100% free. However, in the past year, most notably the last few months, we've been getting an overwhelming number of submissions. Since opening up submissions for Year 3 in April alone we've received over 200 submissions (and that's not including automatically disqualified films that are out of state or country). We feel at this time that it's best to no longer take free submissions. We, as filmmakers ourselves, know how expensive submitting to film festivals can be and by no means want to add to or exploit that. However, we're completely not-for-profit at IndieWorks, everyone volunteers; and reviewing submissions fully and fairly while building lineups each month has become a little overwhelming. We feel a lot of filmmakers submit everything they've ever made to us since submitting is free. This leaves us sending out multiple non-acceptances to the same filmmaker in a short amount of time (something we're not happy to do), and unnecessarily inundates us with submissions that are clearly not the level of quality we make an effort to showcase each month.

We feel that just a $5 submission fee (with no late fees or any additional costs) will make a filmmaker really think about the film they're submitting and whether or not it's worth the submission fee, and if they truly want an audience for this particular film as opposed to just any audience for any film. That said, we are also offering a discount to alumni where submissions are only $2. So, if you've screened with us before, be sure to send us a message when you're ready to submit your new film so we can pass along the promo code. In any case, we can be found directly on FilmFreeway.com or by going through our site submission page (which takes you to FilmFreeway).

We hope you'll continue attending IndieWorks each month, starting with the June screening next week on Wednesday, the 10th. It is, of course, free to attend, and will always be so! Our commitment to creating a welcoming atmosphere with no pressure to fill a headcount and make your aunt come out to yet another screening of your film remains intact. We aim to continue building our screening series as an environment filled with your peers and true indie film enthusiasts who will hopefully go on to follow, support and maybe even become part of your future work.

Thanks for being part of our community these past two years, we look forward to growing with you in this new one!

-the CongestedCat team

*If you have already submitted a film for this year & have not heard back, please do not resubmit. We probably have not reviewed your submission yet, but it is very much in consideration.

Get Your Tickets for the World Premiere of Summit!

June 01, 2015 in Summit

June is upon us, which means the Summit World Premiere at the Manhattan Film Festival is just 2.5 weeks away! If you need a reason to purchase your ticket(s) to the screening on the 18th at 7pm, I'll give you five:

1. It's an entertaining & interesting movie, both as a genre film & a drama, with a lot of nuance to just sit back & enjoy or analyze the crap out of.
2. My team & I have spent over 3 years working on it, during ridiculously long hours, in extreme weather conditions, on no pay, just to bring the film to fruition. That kind of hard work & dedication deserve an audience.
3. It was the biggest learning experience for me as a filmmaker, and if you've been following my career and particularly the saga of Shooting Summit, you can't miss the final product of it all. If you're an indie filmmaker who hasn't made a feature yet in particular, I think it's a great opportunity to learn from my mistakes.
4. Although it's hard for me to avoid only seeing the flaws after 2 years of post-production, it's a project I'm incredibly proud of and one I really want to share with you. It has some of my favorite moments on screen as a director and you won't want to miss those. (Plus it's not all about me; there's a lot of talent on that screen that I cannot take credit for & deserves attention in its own right.)
5. The Manhattan Film Festival is unique in its revenue sharing option, where it allows filmmakers to profit 50% of the ticket sales they sell directly. So not only would you get to finally watch this film and support the work of the people whose literal blood, sweat & tears went into making it, but you'd also be helping me earn back the almost $10,000 (via credit cards & loans) I personally put into the film; and you'd be supporting the sustainability of indie film as not just art, but an actual profitable career.

Thank you to everyone who buys a ticket & spreads the word, and thank you to my team! Purchase Tickets: http://independentfeatures.com/view-screening/693

-Christina