SUMMIT: New Press & Another Screening!

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I sent an email out to a few horror movie news & reviews sites a couple days ago mentioning Summit's upcoming screening at Scare-A-Con. This morning I was pleasantly surprised to see a write-up on the film on the website JoBlo (which I didn't realize is as big a deal as it is until a bunch of horror fans started getting in touch with me, mostly through Twitter.) Here's the link to that article.

That write-up led to 2 interesting messages of the day! 

The first was from the editor of We Are Indie Horror mentioning that he saw the article, took an interest in the film and did a write-up of his own. He also asked if I'd do an interview about the film, as well. I agreed and he sent me some questions, so I'll be sure to send that when it's released on the site. 

The second message was from the co-founder of the Unreal Film Festival. This is what it said:

I'm co-founder of the (admittedly grassroots - in our 4th year) Unreal Film Festival in Memphis, TN (Oct. 4-10), and I'm looking to secure two more features for our fest this year. We got another day's use with the theater we use, and we'd rather screen more films instead of having more panels. SUMMIT sounds like exactly what we'd enjoy, as we are a scifi/horror/fantasy/animation festival specifically. Submission fee will be waived, of course. The film would screen as a special presentation instead of in competition, as well. Still, it's about giving our fan base more of what they love, really. We love and often work in genre based films, ourselves. Again, though, we aren't the richest - just full of passion. We hope that you'll consider us. 

 

I thought that was really cool of him to want to screen my film, and that we have the passion thing in common; I told him, in fact, my team & I refer to ourselves as passionaires because we may not be millionaires but we have endless passion. I also mentioned two things: one, no one from the team would be able to attend, so that would kind of suck, and two, I wouldn't feel comfortable with them screening the film without seeing it. So, I requested that he watch it first and then decide whether or not he wants to screen it. (And I made sure that our lack of attendance wouldn't be an issue. - It would not.) I told him that the film's truly no-budget, with most of the money we raised having gone towards housing and feeding the cast & crew, and attempting to keep them warm. Everything was DIY and not as polished as I would've liked. He said that he loved my attitude and would happily watch the film but knows even more now that he wants to screen it and increase its audience because we seem to be a great group of people with a similar outlook as the festival team. So I agreed to the screening and sent him a link to the film. He did end up telling me that he started watching and is already impressed. So that's cool. In any case, it'll be nice to have a screening for people we maybe wouldn't reach otherwise . I wish I could attend, but they'll just have to let me know how it goes. If anyone is local to Memphis, I'll be sure to let you know the date & time once they tell me so you can check it out!

Maybe the article will lead to even more opportunities popping up. Only time will tell!

Talk to you soon,

Christina 

IndieWorks: August Recap

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Last Wednesday was the August edition of IndieWorks, and it was such a great night! We trimmed our typical 6 film lineup to 5 because three of the films were over 15 minutes (we try not to let the evening run too late) and we wanted to see if last month's overflow of 120 people in house was a fluke or the norm moving forward. As it turns out, we really have grown that much because even with 1 less film, we had over 75 people in house and had to open both floors! The vibe and energy in the room were positive and supportive. The audience seemed to really enjoy the lineup and the night as a whole! 

We'd just like to say thank you to everyone who came out to support the filmmakers and spend the evening with us & them. We hope you enjoyed all the films and the opportunity to network with other filmmakers and film enthusiasts, and we hope some connections were made!

See photos from the evening:

The films of the night:

Tom in America (Directed by Flavio Alves)
Michael and Betty have been united by one guiding principle: no secrets. But when a provocative Tom of Finland doll triggers Michael's long-buried desires, Betty discovers that secrets have been part of their life all along. 

Before We Lose (Directed by Cristhian Andrews)
The love story of a mother and her 3 year old son and the turn their lives take with her deteriorating health condition in the Black Sea Region of Turkey.

Love & Badminton (Directed by Kenneth Maharaj)
Meldrick Whitaker is at a major cross-road in his life. Stay committed to his beleaguered marriage to Wilamina or succumb to his infatuation to Lisa who happens to be the only person that shares an interest in his favorite avocation, Badminton.

Into The Woods ( Directed by Anne Hu)
An idealistic couple journeys through the treacherous woods of their relationship in hopes of finding love. 

Unwritten ( Directed by Anita Carroll)
A young woman returns to New York City and grapples with heartbreak, loss, and things unsaid.

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. The Silver Whiskers winner goes on to screen again 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 August 2015 lineup, our winning films were:
    Audience Choice Award:  "Unwritten"
    Silver Whiskers Award:  "Before We Lose"

See posters for the winning films below: 

 

The other 3 on our Facebook Page.