IndieWorks: October Recap

Wednesday was the October edition of IndieWorks, and it was a lovely evening! We had a smaller crowd than usual of about 30 people (we think because we have 2 screenings this month), but the audience was in no way lacking. Whenever we have smaller crowds, we tend to have a little more audience engagement during the Q&A's. That was certainly the case here, and the discussions had and stories told were just amazing. 

We'd 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!

We'd also like to say a big thank you to our new guest hosts who filled in as MC's of the evening (and who we'll definitely have back again), Ricardo Manigat & Shelby Zoe Coley. Also, a thank you to our intern Flavio Barreiro for covering photography of the evening.

See photos from the night:

The films of the night:

Araignee (Directed by Jeremy Jensen)
Two talented spiders compete against each other. Who will be the best weaving master? 

Coffee Shop Conversations (Directed by Kimberly DiPersia)
A comedic series of vignettes in a coffee shop, capturing moments in the lives of patrons and employees. 

Introducing Parker Dowd (Directed by Lauren Ashley Carter/ Written & Produced by Rebecca Blaine Carton)
A dark comedy about a struggling actress who loses a role to her dog and must watch him skyrocket to celebrity as she descends into vengeful madness.

The Texture of the Light (Directed by Arilyn I. Martinez Cora)
A single mother is forced to revisit her past when she desperately needs the stem cells of her ex-boyfriend Javier to help improve her son’s eyesight 

Feeling Wanted (Directed by Yasmin Mistry)
Charell, age 6, woke up to find herself alone. She made breakfast, dropped her baby sister off with a neighbor, and walked to school. With a dad incarcerated for murder, a mom on drugs & a childhood in foster care, Charell knew it was time to break the cycle.

 

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 October 2015 lineup, our winning films were:
    Audience Choice Award:  "Feeling Wanted"
    Silver Whiskers Award:  "The Texture of the Light"

See trailers for the winning films below: 

Join us On October 28th for our Halloween Special!

Two New Reviews of SUMMIT!

After screenings, I tend to google my name and the film's title for a few days to see if I come across any reviews or social media mentions, and I was pleasantly surprised to see two today! 

The first is from ScreenRelish (a site that's kind of a big deal - has a big following) and is a very positive review! Based on how they describe the upcoming screenings of the film, I assume they came across it via the Joblo article from last month. I had sent JoBlo a streaming link in case they wanted to review it and it seems ScreenRelish got the link from them.  

The other is from 411Mania (not a site I've heard of, but also has a very decent social media following) and was definitely from the Scare-A-Con screening. It's not a positive review, but not completely negative. It's actually surprisingly flattering despite the writer not fully enjoying the film! I think what they expected to get out of the film is not what I/we aimed to do with it. But their feedback is appreciated nonetheless. Their opinion is sure to be shared by many horror fans. But I'm proud of the direction we went with Summit and it's nice to see 2 out of 3 reviewers (so far) appreciated it.  (Scroll down.)

SUMMIT Accepted at Rhode Island Intl Film Festival's Vortex Fest!

It's an amazing day for Summit! We just found out we've been accepted to Rhode Island International Film Festival's Horror Film Festival! 

"Dear Christina: Congratulations! It is my pleasure to inform you that your submission "Summit" has been selected for acceptance by our judges for exhibition during the Annual Vortex Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Film Festival , October 19-25, 2015. 

Vortex is produced by FLICKERS: Rhode Island International Film Festival and celebrates genre films of all types. Horror, Action, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy films from across the globe will be part of this year's program. Your film is one of only 71 titles selected from over 5000 film entries from 14 countries. You are part of the vanguard of today's independent cinema, and it's with great pleasure that we champion both you and your work."

A Review of SUMMIT!

In my recap of the Scare-A-Con screening, I wrote that we noticed an audience member taking notes and assumed he was writing a review. Well, we were right! He tweeted at us with a link. Here it is: https://theindiehorrorreview.blogspot.com/2015/09/summit.html

It's pretty revealing of the plot, but I'm okay with sharing it because it's really nice being able to share an unbiased perspective on the film, and I appreciate what he had to say about it! I hope you enjoy the review too, whether you've seen the film already or not. Hopefully there will be more to come!

-Christina

SUMMIT at Scare-A-Con Recap

Saturday evening, Summit screened at Scare-A-Con. Matt (AD & Edior), Ryan (Actor) & I decided to make a day of it. We drove up in the morning and arrived around 3pm. I had never been to a fan convention, so was excited to see what it'd be like. We walked around a bit. There were maybe 200 people there at any given time (don't know if they were the same 200-ish or if people were in and out throughout the day). Getting autographs and pictures with b-movie celebrities wasn't really our thing, but it was fun seeing all the people in costumes and references to some of our favorite movies. We decided to check out the rest of the Turning Stone (a place I had been once before for my fiancé's cousin's wedding). Matt had never been in a Casino, so decided to try his luck at the slots and poker machines. It was silly fun. He walked away having made 50 cents. Then we grabbed dinner at a restaurant in the hotel, had some coffee and made our way to the Summit screening. 

I thought the convention itself was really well done and clearly enjoyed by the horror fans in attendance, but the film festival aspect was kind of an afterthought. There were no signs advertising the films and, unless I wanted to rent a both (which I did not), no opportunity to plug any individual film or screening. Also, there were a bunch of signs pointing to the convention, but the film screening rooms were in the opposite direction. On top of that, the room Summit was screening in was incorrect on all the schedules handed out and only mentioned on a sheet posted outside the correct room (there wasn't even a sheet on the wrong room telling people where to go instead). AND, even on top of that, they scheduled a party at the same time as the Summit screening. I was fairly certain that we wouldn't have any convention goers there. But I didn't mind. It was a fun day with the guys regardless and I had family coming, my fiancé's extended family. They had been eager to see the film since supporting it on Kickstarter and I was happy they'd get to see it out at more of an event rather than just on their TV's at home. To my surprise though, there were 12 other people that showed up to the screening! It was cool that some strangers were interested enough in seeing the film just based on the title or maybe the poster & synopsis they may have seen on the website. So in a room of 50 seats, we had 23 filled, including the 3 of us, my 7 family members, the projectionist and the 12 randoms (one of whom I think was a reporter or blogger because he was taking notes, and thankfully seemed to like the film). The picture, though smaller, was way better than at Manhattan Film Festival. The quality and dynamic coloring of the film were really evident on screen. The sound, though, was a disappointment. The film is mixed in surround sound & kind of meant for that set up. It was a little low in the room with just one speaker at the front. But more than that, the speaker had this awful tinny feedback that would happen after every line and occasionally last a few seconds through multiple lines. Ryan heard the speaker make the sound before the screening started, so we prepared ourselves for hearing it during the film. But it made it no less frustrating to sit through. Regardless though, the film seemed to be enjoyed by the audience. My family orchestrated their own Q&A and were clearly very engaged with the film. Others in the room seemed to like it as well. It didn't get laughs at all the staple lines I've come to expect laughs, but the general reactions throughout were consistent with what I'd hope for. Overall, it was a good experience. Seeing my family and having their support was wonderful. They were so excited about the film and that made me excited about it too, which is kind of hard to be after having seen it hundreds of times and only being able to notice the aspects I'm not happy with. It's impossible to know what a first time viewer is experiencing, so my family's comments and observations were great to hear. Having them there & just spending the day with Matt & Ryan made the screening a success, regardless of tech issues. However, I do hope the third festival screening will be technically sound. It'd be nice to have a public screening where the audience gets to experience the film at its best because we put a lot of work into it. 

Some photos from our day below. 

Additional photos from the actual convention can be found on Scare-A-Con's Facebook page. 

The next screening of Summit is October 5th at 7pm at the Unreal Film Festival in Memphis, TN. I probably can't go, but hope they can skype me in for a Q&A. In any case, I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on more festival news for the film. Our plans right now are to release it on VOD in January. Then everyone will get to see it!  

-Christina

P.S. I came across this tweet shortly after writing this. Pretty sure it's by the guy who was taking notes.