IndieWorks: August Recap

Last Tuesday was the August edition of IndieWorks, and what a night it was! We screened 4 films and had over 45 people in house despite the rainy evening. It was one of our strongest-quality monthly lineups ever with dramatic films that approached important social issues from nuanced, character-focused, and often incredibly creative perspectives.  All the pieces of the night resonated with the audience differently, and some very thoughtful discussions were had.

Something we're really disappointed in ourselves about though is that one film of the night had a tech issue and only 12 of the 15 minutes could be fully played. In the almost 5 years of holding a screening every single month, we've never experienced this before. We always check the films multiple times, so this was a really frustrating occurrence. We take it very seriously, as we are a screening series by filmmakers for filmmakers. So we assure anyone who was there or reading this that we will be working over the next month with our venue to figure out what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again. Despite this error though, the filmmakers were so understanding and still had a really engaged Q&A! The night was quite inspiring in various ways.

We'd like to say thank you to everyone who came out to support the filmmakers and spend the evening with us & them. We do hope you enjoyed all the films and the opportunity to network with other filmmakers and film enthusiasts, and we hope some connections were made! AND we hope you'll join us again for Web Series Month on September 19th. (Anyone who was there and didn't receive an email with a private link to the film that didn't get to finish, send us a message through our site and we'll pass it along!)

See photos from the evening below:

The Films of the night:

Santi (Directed & Written by Mateo Marquez)
When violence erupts at home, a young man must decide whether to flee or remain by his family's side.

Madness (Directed & Written by Tae Jung Choi)
AEun Ju is the perfect 1990’s Orange County Korean American House Wife, but when her son, drastically misbehaves in front of her Sunday Church group, Eun Ju must confront her own suppressed internal madness in order to protect her son.

Pickup (Directed by Jeremiah Kipp & Written by Jessica Blank)
A compelling film that allows the audience to take a deeper look into the psyche of a woman who appears to have it all. Through her banal daily routine, Megan develops an addiction that begins to unravel her carefully put together life. She is grappling with wanting more , but is feeling tremendously guilty because she already lives the "ideal perfect life".

Fresh Blood (Directed & Written by Richa Rudola)
When a young South Asian girl is forced into the sex trade, she must choose her path to freedom even if it involves a vampire.

Watch our Q&A Recap (shot & edited by Kimberly Drew Whiten). *Please know there are some film spoilers - feel free to look for an opportunity to catch the films at a festival or computer screen near you & then come back to watch!

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 StoryDialogue/WritingDirectionActingCinematographySoundEditing, and Production Value, along with a nuanced discussion focused on inclusion and originalityThe Silver Whiskers winner goes on to screen again at our end of year Best of Fest screening next April. 

The Silver Whiskers winner also receives $50 towards a crowdfunding campaign on SeedandSpark.com should they use the platform and a free Social Media audit ($200 value) from 4MileCircus

For the August 2017 lineup, our winning films were:
    Audience Choice Award:  "Fresh Blood"
    Silver Whiskers Award:  "Madness"

Join us next month for our September (Web Series) edition on the 19th!

It's not too late to submit your series. We're accepting episode submissions until August 31st.


One filmmaker of the night, Mateo Marquez, is an alum whose previous short "The Blood in Our Veins" won the Golden Whiskers Award at our Year 4 Best of Fest. He's currently crowdfunding his latest short. Help him and his team hit 500 followers to unlock Filmmaker Awards on Seed&Spark. 

About a Donkey Feedback Screening

We had a feedback screening of our About a Donkey rough cut Saturday night. We chose to share it with a group of filmmakers whose opinions we value, and who we felt would be best equipped to understand what a rough cut entails and look past what's not yet finished. Overall, the night was very productive with some positive comments and a lot of constructive feedback that gave us new perspective on the story (which was necessary because we're just too familiar with it at this point). The consensus across the group was that the acting was really strong and the characters felt fully realized and believably connected in their dynamics -- which was wonderful for me to hear as a director. The screening also confirmed some narrative flaws I was sensing (and thankfully can largely fix); it made me realize where certain scenes could be trimmed down or cut out completely, and where I needed to add back in context that I had previously cut. It also helped us realize a little more about who our audience is for the film. A large part of our mission is telling a story that meets people where they're at as a means to pull them forward. Showing it to a group of already forward thinking people led to some nuanced discussions that has given us further insight into how to best execute our mission. 

I actually went home that night and stayed up until 5am recutting some scenes and adding in some moments that had gone unused. I nixed 11 minutes from the total runtime and came up with a quick pickup scene (really just a shot) that I feel will strengthen a character arc that was feeling a bit empty and convenient. I have plans to shoot that this week. Our goal now is to picture lock by next Monday. We're working with no budget on the post side, so we're trying to move fast but without sacrificing creativity. I feel good about making our September 20th deadline though. Our score and sound mix are already in the works, and our colorist is ready to jump in next week. We're aiming for all early bird deadlines for festivals; and we're being very selective about what we submit to, wanting to feel confident our audience is their audience. We can't wait to share the film with more people and really get it out there. 

Thank you everyone who attended and shared Saturday night!

-Christina and the team

P.S. Shout-out to my mom for cooking, as per usual. 

Chain Film Festival Recap

Last week we spent a lot of time at the Chain Film Festival. It was our first time attending and being part of this festival, and overall we found it to be well run and more attentive than most in the City.

"Arm Bar" screened Monday evening in a lineup all about women. It was a nice selection of films. There were about 40 people in attendance for 5 shorts and a feature. The audience reaction was positive. A couple people complimented lead actor Latresa Baker's performance. See photos below. 

And here's his Q&A. Check it out if you've seen the film.

"Night In" screened Tuesday afternoon in a Horror lineup. We don't usually comment on the other films in a lineup in our recaps but this one was rife with misogyny and was hard to sit through. (The decision to program some of the films really turned me off, in terms of submitting future work to the festival.) That said, at least the festival does a solid job of giving each film and filmmaker a moment to discuss their work in a specific, not generic way. And the audience seemed to enjoy the film. There were about 60 people there for the 9 shorts screened. One person came over after and thanked me for not making a horror film where a man rapes and kills a woman, and another called the film delightful. It got laughs where I wanted, and I feel was a nice contrast to much of the lineup. 

See photos below. 

And here's my Q&A. Included for people who've seen the film. SPOILERS. It's a 3 minute film, so maybe wait to watch it at the next fest and then come back to watch this. Don't ruin the fun! ;)

"Night In" was also invited to screen again Friday night at their encore screening of 5 shorts and a web series. It was a stronger lineup overall, though only 10 people were in attendance (all filmmakers).

-Christina