Screening of Kung Pow Wow

The Berkshire Film Festival was abuzz with activity as it took over the Triplex and Mahaiwe theaters in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. The whole community came out to support the event. This year marked their third annual Student Film Festival. Over thirty shorts were submitted by five Berkshire schools. It's amazing how much technology has improved and allowed access to people at a much younger age. Most of these films shared director credits, but isn't that what it's about when you're starting out? There's so much to learn from each other.




Over the years, the Berkshires have become a hot bed for the arts. Mass MoCA is considered one of the premiere museums of contemporary art in the country. They're featuring a major exhibit on Sol LeWitt until 2033, so that gives you some time to get there. Sol LeWitt is an artist best known for his giant works that take over a room - you can see one of his rooms at MOMA if you're in New York.

Jacob's Pillow is a dance company started in 1933 by Ted Shaw and is the only dance entity in the US to be declared a National Historic landmark for its significance and its contribution to America's culture.

The Berkshires features many play festivals including the best known -Williamstown. This summer they're putting on some tremendous works including: Sam Shepard's True West starring Rob Corddry and his brother Nate directed by OTL friend Danny Goldstein; Quatermaine's Terms by Simon Gray, starring Tony Award - winner Jefferson Mays and The Torch-Bearers by George Kelly directed by Dylan Baker.




It was great showing Kung Pow Wow in my home state. I do miss Massachusetts and consider myself a New Englander through and through. Getting to screen on the home front allows for your family to be in attendance. Friday night, I attended with my Godmother, Robbie Burr and on Sunday my cousin Libby Bolognia and our dear friend Leanne Jolin joined us.




We were in a solid block of films. Julie wrote in about a few films perviously so, I will just touch on a few more.




Local filmmaker Sanjiban filmed a documentary of sorts called Animal Tricks. Over the course of his summer, he filmed himself teaching a variety of tricks in his backyard with chipmunks. It was hilarious in it's simplicity and the best part - Sanjiban was in attendance carrying a stuffed chipmunk on his shoulder.

Another notable film was called The Last Page. One of the longer of the shorts, clocking in at 21 minutes - The Last Page is the story of a tortured writer struggling to find the perfect ending to his latest story. While taking a break from writing, he is catapulted into a bizarre series of events; each event pushing him further away from finishing the last page. Written by Kevin Acevedo and Matt Akey and Directed by Kevin Acevdeo, The Last Page offered a clever formula that began with the audience watching the last moment in the script and then realizing, as it moved backwards and things were erased, that the writer was deleting the story from his computer in the hopes of finding the perfect ending.

Writer/Director Jack Herbert's The Hero's Journey was a genius use of a gimmick to allow for a very low budget film. The story focuses on Sam as he's looking for enemies in his home. He documents his search with his home video camera. What he captures on the camera is more than he or his mother planned. I was really taken with the idea of making a low budget work to your advantage. This film could not have been shot on a higher end camera.

The last film I'd like to mention is Monty Diamond's The World Trade Center in the Movies. The World Trade Center appeared in over 60 films of all shapes and sizes during their 27 year history They played starring roles in films like The Wiz and Trading Places or served as background - a recognizable part of the Manhattan landscape - in many others. Monty Diamond was a location scout in New York who worked with the Trade Center frequently. He put together a musical reminiscence of the Towers in a short film. It was a very moving tribute.

Thanks to Lauren and everyone at the festival! We hope to see you next year!

Thanks to the Berkshire International Film Festival

On the Leesh would like to thank everyone at the Berkshire International Film Festival for an amazing festival! Once again, they pulled off a great fest and made us, as filmmakers, feel welcome and supported. Here were some of our faves that we got to check out:

The world premiere of: Bach of the Antarctic
Writer/Director: Ben Hillman
8 min

Summary: Cantata. Sonata. Antarctica. Who would have thought it? A startling discovery reveals that the person who discovered Antarctica was none other than Johann Sebastian Bach. As scientists uncover the astounding evidence, fake historical footage recreates Bach’s daring voyage into the Unknown. Who could have guessed that when Bach composed the musical magni opi of the Baroque Period, it was but a Prelude to the discovery of a Continent.


Cowboy Yoga

Writer/Director: Hal Clifford, Lou Bendrick
Cast: Hal Clifford, Jason Miner
Cinematographer/Editor: Jason Houston
10 min

Summary: Two cowboys make an instructional yoga video.


And the American Premiere of:The Towel

Writer/Director: Oliver Briginshaw
Cast: James Harwood, Kiki Kendrick, Giacomo Valdameri
6 min

Summary: Getting ready for dinner, Geoff accidentally marks a hotel towel with a dodgy looking stain. Fearing the cleaning lady will get the wrong idea, he tries to hide the evidence.

Congratulations to all the filmmakers who got to screen at this wonderful festival!

Off to the Berkshire International Film Festival

Alicia is headed to The Berkshire International Film Festival (www.biffma.com) to see screenings of Kung Pow Wow. Coming on the heels of a great review from the BERKSHIRE LIVING MAG, we're thrilled to see an audiences reaction to this movie!

For calendar information click here: Calendar.

Be sure to check it out!

Berkshire Living Mag Review Kung Pow Wow

Check out this incredible review of our short ditty, Kung Pow Wow:

BERKSHIRE LIVING MAG
5.13.09
The only thing wrong with Kung Pow Wow, a short film that will be screened this weekend at the Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) at the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington, Mass., is that it's only two minutes long. Then again, that's part of the film's genius. In just two short minutes, the filmmakers and actors give us essentially the entire lowdown on a relationship. In this case, the simple act of ordering Chinese takeout -- one of the most romantic cliches in film and in real life -- turns into a horror threatening the very foundations of what seemed like a perfectly fine relationship. How the filmmakers achieve this effect I won't say -- I will leave that to the joy of discovery -- but it's enough to say that it is through inventiveness and a willingness to disorient a viewer in the service of achieving the remarkable effect.

If this is a hint of what's in store this weekend from BIFF, it's going to be a great festival.

If you're in the Great Barrington area, check out this wonderful festival!

What Are the Odds? available on Indieroad

Our short film What Are the Odds? is available for purchase on Indieroad.net. That's right! If you'd like to see this romantic comedy that takes you all over Manhattan as two mathematicians fall in love, go to: indieroad.net. It was written by Justin Spitzer who now writes for NBC's "The Office" so it's a sure bet that it's a well written comedy.

It costs a whopping 80 cents for purchase, but believe me - it's worth your time and money!

Check it out!

Winners: NYC Downtown Short Film Fest

On the Leesh would like to congratulate all of the winners of the NYC Downtown Short Film Festival!

WINNERS

Best Drama: Word on the $treet - Directed by: Nick Barbieri
Best Comedy: Crossing Numbers - Directed by: Abel Gonzalez
Best Documentary: Forgotten New York: Collect Pond - Directed by: Dan Kowalski
Best Animation: Chroma Chameleon - Directed by: Marc Adler & Warren Grubb
Best Latino: A Xinecologa - Directed by: Alfonso Camarero
Best Foreign: James- Directed by: Connor Clements
Audience Choice: You Don't Know Me Directed by: Sean Melia

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Der Pfandlaie - Directed by: Frank - Peter Lenze
Finding Priya A Prom Date - Directed by: Garrett Nantz
His Good Will - Directed by: Cayman Grant
La Juerga - Directed by: Michael Louis Hill
Sovereignty - Directed by: Jonathan Sale
Wig - Directed by: Todd Holland
You're Outa Here - Directed by: George Griffin

Best Actor: Trevor St. John
Best Actress: Heather Dilly
Best Director: Nick Barbieri
Cinematography: His Good Will

We had a great time Saturday night and once again, our short, "Kung Pow Wow" was among some great shorts.

Congratulations to everyone!

Best Laid Plans: Milestone Part 3

Every writer says to write what they know. So this past year or so, that’s what I’ve been trying to do. Writing about what I know has certainly brought on Best Laid Plans, for example. It’s brought on my first effort at a novel and it also brought on Milestone. While the circumstances surrounding the plot in Milestone are certainly not autobiographical, the emotional place the story lives in is. So then, the question becomes, how do I direct a story that comes from such a familiar emotional place? Truth is, I had no idea.

In watching Becky's and Brian's audition, I realized that it was so helpful to see great actors interpret the script in their own personal way. They brought certain moments and ideas to their performance that struck me as both interesting and different. So while I was entering territory I’d never really been in before with regard to directing a film, the one thing I did know was that I wanted to hear from the actors. I wanted their ideas and thoughts about who they were playing. This could not only broaden the story in that three heads are better than one, but it could also move me further away personally from the story – which I thought was vital. Nobody wants a director that is too tied in emotionally to a story that they can’t see the forest for the trees, so talking to them – getting their point of view was amazingly helpful.

Rehearsals were a blast. Brian and Becky were so much fun to work with and I got lucky in that they were open to any and all ideas. Whenever you’re trying something new – and even sometimes when you’re doing something you’ve done a thousand times before, you’re always waiting for someone to call you out as a fraud. You’re always anticipating that someone will tell you that you don’t know what you’re doing. Thankfully, both Becky and Brian never looked at me sideways, never called me out as a first-time writer/director and always added on to my proposals. I realized I loved directing and the push and pull of knowing when to throw your two cents in and when to let the actors run with it.

I know that some film directors do very little rehearsal, but for me it was essential. Playing a new role on set meant that I wouldn't have the space in my wee brain to really give the actors my full attention once shooting began. I didn't want to be in the position of debating moments on set while the rest of the crew was waiting around. I knew that ideas would still be percolating but I wanted to make sure the actors had a solid foundation to work from (and me too for that matter). Although I can't speak for them, I think the actors were pretty keen on the rehearsal process as well - or - being good actors, they surely hid it very well! By the time the production dates approached, I felt pretty damn good about the performances and could make room in the 'ol noggin for everything else I needed to be thinking about... like say... the shot list.

Yikes.