Amazing, polyphonic stuff. They say that if the pygmies find a new item (a pipe, a bottle, a shoe), they will find a way to turn it into an instrument. Also, their word for music is the same of their word for dance, and they do not differentiate between the two.

Hunting Song (Music of the Rain Forest Pygmies)

—

Here we are. Another year at Slamdance with the crème de la crème of indie filmmakers. We, here, are all winners! We are the 1% of American filmmakers! We are deserving of distribution offers, industry acclaim and invitations to the most exclusive parties!

Yeah right.

Party invitations will happen- even the most hardened grump is forced to socialize, and here in Park City you can’t shake a stick without hitting someone brilliant and connected. But, industry acclaim and a distribution offer…? Not a guarantee. Enter everyone’s favorite fear: Failure.

With such an intimate understanding of your film’s complex birth, and flush off the high of having been included in the first place, it becomes a strange sort of deflation when nothing much happens at the festival, itself. You start to feel powerless, unable to advance. You hear about the amazing parties where so-and-so met so-and-so, and the buzz around the hot new films at Sundance. And you start to feel, frankly, like shit.

When you get laid up with the inevitable mid-week Park City flu, and are shivering in your static electricity-heavy condo unable to sleep, knowing that somewhere on the mountain there is an awesome party going on that you weren’t invited to, I would invite you to consider these words: This is normal. This is part of the process, for independent filmmakers. You are working in a system that is designed to keep you out, and a lot of that is out of your control. Instead of aspiring to be the person throwing the party that no one can come to, I would invite you to turn your sense of outsider-ness, of failure, into a sort of commitment.  Commit to doing it differently. Commit to failing at the system, ’cause the system is failing you.

Most importantly – put away that half-assed daydream about abandoning the film world altogether, get your ass in gear and go f*ck sh*t up. Make it happen, in your own way, acquisitions execs be damned. Turn failure into a new model. And make that model a success.

Season 1 (2010/2011)

‘Leonardo’s Game of Chess’ (Dec. 2011, TRT 7 min)
‘Norwood Gets Back to His Me’ (Nov. 2011, TRT 9.5 min)
‘Anthony & Johnny’ (Oct. 2011, TRT 5.5 min)
‘Sarah’s First Day of High School’ (Jul. 2011, TRT 6.5 min)
‘Austin Changes his Name‘ (Jun. 2011, TRT 8.5 min)
‘Michael’s Roach Problem‘ (Apr. 2011, TRT 6.5 min)
‘Heather Gets Hit’ (Mar. 2011, TRT 5.5 min)
‘Harry Tells a Lie’ (Feb. 2011, TRT 4 min)
‘Felicity Is Ejected From Egypt‘ (Feb. 2011, TRT 5 min)
‘Davide’s Wet Dream’ (Nov. 2010, TRT 2 min)
‘Ralph & the Cat’ (Oct. 2010, TRT 2.75 min)
‘Patricia’s Nickel’ (Oct. 2010, TRT 2.5 min)

Please drop me a line at saskia [at] saskiawilsonbrown [dot] com with any suggestions, or hit me up on Twitter @saskiawb.

Más info:

There’s no ‘there’, there: L.A. films L.A.


Big City Forum presents a film screening curated by Saskia Wilson-Brown, Founder and co-director of Cinema Speakeasy. The evening will feature short films that examine what Los Angeles means to those that inhabit it, in a program and discussion about our public urban identity. We will be screening pieces that capture the complexity and reality of living in our de-centralized, mythologized city.


L.A. is a constantly shifting metropolis, often seemingly constructed for mass consumption by fantastical and fevered minds – with nary a glance at the rich complexity roiling beneath its shimmering skin. From gritty downtown cop dramas to technicolor Hollywood fantasies, it has been omnipresent in American celluloid, but rarely truly captured in all its complexity. It is, in short, the most filmed yet least understood megalopolis in modern American history.

Filmmakers will be on hand for a post-screening discussion about their sense of place, moderated by Saskia Wilson-Brown and Big City Forum.

Wed, Nov. 16th

Goethe Institut LA

7 – 9 pm



Still from Maya Newell's 'Two'

Seven Nine (!) filmmakers I am way excited about right now.

Michael Medaglia: Because he is about to release his short thriller Kitty Kitty on VODO (look for it on June 10th) and because he has a script he’s shopping around right now that is OFF THE HOOK good.

Maya Newell: Because this Australian filmmaker made the secret and very odd world of adult babies seem so accessible, funny and sweet with her short doc Two.

Douglas Burgdorff: Because he is so f*cking twisted it literally hurts to watch his stuff, but in the most beautiful way possible. NSFW, to the max, but watch it anyways.

Anthony Ferraro: Because he made this, this and this, and because he operates in the realm between film and art and we need more filmmakers like him.

Kaz Phillips Safer: Because she is radness incarnate, and because she made MEGAFAUNA.

Vessal Safaei, William Head, James Arneman and Katie Mitchell: Because these Aussie filmmakers are thinking beyond the obvious and delving deep into the interconnected world. Look out for ‘The Decade Project’ and their collective ‘Don’t You Have Headphones‘.

And now for something even more awesome: ‘Los Angeles: A Love Poem‘, by Dylan King (featuring a poem by Sandra Beasley)

It featured speakers Scilla Andreen (IndieFlix), Tiffany Shlain (Dir. Connected, Yelp), Brian Newman (subgenre media), Jenny Samppala (Banyan Branch), John Anderson (journalist), Lance Weiler (Pandemic 1.0), Greg Pak (Vision Machine) and Orlando Bagwell (Ford Foundation).

Here are some photos from the event.

2010: COMPLETING AND REMEMBERING

• Review the list of all completed projects
• What was your biggest triumph in 2010?
• What was the smartest decision you made in 2010?
• What one word best sums up and describes your 2010 experience?
• What was the greatest lesson you learned in 2010?
• What was the most loving service you performed in 2010?
• What is your biggest piece of unfinished business in 2010?
• What are you most happy about completing in 2010?
• Who were the three people that had the greatest impact on your life in 2010?
• What was the biggest risk you took in 2010?
• What was the biggest surprise in 2010?
• What important relationship improved the most in 2010?
• What compliment would you liked to have received in 2010?
• What compliment would you liked to have given in 2010?
• What else do you need to do or say to be complete with 2010?

2011: CREATING THE NEW YEAR

• What would you like to be your biggest triumph in 2011?
• What advice would you like to give yourself in 2011?
• What is the major effort you are planning to improve your financial results in 2011?
• What would you be most happy about completing in 2011?
• What major indulgence are you willing to experience in 2011?
• What would you most like to change about yourself in 2011?
• What are you looking forward to learning in 2011?
• What do you think your biggest risk will be in 2011?
• What about your work, are you most committed to changing and improving in 2011?
• What is one as yet undeveloped talent you are willing to explore in 2011?
• What brings you the most joy and how are you going to do or have more of that in 2011?
• Who or what, other than yourself, are you most committed to loving and serving in 2011?
• What one word would you like to have as your theme in 2011?

Sources:
a. http://pic40.picturetrail.com/VOL272/8157143/15269508/231094190.jpg
b. http://www.flickr.com/photos/80643375@N00/356743212
c. http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HCcB7IDJQ6Q/0.jpg