News & Announcements

Our February 7 Cinema Speakeasy @ L'Etage features 5 short films by the following filmmakers. Please join them after the screening for an engaging conversation about why and how they make films in Philadelphia.

WHAT: LOVE & GRIEF: 5 FILMS BY PHILADELPHIA FILMMAKERS

WHEN: Tuesday, February 7, 2012; 6:30, doors open; 7pm screening, 

Filmmakers In Person, conversation after the screening

 

WHERE:L'Etage, 6th and Bainbridge, (upstairs on Bainbridge)

COST: $5

Our February 2, Cinema Speakeasy showcases new short work by Philadelphia filmmakers,

Robert Larkin, Jill Hackney, Katya Gorker, Greg Koorhan, & Kristyn Blue Simmons

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ROMAINE BY ROBERT LARKIN
The short film, “Romaine”, is a character study on how grief and depression can take a heavy toll on any relationship.
Albert struggles to overcome personal grief as his brother, Teddy, tries his best to get his older brother “back on track”.

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MITTAGSPAUSE BY JILL HACKNEY
A girl fantasizes about all of the catastrophes that could occur during a dull lunch break.

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FIRST THOUGHTS, LAST WORDS BY KATYA GORKER
The first in a series of lo-fi, episodic psychodrama interventions- first thoughts, last words combines primitive storyboarding software and bedroom ventriloquism to examine the pitfalls of love.

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LEVEL UP BY GREG KOORHAN
Highschoolers Tim and Maggie have a great relationship based on their mutual love of video games. But, when a new girl enters the map, they reach a level they’ve never played before. 

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MY NAME IS LOVE BY KRISTYN 'BLUE' SIMMONS
A short film that touches on many forms of love: unconditional, friendly, romantic, professional, musical, spiritual, lyrical & visual.

Cinema Speakeasy is presented by PIFVA, Philadelphia Independent Film & Video Association,  which supports, sustains and showcases Philadelphia filmmakers. 

On 1/20/2012 @ 7PM, Media artists Michael Kuetemeyer and Anula Shetty will present their recent work  creating mobile media apps to explore new ways of experiencing a place and the oral histories that surround it. 

EXPLORE KILAUEA VOLCANO is an interactive documentary/mobile app project that provides an immersive experience of the rich and diverse geologic landscape of Kilauea, an active volcano in the Hawaiian Islands that ranks among the world’s most active volcanoes. Kuetemeyer and Shetty will talk about their process of filming the volcanic terrain, gathering archival materials and stories of the people who live around the volcano and using apps as a platform to distribute community and creative media. This event will be held at SCRIBE VIDEO CENTER @ 7PM.

My first indication that editor/filmmaker Robert Larkin was a cool guy (apart from his past patronage of Movies Unlimited) came years ago when I learned he had sold his independent feature film Just Work to Troma (who promptly branded it with the more exploitation-friendly moniker Viral Assassins). What? You sold the movie you made to the guys who put out The Toxic Avenger? Awesome! That’s the fan’s (and friend’s) reaction, of course—though, as any filmmaker could tell you, the behind-the-scenes details of selling one’s film often turn out to be more emotionally (and financially) nuanced......

Lastly, Bob is saddled with the characterization of cool because he’s agreed to spend a little time enlightening MovieFanFare readers about the nuts and bolts of editing and what he brought to the table for director Nick Stagliano's contemporary 2011 ensemble thriller Good Day for It. Stagliano’s picture, which screened as the Closing Night film at this year’s Philadelphia Cinefest and was an Audience Award winner at the Sonoma International Film Festival, stars Robert Patrick as a man with a shadowy past who engineers a secret reunion with his daughter even as a former criminal associate plans to exact revenge on him for a long-ago betrayal. Kathy Baker, Mika Boorem, Samantha Mathis, Lance Henriksen, Robert Englund, and Hal Holbrook are other members of the strong ensemble cast.

Bob served as editor and post-production supervisor for Stagliano’s film, but he was already a pretty busy guy: He teaches editing at the University of the Arts, Temple University, and Filmtech; his indie short Romaine won a post-production grant from the Philadelphia Film & Video Association (PIFVA) and the PA Council on the Arts. I visited him at his home studio to talk about his career so far, his collaboration with Stagliano, and his aspirations for the future......... THE INTERVIEW

By Jeffrey Winter

At some point in our formative childhood years, we learn that “progress” is the process of getting “bigger and better.” ......Nowadays, if your average indie filmmaker says they spent $1 million on their film, people look at them like they are utterly decadent and out-of-touch (unless they have movie stars in their film). There are numerous factors that have contributed to this of course, including… 1) the democratization of digital filmmaking technology and the explosion in the number of independent films being made as a result; 2) the radical fracturing of the film consumption habits of the public given their thousands of channels and ubiquitous access to on-demand content; and 3) the crash of 2008 and the predominantly backsliding global (especially US and European) economy that offers us no reason to think that things will get any better any time soon.

And so, we have entered the era of the Micro-Budget film, which Microfilmmaker Magazine defines as a “less than a 30,000 budget,” and which they claim amounts to 80 – 90% of all independent films today (http://bit.ly/o1oD5h). For the purposes of framing this discussion, I am going to be a bit more generous as to what we can call “Micro-Budget” ….I’ll go to approximately $100,000 for sake of argument. (Note: prior to 2008, I was preaching to filmmakers that $250,000 was still micro-budget, but my how things have changed). Why $100,000 today you ask? Because at $100,000 or less, one can easily wrap one’s brain around how a no-stars indie film can achieve financial recoupment by simply plumbing the basic mechanics of contemporary film distribution, from film festivals straight through to digital distribution and all the steps in-between. READ MORE.