Indie Entertainment Magazine - Sundance Film Festival 2020 Special

\\ january 2020

Editor-In-Chief | Publisher Monica Morrison Managing Editor Nicole Goesseringer Muj Web Content | Digital Marketing Manager Gotham Chandna Contributors Lena Basse Claude Brickell Gotham Chandna Nicole Goesseringer Muj K.J. Matthews Eric Minh Swenson Dr. Laura Wilhelm Art Director Viktoria Bocharova Director of Photography & Productions Annette Baca

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Š2020 | Indie Entertainment Magazine

DuArt, EMS Gallery, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Alexi Lubomirski, MovieStillsDB, Wikimedia Commons.

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INDIE ENTERTAINMENT SHOWCASE PANELISTS ALI M. AKSU

VINCENT DE PAUL

International Filmmaker

Emmy Award-Winning Actor & Producer

RENEE MERISTE

TRACY VICORY-ROSENQUEST

Author, Entertainment Industry Expert

Writer | Filmmaker | Entrepreneur

MODERATOR SUE VICORY Heartland Films

Born in Corum, Turkey and of Circassian ethnicity, Ali M. Aksu is an international film producer and entrepreneur. He is the executive producer of the groundbreaking film Laid in America, the first-ever feature film to cast YouTube celebrities and directors, that was distributed by Universal Studios. He is the executive producer of the recently launched feature Christmas Break-In, starring Danny Glover and Denise Richards.

He is the founder of Moon Lounge, a millennial content-based podcast dedicated for global grand challenges that was incubated at Singularity University. Aksu recently founded the film finance platforms filmmaker.ai and filmcapital.io, next-generation movie production entities that employ data analytics at an extensive level, while producing content with the latest technologies.

Ali M. Aksu, International Filmmaker, filmcapital.io

He holds a B.A. in Economics, with a minor in film, TV and digital media from UCLA, and earned executive-level degrees from MIT, Wharton and Singularity University.

Vincent De Paul is an award-winning actor and producer, whose prolific career of film and television spans two decades. De Paul received his first Emmy in 2015 and second consecutive Emmy in 2016 for producing The Bay, a series on Amazon Prime.

De Paul is the president and co-founder of Five Arts Films & Productions, and a current member of both the Producers Guild of America and Television Academy of Arts & Sciences.

De Paul received the 2019 Best Actor Award at the inaugural French Riviera Film Festival for his performances in Gwyr: Reflections and Mattyboy. He is also the co-producer of the new documentary The Genius of Gianni Versace that was nominated for three CinéFashion Film Awards by Cinémoi TV. Vincent De Paul, Emmy Award-Winning Actor & Producer

Currently, he is in the cast of the 2020 Sundance official selection of the feature film Tesla, starring Ethan Hawke, Hannah Gross and Eve Hewson, directed by Michael Almereyda and distributed by Avi Lerner of Millennium.

Entertainment industry expert, Estonian native Renee Meriste is the author of the new book You Are The Influencer. The book takes a reader on a short, data-infused hyper lesson of the dos and don’ts of the music business, and can apply to really any field. Meriste brings 25 years of global music industry experience into the pages of this fact driven, fast paced read.

Meriste boasts extensive leadership experience in the entertainment industry in all forms of media, including publishing (print and online), music, television and film. He has held executive level positions at The Team Companies, Golden Media, Ethnopress, CD10 and Estonian Artist Agency.

Renee Meriste, Author, Entertainment Industry Expert

Once a singer in a punk rock band, Meriste has guided careers and became the oversight person at a billion dollar media industry accounting firm. Today, he still spends time guiding artists and lecturing on the industry in the United States and Europe. Most recently, he was named the Transatlantic Promoter of the Year for his achievement in creating the Estonian American Business Alliance. He is the President of the Estonian Society of Los Angeles.

Tracy Vicory-Rosenquest is a dramatic writer, narrative artist, educator, entrepreneur, and mother living in Plattsburgh, NY with her husband, Chris and son, Miles. Her plays have been on stage in Minneapolis, Montreal, Seattle, and Plattsburgh. Her work has been performed with the SUNY Plattsburgh Theatre Department, Annex Theatre, Eclectic Theatre, Live Girls! Theater, Macha Monkey Productions, Pacific Play Company, Richard Hugo House, Seattle Playwrights’ Collective, Minnesota and Seattle Fringe Festivals, and The Schoolyard.

Her recent screenplay, Avec Son Pinceau (With Her Paintbrush), was commissioned by Ita Bullard and is currently in pre-production. Her play Shark was a finalist in FUSION Theater Company’s 8th Annual New Works Festival. Tracy’s book, After The Question, was published in 2014 as a companion book to One, an award-winning documentary produced by Heartland Films.

Vicory-Rosenquest received her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Goddard College and has trained with ACT Theatre, Arts for Equity Institute with the Flynn Center for Performing Arts & The Clemmons Family Farm, Seattle Arts & Lectures, Washington State Art Commission’s TAT Lab, and more. She has taught at SUNY Plattsburgh, Clinton Community College, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Seattle Arts & Lecture’s Writers in the Schools, ACT Theatre’ Young Playwrights Program, and many others.

Tracy Vicory-Rosenquest, Writer | Filmmaker | Entrepreneur

Three time Telly Award-winning filmmaker Sue Vicory has been creating community-based films and projects within her not for profit production company Heartland Films, Inc. since 2003. Her works include Homelessness & the Power of One, feature documentaries One and Kansas City Jazz & Blues; Past, Present & Future and short films Absent and 1898, The W.F. Norman Story. In 2015, she founded Team XX, an all female team of 25 filmmakers that created the award-winning film Down Stage.

Vicory is a member of the Los Angeles-based Alliance of Women Directors and creator of the Website www.womendocumentaryfilmmakers.com, designed to increase visibility for female filmmakers. She is the creator of the non-profit brand My Power of One (MPO1). In 2015 under the MPO1 banner, she filmed a 48 state tour completing 12 Acts of Kindness. She is currently working on a feature documentary and short narrative parody film.

Sue Vicory, Moderator

In the Spirit of Judy Garland

Renée Zellweger’s stunning performance as Judy Garland in a new biopic “Judy” that tells about the later years of one of the most iconic figures in Hollywood will no doubt be up for awards consideration after her Golden Globe win.

Following the first award show of 2020, the Golden Globes, awards season is in full swing. And Renée Zellweger is the shining star. Her striking look at the red carpet on January 5th was

by Lenastunning.

Basse, Hollywood Foreign PressBeverly Association, April 2019, simply Her speech at the Hilton about the importance of enjoying the journey of hard work was sincere and inspiring. In the biopic Judy by Rupert Goold, she portrays Judy Garland who became famous as the star in The Wizard of Oz when she was only 17. The film recounts the later years of Garland’s life when she travelled to London in 1968 for a series of sold-out concerts. She performed there despite her exhaustion and deteriorating health.

In her first musical turn since Chicago, Zellweger sings live, and does such an uncanny job of channeling Garland’s performative strengths that she practically transforms into the legendary star.

No wonder the Oscar winning actress received a standing ovation after the screening of the film at the Toronto International Film Festival.

However, we met the 50-year old actress at the Fairmont Royal York before the premiere in Toronto. Blonde and blueeyed, it is striking how different her looks are from her movie character. She wears a black skirt and sweater from Oscar de la Renta, no jewelry except a really large and unusual solid gold ring on her index finger which she is constantly playing with. She is very thoughtful and witty at the same time. And also, she’s incredibly warm.

Renée

LIFE AFTER BRIDGET JONES You can get caught up in the cycle of business in this career.

I think it’s important in life to try new things and to grow and New to change York a little bit. I’m sure it’s the same for you where you go from one project to the next project to the next project, until you’re a boring human being and I was so bored with myself. I couldn’t bear listening to myself talk one more second. I needed to just be quiet and go and live a little and grow as a human being. I wanted to learn new things and I wanted to grow up in some respect because it seems like just being stunted in your development because you’re constantly living someone else’s life in someone else’s house and someone else’s town and then you go to the next and the next. And you can’t tell stories authentically if you cannot relate to other people, because you’ve done no living so that was part of it and the other part of it is you live one time. I mean, how much is enough, you know, what next, what next, what next. No, what next is once you go and read something that isn’t a script, why don’t you go and study something that isn’t a new character, that you go study something that relates – well, pertains to your private life not your professional life and so that’s what I did. I highly recommend it (laughter).

I NEEDED TO JUST BE QUIET AND GO AND LIVE A LITTLE AND GROW AS A HUMAN BEING.

Zellweger in “Judy”

FRIENDSHIP WITH SALMA HAYEK Well I met Salma through my friend who introduced me to her, and she’s vibrant. She’s extraordinary and she is a fireball. And kind, despite the beauty and effervescence, she is a deeply thoughtful person.

And I ran into her at an airport, and we were having a conversation about schedules and how crazy they had become, and we would see each other when we saw each other, because life wasn’t allowing it at the time. But she did mention to me when we were talking about the experience of always being on the go.

She said, “A rose can’t be in bloom year round unless it’s plastic.” It’s very profound.

JUDY AND RENÉE Like for many people, Judy Garland has just always been a great iconic figure in my house growing up. I just was always aware of her achievements and she was always very important in our family as a celebrated entertainer and one of a kind. But it didn't feel like bang, we're off to the races and we do this movie. It felt like a very quiet exploration. It felt like a very insular experience where you're just coming to understand something and to figure out what's in between the lines and it feels like it's your own personal experience. It's your personal navigation of whatever the material in front of you might be and that's what it felt like.

it’s joy isn’t it, in all of us. We should leave the judge and the critic outside and just sing from the heart, because it’s joy isn’t it?

RENÉE AND MUSIC There’s a lot of music that I listen to and have collected through the years as really important songs that represent something.

I usually find there’s a record I will hold onto while filming a particular movie, so I always think when I hear the song, I think back to the job that I was working on at the time, because whatever that music might be, it helps to set the tone of what it is that I am trying to do for that moment. So, there’s a lot of them. And the songs might change, but the artists that speak to me, I mean the collection is expanding all the time because you are always discovering new voices. The Beatles are very important to me, Tom Petty is very important to me and I love The Avett Brothers.

PREPARING FOR THE ROLE There were a lot of components that came together in terms of trying to collect what was familiar. Biographies and autobiographies, which described how she carried herself. She said that BECOMING JUDY Louis B. Mayer called her “his It’s so funny because when I delittle hunchback.” So, looking scribe the experience, it felt reat that and trying to figure out ally different to any other film why and recognizing that she Photo by Alexi Lubomirski that I’d made. It felt like a sekind of carries herself in this ries of experiments and just tryclosed off way where her shouling things and it was always a collective of people from differders were forward and whatever that might have been the manifestation of and to imagine that. Also, she was very tiny. And ent departments who were trying to achieve a particular goal then she had a language, she was very animated in a way. She just to see if we could find the little things that mattered and made a difference. And I was very happy when I had a full face was kind of ahead of her time in terms of her expression when of prosthetics and massive cheeks and it was, I loved it. Cause she was in a public forum. And she was so powerful, and she was the further away that I feel from myself, the more authentic funny, so all of this movement kind of played into her animatsomething feels to me. And Rupert (director) felt that more ing these tales or re-animating these tales for emphasis, always than a likeness, the emotion was essential and that he wanted a beautiful performance. And then she had her performance language on stage which I had assumed might be an amalgam this to be not an imitation but for it to be more of an exploraof different pieces from the different musicals she had done tion toward understanding. in the past and choreography that was just in her body. And so from where I watched. There were things that I watched that RENÉE THE SINGER That’s funny, you’d have to ask my dogs, Chester and Nellie were certain things that were that you could see again and again (laughter). They nestle down next to the piano and we have a couthat were familiar - the way she held the microphone, the way ple of sessions a day. Yes, they have their favorites and they have that she would move it behind her back, the way that she threw their ones that they wish I wouldn’t play anymore. Of course, it away or snapping, all of those things. It was always in motion.

there’s an interesting parallel there with Judy, because people said it’s sometimes not the instrument of the 30s, 40s and 50s, the human exchange was beyond compare. And I think that through the generations her influence has resonated, not because of what she gave people in terms of her gift, but in terms of her other gift, which was empathy and relatability and her being able to recognize the value in the marginalized individual or the individual who feels misunderstood.

Renée Zellweger in “Judy”

So, the music was always around us, and the composer was writing, doing his arrangements all the time and that was always around, and her voice was always around, and her audio was always around, and the clothes were there and the photographs and the books. And after a while of carrying it, it kind of goes into your body and it becomes something that you don’t think about anymore, it’s just habit and it’s a very nice hiding place.

ON THE FINAL SCENE This song Over the Rainbow brings nostalgia because it relates to childhoods in some way and what we might have been dreaming of when we first heard that song, sung through the voice of a very young woman. Also, what means in terms of the life that’s ahead of you, that’s un-mined and what it might become and the beauty of that longingness and that hope. And how through her life the song took on a different meaning, sort of having lived the challenges and weathering the challenges of life. And in that moment thinking of what those words meant at that time considering the circumstances that she was grappling with and all that she still hoped for and how beautiful it is that despite that all, there is some hope for that new kind of happiness, that longing for that new happiness, and that just moves me so deeply. And I think it’s a beautiful representation of the spirit of Judy Garland, as I’ve read and interpreted her to be, a hero in terms of what she’s been able to overcome and that she continued to deliver to audiences that had come to expect a certain level of not just performance ability but connectivity, connectivity like a human exchange. And she always did, she always did.

UNTIL THE END… In the documentary Pavarotti, by Ron Howard, Bono was talking about his frustration at his French critics who would say: “oh, I saw Pavarotti when he could really sing, oh I saw him back in the day when he was really something.” And Bono said: “Oh, you don’t get singing at all, you’re missing the point. Now Pavarotti is lived the songs, now he can sing the songs, because you hear the words and the life experience and the narrative in the words in his soul coming through his voice. And you hear the weathering and the survival in his instrument.” And I feel

ON TURNING 50 Oh I love it, I feel like a kid. Everything is new again, like we made it and now what? It’s very exciting. I can’t describe that.

I find it like a rebirth of sorts, and I am thrilled to step into this new chapter of discovery and find out what it holds, without all the lessons that you have to learn in your 20s and 30s and good luck girl! (laughter)

Lena Basse and Renée Zellweger

HOLLYWOOD: LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT It’s all kind of an adventure of different experiences and just being greedy for new experiences and the learning that comes with it, the adventure that comes with it. I guess it depends on your perspective and how you define making it. Because if you really, really love something that you do, like you are a writer, and your joy comes in the process, so you might get a break one day and you win your prize for your literature or for your prose or your articles, but that isn’t in and of itself the joy. And if you are not being hired by the big magazines or your publisher is like yeah, these aren’t really sound, you won’t stop, so your joy isn’t going away, it’s yours to keep. And the same for making it, making it is being able to pay your bills in one way, so you have enough time to sit there with your pen or your typewriter or your computer to live in your bliss. And that’s kind of how I always looked at it. I always thought making it would be I cannot have to waitress anymore, I can just do this. And no one may ever know that I do it, but I won’t have to waitress to supplement the acting, I can just make a living, and wouldn’t that be amazing?

Lena Basse, Hollywood Foreign Press Association Toronto, Canada, 2020

Building Cultural and Crystal Bridges in the South

by Eric Minh Swenson In early November 2019, I had the opportunity to survey Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas, a modern architectural wonder designed by Boston-based architect Moshe Safdie. Safdie has an impressive roster of achievements including the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

Bentonville is the birthplace of Walmart, where a museum celebrating founder Sam Walton’s megastore history resides in the original five-and-dime store in the downtown core. Nestled in the Ozark forest, Bentonville is known for its mountain biking, especially along the two-creek fed ponds and forest trails surrounding Crystal Bridges.

The museum was founded in 2011 by Alice Walton, daughter of Sam and heir to Walmart Inc. Crystal Bridges marks a significant global art destination seemingly growing through the American South. We’re in a time where the South is now celebrating its history and cultural diversity with significant amounts of wealth and philanthropy spearheading these projects. America’s prized museums once resided in Manhattan and Los Angeles. As the world modernizes and achieves exponential amount of wealth, places like ‘fly-over-country’ such as the Midwest and the Deep South are the new frontier of mega museums showcasing blue-chip collections and international artists.

IEM Celebrates Cairo International Film Festival

By Nicole Goesseringer Muj and Gotham Chandna Now in its 41st year, CIFF was recently given Oscar qualifying festival status, and in recent years has become a world-class film event, mainly because of the involvement of award-winning Egyptian screenwriter and producer Mohamed Hefzy. His films have participated widely in major film festivals, including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance and Toronto, and have won more than 80 international awards. In 2016, his production Clash was chosen as the opening film of the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes and in 2018, he returned to the Croisette as co-producer of Yomeddine, this time in the official competition.

In 2010, she starred in Julian Schnabel's globally acclaimed film, "Miral", alongside Vanessa Redgrave, Hiam Abbas, Frieda Pinto and William Dafoe. Yasmine was a series regular in the ABC series Quantico and starred opposite John Malkovich in the NBC series Crossbones.

In March 2018, Hefzy was assigned by the Minister of Culture the responsibility of presiding over CIFF, making him the youngest president in the festival's history. In 2019, Hefzy was officially announced a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

IEM’s Gotham Chandna had the chance to interview some of the special guests, honorees and nominees of the 2019 CIFFs, including director Brandt Anderson and actress Yasmine Al Massri of the nominated short Refugee, that was recently shortlisted for the OscarsŽ, as well as international actor and producer Billy Zane.

Brandt Andersen is a writer, director, and producer, who wrote and directed the feature short Refugee staring Yasmine Al Massri, Massa Daoud, Omar Sy, and Jason Beghe. Andersen has produced some top films including Everest starring Jake Gyllenhaal; Lone Survivor starring Mark Wahlberg; 2 Guns starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, Martin Scorsese's Silence starring Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver and American Made starring Tom Cruise.

Brandt Anderson and Yasmine Al Massri

Yasmine Al Massri is an international actress, contemporary artist and dancer. Born in Lebanon, from a Palestinian father and an Egyptian mother. Her first big break as an actress was in the award-winning Lebanese film Caramel, written and directed

by Nadine Labaki.

In 2008, director Najwa al Najjar cast her in the lead role of the award-winning film Pomegranates and Myrrh, which opened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009. Al Massri went on to win the Youssef Chahine Best Actress Award for her performance at the Rabat International Film Festival.

Gotham Chandna, Yasmine Al Massri, Brandt Anderson and Terri Pappas

Gotham Chandna: What has been your inspiration for directing Refugee?

Brandt Andersen: Well, I didn’t start producing films with the assumption that I would eventually direct, but things get into your heart. As a storyteller or creator, you start to feel something, things come naturally.

In this situation, after traveling to refugee camps and spending time with these people, you think ‘okay, well, what can I do to help?’ I wasn’t a scientist. I don’t have vast knowledge on topics of detailed ways to fix water problems or geopolitical issues, but I can tell stories. So you say, ‘well, this is what I can do, and so I’m going to do what I can do with what my skill set is.’ In spending time with these good people, I have been very drawn to Syrians because they’re very decent people. In a time, when we as Americans want to avoid stereotypes, I desperately want to avoid an American stereotype. We can stereotype the Syrian people as very good people, the type of people that would gladly give you the shirt off their back, but if there’s a little something that I can do to help, then it’s worth whatever effort it takes to get there. The only challenge in this whole thing is doing them justice so that it doesn’t come off as something that’s inauthentic in any way. The goal is authenticity, but at the same time, allow us from the West (America) and other developed countries to understand in our own frame of reference what life means for these people. We always just say we just want to open that conversation. Terri Pappas (VP Production) and Radiant Studios allowed us the opportunity and the freedom to do that. It takes a lot of people to understand what the goal is, and the mission is to create something like this.

Yasmine Al Massri: I asked him that question when I met him at the Soho House in Los Angeles. I thought to myself, why is this role for me? Brandt’s response would determine whether ‘I’m going to do the movie or not.’ I asked him, ‘why are you making that movie?’ Because you can think about the many reasons why he’s making the movie that are not very exciting.

Many people choose to talk about subjects because they are a trend or because they are hot, not because there is a real love and commitment to the subject. I wanted to know why does he want to tell the story of a Syrian woman? You said to me about one specific moment when you were heartbroken. You were traumatized. You’ve seen so many refugees on the beach. You saw babies and kids. You have to be on that airplane to fly back home and what you wanted to do was cry. He got out his computer and started writing and crying because that’s what he could do.

I think when you go through seeing babies on the beach being strapped in life jackets by their mothers, whatever you have in your pocket, you’re going to get it out and use it. So those who have that needle, they go and ease people’s pain. Those who have water will go give people water to drink. Those who can write, will write because that’s their medium. That’s his tool, and for

me, that’s what made me respect him and respect why he’s making the movie because that’s what he can do. There’s no bullshit. How do we survive, witnessing? You can be the one going through the tragedy, but being the one witnessing is more horrible because you have to go back to your life and make sense of what you just saw. For me to see him saying I was crying and writing, that was all I needed. It doesn’t require math or sophistication, it just needs humanity. A significant amount of humanity, and I think that’s what he did. That’s what made me want to do the movie.

GC: Refugee is your writing and directing debut. How does it feel to be wearing so many hats on complex topics like this?

BA: Well, I mean, I had a great team of people. I had a partner in Yasmine who watched out for every aspect of authenticity and probably my personal health along the way.

I had Terri and Jared (Radiant Studios), who allow the technical details to be handled as producer so that I could just focus on directing. That was important for me because, as Terry can tell you that I told her, I need to be able to focus on the creative elements of this film to make sure that it’s right and not the detailed producing stuff that I would be doing as a producer.

Having good producers is very important, and then it’s almost like taking the responsibility as a leader of what you’re doing.

Having great people around you who take the pressure off of you so that you can leave when there’s a need to lead, or you can listen when someone knows better than you do. I know how great Yasmin is, and so when she’s laying in a trunk and delivering lines, I’m sitting at the edge of the trunk, and I’m paying attention to her tones. I don’t speak Arabic, so I can’t justify every word as she goes through it. Even though we’ve rehearsed and I know the words, I could miss a word in English. I can miss it in an extended dialogue opportunity in Arabic. So I can turn to her and say, ‘Yasmin, how did we do technically there?’ And if she says to me, ‘we’re good’ and then she turns to me, and she says, ‘how did we do emotionally?’ And I can say we’re good.

That’s a partnership that you only get when you’re working with great people, and that was the case. Even though this is a short, we approached this as a very serious film. Our DP is one of the top cinematographers in all of Hollywood. Everyone on our team, they are people that we have worked with before. So, they were from great films because people cared and they wanted to create something great. We wanted to do these people justice, not run the risk that we wouldn’t. So everyone was at the top of their game, and that makes being the director more productive. You have to credit everyone else because there’s no chance that the director can get out and do it all and be successful. You just couldn’t do it. You would fail every time, and that’s coming from someone who’s produced for a very long time, and having seen great directors. Directors have their moments when they step in, and they can be great, and that can change the course of a film, but the director does one part of it, not the whole thing.

Refugee

GC: You played double roles in Quantico, Nimah and Raina.

As an actor, what is your process from getting out from one character, and then getting into another?

YAM: Yes, every project is different. I don’t have a formula.

I’m not someone who studies a particular technique for acting and who applies it to everything I do. I’m someone who comes up with the technology, according to the identity and the nature of the project. With Nimah and Raina, the challenge was time because there wasn’t enough time on set to change.

We had to shoot, for example, Nimah from this angle. I had exactly 10 minutes to go change, step in Raina’s shoes, go back to the same position. Still, the camera’s not moving, and I have to become Raina, then I have to go back to Nimah again because the camera’s changing angles. The difficulty for me was to change fast and make the makeup and hair connect immediately to where I left it and pick it up from there. I think I was schooled, it was going to school for me. So after 44 episodes, you damn well have the technique for that, but I am very loyal to my characters.

I loved them and my love for them makes me very committed to who they are. Even though I had a very short amount of time to change, I took my time to become them.

For example, Raina pins her hair like this and Nimah pins it on the other side. There were small details that the showrunner and I agreed on that would be key stuff. For example, ‘where’s she pinning her hijab or the shoes?’ The shoes were crucial because Raina’s shoes were very different from Nimah’s. It affected the body language and how each one of them walked, and this also helped me. The moment I changed my shoes, the physical feeling of Nimah would kick in, or the physical sense of Raina would kick in. So it was mostly the shoes and how each one of them pinned their hair.

BA: Interesting. I’ll say something about her process because I got to watch it. This wasn’t on Quantico, but on Refugee.

There was a very condensed timeline between when we met and when we started shooting, but we spent basically full time together from the time we met until we started shooting.

In the time we were together, I watched as Yasmeen called people she knew, Skyped with doctors in Syria. She basically adopted Masa as her daughter for a time. She took her on as a responsibility and took my knowledge of making sure we were doing this authentically. We went to a Syrian restaurant together and we met with the Syrian psychologists together. My point is that she takes the process very seriously and when we get to the day of filming, she’s totally ready and then she allows herself to go into the moment and become this intense method actor. I know actors don’t like people to hear their method, in this example, where she completely transforms into this character. I’ve worked with Sam Rockwell, who I have so much respect for, and he is a very intense method actor, even in a comedy. I relate to the process - incredible preparation and completely in character to the point of where we’re in extreme heat shooting all day long, and she won’t drink because she knows Amita wouldn’t have drank.

YAM: That was the process with Refugee. For me, what happened in Refugee is a deep dive, and a Quantico was ready to wear. So what happened in the Refugee, it was a luxury for me to go to the Syrian restaurant and sit down with the therapist talk to the doctors in Syria. Everything that Brad just mentioned, those are luxuries for me. Every time I am given the time to do it, I fully take it in because I love method acting. I studied Meisner since Quantico. I went back to school just to reinvent myself, and I studied a lot of Meisner and method. I think all the methods are amazing and I think all the roads take too long, you know, whatever method…

GC: You’ve had a very multicultural upbringing. Let’s say you were an Arab born in America, and you were hired for Refugee because you look the character, what would have changed?

YAM: I wouldn’t take the job as simple as that. There are certain kinds of stories that you can only tell in a very authentic way.

Refugee would only be told by someone who understands what it means to be a refugee. What it means to lose your home. What it means not to have access to food and water for days. What it means to see that you may lose your child because of a bomb or a building falling on them or a bullet. You can’t pick someone who doesn’t know anything about that topic. In my opinion, I can always be proven wrong, but personally, I wouldn’t do it.

I would tell Brad, ‘I’ll get you someone who would be good at that because I’m that kind of actor.’ I don’t care about being in front of the camera. I care about helping a great story being

told, and that would be my participation. I’ll help get the right actors because I know lots of refugees.

and art and activism, quite frankly. So being here is a joy. What Mohammad Hefzy has done for the film festival is remarkable.

GC: What are your thoughts on attending the Cairo film festival? Is this your first year?

YAM: No, I’ve been here. I came here a few years ago, and honestly, it was another festival. The work that they have done to get where they are this year is phenomenal and I’m not saying this because my mom is Egyptian, but because I’m a very hard critic on my Arab world because I live in the West and I don’t want to justify why we are not competing. We have the talent, we have everything that it takes to be a first world country in terms of producing movies and TV. Egypt has been the Hollywood of the Arab world since the 40s. Everyone was working here, Italians, Greeks, Syrians, Lebanese. This is the hub of filmmaking. So I am very tough on them, and what they have done this year is phenomenal. Mohammed Hefzy is really the new generation that we needed, and he’s the new generation that’s taken over.

I feel that things are in the right hands and going in the right direction. I think it will do a lot of good to Cairo to invite American European productions and vice versa. Take the talent from here to there and tell more stories like Refugee. Exactly what we did in Refugee. We just need more of this kind of international collaboration.

GC: When you say the change in CIFF, is that programming or production?

YAM: Everything. I see more openness about the content.

I didn’t feel any conventional or politically correct programming.

I saw that there were movies of all kinds. I didn’t feel that they are shying away from political subjects or are intimidated by certain topics. I don’t know if you saw last year, but Mohammed Hefzy signed a Gender Parity Pledge at the Cannes Film Festival. CIFF is the first festival in the Arab world that signed this treaty. They are anti-discriminatory about sexual identity for a film festival in an Arab country that has a majority of Muslims, which is being very progressive. I think we are in good hands now. We are on a platform that really wants artists from all around the world to come and showcase their art and discuss topics that people care about from all around the world.

GC: What are your thoughts on being at the festival with your film, as a director?

BA: I’ve never been to Cairo. I’ve never had a film here before.

I’ve never been to Egypt, and I’ve traveled to a lot of places. First of all, Egypt is a fascinating and awesome country. We spent last night with the creative community here. For us, it will only be remembered as an absolute all-time joy to hang with locally Egyptian actors and actresses and to end producers, writers, and artists. This is a really cool, creative community that, as Yasmin mentioned, for four years has been a leader in entertainment

Mohamed Hefzy

He’s a very dynamic leader and very strong.

I don’t know what the festival has been before, but what I see now is that it’s going in a direction where it’ll be one of the top festivals for a very long time. He’s brought in people who help run this, and he doesn’t leave things to chance. We’re going to go back and talk about this. People are going to want to come here. So next year, more people will come, and more Westerners will come and want to show this community. People are coming out for the films. The tickets were sold out, and the theater was full. Like there are always things you can do to keep getting better and better, but they’re definitely on a very strong path, and they have a very strong leader. So I hope I can come every year.

It’s good motivation to try and get another filmmaker to get back.

I will personally always consider this now my festival because we opened our film here and as any director or actor will tell you like creating a film is. I lost 20 pounds. It’s thrown off all my sleep patterns. Now, I will feel an affinity to Cairo for the rest of my life. If I ever have a film that they want to hear, I will bring it in a second.

It’s a country that has 120 million people, and the majority of them are young. They’re between the ages of 12 and 25, and they are hungry for a story, hungry to tell students. So this is this, this guy Cairo, it’s the pyramids. It’s the Nile. It’s something that Hollywood always fantasizes about. There is no reason for this not to be back. There’s no reason for Cairo not to host the whole world again, to serve the history and culture to people who are excited about what’s happening in the world.

GC: How cool is it that we sit in the festival hotel, but to go over to our film, we crossed the Nile. That’s like a movie in another set.

YAM: Yes. It’s iconic that when we we’re going to the premiere last night, we crossed the Nile to get there. It’s like a ‘pinch yourself ’ moment. It’s very cool.

GOTHAM CHANDNA CATCHES UP WITH ACTOR/ARTIST/ENTREPRENEUR BILLY ZANE. Gotham Chandna: Billy Zane, you are an accomplished actor, painter, winemaker and venture capitalist. What inspires you when you plan on getting into a new activity or venture?

Billy Zane: Empathy, a Greek word, philotimo, which is the love of honor and friendship. The foundation or the North Star, the moral compass, the rudder of that ship, we load all of those interests you just mentioned into, so for new shores, but it’s that…

GC: You are of Greek descent and have been in many foreign productions. Do you see a difference in filmmaking in the U.S and other countries?

BZ: One of the best examples that I can draw from that reminds producers in America what I work on is, let’s say, Italian productions. They integrate the departments of makeup, hair, production design, and set decoration or just production, design, and a camera department into how closely they work together and how they work in concert. I mean, you know what you’re wearing, what you look like, what pigment tone and static look you have, and what you’re standing in front of. It seems very logical and Hollywood used to do this in the old studio era, for the most part, fairly consistently. It was a given. I find on mostly independent films that these departments are somewhat siloed and operate in their own universe. You tend to find out how these things work when everyone steps on set and you lose time and the visual narrative is fractured and it’s not as consistent. I loved working on Italian productions whereby there’s no border between these to the degree in terms of how inclusive they are. It creates a great air and atmosphere on a set, especially on a location and makes for beautiful filmmaking as well as beautiful experiences.

I found that was a metaphor for many things. Be it a business venture or production or it could be friends on vacation and how seemingly communication between silos internally is critical. In a business venture, you’ll find that solutions are under management, but they’re just not connecting. I found that foreign film tends to integrate these features more. I think in bigger budget movies, they still uphold an old studio mandate.

I think it’s pretty consistent with that. There’s a lot of time and money to go from concept design to execution that allows for it, but in the indie world, it’s overlooked and really not taught and suffers as a result.

GC: What are your impressions of Cairo and the festival?

Billy Zane at CIFF

BZ: If only to arrive in a city in every city as an honored guest…. it’s incredible. The majority of the world’s impressions of Cairo and Egypt is informed by cinema. It could be literature by all means or the classroom, but fundamentally the indelible impression made upon all of us based upon your cinema, our cinema, and world cinema has really shaped the industry profoundly. We were just discussing that. I think it was the landscape of Egypt that inspired the widescreen format. You think about it, and that’s purely based on extraordinary landscapes with horizontal landscapes, and impressive vertical spikes like a little thing called the pyramids and how widely they were set apart and how beautiful they would look. If we were in cinema-scope, right? And that is a fascinating contribution, I think.

So feeling that, knowing all that and stepping into this culture and into this time and space has been very exciting to say the least.

I think it’s on the bucket list of everyone, and at the pyramids yesterday I posted a few cool stories from Instagram, follow it at, @ BillyZane, and it’s really quite fun on Instagram. You can post some fun little pieces there, and I love some photography, and the reception has just been incredibly warm. The hospitality has been incredible. My family is Greek. We’re across the pond, these civilizations, friends, and enemies for a millennia, but it’s nice to come on over here finally. I was just being honored in Greece at an art fair in Thessaloniki. Moving between these two cultures in this, I guess a celebratory manner, almost feels like ancient entry into a city is enjoyable, if not, cinematic.

GC: You’re very famous in Eastern Europe. Is there anything special you might want to communicate with your Russian or Eastern European fans?

BZ: A big thing that makes me tick is, as I said in the beginning of your first question, was empathy and philotimo, mining this from a place of masculinity and archetype, which is very important and in these cultures carries a lot of sway, broadening the definition of what that means while harking back to the poetry and incredible literary roots and foundations of all of those nations, while shaping what is the modern, heroic male archetype in the age of football and MME? That doesn’t lose its sense of poetry and purpose that makes for great fathers, great lovers, great sons, great brothers, and great husbands and is critical for all cultures to thrive. So just simply looking forward to continuing this hero’s journey with a hard fist and a soft heart and looking for that in movies, because I think it’s important, understanding, and tapping. I’m Spartan. You understand that this warrior ethos was built upon hardening the body, but understanding the shield protects the one next too….this is empathy, but it’s logical. This is empathy as a strategy, and we have lots to learn from it.

I look forward to continuing to collaborate on projects in the regions mentioned while addressing these issues that ultimately will honor and serve men and women. Women particularly who end up suffering at the hand of maybe those fellows who are not applying these practices of well-rounded manhood and honor.

GC: Is there a director you’d like to work with?

BZ: I would like to work with Kathryn Bigelow, Nadine Labaki and Shahira Fahmy. Martin Scorsese would be great too. I love his new epic. The Irishman was amazing. I like cinephiles. His love of cinema and his acute knowledge of foreign shown in international film, international directors, and the work he does for preservation would be a great pleasure.

There’s no shortage.

GC: How do you prepare for a new role?

BZ: Depends on the role because we can’t speak to specifics of that. The more general answer is unless it requires an acute affliction or dialect or something to this effect. I don’t like to over-prepare. I like to let it come upon me in an organic way and get a character through a little bit of osmosis. Hold on loosely and be very present, and you bring as much of yourself to roles. You could lose yourself in a role, but I like a degree of a little bit of chaos, a little danger in that too. Just the tension of ‘whoa, wondering what’s going to occur’ as opposed to trying to over-prepare because things are never the way you expect them.

So I just stay as I sharpen my intuitive skills, and I try to stay as clear and channel, as I can clean my ears. I listen well, sharpen my eyes, and be present so I can be accurately moved by whom I’m working with.

and controversy at the end of his life. It was his work as a social activist that always blew me away. Having walked the walk for civil rights as a public figure when it was dangerous to do so, and people were being killed for such for indigenous rights for native Americans. What I was not aware of was his very forward-thinking and passion for environmental rights. When a script was given to me based upon the memoirs of an architect he had hired in 1969 named Burner Judge, who was a progressive visionary, came out of the Bucky Fuller school (Los Angeles), and I read it, which chronicled the five-year journey and friendship they had, which was funny, inspiring, jaw-dropping, wild that covered this period between 69 and 75 when Brando wanted to build a closed loop, sustainable zero carbon footprint compound on his Island in Tahiti.

No one was talking on those terms then, right? And here we have the Marshall Islands, almost underwater completely, and we see the effects of global warming today and climate change. This is fascinating to me. The fact that he had the foresight to want to do this in a way that let that preserve nature and would leave it as they found it and did not impact the environment in any way adversely. I’m not a big fan of cradle to grave biopics.

I like the fact that this is a slice in his life that was inspired and interesting from what you can understand and go much deeper into the character, in my opinion. He was my age and it was this time that I’m undergoing a similar kind of quest. He had worked in Hollywood for years and realized that it’s a great tool to leverage for very pressing things, while necessary to keep the lights on. In this case, in the movie, they’re budgets were spiraling out of control because no one had ever done this before. So we had to go make some movies. He was running out of money. One of them was a peculiar little gangster movie for Paramount. They were going to do a Bertolucci movie. It’s like the background to his historic films is quite interesting when you realize what his motives were and what was going on with him at the time. It’s called Waltzing with Brando. I’m thrilled to be playing him on producing the film. Bill Fishman is directing and he also wrote it.

GC: How did the idea to play and produce a film with Marlon Brando come to you?

BZ: Brando was known for quite a bit and certainly for being the greatest actor of our generation, having a variety of tragedy

Billy Zane and Kate Winslett in Titanic

DuArt, A Legend In Independent Film Claude Brickell, writer and filmmaker, New York By the 1920s, America’s film industry was already in full swing.

It was the heyday of silent film, and although it had all begun in New York with such legendary pioneers as D. W. Griffith, much of the industry had moved west to Los Angeles where sunny days made filming easier and where producers could skirt nagging East Coast legalities. One young enthusiast, named Al Young, showed up in this new, fledgling Hollywood with a background in both chemistry and the arts, and he began working in a local film lab there as a timer, a technical term in film processing and printing.

Not long after, Al returned to New York where film processing was still king. And, as luck would have it, a faltering Manhattan film lab was suddenly up for sale. The price was right and Al jumped at the opportunity, purchasing the facility and naming it DuArt Film Laboratory, Inc. This was in 1922, and following that, film history was made.

Over the next many years, under Al’s expert supervision, DuArt became a legend in New York film processing, printing and special effects. Back then, film was still only black and white, and even with the advent of Technicolor, the negatives (there were four to make color), remained black and white, as well.

It was the processing that rendered the color and DuArt excelled at that. Kodak color would come later on to DuArt joining the four processes into one.

Al’s son, Irwin, joined his father’s business early on, learning film processing techniques from the master and eventually becoming a master at the craft, himself. Irwin was colorblind but that actually turned out to be an advantage. “When you’re colorblind,” explains Irwin, “you’re not really blind and you see neutrals the same way. So we used natural density strips called ‘gamma strips’ to know the contrast we were controlling.”

Irwin and Linda Young

Irwin and Linda Young

Linda Young at The Association of Moving Image Archivists Conference

Irwin goes on to say that, “Being colorblind made me very attuned to black and white images in the area of contrast and how it looked or if there were any defects or problems in the film. Because I had this handicap, I was excellent at it. I had an advantage because I didn’t have the color and my eyes were more perceptive to neutral densities.”Because I had this handicap, I was excellent at it. I had an advantage because I didn’t have the color and my eyes were more perceptive to neutral densities.”

35mm film was, of course, the staple at DuArt, but by the 1980s, the lab also perfected a technique for high quality 35mm blowups from Super16. This gave filmmakers of lower budget films an opportunity to compete in the mainstream marketplace, resulting in legendary films like Irwin’s own brother Robert Young’s documentaries, winning him a Camera d’Or at Cannes and films by directors such as John Sayles (The Return of the Secaucus Seven), and Barbara Kopple, (Harlan County U.S.A.), the latter garnering an Oscar.

Irwin had a particular affinity for young filmmakers.

He supported them on the theory that, as their careers developed, they would remain DuArt loyals, and they did. At that time, I was a film student under the legendary Haig Manoogian at New York University Film School, as was fellow student Martin Brest (later director of such Hollywood features as Beverly Hills Cop, Scent of a Woman, and others), and we both took our footage to DuArt as did other students where Irwin gave us special discounts on everything, on films such as Marty’s brilliant short Hot Dogs for Gauguin with my friend Danny DeVito (still an unknown actor at the time) and my own featurette The Good-bye, which later aired on PBS and launched my film career as a Hollywood development exec. Other budding filmmakers were Martin Scorsese, Susan Seidelman, Robert Altman and Errol Morris. And Irwin was a particular mentor to young filmmakers Spike Lee, Michael Moore and Oliver Stone.

David Pultz began working at DuArt in 1978 as a color timer. “That was the term for a colorist working exclusively in film,” he explains. “At that time, high definition digital video technology was a few years away and many of the independent filmmakers coming to the lab were shooting in 16mm and Super16, although some came in with 35.” Pultz continues, “My first few years at DuArt were spent on the night shift color timing dailies. About 1986, though, I started working on mainstream features at their finishing stages. I was fortunate to work with Spike Lee and his DP Ernest Dickerson on about five of Lee’s earlier films including his first feature She’s Gotta Have It. I also worked with Ang Lee on his earlier films, including The Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman, and with directors Jim Jarmusch and John Sayles on their features in 35.

I worked on a number of documentaries, too, by filmmakers such as Ken Burns and Frederick Wiseman. My work was always interesting because I never knew what filmmakers or films I might be working on next.”

Later mainstream features at DuArt were Mighty Aphrodite, Dirty Dancing, Forest Gump, Philadelphia and Dead Man Walking, to name but a few, all processed at DuArt for theatrical release. And among DuArt’s many accolades over the years were an Academy Award for Technical Achievement in 1979 and, in 2000, Chairman Irwin Young’s own Gordon E. Sawyer Award by the Academy for his technological contributions to the motion picture industry.

Pultz concludes, “At the high point in the ‘80s, when independents were still shooting film, DuArt had a staff of about ten or twelve color timers. Most were a few years older than I and, as they retired and video technology improved, the number of color timers shrank.

Eventually, I rose to the position of DuArt’s Senior Color Timer, myself. By the mid-1990s, though, digital technology had started to make inroads in the independent world and I worked less and less on independent projects.”

Pultz’s, who has since become a good friend, also worked on my second feature Havana, Habana, filmed in both Havana and Hollywood. Shot in digital, the original cassettes perished in a hurricane in New Orleans, where I was living and editing the film at the time. I rushed back to New York and to DuArt where its technicians were able to save the film by upressing the work-copy cassettes. He then helped with balancing the color and also with cleaning up extensive noise in the footage. Thanks to both DuArt and Pultz’s painstaking efforts, the film went on to become an official selection at the Rome Independent Film Festival in Italy and is, now, with foreign sales agent Adler & Associates in LA. By the early 2000s, digital video became so predominant in the industry that DuArt’s business model changed to video and sound post production. The extra space in its famed vintage building on Manhattan’s W. 55th Street is now devoted to digital fare, renting out top-of-the-line digital editing suites. And what had become a legend in New York film post production continues at DuArt, today, run by its dedicated members of the same family.

Irwin’s own daughter, Linda Young, has served as president and ceo of DuArt since 1998. And Irwin, himself, continues to show up at the lab, regularly, in his 90s, just to be sure everyone is keeping up with his masterful technical standards.

DuArt Digitization Center, a division of DuArt Media Services, now provides a comprehensive list of asset management support and distribution services. It provides transfer services for both new and archive films using the Scanity HDR 4K Film Scanner.

With this addition, DuArt is now one of the few labs on the East Coast able to manage a range of modern to difficult and historically-aged film issues supporting 35, 16, 8 and Super 8mm formats. Work is done with Phoenix restoration software offering world class restoration tools for the most demanding tasks utilizing multiple award-winning DVO technology. The restoration team is expert at an array of tasks including damage to film, dust removal, scratches, stabilization of frames, warping, cuts and tears, staining, color fading, shrinkage and more.

Want to make a deal at the Sundance Film Festival?

Then, here’s what you need to know!

By K.J. Matthews If you’ve walked down Main Street at the Sundance Film Festival or have attended premieres at the Cannes Film Festival or just hung out at the Toronto Film Festival, then you’ve no doubt run into the a curious group of people walking with clipboards and constantly shuffling groups of people in and out of interview and red carpets: those are film publicists. One of them, Hilda Somarriba is a fixture at major film festivals and takes filmmakers under her wing to help them navigate the festival scene successfully. Somarriba’s boutique agency promotes independent filmmakers, directors, and producers.

And out of the dozens of PR experts that attend most film festivals, Somarriba stands out. She’s promoted more than 80 indie films during multiple international film festivals, including Sundance, Berlin, SXSW, Cannes, Venice, and Toronto. She’s able to create the type of international buzz an indie film needs to be acquired by a distributor.

Ironically, Somarriba began her career not in film, but in TV. She worked as an assistant at MTV before transitioning into the world of PR as an assistant at PMK/HBH. Flash forward a few years and she has already developed a name for herself in Hollywood. Leading public relations firms hire her to help them promote key projects. And the list of movies she has helped promote is long. Naomi Watts, Clive Owen, Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Omar Epps and Roselyn Sanchez are just a handful of the long list of actors she has personally worked with. Some of the more noteworthy movies she has worked on at major festivals are The Rider, First Reformed, Ophelia and Paradise Hills.

In just a few weeks, Somarriba heads to Sundance for the 12th time.

She’ll promote three films – Luxor, Beast & Beast and Possessor. And like filmmakers, she’s busy prepping for it all, but she did manage to find some time to offer new filmmakers some sage advice.

KJ: What’s the biggest mistake first-time filmmakers make when attending the Sundance Film Festival?

Hilda: I see many first-time filmmakers release too many materials online through their social media and the festival’s portal before

Hilda Somarriba

they attend the festival. You don’t want to give up all of your assets (i.e. stills, clips, etc.) up front. They should only release just enough to generate buzz and interest during the film festival. The goal is to help them secure a distribution deal, and then save the rest for the film’s release. Now, this is where a film publicist comes in handy. They can help develop a film strategy and decide on the best materials to release and when.

KJ: How much time should filmmakers spend preparing for the Sundance Film Festival beforehand?

Hilda: The best thing filmmakers can do is make sure they can clearly articulate their film’s message. Throughout the festival, they’ll be doing countless interviews and participating in postscreening Q&A’s, so they’ll need a clear and concise message.

It also doesn’t hurt to familiarize themselves with the abundant information on the festival’s website or talk to other filmmakers who have navigated Main Street. The overall festival process can be overwhelming. So, if you’re prepared, you’ll be one step ahead to ensure some success for yourself and your film.

KJ: Should filmmakers reach out to studios and networks before they arrive at the Sundance Film Festival?

Hilda: It depends on the film. My advice to filmmakers is to find a good sales agent who can either find their film a good distribution deal or provide sound strategy advice on how they can secure the deal on their own.

KJ: Lots of budding filmmakers make the trek to the Sundance Film Festival every year, what’s the most important thing they need to remember while there?

Hilda: From a publicist’s perspective, the goal is to get people excited about your film and close a distribution deal! It takes work to publicize your film, particularly when you’re competing with dozens of other films. But I also want filmmakers to have fun, just don’t party too hard. They’ll likely have long days of important interviews ahead of them, which will help them sell their films. So, the last thing they want to do is oversleep.

And trust me, it happens a lot. Just remember, that there are hundreds of other filmmakers and industry elites networking, so they’ll want to do it smartly. Lastly, I asked my friend, Producer and Director Miranda Bailey, who’s had several films in major film festivals. Bailey said, “Stay positive! A film is not sold in a day anymore. It takes time for a film to be acquired.

So, do not lose heart if your film is not picked up immediately.

Just get it to the next film festival. And don’t forget who helped get you there–your cast and crew!”

KJ: Navigating Sundance for the first time is tough enough, but when you’re doing it while trying to get publicity for your film, it’s daunting. What is the most important thing a filmmaker can do to get publicity for their film?

Hilda: Hire a film publicist! They will make life easier. A good publicist will have the right contacts and arrange a full schedule of the right interviews and events, as well as being your liaison with the festival to make sure your premiere and red carpet goes off without a hitch. They’ll also guide filmmakers and talent on what to expect and where to go. If you do not have a publicist, Sundance offers meet and greet opportunities for press, which allows filmmakers to chat up journalists and make friends with them while promoting their film. Journalists are genuinely interested in new filmmakers. If the production doesn’t have the money to hire a publicist, then look to Sundance. The film festival has publicists overseeing different sections. So connect with them. But be aware: festival publicists are responsible for a number of films, so they won’t be able to dedicate themselves to just one film. Nevertheless, they are there to help you and answer questions. In the end, making friends with your film’s festival publicist will help keep your film at the top of their minds, so when a journalist asks them for recommendations, your film might come to mind.

KJ: How do you know when it’s time to hire a seasoned publicist to promote your film at the festival?

Trust me when I say this: Most of the time they will follow you back and reciprocate the love.

KJ: How much does post-screening events and afterparties play into helping new filmmakers get noticed?

Hilda: In my opinion, afterparties are not for getting noticed or pitching projects. It’s the place to be social and celebrate your film’s premiere. It’s the filmmaker’s moment to enjoy the success with the cast, crew, and team. You can share your business card but save the shop talk for another day. Just enjoy the party.

Ophelia Sundance 2018

KJ: One of the biggest problems that budding filmmakers face is gaining access to events that studios, deal makers, and journalists attend. What’s the best advice you can give filmmakers on gaining access?

Hilda: There are several events at Sundance that are not exclusive.

But in gaining access to others, remember to be social and make friends, and you may get invited. And some publicists may even help you find out what events are taking place.

KJ: What’s more important social media or self-published articles about a filmmaker’s work?

Hilda: It’s truly a gut decision! If your film is selected for Sundance, then it’s a major accomplishment already and the press will already be there. Ideally, you want to hire a publicist as soon as you receive your official selection letter, so they can implement a strategy early on. From the time filmmakers receive their notice to the time that the film actually premieres happens rather quickly. But ultimately, it boils down to the budget.

Hilda: Self-published articles are tough and may be limited to a specific audience. So, social media in this day and age has further reach.

The key is a balance of social media and key articles published by film journalists to maximize your film’s awareness. A good publicist will help you accomplish that. (A reminder for filmmaker social media etiquette: Besides tagging and sharing with your cast & crew, it is also a good idea to thank and tag the journalist and outlet when posting the article to show your appreciation.)

KJ: Can new filmmakers use social media to their advantage when it comes to promotion?

Make sure to follow Hilda Somarriba at @hildasomarriba on Twitter.

Hilda: Yes, they can, but don’t push out too many materials all at once. They should tag people and places they want to meet to build an organic following. At Sundance, share your day to day experience with your current and potential followers to connect with them. It’ll also help people get excited about your film premiering at Sundance. Finally, give some love to fellow filmmakers and their films.

K.J. Matthews is a freelance award-winning journalist. During her career, she has worked for CNN, Extra TV, ABC, CBS and FOX-TV affiliates. Most recently she wrote for the Critics Choice Association’s ‘Celebration of Black Cinema Gala’. Currently, she’s an entertainment contributor for BBC World Service Radio, BBC World TV and Germany’s DW English TV Network. When she’s not writing and producing in Hollywood, she’s busy traveling the world and managing her digital eco-luxury travel magazine, The Traveler Confidential. Find her on all social media platforms at @KJMatthewstv

A-List Communications Hosts “Supper Suite” Pop-Up During Festival Led by Kia Motors as Title Sponsor The Kia Telluride Supper Suite will kick-off the new decade to again command the snow-filled Sundance mountain terrain as the premiere hospitality destination celebrating Hollywood’s A-list attending the busy indie film festival. The pop-up will again be located centrally on Main Street with a takeover of fine dining destination, The Mustang restaurant. Mustang’s kitchen will be taken over

by Toronto’s newest hot spot dining sensation “Marbl Toronto” (marbltoronto.com) owned by restaurateur, Peter Girges, known for Vancouver’s West Oak, Pierre’s Champagne Bar, and Twelve West.

Head chef, Ryan Morrison (The Glowbal Connection in Vancouver; Scarpetta in New York, Toronto and Beverly Hills) will serve up the restaurants modern American bistro dishes sourced from the most sustainable, local and most fresh products available.

ly with their eight-passenger Telluride SUV ahead of the production release. For 2020, the Kia Telluride Supper Suite will bring a fleet of chauffeur driven all-wheel drive Tellurides to Park City to shuttle the A-list Hollywood community to and from busy film premiere and publicity schedules. “The 2020 Kia Telluride is our best vehicle yet to handle the high altitudes and snow-filled streets of Park City and it makes perfect sense to showcase Telluride’s big, bold and boxy looks and ultra-comfortable interior,” explains James Bell, Kia’s Director of Corporate Communications & Social. “For the esteemed experts at Motor Trend to recognize the Telluride as ‘SUV of the Year’ is a historic achievement and yet another validation of Kia’s commitment to building world-class vehicles,” says Michael Cole, president, Kia Motors America.

As the program’s annual Title Sponsor, Kia Motors (kia.com/us/ en/telluride) has successfully leveraged the program to promote their new vehicle releases over the past five years and most recent-

Additionally, long-term sponsor partner, Molson Coors Beverage Company (molsoncoors.com) returns for its fifth year partnership to serve Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Italy’s No. 1 premium beer.

Marbl Toronto Executive Chef Ryan Morrison

Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon

Brewed with the same flair and attention to detail through three generations of master brewers, Peroni is the perfect complement to the Kia Telluride Supper Suite as it uses only the finest ingredients, including its exclusive Nostrano dell’Isola maize. This delivers a crisp and refreshing beer with a delicate balance of bitterness, citrus and spicy aromatic notes, combined with a fast and clean finish.

William Grant & Sons will serve as the official spirits partner featuring custom craft-cocktails with Glenfiddich single malt scotch whisky as well as their premium spirit brands, Hendrick’s Gin, Milagro Tequila, and Reyka Vodka.

In addition to the evening dinners and parties, the Kia Telluride Supper Suite will also host the annual Collider Portrait and Media Studio during the day. Top filmmakers, actors, media and influencers will stop in during their press circuits to conduct interviews and to take cast portraits as exclusive content on the popular entertainment site Collider (collider.com).

Additional brand partners activating include mou (mou-online. com/en-us), a sumptuous, cult London, hand-crafted footwear label, who will return to Park City to gift its highly coveted winter boots to Hollywood's elite. Luxury eyewear maker ic! berlin (ic-berlin.de) will also be on-site presenting its latest collection of German-engineered prescriptions and sun frames to celebrity guests.

The Kia Telluride Supper Suite also will host The Creative Coalition‘s Annual Spotlight Initiative Awards Benefit Dinner.

The year’s Creative Coalition honorees include Rachel Brosnahan, Julie Taymor, and Jim Gaffigan. Ashley Williams’ short Meats also will receive a Spotlight honor. The Gala benefit is chaired by actor and President of The Creative Coalition Tim Daly, Brad Paisley, Olivia Munn, Kim Williams-Paisley and Clark Gregg.

Other talent scheduled to visit the Kia Telluride Supper Suite

Tony Hale

through the three-day experience includes: Toni Collette (Hereditary), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Wilmer Valderrama (NCIS), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep), Joe Keery (Stranger Things), Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation), Carey Mulligan (The Great Gatsby), Damian Lewis (Homeland/Once Upon A Time in Hollywood), Sienna Miller (American Sniper), Diego Luna (Rogue One), Jay Pharoah (Saturday Night Live), Emily Mortimer (Mary Poppins Returns), Andrea Riseborough (Birdman), Christopher Abbot (James White), Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings), Michelle Rodriguez (True Love), Gayle Rankin (The Greatest Showman), Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water), Ed O’Neill (Modern Family), Da'Vine Joy Randolph (Dolemite Is My Name), Michael Almeredya (Director, Marjorie Prime), Eve Hewson (Robin Hood), and Kyle MacLachlan (How I Met Your Mother) to name a few..

“I’m excited our Supper Suite brand enters into the roaring 2020’s fueled by successful long-term partnerships by brands like Kia Motors America and Miller-Coors, and The Creative Coalition who share and support our program’s mission of celebrating the creative community working hard to promote Art in the evolving independent film circuit,” comments David Manning, CMO at A-List Communications.

The Influence (theinfluence.com) helmed by entertainment and PR industry vet Ali Lasky will also be liaising on the A-List Communications Supper Suite activation. This will mark Lasky’s 11th Sundance festival.

Follow along on Instagram at #KiaSupperSuite **This program, its sponsors, and producers are an independent program operating in Park City in support of specific filmmakers and are not affiliated or sanctioned with an official Film Festival nor its trademarks and should not be aligned as such in any coverage **

What’s Hot at Sundance 2020?

By Nicole Goesseringer Muj

Each January the indie film community flocks to Park City, Utah for the annual Sundance Film Festival, now in its 35th year.

Of course, we all go to see the latest in indie films (this year with over 118 features scheduled representing 27 countries), and to have the chance to connect with our favorite celebrities on Main Street.

IEM is looking forward to seeing some of the festival’s world premieres that include Tesla about inventor Nikola Tesla, starring Ethan Hawke, Hannah Gross, Eve Hewson, Kyle MacLachlan and Vincent De Paul and directed by Michael Almereyda; Wander Darkly by director and screenwriter Tara Miele about new parents facing drama amidst their troubled relationship, starring Sienna Miller and Diego Luna; and on the documentary front, Welcome to Chechnya by director David France, an investigative work that shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ pogrom raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic.

President and founder of Sundance Institute, Robert Redford said “Independent artists create and enrich global culture. Their art, which we’re proud to present, can entertain – and much more:

it can, illuminate, agitate, and empower. This year’s Festival is full of films that showcase myriad ways for stories to drive change, across hearts, minds, and societies.”

However, it goes without saying, that Sundance is much more than about film…. It’s about cel-ebrating with the entertainment community at special receptions, parties, VIP lounges and gifting suites.

Here are some of our favorites picks for 2020. First founded in 2004 by power couple Mimi Kim and Kenny Griswold, ChefDance (chefdance.com) was developed to coincide with the film festival, providing the perfect marriage of fine cuisine and film. Each year, the event hosts great guests, companies and chefs to celebrate food, culture and people in an exclusive setting that promises unforgettable moments and connections. The 2020 chef lineup includes Alice Waters, Gabriela Camára, Martha Stewart, Melissa Perello, Galen Zamarra and Shawn McClain.

This year, WarnerMedia and AT&T will come together for the very first time at WarnerMedia Lodge: Elevating Storytelling with AT&T, located at Heber & Main from January 24-27. An all new re-imagined and re-designed entertainment and culinary hotspot for filmmakers and talent, the venue will also be home of the Variety Studio presented by AT&T that will welcome and photograph the A-listers and filmmakers attending the festival. The lodge will once again partner with Jon & Vinny’s Italian Restaurant, the famed Los Angeles restaurant by James Beard Award-winning

Ethan Hawke in Tesla

ChefDance founders Kenny Griswold and Mimi Kim

Keanu Reeves attends ChefDance

DIRECTV Lodge Presents

by AT&T at Sundance Film Festival 2019

owners Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, that will host daily lunches for celebrities and tastemakers, premiere parties and after-parties, industry panels, cast dinners and musical performances.

Music Lodge (musiclodge.global) once again will be the Associated Press festival headquarters and the home of Music Lodge Live!, featuring daily performances and select evening concerts. Music Lodge has been AP’s hub for over a dozen years as a premiere media location, with the top stars, filmmakers and influencers stopping by each day for official interviews and photos.

Music Lodge Live! (aka Heineken Happy Hour) will present a live performance series daily from 4 – 6 p.m. Sunday’s happy hour on January 26 will kick-off Grammy night, with a live screening of the telecast, hosted by Grammy winner, Charles Colin of Train, who will also perform.

If you’re lucky enough to get an invitation, The Luxury Escape (randluxury.com) at The St. Regis Dear Valley is not to be missed.

RAND Luxury will return to Park City to host its seventh annual event from January 24-27. The Luxury Escape offers festival-goers a unique experience to break away from the hustle and bustle of Main Street and unwind amid sponsorship activations from industry-leading brands. Throughout the weekend, RAND will host receptions for The Go-Go’s, Surge, Black Bear, Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia and The Evening Hour.

Dr. Ruth Westheimer at Shabbat Lounge

Milla Jovovich with Dr. Jacqueline Nguyen at Music Lodge 2019

The annual Shabbat Lounge during Sundance is a space for nourishment of the body and soul, open to all, providing a unique space and opportunity for festival-goers to connect, unplug and refresh. Don’t miss the annual, ticketed, elegantly catered and hosted, Sundance Shabbat Dinner, on Friday, January 24th.

Reserve Shabbat Dinner tickets and rsvp for all complimentary Shabbat Lounge events @ shabbatlounge.org.

WELLHAUS is the new health, wellness and CBD/cannabisfocused event platform from event industry veterans Axcess Entertainment produces in conjunction with presenting sponsor Erba Verde Group. Located in the heart of Main Street, WELLHAUS has partnered with three local venues to create a firstever, multi-location brand experience at the festival: the Wellhaus Spa at the PuraVida Spa at Sky & Main Hotel, the Wellhouse Café at the Main Street Deli and the Wellhaus Lounge at the brand-new Old Town Cellars and will operate from January 2427. The Wellhaus Spa will additionally provide unique health and wellness services for the duration of the festival week through February 2nd.

Why not catch some of the interesting panel events as well, such as the third annual Indie Entertainment Showcase, presented

by Cloud 21 International and Kultura PR International, scheduled for the afternoon of January 25 at Bodega Tapas and Wine on 710 Main Street.

Snack Pop –

Hollywood’s Favorite Popcorn What better pairing than Cinema, Pop Art and Popcorn?

SNAX-Sational Brands premier low calorie popcorn brand Snack Pop (snackpop.com) will be served during the festival at various premieres and events, including the popular Main Street-based Park City fine art galleries.

Guests attending events and exhibits at Pando Fine Art and Art Elevated (parkcityfineart.com) will be able to try the delicious Snack Pop offerings throughout the festival at galleries are located at 577 Main and 444 Main Street.

Snack Pop also will introduce OREO Cookie Pop as the newest addition to its successful and growing product line of popcorn licensee partnerships.

Oreo and Twix varieties are available at Sam’s Club nationwide, e-commerce at snackpop.com, and Butterfinger Snack Pop can be found at hundreds of retailers around the country. The brand just unveiled the newest OREO flavor profile at the Fancy Foods Show in San Francisco.

The OREO-flavored popcorn is made 100% in the U.S. with non-GMO corn, is low in sodium and low in calories.

Wendy Williams and Adam Cohen

Through partnerships with the brand’s SNACKGiving.org platform, and alliances with talent notables such as Wendy Williams, Snack Pop continues to gain notoriety, serving celebrities like Jerry O’Connell, David Arquette, Rosanna Arquette, Lance Bass, Ashlee Simpson Ross and Evan Ross, Jason Kennedy, Mario Lopez, Ryan Cabrera, Shiloh Fernandez, Brandi Cyrus, Tori Spelling and many, many others at top events, movie premieres and film festivals year round as the favorite popcorn of Hollywood.

"Moviegoers have always loved snacking on their favorite cookies along with popcorn for a fun treat. Now, Snack Pop offers a popcorn snack in the form of OREO Cookie Pop, for a delicious sweet and savory combo, combining that cookie and popcorn flavor in one. OREO Cookie Pop is about to revolutionize the snacking experience," comments Adam Cohen, CMO of SNAX-Sational Brands and local resident of Park City.

Cohen adds, “To be able to bring our delicious brands to my favorite film festival in my home city where my family lives, is always a treat. We are excited to be sampling at various Sundance events for festival goers to experience the innovative popcorn brand making waves in the industry.”

Follow @EatSnackPop

David Arquette

Indie Preview:

The Painted Bird

By Dr. Laura Wilhelm Polish-American writer Jerzy Kosinski's 1965 novel The Painted Bird has become a global phenomenon amidst great controversy about autobiographical veracity and plagiarism. The dark World War II tale taking place in an unspecified country in Eastern Europe is well known around the world for its graphic scenes of sex and violence that are filtered through the eyes of a young Jewish Holocaust survivor. This boy, whose name is Joska, continues to experience untold cruelty punctuated by random acts of kindness throughout his Odyssean wanderings.

Apropos of the enigmatic title, Joska watches a bird catcher paint a captured bird several different colors and then release it to reunite with its flock. When the flock sees the brightly painted bird, they viciously attack and kill it. Otherness proves both beautiful and fatal.

slavic language that is a continuation of Old Church Slavonic.

Interslavic can facilitate communication between representatives of different Slavic nations as well as allow people who do not know any Slavic language to communicate with Slavs.

Interslavic was intended to have a neutralizing effect. Marhoul has stated that he decided to use the language so no Slavic nation would identify with specific incidents shown in the film.

The Painted Bird

Whatever its origins, Kosinski's unquestionably powerful story continues to serve as a potent source of artistic inspiration. Czech filmmaker Václav Marhoul created an internationally co-produced film version that was selected as the Czech entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.

Emerging nine-year-old Czech actor Petr Kotlár was cast in the starring role of Joska. Distinguished American, British, and Swedish actors Harvey Keitel, Julian Sands, and Stellan Skarsgård also appear in the film. Each part is titled after a character whom Joska encounters.

True to form, The Painted Bird led to mass walkouts at major film festivals in Venice, London, and Toronto. However, it received a standing ovation at the 35th Warsaw International Film Festival after its one and only screening there. Most viewers would rate the phantasmagoric film NC-17 and find it very hard to stomach.

“This kind of movie hasn’t been made in the Czech Republic for maybe 30 or 40 years," claims Vaclav Marhoul. He says it is about humanity and the importance of certain principles best illustrated when those principles are absent.

One unique aspect of the film is its language. Though not heavy on dialogue, the film employs the artificially constructed Inter-

Shot in black and white (perhaps to reflect a child's usual view of the world), The Painted Bird tells much of its story in the gray areas between the lines. Sex can be an act of love or an act of hate. A gun is a giver of life or a bringer of death depending upon which side of it you stand.

The film’s aesthetic of seems to turn the war-torn world on its head. It is completely drained of color, yet all are able to speak a common language. We are returned to a distant time before the Tower of Babel and the rise of culture and civilization in all their infinite subtlety.

Perhaps the film is meant at least in part as an allegory for our own times? Xenophobia is on the rise again in Europe as countries struggle to absorb millions of migrants from conflict-ridden areas such as Africa and the Middle East.

Discerning critics have been able to appreciate the work on its own terms, likening it to the celebrated films of Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky. The Hollywood Reporter chose it as one of the 20 best films shown at film festivals during Fall 2019.

The film opened in Czech cinemas in September 2019. IFC Films became its US distributor in October 2019. It remains to be seen how the film will fare during the awards season and where it might be available to watch. (It was shortlisted for the 2020 Oscars® for Best International Feature.)

In summary, our species can choose to progress or merely survive.

Films like The Painted Bird show just how bleak mere survival can be. If repulsion and dread are needed to break the dangerous spell of indifference and serve as catalysts for change--so be it.

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