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Our Most Recent Adventure
Last year I had an extraordinary
journey with the Oscars shortlisted film I made,
'Gone Fishing'. We documented
the whole journey on this blog, so you can scroll back and see just how we did
it.
Below are the very best of the Gone
Fishing Webisodes, and specific gone fishing 'Dates Of Distinction' from the
blog.
Check out our Vimeo channel here, or browse are a few days of note from
the blog below
I just got an email from the lovely chaps at a company called Treehive in Australia. They are the film makers behind a short called ‘Mankind Is No Island’ and I met them when I was down under for the Heart Of Gold Film Festival earlier this year (original post with an interview here).
When I teach workshops, we always discuss how those who are on the lookout for talent, be it agents, managers, commissioning editors etc., are looking for real film making innovation. One obvious innovation is shooting a movie on a cellphone camera, and yet there remain surprisingly few really good examples of this, films that have been shot on such a lo-tech device and then broken through to win lots of awards and launch careers. However, Mankind Is No Island is the exception, collecting tons of plaudits in both the USA and Australia. If you haven’t seen it, you can watch above and you will see why.
If you HAVE seen it, then click on it again... Here’s why…
We are trying to achieve 1,000,000 views of our film ‘Mankind is no Island’ on YouTube by Christmas night. Already, we’ve reached 719,018 people around the world. We’re not asking for donations, this is not a chain-email, all we’re asking you is to forward this link to anyone you feel would have a heart to care about homelessness... or your whole address book if you’re keen.
With thanks, Jason van Genderen Writer/Director Mankind is no Island
OK so you can either forward the direct link above, or forward this blog entry, but please do consider spreading this important message at Christmas and let’s see if we can help them hit that magical million downloads.
Gone Fishing played at the Prince Charles in Leicester Square twice this weekend, Friday supporting ‘Jaws’, and Saturday supporting ‘The Shark Still Works’, an awesome feature length doc about ‘Jaws’, and the legacy it has left (my original post here where you can watch the trailer).
This was part of The United Film Festival, which is run by Jason Connell, an American film maker and festival CEO. The festival travels around North America, programming different movies in different cities, but this was their first outing in Europe. And London was that outing.
And on stage on Saturday night that it struck me, it has taken an American to get our movie, ‘Gone Fishing’, screened in our own home city. So thanks Jason.
It was also great to see so many faces I knew in the crowd – you know who you are, and thanks for your continued support!
For me though, the highlight was watching an original 35mm print of ‘Jaws’ – right from seventies, faded, scratched, covered in dirt, with entire chunks missing (where presumably it had snapped in the past and been repaired), with mono sound… but that ‘grindhouse like’ condition evoked a kind of time portal for me, right back to 1976 and the Wigan Ritzy when I too, queued around the block for the must see movie of the summer. What struck me most though was just how terrifying a movie ‘Jaws’ still is – that opening scene sets such a terrifying benchmark, and then every scene thereafter propels the audience to that horrifying conclusion, with Quint being eaten alive, the boat sinking and Brody taking his one single shot to blow up Bruce! Awesome, awesome stuff made all the better for the mono sound, scratches, dirt and a print that kept snapping!
And I want to be really clear again, the festival, venue, town, people, film makers were all wonderful. But the films, were in my opinion, largely impenetrable and self indulgent.
One thing I did not mention in the last blog is that of ‘building a programme’. By that I mean, selecting short films to run in a specific order as to deliver a considered experience within a single 2 hour program. Americans do this very well, with a mix of animation, live action, documentary, down beat, upbeat, comedy, tragedy… so that when it’s over, you have had a dynamic experience, an experience that was planned to play that way. I am sure they did this in Bilbao too, but as pretty much every film was either impenetrable, or downbeat, it made for a monotonous experience by the very end. The tone of almost all of them dark, with virtually no light at all.
I am not against art, or downbeat films, but when confronted with nothing but art and downbeat films, you know, you kind of lose your patience and mind.
OK, so here are a few of the comments I received…
You said your rant about European films doesn't help anyone, but you're wrong! This is one of the most important blog posts I've ever read.
Right now I'm suffering through a selection of student films from Europe's best film schools in Camerimage, Poland. They are long, slow, grey and suck the life force out of me. The few exceptions shine out of this pile of... umm, like water after a long, depressing run.
The point about clichés is also an important one: most of these films are not breaking new ground. It feels like the makers are only thirsty for acceptance of their peers, and couldn't care less about the audience.
So you see, the rant was very helpful. Like after a great movie, I'm comforted by the knowledge that I am not alone with my experiences. Jesse Jokela www.twitter.com/jessejokela
Just had to say your last blog entry was really funny. Was watching a bit of that TV show, 'School Of Saatchi' the other day - like X Factor for modern artists. One girl got through for hanging a referee's whistle off a toilet handle. That was it! Tracy Emin was going on about how it had 'sexual connotations'. It actually made me proper angry. The worst thing about these 'artists', film or otherwise, is that if you say it's crap, they just dismiss your opinion as an ignoramus. For me it's a self perpetuating little clique of pretentiousness for people with no talent who want to pretend they have vast inner depth - The type of people who think David Lynch is too commercial. A bunch of soulless 'high society' rich people give their support in the hope that some personality will rub off on them and, hey presto, you have Damien Hirst and Banksy. Anyway, very funny. The 7 Symptoms is like something I could imagine Adam and Joe doing as a guide to making an art house film. D.
This blog entry articulates a problem with films so well. Chris, you write in a very balanced, considered way.
You write "They were too busy making a point, a point that all too often was lost in their over self indulgence." But I think Symptom One hits the nail on the head - too many "Art Films" (shorts or features)are pointless.
I'm not adverse to film as art. I don't have an automatic aversion to work which is abstract or experimental. What I do object to is self indulgent "celluloid masturbation" (can I say that?). Certain filmmakers, audiences and critics are all too keen to praise the Emperor's new clothes, than risk objecting to his nudity.
Which is easier: 1) cut together a series of unconnected (perhaps pretty)shots, perhaps linger on them, maybe have a confusing voice over, chuck in a provocative image or two. 2) craft a considered work where the images and sounds have some sense of form and coherence, the work connects with the audience and resonates with them, managing to elicit a variety of satisfying emotional responses? Jude Poyer
Well, I'm the lone voice of disagreement I'm afraid. Firstly, if you want people walking out of shorts try Raindance. Nothing wrong with their programmes, but everytime I've been at a shorts programme people have left after each short, leaving the filmmakers and a couple of people left for the last one (and the audience was pretty much just the filmmakers to begin with). Whereas Bilbao, as you said, had large audiences, so the fact 75% of a large audience stayed would, I'd suggest, mean they were doing something right.
I've been to festivals all over Europe, and yes, they do tend to be more serious than US festivals, but that's no bad thing. I prefer that kind of film, you don't. I really don't see why you can't just let them have their choices without trying to pick holes in what they do or find fault with the way they run it. I've seen your film, it was OK in my opinion, not really my kind of thing, but I'd never get you to try and change it, it's what you do. So why have a go at Bilbao? It's just what other people like, and what a dull place the world would be if we only had one thing to choose from. (and I'm just a filmmaker in the UK, nothing to do with Bilbao or their festival) Ron
And perhaps most interesting, from a Spanish Film Maker…
As you write, the whole issue of the Spanish Ministry of Culture's film financing seems to have been put on hold by Brussels. It would be great to hear your take on that. For those of us, (definitely myself) who are sick to the back teeth of the sheer rubbish produced under these 'subvenciones' (ie my taxes) I'm only too happy to hear Brussels is meddling. And I re-read once again the scathing comments made by ordinary punters in the spanish press (of which there is a 99% approval rating of curbs on film financing). I hope you get a chance to have some of the comments posted at…http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2009/11/24/cultura/1259101269.html
to get a feel of how fed up everyone is. Ultimately, as you've just experienced, re your 'bafflement', you will understand that the audience is not even discussed during scripting or shooting as I've witnessed on many occasions. Spanish film-makers just don't talk about the film from the audience's point of view. Perhaps you could help them out with one of your brilliant lectures.
So now the dust has settled on Bilbao and I have returned to the UK – on the flight home I made some notes about my experience at the festival. This is a very tough blog to write as I am not someone who likes to criticize other film makers or festivals as I know how much hard work goes into it all. But I feel compelled to voice my opinion regarding the actual films screened, the judging (and by extension, the programming committee)
First and most importantly, I wanted to be clear that the organisers of Zinebi 51 were fantastic and they really looked after all the film makers. It really was first rate! The venue was terrific too, and the film makers who attended and whom I met, were all wonderful people who were very passionate about their work (and open minded enough to sit through days of other film makers work too). And of those film makers who became my friends over the week, I liked almost all of their films, and two in particular were stunning pieces of art that impacted powerfully on audiences. We were all very happy to discuss our films and both give and take criticism. Usually over long breakfasts, lunches or in a club in the wee hours of the night. This was terrific fun.
And the film that won the big prize at the festival, while I would say is no work of genius, was a fine documentary. I would not have chosen it as a winner but it’s certainly worthy of that mantle.
OK… So what's on my mind?
Anyone who knows me will understand that I am no fan of arthouse cinema. So to sit through around 45 arthouse short films was, for me, a significant endurance test and a huge commitment.
Here are some of my personal views and experiences.
Only two films I saw made me smile. One was ‘Gone Fishing’. The other the closing animation. The rest were uniformly downbeat.
At every program of shorts that I attended (usually a two hour program with about 10 short films), I witnessed audience members leaving midway. On occasion, this could be about one quarter of the audience. To me, this spoke volumes about the films being screened.
More upsetting was the appearance of the judges when they announced the winners at a press conference. You can see a bit of this in the video above.
I considered how I might feel if I were a judge. What would I look like if I were awarding a prize to a film maker, whose work I thought worthy of a trophy? (and to be clear, this is an Academy Awards Festival so the winner gets into the Oscars longlist as well as a fat cheque for many thousands of Euros). I think I would have been very excited. To me, standing at the back of the room, the jury looked more like a group of people announcing a firing quad, ‘these are the film makers who will be shot at dawn…’ It was filled with the most awkward of silences too 'Any questions...?' .... silence... And not a single smile. Nothing.
It upset me quite a lot. Not because we didn’t win with ‘Gone Fishing’, I had accepted that as an eventuality way before the announcement, but because the whole process of screening and judging these films seemed to suck the very joy and life out of everyone – audiences, fellow film makers who were present, and clearly the jury too.
Being exposed to 50 or so of the programmed films myself, I came to understand that many of the film makers simply did not care about the experience of the viewer. They were too busy making a point, a point that all too often was lost in their over self indulgence as artists. When each film began, inside I was screaming out, please let this be the one that I can connect with, and have some kind of emotional reaction to, other than either complete ambivalence or anger as the film maker had been so extreme as to make the whole viewing experience unpleasant (aka dull and boring).
I was also stunned at just how cliché much of the work appeared to me to be. If the UK comic group ‘The League Of Gentleman’ made a TV show where an arthouse film festival were run in Royston Vasey, many of these films I expect would fit right in. The only times I laughed was when a film actually did that ‘arthouse’ cliché thing that I had seen so many times before…
I hear many people complain about cliché in Hollywood movies. What I saw in Bilbao was equally cliché. This is very sad, as if anything, art should challenge convention and views.
Here are a few common symptoms that many of the films suffered from…
Symptom One - Refusing to make any point at all, preferring to present a succession of images that amounted to, well nothing I could discern*. This is not just my opinion, but that of many of the other film makers who attended (and who like me were at first politely smiling, assuming it was just them that didn’t ‘get it’). (*it’s possible I had a severe break with reality during some of the films)
Symptom Two - Refusing to have an end. Many of the films just stopped. Including at least one of the winners. Just plain stopped without warning. Not at the end. Just at the point where the film maker chose to stop making a film.
Symptom Three - Refusing to make any sense at all – be it literal, allegorical, ephemeral, interpretative… I am being way to kind here. Some films made no sense, and rather appeared to enjoy making no sense too. Maybe the point they are making is that there is no point, if so it was successful.
Symptom Four - Employing the theme that ‘life is crap. And then you die (or are killed by some random agent or a loved one)’. Actually, some of them made that film, quite literally.
Symptom Five - Refusing, while kicking and screaming, even throwing toys out of their prams, to attempt to make the audience laugh, giggle, chuckle, even remember what it must have been like to smile in life before this film was screened. My only giggles came as a kind of mental breakdown when I realised that it was going to get worse, and it was already edging on intolerable (I often left for the lobby to regain my composure)
Symptom Six - Being so aloof as to consider itself above reproach and criticism.
Symptom Seven - Persuading roughly a quarter of the audience (at some screenings) to get up and leave half way through.
Symptom Seven – Extreme close up shots that linger on objects designed to shock and repulse simply to push the boundary of taste.
My overall feeling is that the films and the jury (and by extension the selection committee) all had some kind of funny bone removal, entertainment bypass or other such quasi operation that resulted in them choosing to present a body of work that was largely (though not entirely) comprised of films that acted like a kind of vampire on ones soul. Rather than challenge me, as good art should, they just depressed me with cliché, obvious contrivances and relentless incoherence.
It was only on the way home that I remembered the excitement, the thrill and the adulation I experienced at other festivals in the USA, such as Rhode Island, Sedona or Heart Of Gold in Australia.
The films and jury that I saw in Bilbao were soooooo serious, serious, serious… and anyone who knows me, knows that I am pretty serious myself. So to be out-seriousnessed is something amazing!
Now, the bad news is that none of this helps anyone.
Many of the films I saw help only the film makers onanism, and a handful of co-artists who buy into this nonsense.
My rant here does not help anyone else either. Well, maybe it helps me as I get it off my chest, but it continues to paint a negative picture of independent cinema in Europe – ‘cultural’ cinema (often state supported) that refuses to connect with mainstream audiences. This is something I am not happy about and I bit my lip for a long time in Bilbao until I had a mouth of blood over this experience, and it was time to spit it out.
Alas.
Maybe this is all just a taste thing. I like rock music, they like jazz music. I think it probably is. And there is room for everyone and everything too.
So it’s time to move on…
OK! So… This Friday, Gone Fishing is playing in central London, supporting a Steven Spielberg film! RESULT! Already I feel better. Yes, ‘Gone Fishing’ is playing as a support to JAWS on Friday night, and a doc about JAWS on Saturday night. You can get tickets here…
I will keep this entry short as over the next few days I will ruminate over the extreme experience that was Bilbao 2009 – I have a lot on my mind too. I will also, as per tradition, stitch the two webisodes together to create a single webisode of the experience.
Red meat, omelette, bread and beer. That’s what I am living on here in Bilbao, at the 51st film festival they have hosted. And the diet is a symptom of the relentless screening schedule of over 80 short films, giving only a few moments sometimes to grab some Pinchos (like Tapas) from a local café, washed down with either a half glass of beer or an ultra caffeinated coffee that leaves you twitching through the films.
To my tastes, I have to admit the screenings have been tough, sometimes an endurance test. This is a high art festival - no surprise really when you consider the museums and galleries in the region, including the world famous Guggenheim gallery – I guess it’s a reflection of the people who live here and their tastes. There is no doubt they like it too, as the evening screenings are very well attended, packed out even. But some of the films last night left me positively baffled, what the heck did I just see?!? We are certainly in Europe, a long way away from the American festivals that I attended earlier in the year.
Still, it’s great to be challenged this way, and it always makes you think about the artform in new ways - and maybe this is the point too? To be exposed to films and film makers who you would not normally meet. And I have made loads of lovely new friends too, including touring American film maker Scott Tuft (in pic) with his very, very cool 3D stills camera (how retro, shoot 35mm transparency film and you look at images with a special viewer) – Scott made a deliciously dark film set in the sixties called ‘Makeup’, about door to door makeup sales women, starring Airplane star Julie Hagerty.
This is a very warm and friendly festival – there is no ‘deal comparing’, ‘agent touting’ and ‘over-competition’ with each other. Just long, long chats about movies, movie making, life and late night strolls along the river as you head back to the hotel room in the wee hours.
Blissfully, my iPhone does not work at all here – O2 just not seem to have a deal with a network. So, my phone has not buzzed all week. And it’s been a reminder at how we are all losing our freedom through over technologising our communications. Mobile communications, facebook, twitter and the likes (social networking) are all great, but at the same time I recognise that they all invade my ‘down time’ at some point. And when I do switch off or disconnect from them, I start to feel a little like there is a party going on somewhere and I am unaware of it. Not sure if this is all healthy for us or not. So to have it forced on me is a bizarre relief.
Ironically, Skype does work on my iPhone, so within the hotel at least, I can make international calls for peanuts over wifi. Bonkers!
I do need more sleep though, and I need to eat something GREEN before another 15 or so movies tonight…!
The Bilbao Film Festival has just kicked off – ZINEBI 51 – which translated from local language and dialect means, Cinema Bilbao 51 (51 being the number of years the festival has now been running – amazing huh! And don't you love that poster? Terrific stuff). Bilbao is in Northern Spain, and I must say, it’s a bit of a culture shock - everything seems to get done at its own pace. Nothing appears to be in a hurry. Ever.
Even today, officially the first day of the festival, I enjoyed an extended lunch (actually not extended by local tradition I now suspect) with the festival organisers and other film makers (the food was both incredible and cheap). And I have to say, I kind of like this slower pace. It does seem to work very well, and there is no visible stress - at other festivals I have seen organisers have a full blown melt down over inconsequential stuff – so these guys have got it right.
And I am being looked after by the extremely charming Amaiur who found me this morning, wandering lost in the hotel lobby, without my caffeine fix – I missed breakfast as I forgot to change the clock! Doh! I am glad she is around as my Spanish is terrible. Actually, I don’t know any Spanish and I rely on being that Brit guy who looks a little confused. So far, everyone has been gracious enough to speak to me in English, or the universal language of hand waving.
So Gone Fishing plays in continental Europe for only the second time (Oldenburg being the first) – I cannot wait to see how audiences receive it. I am shooting a video blog as per usual, and will have the webisode uploaded as soon as possible…
Right, now I need a siesta as it’s going to be a long night. Apparently, all the nights are very long here!
‘Congratulation. This is to inform you that the film "Gone fishing'' has received silver prize of the festival. It contains 5 Golden coins plus silver statue of the festival. I will send the prize to the embassy of your country in Iran… Mahshid Karimi, Artistic Director
WOW! This is the first prize we have won in the Middle East and I feel very proud that our film has been so well received in Iran, a country who is in deadlock with our government, but whose artistic community is clearly open to, and actively celebrating friendship and diversity. Wow! Blown away! Can’t wait to get more details.
I JUST THIS MOMENT FOUND OUT! On Saturday December 5th, 9pm, at the Prince Charles Theatre in Leicester Sq., ‘Gone Fishing’ is playing (on 35mm) as the support to a feature film as part of the United Film Festival. We have played many times as support for features, but this is the first time I am actually more excited to see the feature on the big screen as it is my own film! It’s called ‘The Shark Is Still Working’, an epic doc about ‘Jaws’ and the legacy it has left us (trailer above – their website here).
Tickets went on sale just now and already 27 have been snapped up within minutes of going live - I have another ten headed my way, and the theatre seats 302… So if you want to come to this terrific event, I suggest you head over to their site now and buy as fast as you can!
If you do get tickets, say hello as I will be there to introduce the film… as well as munch my popcorn through what promises to be a very nostalgic documentary about a time and place that all film maker my age can vividly remember... The day they saw ‘Jaws’ in the cinema… For me it was the summer of '75, and I remember queuing around the corner and down the road in the blazing sunshine – and this was back in my home town of Wigan in the north west of England, at the single screen Ritzy cinema. I had pressured my mum to take my brother and myself as all the kids had to see the movie ‘where that guys head falls out of the bottom of the boat…’ – the only problem was that I was about seven years old and not really prepared for the full assault on the senses that was to follow for the next two hours or so. I have many vivid memories of that screening, with some of the cinematic images kind of tattooed into my psyche forever. Of course, I have watched ‘Jaws’ many times since and have come to realise that it is pretty much a perfect genre film. Damn Spielberg was on form!
And if you have seen ‘Gone Fishing’, you will know that there is more than a passing nod to ‘Jaws’ (you can watch the trailer in HD here)
If you have any ‘Jaws’ memories, do share them with me, it would be great to hear them.
OK, so here are the details again - Saturday December 5th, 9pm, at the Prince Charles Theatre in Leicester Sq. You can get tickets for this screening at the festival website here, and also check out the other films screening at the festival too!
A quick update before the TV premiere of Urban Ghost Story tonight, BBC1 just after midnight… We just got word that last weekend, ‘Gone Fishing’ won the Secret City Film Festival 2009 in Tennessee USA. Fantastic! That makes, er… thirty something wins now! (there is a complete list on our press website here)
In a week of loose ends, the kind you get when a production wraps – stuff that’s gone missing needs finding, stuff that you put off as the production dominated your life needs doing, invoices appearing and sifting accounts until it all ties up and of course, a little sleeping, I find myself writing a matching blog – a kind of hotch potch of stuff that has happened over the last week.
First off, a podcast I recorded with Matt Morreale on the Film Producers Podcast has gone live now – you can listen to it at http://www.yogamayafilms.com/podcast
Second, I got word from the Edmonton Film Festival that we won the Grand Jury Prize… Here’s what they had to say…
Dearest Chris! I am SO honored to be sending you this e-mail. Your uber-award-winning film has JUST received yet another award – I hope you’re not bored with all these wins!
GONE FISHING was chosen as this year’s recipient of the GRAND JURY Award for Best Short Film. I wish we had buckets of cash to send you. But all we have is adoration. Thank-you SO much for sharing your film with Edmonton! I know they’ll love it as much as we do!
Warm regards,
Kerrie Long, Festival Producer
AMAZING! Kerri is a wonderful festival organizer and I only wish I could make it over there. I spoke with her and offered to shoot a short thank you and make a DVD ISO file which I can send over to them via You Send It (much like I did a couple weeks back for another festival). So I will be there in spirit. She explained they announce the winners in advance for two reasons – one to give the film makers the chance to ‘push the boat out to attend’ and second, to allow the locals the chance to choose the winning films when the are figuring out what to watch. More on their festival here…
Finally, we just got word that we are in the Asiana International Short Film Festival (AISFF) in Seoul, South Korea next month. I am hoping that I can make it out there as they have a sponsor for flights and accommodation.
The festival campaign for Gone Fishing is now winding down as I have decided not to enter any more festivals, it’s just too time consuming and costly. What a run we have had though, and fingers are still crossed as we continue to compete in a number of fests in the near future.
A bunch of awards turned up in the post today, namely the three we won at Ballston Spa a few weeks back. One for Best Picture, one for Best Sound (Bernard O’Reilly) and one for Best Editing (Eddie Hamilton). I will be giving them their awards when I see them next!
I was gutted I could not attend the Ballston Spa festival as it was an outdoor event and it would have been great to see Gone Fishing on the side of a building with the audience sat on deck chairs in the park. One of the big problems facing indie film makers is how to sustain and fund a festival run – it’s expensive to jet set around the world, stay in hotels and all the time you are doing this, you are not making money either. And that, sadly, is why I did not go to Ballston Spa.
Like most indie film makers, I have learned to sleep under rocks, in cars and on sofas, and that meant that the majority of the festival run I have had was cost effective, but there is only so much you can really do to save money. I am working on a corporate job right now (as well as writing a script with Judy Goldberg), and I hope that two week endeavour will buy us many months of freedom so that we can get back to making movies…
The last few weeks have been quite intense from a festival view, and we have been accepted into a bunch of VERY exciting events.
Probably the most exciting is the Roshd International film festival in Tehran, Iran – the oldest film festival in the region and has been running since the sixties. We are actually in competition too. I would sooooo love to have attended, to see how the film plays with the locals, but I have been advised that it’s perhaps not prudent to visit the region right now!
Right now in LA, our AP Kerry Finlayson is attending the IndieFest USA Festival at Disney, California – we will be getting updates and photos from her from the awards later this week. Fingers crossed!
September is quite hectic, kicking of with the Spirit Quest Film Festival (Sept 4th) in Pennsylvania, right on Lake Erie. Festival co-ordinator Gregg Ropp was kind enough to say… ‘We were blown away by your film and it definitely fits in perfectly with our theme. The audiences will be in for a real treat! Gone Fishing is one of the best films I have reviewed in my nearly ten years in the Festival world! I truly think you have something magical here…’ Blimey Gregg! More fingers crossed!
Then we jump continents to
be part of the Tel Aviv Spirit Festival in Israel (Sept 3rd) where again, I am dying to
find out how it goes down with the locals.
September 14th and we play at the SoCal Independent Film Festival in Huntington Beach, California, and I hope Kerry will be able to attend the festival for us again.
Then comes the Route 66 Film Festival in Springfield, Illinois (Sept 13th) where the organisers have really been hounding me, or someone from the production, to attend as they feel we have a chance of collecting one of their awards…
OK that's enough for now... There are more coming up too and I will update the blog in due course.
I got a load of mail about the Film Festival Spreadsheet that I uploaded a few weeks back - well here is the updated sheetfor those of you who are interested in more information. The ordiginal blog post about the spreadsheet is here.
Over the last year, I have had a wide range of experiences at film festivals - some amazing, many good, and a handful, well, terrible. One thing that has sometimes struck me at some badly organized festivals is the lack of respect for a basic agreement – here is the deal, implied I might add, but a deal nonetheless (as I see it anyway).
‘I will give you my film which I worked very hard on, you will give me a great screening in return, that you work very hard to fill’
Many times I have attended a festival to have only a handful of people turn up to see a DVD projected with very bad sound. This is very disheartening. I have on occasion asked the festival directs about this, and it of course, it comes down to money. When feeling brave, I remind them that they get all the box office takings, so maybe they should work harder to fill that room? Remember, they keep all that money. If they did their job well, we should be having packed houses – I get what I want, they make some cash to cover costs and maybe even accommodate a film maker? Sadly, this is not always the case (though there are many exceptions, such as Sedona which was packed at every screening).
In the whole year I have where we have played at umpty thrumpty festivals, we have never received ANY payment for screening ‘Gone Fishing’ (nor did we expect any). And then, just like the Number 37 Bus, two cheques turn up on in the post the same day. $80 from the CFC World Film Festival and $96 from Nickel Independent Film Festival. Both also wrote very nice letters saying thank you and also committing to rewarding the film makers. So thank Ruth Lawrence (Nickel) and Eileen Arandiga (CFC), every little helps keep our boat afloat.
So, if you have a film and want to play in Canada, I recommend that you consider submitting to both of these festivals as, if you get in, you will actually make a little money back.
As we have decided that we will not be entering more festivals (unless we have good reason to), I thought now would be a good time to tally up some statistics for the whole Gone Fishing campaign. So you can see from the rough ratios from the chart here – ‘Win’ means a festival we attended and collected award(s), ‘Loose’ means we attended but did not win an award (though around 15% of these are non-competitive festivals so we could not win anyway), ‘Reject’ means that we were declined by the festival, and ‘Pending’ means we are still waiting to hear from the festival if they have accepted us or not.
As you know, Sara Morrison handled most of our festival work and there are various posts throughout the blog about her experiences and views (you can use our search engine to the lower right here to search the blog).
Over the last year, all the data was entered into a spreadsheet which you can download here. You can use this for you festival push if you like – we hope to build a more automated spreadsheet in the future too. We also had a wall planner spreadsheet (you can access using the tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet) which we originally downloaded from David Forster here. This was a way to track when and where we were screening so we could ‘see’ our campaign in order to manage choices about attending and also consider print traffic – it’s expensive to ship prints and tapes around and festivals generally only cover ‘shipping out’, so you want to move your prints and tapes from ‘festival to festival’ rather than ‘festival, back home, then out to next festival’ (this can save a huge amount of admin and money).
The spreadsheets also contain detailed notes (denoted by a red triangle at the top right of the cell) and drop down boxes so that you can sort or search for different criteria.
In time I will pull more data out of these figures, including a cost / time analysis with regard to submission fees, office admin, DVD / print duplication and traffic, and build it all into the Gone Fishing online workshop (we already have much of this data built into the workshop but it is based on figures from the beginning of the 2009). We will also include these stats broken down by territory too, and I suspect the USA / European ratio will be fascinating. At the end of 2009 we will be running a Final Analysis workshop for all people who have signed up top the online workshop (which will also be filmed and added to the workshop online for those who cannot attend in person).
We listed all our awards on our dedicated Press website here. It's broadly in date order, with the big awards listed at the top as we guessed many people would galnce at the first few and may not mine down into the fulll list.
And if you have not seen it yet, some time ago I posted an interview with US short film maker Alex Fazeli, which is fascinating. You can watch that here.
Finally, if this is the first time you have read the blog, we also shot lots of great video blogs behind the scenes at festivals, many of which are packed with tips and hints – the best ones are listed on the left here under ‘Blogtastic Dates Of Distinction’. The 2009 Rhode Island Film Festival is about to start in the USA, but you can see our misadventures at the 2008 festival here – this was vital as it was out first step on our Oscars 2009 campaign.
We have just won the Ballston Spa Film Festival in New York State, USA… What a way to start Monday Morning! And it gets better, we also won Best Editing and Best Sound!
I am gutted I was unable to attend as it was an open air festival and to see ‘Gone Fishing’ in such an environment would have been a real thrill. Alas.
I am particularly delighted that Eddie Hamilton also won Best Editing. It’s not possible to really over emphasise just how much Eddie contributed to the film (anyone who has watched the online Masterclass online knows how much skill and enthusiasm he brought to the production and then shared with us all in the class), and for him to be recognized in this way is terrific. Job well done mate!
And then Best Sound too! Ro Heap recorded the location sound, which was terrific, but I suspect the award is really going for sound design, which was all down to the marvelous track laying and editing by Bernard O’Reilly and sound mixing by Andrew Stirk (oringal blog post here on the sound mix). Bernard and Andrew worked for a company called Videosonics, who shut down last year, and they now have their own outfit called The Sound Kitchen UK, mixing movies – so drop em a line here if you need help with your movie (and there is also a 30 minute interview with Bernard about sound design in the Gone Fishing Masterclass).
Again I am thrilled that these guys have been collectively recognized as the sound on Gone Fishing is critical to that big screen theatrical experience. We all worked very hard to get it sounding like a $50m feature film, and it really does. So thank you guys!
The organizers of the festival dropped me a line last week to see if I could attend, and sadly, I had to say no – but they did send a link to a radio show which featured ‘Gone Fishing’ and you can listen to it here.
As you know, Sara Morrison has been helping out with festival submissions, and I asked her for some notes on what she found out – bear in mind this is specifically about submitting to festivals and NOT about attending festivals or other areas of the festival experience.
Gone Fishing is a pretty high profile film which was shot on 35mm, and even with that, and dedicated person working on it, we have only managed to enter around 175 festivals so far. Other film maker will work harder than we have done, and enter many more festivals. So it’s a long haul process for sure. Anyway, here’s what Sara had to say…
1. Check out each festival’s website for eligibility and appeal before applying – there are thousands of festivals out there and you don’t want to be wasting your time (plus it’s expensive).
2. Track your exhibition prints (tapes or Bluray’s) carefully to ensure each festival receives one in good time and has a forwarding address / tracking number for sending to the next festival (start a spreadsheet to track these assets).
3. Apply through WAB (Without A Box) or similar sites where possible as applying to festivals direct can become a nightmare.
4. Always remember to put the tracking number on your screener in the event it becomes separated from the case.
5. Pay attention to each festival’s application checklist – failure to comply with simple requirements can get you disqualified.
6. Do not send press material with initial submissions unless specifically requested to do so; it may be seen as presumptuous and affect your chances of being selected.
7. A covering letter tailored to each festival is generally appreciated especially when you’ve applied through WAB because the process is made easy and that bit of extra effort can go a long way to helping your cause.
8. Keep a record of your contacts for each festival you’ve been accepted into. It’s easy for it all to blur very quickly.
9. Once you’ve been accepted, remember to send your press materials out several weeks in advance of the festival.
10. Be methodical about your research and submission. It’s a marathon and you will quickly become disheartened if you don’t have a ‘method’ or routine to stick to.
If you have any tips to add, drop me a line and I will add them in an update later.
Also, there is a video interview with Alex Fazeli here on the blog, a film maker I met a lot on the circuit. I shot it as a bonus for the Gone Fishing online workshop but chose to share with the whole community. Click here to watch.
Bad news! It looks like the Notting Hill Film Festival just hit a brick wall this year… Here’s an email I just got from Andy, the organiser.
Chris, it is with deep regret and sadness that we are having to end this festival this weekend.
The audiences have not been there due to inability to buy tickets and many other difficulties that have arisen from being at the Odeon.
I cannot have wonderful filmmakers and their work come to screen at an empty cinema. I noted today that there is still not a click through on our site to Odeon to buy Blessed tickets.
I look forward to meeting you soon to apologise in person and feel it best to close the second week to protect the films. I know you know the problems we have had. We’ll talk more soon.
Kind regards, Andy Notting Hill Film Festival
Blimey! This really is terrible news for the guys at the festival. It really does highlight just how hard it is to pull everything together for a film festival, especially one in an expensive metropolitan centre like London. In due course I will meet up with Andy and get the full picture and report back.
Next Monday (13th July), in Notting Hill, there are two very exciting events for ‘Gone Fishing'. We are part of the Notting Hill Film Festival, run by top notch chap and general supporter of British Films, Andy Isaac. At 1.30pm at the Odeon in Notting Hill, I am running a 90 minute workshop about Gone Fishing and specifically festivals and the road to the Oscars. We will also be screening Gone Fishing on 35mm with full Dolby digital surround, so for once, if you can make it, you will get the full theatrical experience on lovely Kodak Premiere stock. It really does look and sound AWESOME! You can get tickets for that event here (the event is at the Kensington Odeon, screen 1).
In the evening there is the premiere of a documentary feature film called ‘The Day After Peace’ which Jude Law was deeply involved in, and apparently, he will be there too to introduce it (rumours are the Angelina Jolie may be there too)! It’s about one mans fight to get the international day of peace recognised and I am told it’s an extraordinary journey. We get to support that film and again, we will be running 35mm and I will be introducing and doing a short Q and A afterward. There is more info on that event here (again, the event is at the Kensington Odeon, screen 1).
So we hope that you get a chance to come out and support Gone Fishing and also, all the great films playing at the festival.
Not surprisingly, it seems Cannes this year is very subdued. All accounts from the people I know who are attending, paint this picture. Producer Ivan Clements is down in Cannes and I asked him for a quick report. Here’s what he said…
I got here on Wednesday night and zapped into Cannes Thursday from Juans Les Pins (a small village outside of Cannes 10 mins on the train that allows me to rent a 2 bed apartment for less than a 2 star box hotel room in Cannes!). I used to get in as early as possible to try and avoid the 1-2 hour queuing to pick up my accreditation. In my ninth year now, I realise you may as well go in around lunch time and you’ll probably wait less.
As I descended the stairs to the accreditation hall, I braced myself for the standard mayhem of what’s akin to a hot, sweaty angry farmers market with people jostling for position in queues with furious exchanges at the desks from people who’ve been declined accreditation mixed in with the usual hysterical demands in French ‘I want to speak to the person in charge!’ Ahh, what a blissful beginning as usual.
What greeted me was startling. The hall was virtually empty! With the shocking addition of….wait for it…. breathable air! I checked my pulse. Yep, still alive. I felt I was in a dream as I glided across the virtually pristine red carpet to several nervous looking, slightly redundant ushers who seemed about to tear each other apart in order to justify their existence and direct me to one of the vacant collection desks.
Behind the desks were different creatures. They had chosen a unique way to cope with the problem of virtually no people to serve. They simply ignored it and smiled chirpily. Having collected my pass and goodie bag, all within a record breaking 5 minutes, I made my way directly to the pavilions and started my attack.
I should at this point, spell out what I’m doing here. Aside from technically supporting my short ‘THE TAPPING GURU’ (really a simply way to get two badges – I think Chris has covered this on his blog), I’m here to network like crazy. I’m a producer and now financier of low to medium budget feature films.
I’ve managed to connect with several parties already. With savage determination, I’ll be collecting as many other invitations as possible. It’s the main reason I come to festivals and film markets. And most of it is by chance. Chris and I met Simon West’s producing partner at Bahamas when Gone Fishing played there.
Always important to have decent business cards on you at all times. Don’t go for cheap ones. It can damage you. I’ve seen people physically feel the quality of business cards as they continue to talk to you.
Later that evening I went to the Majestic to do a bit of networking and ended up chatting to ‘Imogen Diamonds’ (pictured – you might be able to just make out her ‘bling’ necklace with her name on it) who claimed to have been in ‘all’ the Bond films as a Bond girl and was happily telling everyone who passed this wonderful news. The dog, by the way, is called James Blond. She is spectacularly eccentric and really makes these things worth while coming too. She has a chauffeur, but sadly he’s in Paris at the moment. But she does have a helicopter on standby, apparently.
After about half an hour of delightful banter with Imogen, I made my tearful farewell and headed out for a bowl of snails. Ahhhhh, Cannes.
About Chris I am just like you. Passionate. Crazy mad. For movies that is. Can’t get enough. Watching movies. Making movies. Talking about movies. Drives my girlfriend Lucia nuts! So yep. Passionate, crazy and mad. And yes, I am a little schizo too. Thing is, I love making films as much as I do teaching film making. Hence, Make Film, Teach Film. I have spent my life making films and sharing what I have learned with those who, like me, have been infected with the 'film virus'... I've made three feature films, action thriller ‘The Runner’, serial killer thriller ‘White Angel’ and paranormal horror ‘Urban Ghost Story’. I also co-created and authored The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook series, and currently there are six editions! Most recently, I made the multi-award winning and Oscars shortlisted ‘Gone Fishing’. I run film making workshops and my offices are at Ealing Film Studios where I am currently plotting my next big adventure…
CONTACT - Living Spirit Pictures, Ealing Film Studios, Ealing Green, London, W5 5EP, UK tel / fax +44 208 758 8544 mail@livingspirit.com
