Jacksonville Film Festival Works in Progress Screening
April 12, 2010 Comments »
Trailer for A Beautiful Belly from A Beautiful Belly on Vimeo.
Monday, April 19, 6-8pm – “A Beautiful Belly”
WJCT Studios
Filmmaker and Flagler College Alumnus Andrew Kenneth Gay will share his film that is in the finishing stages of Post Production.
When aspiring children’s entertainer Jason Ackart gets his long-time crush Danny pregnant on their first date, the two choose to make a life together as husband and wife. With the support of church friends and family, Danny and Jason do their best to start out on the right foot, but as the prospect of fatherhood looms, Jason begins to realize the toll it may take on his career aspirations. He begins to focus all his attention toward one last push to accomplish his dream of becoming an established children’s entertainer before the baby is born. As a result, Danny feels insecure and ignored by Jason and begins to question whether their fledgling marriage can survive.
Alienated from one another, Jason and Danny find themselves attracted to the attentions of other people. Jason meets Allison James, an intern at a local cable station who wants to develop a children’s show utilizing his talents, and Danny meets Nathan Long, a fine art photographer who goes out of his way to encourage Danny and build up her confidence. As these new friendships begin to hint at the possibility of romance, Jason and Danny must decide whether they are willing to risk the future of their family for the indulgence of a moment’s pleasure.
The Works in Progress FREE series is designed for all realms of filmmakers to share their project at any stage of production for general feedback from our local film community.
Location:
WJCT Studios
100 Festival Park Ave
Cinemania Presents Free Screening of “CA$H”
April 4, 2010 Comments »
Producers and Cinemania invite you to see Sean Bean’s new indie film. It’s not a thriller. It’s not action. It’s neo noir satire. It’s a “genre” film gone rogue. A law abiding couple finds a briefcase stuffed with cash and decides to keep it. When the owner (Sean Bean) finds them, they’ve spent a lot of the money. He moves in with them until they replace every last cent, even if it means they must tap into their dark sides to pay it back.
Tuesday, April 6, 5 Points Theatre. 6:30 p.m.
Doors open at 6:00 p.m.. FREE ADMISSION. Invite your friends.
“Art & Copy”: Just See It
April 1, 2010 Comments »
It’s part of who we are. What we aspire to. What we talk about with our friends.
It’s a big part of pop culture…. and it’s fascinating. Why else would a show about a Madison Avenue ad agency is the 60s have made such a splash?
But unlike “Mad Men”, the documentary “Art & Copy” doesn’t use advertising as a backdrop to explore the social and gender dynamics of one of the most revolutionary decades in history, it shows us how advertising created a revolution through a series of historic campaigns and helps us understand the inspiration behind their creators.
Campaigns We’ll Never Forget
Nike’s “Just Do It” did much more than sell running shoes, it inspired people to lose weight, change careers, find love, and, ultimately, purse their goals and dreams.
Pretty powerful.
But even more amazing to me was learning that such an aspirational, carpe diem campaign, originated from a story about a death row inmate being executed. Its headline “Go Do It.”
And what about the “Got Milk?” campaign? I remember flipping through Glamour and other magazines and seeing ads of some of my favorite celebrities with milk mustaches. Simple. Brilliant. Memorable… and the genesis of a slew of other pop culture slogans on everything from t-shirts to bumper stickers.
Though I found Doug Pray’s behind-the-scenes look at how these campaigns were conceived interesting, the storyteller in me enjoyed learning about the creative motivation behind these advertising hall of famers even more—and understanding how the personal lives of the likes of Mary Wells and George Lois influenced their work.
They Almost Never Aired
I think of advertising as risk-taking, bold, perhaps, at times, controversial. Yet so many of the creatives who were hired to grab our attention by either entertaining or shocking us had to fight hard to get corporate America and their own agencies to buy into their innovative campaigns.
Not surprisingly many of them almost never made it onto the airwaves.
But despite those behind-the-scenes battles between left-brained executives and right-brained creatives, popular culture was forever changed by these campaigns.
And while copywriters and creatives no longer conceive of ads without even speaking to each other, one thing that’s remained a constant in advertising is that its success, its power comes from emotional impact.
If you want to move somebody to do something, you have to connect with them.
That’s the essence of advertising and the core of filmmaking.
Got Creativity? “Art & Copy” Explores Our Innate Need to Express It
March 27, 2010 Comments »
“Just Do It” “Got Milk?” We all remember these tag lines and the brilliant campaigns they were part of.
Directed by Doug Pray, the documentary “Art & Copy,” captures the stories of the creative minds behind these campaigns. People like George Lois, Mary Wells, Dan Wieden and others who profoundly impacted pop culture and revolutionized advertising.
AIGA and AAF Jacksonville present a one-time screening of this film which, as Pray says, “is about the innate human urge to express oneself creatively.”
I’m so excited to see this film and learn about what inspired some of the industry’s greatest creative minds.
Tuesday, March 30th. 6:30 pm
Five Points Theatre
Tickets: $5 AIGA/AAF members. $5 students. $10 non-members
Portion of ticket sale proceeds will benefit Feeding America
For more information visit the film’s official website.
Portrait of a War Hero
March 20, 2010 Comments »
Playing at the 5 Points Theatre through March 24.
Who was WWI’s most successful flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron? Was he a cold-hearted killing machine, enamored with the thrill of shooting down hundreds of men during aerial combat?
“The best part is the chase, the fight, the hunt.”
Or was he a man intent on serving his country proudly who becomes deeply affected by the brutality and pointlessness of war?
“We just need an excuse for what we do, because without it we would know who we really are? ” von Richtofen exclaims.
In Nikolai Muellerschoen’s portrait of the man so revered across Germany and used by the government to rally the people and the troops behind what was an unwinnable war, the Red Baron is both.
The Man Behind the Legend
The film begins with some impressive aerial dogfights, as we’re introduced to the young, arrogant, handsome pilot.
Already I’m thinking, “Oh no, not another story about a cocky war hero who’s a ladies’ man.”
But as the film progresses and many of the Baron’s fellow flyers get killed, we see another side to the leader of Fighter Squadron Jasta 11 who became a poster boy for the German war effort.
When his close friend, a Jewish pilot Friedrich Sternberg is killed in combat, von Richthofen is devastated by grief and secludes himself for several days.
I felt empathy for this very young fighter pilot who begins to understand that war is not a game but a cruel endeavor that costs lives—the lives of people we deeply care about.
I was drawn to his humanity, his frailty.
When he gets the news that another good friend of his, Lieutenant Werner Voss, has been shot down, the Baron’s perception of what it means to be a fighter pilot forever changes, and he tries to convince the government to surrender in light of the war’s futility.
The Truth about War
Von Richthofen himself is injured in a dogfight and nursed back to good health by nurse Kate Otersdorf with whom he falls in love. She tries to get him to accept a post directing the war’s strategy so he will be out of harm’s way. But the Baron decides to continue flying out of respect for his men.
We’ve turned the world into a damn slaughterhouse and I’m already too big a part of it. They use my photograph to give hope where there is none. They use my name to feign immortality whereas the reality is annihilation. You said it yourself, the men dying out there have no choice. I have and I cannot order men into battle. I can, perhaps, lead them, help them, die with them, but I will not betray them or keep the truth from them by remaining the immortal god that Berlin wants me to be.
Though “The Red Baron” could have delved deeper in von Richthofen’s character, I was moved by the film’s portrayal of a war hero conflicted by the grim reality of combat.
5 Points Theatre Media Update 3/16
March 16, 2010 Comments »
1. We’re rounding out our Art Movie March with The Last Station and The Red Baron, both starting this Friday. The Last Station was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Plummer. The Red Baron is a fun European film featuring some great World War I dogfighting scenes. You can see the trailers here:
The Last Station
The Red Baron
And we’ve got Oscar-nominees The Messenger and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus for a few more days as well.
2. The line-up for the 2010 Citrus Cel Animation Festival will be complete in a day or so. It’ll be posted at www.citruscel.com.
The festival will feature the 2nd showing in Florida of the Oscar-nominated The Secret of Kells. You can watch the trailer here
We’ll also be premiering our online ticket purchasing system with this festival.
3. We are very excited to be opening The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo on April 30th. This Swedish film was the highest grossing European film of 2009, and author Stieg Larsson was the 2nd highest selling author in the world last year (despite having died in 2004). It’s got a murder mystery based in Swedish history, punk hackers, everything. You can see the trailer here:
4. We have a great lineup of late night movies over the next month:
March 19 – Dr. Strangelove
March 26 – Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
April 2 – Eraserhead (and there will be a prime time repeat on April 5 at 6:30 pm
April 9 – Heavy Metal (in honor of the Animation Festival)
5. Our Dinner & A Movie promotion continues all March! Get dinner in 5 Points on a Wednesday night, bring in your receipt, and get a free movie ticket with purchase of one ticket!
The Best of Douglas Anderson Short Films
March 14, 2010 Comments »
Cinemania presents films produced by Douglas Anderson’s Cinematic Arts students.
Films include: “Symptoms,” “Stationary,” “The Kid,” “Inundation,” “P.O.,” and
“Slam Dunk”
Monday, March 15 at 6:30 PM (doors open @ 6).
Five Points Theatre
Admission is free.
Come out and support our community’s young filmmakers.
Selling Your Scripts to Hollywood Workshop
March 12, 2010 Comments »
Do you need an agent to sell your scripts to Hollywood? Definitely not.
SELLING YOUR SCRIPTS WITHOUT AN AGENT WORKSHOP
Saturday, March 13, 2010, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
University of North Florida, University Center, 12000 Alumni Drive, 32224
Instructor: Sharon Y. Cobb
In this one-day workshop you will learn: how to get your scripts directly to producers without agency representation; how to choose production companies that are most likely to want to read your scripts; where to find information about contacting producers and who to talk with at the companies. You will find out about websites used by professional Hollywood writers to keep up with what’s selling in Hollywood and also learn what happens when a producer wants to option or buy your scripts. This workshop is a must for aspiring screenwriters determined to break-in.
Registration Fee: $89
REGISTRATION INFO FOR ALL UNF SCREENWRITING WORKSHOPS:
Register online at www.learnjacksonville.com or call 904.620.4200.
“The Messenger”: A Message about the Impact of War
March 10, 2010 Comments »
Co-written with Scott Moses Murray
Starts Friday, March 12, at the Five Points Theatre.
The effects of war on soldiers, families, society… That’s one of the main themes of “The Messenger,” though I’m not entirely sure what the message of the film was.
Staff Sgt. Will Montgomery (Ben Foster), who was almost killed in Iraq and comes back a hero, starts working under Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) as part of a Bereavement Notification team.
They witness the anguish and indelible grief of the families who learn their sons, husbands, boyfriends and daughters were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, as they deliver the tragic news without showing any emotion or empathy, and as Captain Stone emphasizes, without ever touching the NOK, next of kin.
Will struggles with that and, at times, feels compelled to hold the hand of the family members. And while the scars of those fallen in combat are fatal, the emotional scars that war has seared in the psyche of both men are played out in conversations, Tony’s battle with alcoholism and womanizing, and the empathy Will feels for the families he meets at each doorstep.
After being kicked out of houses and spit on by a grieving father, Will visits Olivia Pitterson (Samantha Morton) to tell her, her husband had died in combat. He becomes infatuated with her.
Perhaps what draws Will to Olivia is her empathy for the soldiers in their difficult assignment—”This can’t be easy for you,” she recognizes as (against procedure) she reaches out to shake their hands, as if to release them from any sense of guilt they may feel.
Though Will’s motivation is not made clear in the film, it may be that this physical contact and surprise role reversal breaks through his own pain and makes him feel more strongly that he should comfort the bereaved families in some way.
Will drives back to Olivia’s. He fixes her car. He delivers a flag to her son. He wants to help her get her life back together, but his attraction to her is confused and confusing.
Olivia’s response to receiving the flag kind of says it all. ”Flags and casseroles, we can’t seem to get enough of those.”
Those who haven’t been affected by war can’t possibly understand or experience the havoc that war wreaks on people’s lives—those in combat and those left behind.
Oscars Celebrate Indie Films
March 8, 2010 Comments »
It was a great night for independent film at the Oscars. From Mo’Nique’s Best Supporting Actress Award for “Precious,” to Jeff Bridges’ Best Actor award for “Crazy Heart” to the Best Picture and Best Director Awards for Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker.” Last night celebrated the power of story.
Despite “Avatar”’s groundbreaking computer generated animation which helped make it the biggest grossing movie of all time, a great film, and certainly an Oscar-winning film should center on story: how compelling it is and how it’s told through its script, actors and, of course, its cinematography and editing.
I’m thrilled the Academy focused on that last night.
Most of all as female filmmaker, I’m inspired by Kathryn Bigelow becoming the first woman to win the honor of Best Director. Women made up only 7% of, directors in 2009 and 8% of writers in Hollywood, according to the Women’s Media Center.
Hopefully, Bigelow paves the way for more women to crack Hollywood’s glass ceiling.
About JaxIndieFilm
Created to be a gathering place for the Jacksonville film community to read and post articles on film. We're building a strong independent film community in Jacksonville. In association with the 5 Points Theatre.
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Contributors
Natalie Halpern is passionate about cultivating a vibrant cultural community in Jacksonville, through independent film.
Alex Martinez spends his free time working on photography, short films and is a strong supporter of independent film.
Stacie Cregg is a theater major who reads books, drinks beer, and watches movies.
Tad Kellermann future director of groundbreaking, genre-redefining motion pictures.
