Blog-o-STIFF

Seattle Times Article

A lot of people have forwarded this article to me that ran in the Seattle Times a couple days ago about blog postings regarding SIFF’s opening night screening of Battle in Seattle and the ensuing afterparty.  I’m not 100% sure what kind of reaction that they are hoping for.  It honestly doesn’t make me happy when people are pissed off at SIFF.  Of course I think its silly to charge people $50 - $200 for admission to a movie, and I think that Battle in Seattle is an opening night choice that lends itself to easy criticism.  But who is really at fault here?  I think that for the most part, there are just some people who want to donate to an arts organization and there are a lot worse places to spend your money.   I’m happy that there are people out there supporting the arts.

Sure there are probably people who looked at that $200 as a way to tell their friends at the watercooler on Monday that there were partying with celebrities.  It’s tough to feel sorry for those people if they didn’t like the movie and want to complain afterward. The crappiest part is that SIFF didn’t tell anyone that it was going to be a cash bar.  I know some people probably did an analysis and figured they’d drink at least fifty bucks worth of alcohol anyway and maybe didn’t bring their wallet to the screening.  Sucks for those people, but its not like I can gloat about all of the free booze they would have gotten at STIFF because our bars are all cash bars too (The only difference is that for $50 bucks, a person could get an All-Access Badge that would let them into every STIFF show, including Moby, for the entire duration of the festival).

Like I said, it doesn’t make me happy when people are mad at SIFF.  I’m not in any kind of hurry to see the end of SIFF.  Sure it pisses me off when things happen like the recent Bookie fiasco, and I wish more people were interested in some of the real indie stuff that was going on locally than they were in hanging out at a party with celebrities, but I can’t fault SIFF for trying to capitalize on that market (there were obviously plenty of people who didn’t mind shelling out the money for the tickets). 

And it’s not like SIFF only shows movies like Battle in Seattle. I have been exposed to some incredible movies that I never would have heard of if it wasn’t for SIFF.  They are showing some really good local stuff this year too.  Aside from Bao Tran’s Bookie, I’ve heard great things about Deidre Timmons’ A Wink and a Smile.

ROTTEN TO THE CORE, originally uploaded by Clint Berquist.

Deidre was the Director of last years 2^nd place winning Weekend Film Challenge Film, Rotten to the Core.  She has some serious talent and I couldn’t be happier for her.  I also read recently that Joe Shapiro and Andy McCone were participating in this year’s Fly Filmmaking Challenge. 

 

Andy was responsible for one of the most fun shooting assignments I have ever had and those guys have been a part of STIFF from the very beginning.  It has been a lot of fun to watch them hone their skills to perfection.  I’m really glad to see SIFF taking notice of how talented they are. 

I am always reminded of one fact though, the NIT used to be THE post-season basketball tournament that every team wanted to get into.  Now, teams are disappointed if they get selected for the NIT.  This only means that things can always change.  But, being the biggest film festival in town isn’t the end goal for us.  If our existence can serve no other purpose than to be a sandbox for local filmmakers to hone their skills and help remind SIFF to shine their light on local talent, then I will be content with this endeavor, forever. If I can also come across some weird films to share with people, then I am in seventh heaven.  If Seattle can become a town where audiences care more about the really cool local stuff going on than finding out what color toenail polish Michelle Rodriguez wears,  whether they end up finding it at SIFF or STIFF doesn’t make as much difference to me as whether or not it happens.  If we can play a small part in that transition, that is all I need. 

STIFF 2008 Trailer

Here is a fun STIFF 2008 Trailer put together by Spencer Fornaciari, a member of our screening team:

Handicapping the Weekend Film Challenge - P.R.o.K.

P.R.o.K., originally uploaded by Clint Berquist.

P.R.o.K.
Team Leader: Andy Peters
Genre: Mockumentary
Odds: 3 to 1

In the interest of full disclosure, I need to say that I have been slowly working on a documentary about the alternative Comedy Scene in Seattle for about the past year. P.R.o.K. or The People’s Republic of Komedy is a huge part of that project, so this may be a bit biased. But, I think that these guys are some of the funniest human beings I have ever had the opportunity to know. A few months ago a filmmaker came up from LA for a screening and I invited him to check out their weekly show Laffhole. I later found out that he is actually a pretty accomplished stand-up comic who works with people like Sarah Silverman, Brian Posehn and Paul F. Thompkins on a regular basis and he told me that Laffhole blows away any room that they have in LA, so there are obviously a lot of people in town who agree that the P.R.o.K. rocks. Travis and Kevin consistently churn out hilarious short films for Pabst and Dewars (the Laffhole sponsors), not to mention films for their own wildly successful Entertainment Show that happens once a month at the Sunset in Ballard. So, there is no doubt in my mind that the P.R.o.K. mockumentary will be funny. The real question is, will funny be enough to win?

Coming up… Handicapping the Weekend Film Challenge – Peek

Handicapping the Weekend Film Challenge - Team ASCOT

Team Ascot, originally uploaded by Clint Berquist.

Team Leader: CB Shamah
Genre: Mystery
Odds: 5 to 1

CB had a hand in the feature film SPREE which is screening as part of STIFF 2008 and it proves that he has the means to put together something truly unique and very cool. Team ASCOT has some excellent film and music connections around town, which will most likely come in very handy for their very first WFC Film. There is one big question on my mind though. While it is an incredible feather in a filmmaker’s cap to complete a feature, making a concise short film is a whole different task. Many accomplished feature filmmakers have struggled with the short form and nothing is worse than a short that is too long. Can Team ASCOT successfully transition back into a team that can tell a short story that is short enough? We know it is going to be good, but just how good is a mystery (which makes the genre selection super appropriate!)

Coming up… Handicapping the Weekend Film Challenge – P.R.o.K.

A note from Gordon Michael Woolvett

Fracture_Program_Image, originally uploaded by Clint Berquist.

Hello! Now, no laughing but... My short film Fracture, plays in the Jewel Box theatre in the shorts program June 12 at 6:30. In my submission package I neglected to mention that I am also a television and film actor. I played Seamus Harper on the TV series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda. If you're not a sci-fi fan it won't mean anything to you. The show ran for 5 years in the U.S. and also starred Kevin sorbo.

I'm telling you this because I get invited to lots of conventions etc. to sign autographs etc. and actually have quite a few sci-fi fans. Like I said, no laughing.

So there you go, a bit of PR for your shorts program if you care to use it. I will definitely be attending the screening.

Thanks,

Gordon Michael Woolvett.

Handicapping the Weekend Film Challenge - The New Originals

The New Originals, originally uploaded by Clint Berquist.

The New Originals
Team Leader: Chad Cobain
Genre: Western
Odds: 2 to 1

Members of the New Originals have taken part in every Weekend Film Challenge so far and one thing is certain – these kids have skills, always finishing in the top three. Chad, Christian Hansen and Matt Dy were part of last year’s winning team and they possess just the sort of mix of youth, raw talent, and willingness to take risks that gives some of us older guys a bit of a complex. They are bringing back some key talent from last year’s Sunday Market, which means that they are the odds on favorite to win the top spot in 2008. Some questions are afoot though: They set the bar pretty high last year, will they be able to hit their own lofty standards this year? Can a team that makes serious movies win it in this year’s comedy-rich field? Western? Very hard to pull off, but I heard that they were heading to Eastern Washington and that sure sounds like the right direction to me.

Coming up… Handicapping the Weekend Film Challenge – Team ASCOT

Handicapping the Weekend Film Challenge - Puppet Entertainment Television

Elizabeth and Ken Westerman, originally uploaded by Clint Berquist.

Team Leader: Elizabeth Westerman

Genre: Erotic Thriller

Odds: 3 to 1

Elizabeth had the honor of leading the winning team from the 2006 Weekend Film Challenge, which was a hilarious send up of Blue’s Clues. That team consisted of several talented improvisers from Unexpected Productions which holds court at the Market Theater and produces the long running Seattle favorite - Theater Sports. Elizabeth and the Blues Clues team went on to produce a show of their own called the Cotton Gin which blends puppets and improv and was quite delightful. Members of our screening team already know that I actually have a secret weakness for puppet movies (and musicals) that may be firmly rooted in my childhood love of Sesame Street. They have managed to find a really good chemistry between the live action performers and the puppets, and chemistry is hard to beat. Improv skills have proved to be a real asset in past challenges. Can they capture that magic with this year’s longer format? Will those skills be stifled as they strive to write something a bit more cohesive? Surprise genre selection with this year’s number 1 pick. Can erotic thriller win the top spot two years in a row?

Coming up… Handicapping the Weekend Film Challenge – The New Originals

Opening Night for SIFF, but they aren’t too busy to screw us!

Tonight is the Opening Night of the Seattle International Film Festival.  Can you smell the excitement in the air?  SIFF’s opening night film is called Battle in Seattle.  It is a Hollywood dramatization of one of the most talked about events in Seattle’s recent history, shot in Vancouver, with mostly Canadian crews, and a cast of high-dollar celebrities who may have experienced those events from shorts clips on their TV news, written and directed by a guy from Ireland (Stuart Townsend) who read a few articles about the event and made a couple trips to Seattle during the creative process.  The cost of attending this single film ranges from $50-$200.

Surely there must be a lot of prep work involved in making sure that all of you get your $200 worth at that after party which will no doubt be packed full of people hoping to get their picture taken with Woody Harrelson or catch a glimpse of Cherlize Theron .  But they still manage to find time to try to mess with us.  How?  By choosing today to force local filmmaker Bao Tran to remove his incredible short film Bookie from the STIFF 2008 program.  Bao’s crime?  Bookie was actually scheduled to “World Premier” one day after his STIFF Screening  at the Jewel Box.  Here is the email that I sent to Beth Barrett and Stan Shields (The siffers making the stink):

We are of course disappointed that we aren't going to be able to screen Bookie at the scheduled time since we all thought it was a great little film, but we don't want to show films against the will of the filmmaker, so we will of course comply with your wishes.  As I mentioned in a previous email, this does create a logistical problem since our programs are currently being printed and there is no possible way that we can change them at this late date.  Which means that there is a great possibility that audience will show up expecting to see Bookie and be disappointed that the film had been pulled from the lineup.  We should be able to pull the film down from our website within the next few days and offer refunds to people who have purchased tickets to the screening though.

Hopefully SIFF will reconsider this.  At the very least, it would be great to have Beth or Stan explain why the Seattle International Film Festival is exerting pressure on Bao to pull his film from our little festival's program though since we ARE only talking about a very small screening at the Jewel Box one day in advance of his big SIFF screening and we haven't advertised Bookie as a "World Premier" or anything.  Part of the decision to move STIFF to the end of SIFF instead of the beginning was to give SIFF ample opportunity to screen the small subset of films that may end up in both programs that they were worried about being the "World Premiere" for, instead of forcing filmmakers to make a decision about which film festival they wanted to screen their film in.  I can understand why SIFF might want to crack down on this archaic premier requirement for big cash-cow features with celebrities that may attend, but we are talking about a really good local short here and a filmmaker that can only benefit by having his film play in both festivals.  We don't fault Bao for the decision he has made.  SIFF is the 800 pound film festival gorilla in town and he is obviosly going to get the most good from complying with their wishes (and it is always nice to see SIFF shine their light on a good local film).  It just doesn't make sense to me why SIFF would choose to penalize this filmmaker and potential audiences, especially when there has been precedent set in the past with local filmmakers screening their films at STIFF before their big SIFF "World Premiers" and it was never an issue with SIFF forcing them to pull their films or with our little film festival trumpeting the fact that we were scooping the giant film festival in town by a day or two.  This  really seems to be a situation where someone may be trying to enforce the letter of the law when they should care more about the spirit of the law.

My email was of course ignored.  We may actually be able to fix the program in time and of course will refund anybody’s money who doesn’t want to see whatever film replaces Bookie.  But do you want to know the kicker to this whole thing?  Bookie already had its “World Premier” last September!  I already lived through the actual WTO Riots, so tonight I plan to head to the theater to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  If you are at the SIFF Opening Night party, please have fun.  If you see Carl Spence there, please kick him in the balls for me. 

Online Tickets and Schedule

The Online Schedule and Tickets have been live since Monday, but for those who haven't realized it yet... 

Click Here! Brought to you by Bside

It should be noted that you can also buy an All-Access badge for $50 which will also get you into the Moby DJ Set at Neumos.  We are selling a very limited number of these badges, so act fast!!

Big Gamble will hopefully pay off for the 2008 Weekend Film Challenge!

Several folks told me last year that with the deluge of contests that ask filmmakers to create content in a short period of time, their teams had started to become burned out and they were finding it harder and harder to get people excited about being involved.  I have to admit that after several years of taking part in the 48 hour film contest, National Film Challenge and Weekend Film Challenge, a bit of the novelty has worn off on the whole idea of grabbing a camera with a few friends and making a movie in one hectic weekend, even for me.  Not to say that I think that these contests are on their way out.  I try to go check out the 48 Film Contest every year (our friend Krk is the producer) and there always seems to be a ton of talent producing movies and there are always a few that make it worth my time.  But, the fact of the matter is that filmmaking is labor intensive work and while you can sometimes catch lightening in a bottle, it usually takes time to produce something worthwhile – as my friend Pete Barnstrom once said, “I already know how to make a crappy movie in one weekend”.  But, give a filmmaker too much time and one can get lost in a sea of endless possibilities that never become more than a potentially great film, so deadlines are paramount to helping edge creative types along. 

As digital filmmaking matures, more people do seem to have the “been there, done that” attitude and they are looking for more unique filmmaking opportunities.  I often think that this is a may be more about stagnation than anything and the cause may actually be rooted in how creative teams work in silos.  Making a movie is one of the ultimate team driven creative endeavors.  One of my favorite things is how this kind of work builds strong bonds within the team, but the downside (especially in a contest) is that it pits creative teams against each other.  While competition can galvanize a team, it can lead to filmmakers putting all of their eggs into one creative basket which means many are hitching their future success to others whose priorities may change as their lives change.  I think that this can be especially dangerous as people get too competitive right out of the gate.  While I do think that a competitive fire is important in achieving any kind of success in life, art is one of those strange things that is really hard to quantify and tastes are so subjective that filmmakers should take the results of contests with a real grain of salt. 

So, the question is this:  How do you improve on a format that has gone a bit stale, giving filmmakers the ability to create something with more lasting value, while fostering collaboration between teams without taking all of the fun and competition out of it?  This year Joe Sexton, Chris McBride and I have dreamed up some enhancements to the Weekend Film Challenge that will either make it one of the most unique film events in the country or sink it into the abyss forever.  The gamble is big, but with the teams we have participating this year our confidence is high.  This year, we have lengthened the amount of times that filmmakers have to work with.  Instead of just one weekend to write, shoot, edit and score their films, they have an entire week to write and plan their shoots and another week to edit and score.   We did ask principal photography to take place over the course of one weekend (hence the still relevant Weekend Film Challenge name), but did allow for reshoots, and didn’t really enforce these rules too much.  We also abandoned the prop, punchline and character drawings that usually ended up being things that were just thrown into the final films to appease audiences and made the movies seem dated and relevant only to the shelf-life of the actual contest.  We still asked each team to make a genre specific film, but instead of drawing those genres out of a hat, each team chose their own at a fantasy football style draft held during the kickoff on May 5^th.  In place of those drawings, we added three wrinkles to this year’s contest.  The first two essentially boil down to each team providing a location and one actor from the last scene in their film to the following team that must be used in the first scene in theirs.  We are also saving the credits from each film until the end of all films and the goal is to blend each of the films a little more seamlessly.  It is an experiment for sure, but if it works it will mean that teams had to cooperate a little more, pool resources a bit and should be an interesting audience experience.  It’s also a bit of a nod to the sketch transitions in Mr. Show with Bob and David (one of my favorite TV shows of all time). 

The third wrinkle is our ace in the hole for this big gamble – Moby.  Music licensing is one of the biggest pains in the ass for indie filmmakers.   Most are broke, so there is no point in a record label even bothering to talk to them.  The only “indies” that have a chance getting recognizable tunes for their films are actually studio-indies.  So, when I heard about a collection of tracks that Moby was putting together to help filmmakers cut through the cumbersome music licensing experience called Moby Gratis I was very excited.  We reached out to his management months ago about the possibility of being involved in STIFF and didn’t hear for some time, and to be honest I wasn’t really holding my breath.  Turns out, he was totally into the idea, but just needed to firm up his tour dates to make sure he could be in Seattle.    So, this year each film will use at least one track from Moby Gratis.  Moby will also be playing a DJ Set at STIFF 2008 and he will even be a special judge for the Weekend Film Challenge (each member of the winning team will get a signed STIFF 2008 poster).

For the first year ever, because of the timing of a trip that I had to take to Aruba (I know, poor me) I wasn’t able to actually participate, but I am more stoked than ever for this year’s Weekend Film Challenge.  I am taking advantage of my long flight back to write a little bit about each of the participating teams and for you gamblers out there I will be handicapping their odds to win the coveted audience award.  The films should be finished and are due back in today, but since most of you have probably stopped reading this long posting already, I am going to just post one every day or two.  I really hope you will check back in from time to time to virtually meet the filmmaking teams and come to one of this year’s screenings to see their work and vote for your favorite.

Coming up…  Handicapping the Weekend Film Challenge - Puppet Entertainment Television.