list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Vanaja on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Vanaja/290305/default.aspx Title: Vanaja
Year: 2007
Director: Rajnesh Domalpalli
Plot: With the haunting adolescent drama Vanaja, Indian writer-director Rajnesh Domalpalli rewrites the oft-told tale of a young girl's journey into womanhood, by filtering its parameters through an indigenous Indian cultural lens and the concept of the caste system. The picture's title character is a fifteen-year-old girl living and coming of age in a seaside village in India. Vanaja's heart longs to enter the household of Rama Devi, under whose tutelage she can master the South Indian narrative dance of kuchipudi - a ritual practiced by temple dancers and prostitutes. Rama Devi accepts Vanaja as a protege, but trouble brews when the matron's son, Shekhar (Karan Singh), enters the home and casts his eyes on the new pupil - trouble that threatens to rob Vanaja of her new position within Rama Devi's house and her honor in the eyes of the village, while forever stealing her innocence. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Number of Lists: 3
Number of blog posts: 3
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:50:48 GMTVanaja2007Rajnesh Domalpalli With the haunting adolescent drama Vanaja, Indian writer-director Rajnesh Domalpalli rewrites the oft-told tale of a young girl's journey into womanhood, by filtering its parameters through an indigenous Indian cultural lens and the concept of the caste system. The picture's title character is a fifteen-year-old girl living and coming of age in a seaside village in India. Vanaja's heart longs to enter the household of Rama Devi, under whose tutelage she can master the South Indian narrative dance of <I>kuchipudi</I> - a ritual practiced by temple dancers and prostitutes. Rama Devi accepts Vanaja as a protege, but trouble brews when the matron's son, Shekhar (Karan Singh), enters the home and casts his eyes on the new pupil - trouble that threatens to rob Vanaja of her new position within Rama Devi's house and her honor in the eyes of the village, while forever stealing her innocence. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide333http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s290305.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Vanaja/290305/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/3/3/40799.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 3/3/2009 5:03:10 PM
Body: In addition to winning Best Picture (and seven other awards) at the Oscars last week, Slumdog Millionaire passed a major box office benchmark. It has now grossed more than $100 million in the U.S., which is pretty astonishing for a film with one-third of its dialogue in a foreign language. But is Slumdog’s popularity a one-shot in terms of its audience’s interest in India, or are moviegoers actually now more curious about the nation and its own films? Some websites are simplifying the question of whether or not Slumdog will be a gateway film with polls asking if American moviegoers will now “go Bollywood” (40% of Cinematical readers flat out answered, “no.”), which is rather silly since Danny Boyle’s movie bears no resemblance to the majority of Bollywood pictures. In fact, Americans have in the past received far greater entry points into Indian cinema by way of films involving Anglo or NRI (non-resident Indian) protagonists directed by culturally bridging filmmakers (such as NRI helmers Deepa Mehta, Mira Nair and Gurinder Chadha), than the more-touristy type of filmmaking represented with Slumdog. If someone truly wants to become familiar with Bollywood, he or she should probably just jump right in and then patiently get used to the style, which can be quite difficult for Westerners to immediately grasp. The extremely interested might benefit from reading the section on popular Indian cinema in Dimitris Eleftheriotis and Gary Needham’s Asian Cinemas: A Reader & Guide, a book that does a really great job acquainting the Western spectator with Eastern film form. Or, the more casually curious cinephile could simply follow our guide to accessible Indian (or India-based) films for the Slumdog lover to watch next: Sita Sings the Blues (Nina Paley, 2008) What it’s about: Paley’s semi-autobiographical animated feature self-deprecatingly depicts the events of the filmmaker’s divorce crosscut with a somewhat paralleling adaptation of part of the epic Indian poem Ramayana. Why you should see it: Although not an Indian production nor made by an Indian filmmaker, Sita does offer an entry point for the mythological genre of Indian films and/or an introduction to Hindu myths, a number of which are the basis for a lot of Bollywood musical numbers. If that’s not enough reason, though, here’s what Karina wrote about the film in her review: “Sita Sings the Blues is a strange and beautiful little film, a potentially wispy slice of autobiography smartly elevated through irresistible, orgiastic style.” Where to see it: Sita won the Gotham Award for Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You and will infamously remain without a distributor forever. However, those of us in the NYC area can watch the film on PBS’ Reel 13 program on March 7. Those of you outside New York are in luck, too; the film is currently available for free on Reel 13’s website as a streaming video. Salaam Bombay! (Mira Nair, 1988) What it’s about: A 10-year-old boy tries to survive on the streets of Bombay (now Mumbai) after being told to go out and find work by his mother. Why you should see it: With all the crossover movies from the past two decades dealing with interracial relationships, arranged marriage and the complications of NRI life, Nair’s films are typically the most entertaining. But while minor gateways could be found in her films The Namesake (starring Harold & Kumar’s Kal Penn), Mississippi Masala (starring Denzel Washington) or the very enjoyable Monsoon Wedding, this Oscar-nominated drama might be what Slumdog fans seek most if primarily interested in more “poverty porn.” Like Slumdog, Salaam Bombay! even starred actual non-professional street children. Where to see it: Available on DVD. Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955) What it’s about: The first installment of Ray’s Apu trilogy (which also includes Aparajito and The World of Apu), Pather Panchali is a tragedy-filled tale of a poor family living in rural Bengal in the 1920s and concentrates on the coming of age story of young Apu. Why you should see it: Aside from being one of the greatest films ever made, let alone one of the greatest Indian films, Pather Panchali tells a universal story of family and is quite Western in form (for one thing, it lacks musical numbers), a fact that made it somewhat looked down upon in its own country. But in addition to its accessibility, it can also serve as a starting point to melodramatic conventions found in many classic Indian films. The abandoning patriarch, the significantly strong matriarch and other common national metaphors are present and will familiarize you for the next title on this list. Where to see it: This is one of those films that’s constantly being screened at repertory houses, so see it on a big screen if you have the chance. Otherwise, the entire Apu trilogy is unfortunately out of print on DVD. But such masterpieces can’t possibly be unavailable for too long, so pick up a box set whenever one is released. Mother India (Mehboob Khan, 1957) What it’s about: An epic maternal melodrama and metaphor for post-colonial India, Khan’s Oscar-nominated film focuses on a poor Indian family throughout many years, as the patriarch leaves the home and the mother is left to deal with two very different sons. Why you should see it: If you enjoy Pather Panchali, you may at least appreciate the story of Mother India, though the latter has a much more melodramatic and emotional tone. Unlike Pather Panchali, it does feature musical numbers as well as a bit of comic relief, courtesy of a very bratty little boy. Also, it’s basically the Gone With the Wind of India, at least in terms of its national significance — and one familiar-looking shot — if not in terms of its plot. Where to see it: Available on DVD. Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (Ashutosh Gowariker, 2001) What it’s about: Oppressed Indian villagers battle against their British governors … in a cricket match seemingly depicted in real time. Also, one of the villagers becomes entangled in a love triangle between his true love and a British woman, who is also the sister of the film’s villain. Why you should see it: First of all, it’s one of the most accessible foreign films of the last 10 years, period. For the guys: Lagaan is just like all your favorite underdog sports flicks except that it gives you even more of the game, as well as some singing and dancing here and there (with music by Slumdog Oscar-winner A.R. Rahman). So what if you don’t know anything about cricket; just pretend it’s baseball. For the gals: there’s just as much romance as cricket playing. Advice for both sexes: you might want to fast forward through the song that the British woman sings. It’s the single unbearable moment in the nearly 4-hour film. Where to see it: Apparently unavailable through rental sites like Netflix, but you can pick up a DVD through Amazon affiliates. Hum Tum (Kunal Kohli, 2004) What it’s about: Basically, though not officially, it’s the Bollywood remake of When Harry Met Sally. Why you should see it: If Lagaan is the perfect gateway for guys, Hum Tum is the perfect gateway for girls, although like Lagaan, this film has something for both sexes. All guys can appreciate When Harry Met Sally, after all, right? Where to see it: Also unavailable through Netflix, but you can find a very cheap all-region DVD through Amazon affiliates. Abhimaan (Hrishikesh Mukherjee, 1973) What it’s about: Inspired by A Star is Born, a famous singer meets, falls for and fosters the career of a young woman, who ends up more popular than him. Why you should see it: First of all, every Slumdog fan should become acquainted with Amitabh Bachchan (the celebrity whose autograph the young excrement-covered Jamal acquires), who costars here with his real-life wife Jaya Bhaduri (a bigger star at the time). Second of all, because the musical numbers all figure into the plot, either as recording studio sequences or concert performances, there’s not as much of that jarring, interruptive nature of most Bollywood musicals. Where to see it: Available on DVD. It’s also one of the many Indian films available for streaming on Netflix’s Watch Instantly. Amar Akbar Anthony (Manmohan Desai, 1977) What it’s about: Another great metaphor for post-colonial India, this other Bachchan-starring classic tells the story of three brothers separated as infants, who end up growing up under very different circumstances. One is adopted by a Hindu policeman and becomes the same; one is brought up by a Muslim taylor and becomes a popular singer; and the third (played by Bachchan) is raised Catholic and enters a life of crime. Why you should see it: For more Amitabh Bachchan after he became India’s favorite actor. Though not technically a great film, it is filled with a lot of absurd moments and can serve as a gateway for those cinephiles who can only approach new things first through ironic appreciation. Such viewers should really love the Easter scene in which Bachchan jumps out of a giant egg wearing a top hat and monocle to sing a song about himself. Where to see it: Currently available on DVD. Krrish (Rakesh Roshan, 2006) What it’s about: This sequel to the sci-fi movie Koi…Mil Gay is your typical superhero action flick, except done in the style of Bollywood. Why you should see it: This one is primarily for getting your kids into Indian cinema, because kids will watch just about any superhero movie, regardless of the language or setting. Though the original more-E.T.-than-Superman film, Koi…Mil Gay, should probably be watched first, there’s nothing wrong with making this your primary gateway for the little ones. Where to see it: Currently available on DVD Vanaja (Rajnesh Domalpalli, 2006) What it’s about: Set in South India and controversially made outside the local “Tollywood” film industry, Domalpalli’s comparatively non-musical film follows the story of a 14-year-old girl who is pretty much sold off by her father to a wealthy landowner who puts her to work while also teaching her traditional Kuchipudi dance. Why you should see it: While not very relative to Slumdog or most of the other films on this list, Vanaja will open up viewers to other cinemas of India, even if this rather Western-form film was a Columbia University graduate thesis film and even if it is considered more “art house” than the popular cinema of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Like the slightly similar coming of age art house film Pather Panchali, Vanaja is a wonderful film and a terrific start for beginners. But because this film features Indian music and dance, it may also function as a gateway to the typical musical films of India, either produced in Andhra Pradesh or Mumbai (Bollywood) Where to see it: Available on DVD. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:03:10 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com3/3/2009 5:03:10 PMIn addition to winning Best Picture (and seven other awards) at the Oscars last week, Slumdog Millionaire passed a major box office benchmark. It has now grossed more than $100 million in the U.S., which is pretty astonishing for a film with one-third of its dialogue in a foreign language. But is Slumdog’s popularity a one-shot in terms of its audience’s interest in India, or are moviegoers actually now more curious about the nation and its own films? Some websites are simplifying the question of whether or not Slumdog will be a gateway film with polls asking if American moviegoers will now “go Bollywood” (40% of Cinematical readers flat out answered, “no.”), which is rather silly since Danny Boyle’s movie bears no resemblance to the majority of Bollywood pictures. In fact, Americans have in the past received far greater entry points into Indian cinema by way of films involving Anglo or NRI (non-resident Indian) protagonists directed by culturally bridging filmmakers (such as NRI helmers Deepa Mehta, Mira Nair and Gurinder Chadha), than the more-touristy type of filmmaking represented with Slumdog. If someone truly wants to become familiar with Bollywood, he or she should probably just jump right in and then patiently get used to the style, which can be quite difficult for Westerners to immediately grasp. The extremely interested might benefit from reading the section on popular Indian cinema in Dimitris Eleftheriotis and Gary Needham’s Asian Cinemas: A Reader & Guide, a book that does a really great job acquainting the Western spectator with Eastern film form. Or, the more casually curious cinephile could simply follow our guide to accessible Indian (or India-based) films for the Slumdog lover to watch next: Sita Sings the Blues (Nina Paley, 2008) What it’s about: Paley’s semi-autobiographical animated feature self-deprecatingly depicts the events of the filmmaker’s divorce crosscut with a somewhat paralleling adaptation of part of the epic Indian poem Ramayana. Why you should see it: Although not an Indian production nor made by an Indian filmmaker, Sita does offer an entry point for the mythological genre of Indian films and/or an introduction to Hindu myths, a number of which are the basis for a lot of Bollywood musical numbers. If that’s not enough reason, though, here’s what Karina wrote about the film in her review: “Sita Sings the Blues is a strange and beautiful little film, a potentially wispy slice of autobiography smartly elevated through irresistible, orgiastic style.” Where to see it: Sita won the Gotham Award for Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You and will infamously remain without a distributor forever. However, those of us in the NYC area can watch the film on PBS’ Reel 13 program on March 7. Those of you outside New York are in luck, too; the film is currently available for free on Reel 13’s website as a streaming video. Salaam Bombay! (Mira Nair, 1988) What it’s about: A 10-year-old boy tries to survive on the streets of Bombay (now Mumbai) after being told to go out and find work by his mother. Why you should see it: With all the crossover movies from the past two decades dealing with interracial relationships, arranged marriage and the complications of NRI life, Nair’s films are typically the most entertaining. But while minor gateways could be found in her films The Namesake (starring Harold & Kumar’s Kal Penn), Mississippi Masala (starring Denzel Washington) or the very enjoyable Monsoon Wedding, this Oscar-nominated drama might be what Slumdog fans seek most if primarily interested in more “poverty porn.” Like Slumdog, Salaam Bombay! even starred actual non-professional street children. Where to see it: Available on DVD. Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955) What it’s about: The first installment of Ray’s Apu trilogy (which also includes Aparajito and The World of Apu), Pather Panchali is a tragedy-filled tale of a poor family living in rural Bengal in the 1920s and concentrates on the coming of age story of young Apu. Why you should see it: Aside from being one of the greatest films ever made, let alone one of the greatest Indian films, Pather Panchali tells a universal story of family and is quite Western in form (for one thing, it lacks musical numbers), a fact that made it somewhat looked down upon in its own country. But in addition to its accessibility, it can also serve as a starting point to melodramatic conventions found in many classic Indian films. The abandoning patriarch, the significantly strong matriarch and other common national metaphors are present and will familiarize you for the next title on this list. Where to see it: This is one of those films that’s constantly being screened at repertory houses, so see it on a big screen if you have the chance. Otherwise, the entire Apu trilogy is unfortunately out of print on DVD. But such masterpieces can’t possibly be unavailable for too long, so pick up a box set whenever one is released. Mother India (Mehboob Khan, 1957) What it’s about: An epic maternal melodrama and metaphor for post-colonial India, Khan’s Oscar-nominated film focuses on a poor Indian family throughout many years, as the patriarch leaves the home and the mother is left to deal with two very different sons. Why you should see it: If you enjoy Pather Panchali, you may at least appreciate the story of Mother India, though the latter has a much more melodramatic and emotional tone. Unlike Pather Panchali, it does feature musical numbers as well as a bit of comic relief, courtesy of a very bratty little boy. Also, it’s basically the Gone With the Wind of India, at least in terms of its national significance — and one familiar-looking shot — if not in terms of its plot. Where to see it: Available on DVD. Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (Ashutosh Gowariker, 2001) What it’s about: Oppressed Indian villagers battle against their British governors … in a cricket match seemingly depicted in real time. Also, one of the villagers becomes entangled in a love triangle between his true love and a British woman, who is also the sister of the film’s villain. Why you should see it: First of all, it’s one of the most accessible foreign films of the last 10 years, period. For the guys: Lagaan is just like all your favorite underdog sports flicks except that it gives you even more of the game, as well as some singing and dancing here and there (with music by Slumdog Oscar-winner A.R. Rahman). So what if you don’t know anything about cricket; just pretend it’s baseball. For the gals: there’s just as much romance as cricket playing. Advice for both sexes: you might want to fast forward through the song that the British woman sings. It’s the single unbearable moment in the nearly 4-hour film. Where to see it: Apparently unavailable through rental sites like Netflix, but you can pick up a DVD through Amazon affiliates. Hum Tum (Kunal Kohli, 2004) What it’s about: Basically, though not officially, it’s the Bollywood remake of When Harry Met Sally. Why you should see it: If Lagaan is the perfect gateway for guys, Hum Tum is the perfect gateway for girls, although like Lagaan, this film has something for both sexes. All guys can appreciate When Harry Met Sally, after all, right? Where to see it: Also unavailable through Netflix, but you can find a very cheap all-region DVD through Amazon affiliates. Abhimaan (Hrishikesh Mukherjee, 1973) What it’s about: Inspired by A Star is Born, a famous singer meets, falls for and fosters the career of a young woman, who ends up more popular than him. Why you should see it: First of all, every Slumdog fan should become acquainted with Amitabh Bachchan (the celebrity whose autograph the young excrement-covered Jamal acquires), who costars here with his real-life wife Jaya Bhaduri (a bigger star at the time). Second of all, because the musical numbers all figure into the plot, either as recording studio sequences or concert performances, there’s not as much of that jarring, interruptive nature of most Bollywood musicals. Where to see it: Available on DVD. It’s also one of the many Indian films available for streaming on Netflix’s Watch Instantly. Amar Akbar Anthony (Manmohan Desai, 1977) What it’s about: Another great metaphor for post-colonial India, this other Bachchan-starring classic tells the story of three brothers separated as infants, who end up growing up under very different circumstances. One is adopted by a Hindu policeman and becomes the same; one is brought up by a Muslim taylor and becomes a popular singer; and the third (played by Bachchan) is raised Catholic and enters a life of crime. Why you should see it: For more Amitabh Bachchan after he became India’s favorite actor. Though not technically a great film, it is filled with a lot of absurd moments and can serve as a gateway for those cinephiles who can only approach new things first through ironic appreciation. Such viewers should really love the Easter scene in which Bachchan jumps out of a giant egg wearing a top hat and monocle to sing a song about himself. Where to see it: Currently available on DVD. Krrish (Rakesh Roshan, 2006) What it’s about: This sequel to the sci-fi movie Koi…Mil Gay is your typical superhero action flick, except done in the style of Bollywood. Why you should see it: This one is primarily for getting your kids into Indian cinema, because kids will watch just about any superhero movie, regardless of the language or setting. Though the original more-E.T.-than-Superman film, Koi…Mil Gay, should probably be watched first, there’s nothing wrong with making this your primary gateway for the little ones. Where to see it: Currently available on DVD Vanaja (Rajnesh Domalpalli, 2006) What it’s about: Set in South India and controversially made outside the local “Tollywood” film industry, Domalpalli’s comparatively non-musical film follows the story of a 14-year-old girl who is pretty much sold off by her father to a wealthy landowner who puts her to work while also teaching her traditional Kuchipudi dance. Why you should see it: While not very relative to Slumdog or most of the other films on this list, Vanaja will open up viewers to other cinemas of India, even if this rather Western-form film was a Columbia University graduate thesis film and even if it is considered more “art house” than the popular cinema of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Like the slightly similar coming of age art house film Pather Panchali, Vanaja is a wonderful film and a terrific start for beginners. But because this film features Indian music and dance, it may also function as a gateway to the typical musical films of India, either produced in Andhra Pradesh or Mumbai (Bollywood) Where to see it: Available on DVD. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/thefilmpanelnotetaker/archive/2008/7/27/33148.aspx Post By: thefilmpanelnotetaker
Post To: thefilmpanelnotetaker Blog
Post Date: 7/27/2008 8:01:15 PM
Body: New York International Latino Film FestivalNickel N’ Diming Financing – Find the Right DealJuly 24, 2008On Thursday, I attended for the very first time the New York International Latino Film Festival, which presented over 100 films throughout the week. Earlier in the day after picking up my press badge from the Roger Smith Hotel, I hopped over to the Directors Guild Theater to see the film Mancora from Peru (the filmmakers were not present for that, so unfortunately, I have no Q&A notes, other than to say that I thought it was a fairly good film, which sort of reminded me of Y Tu Mama Tambien, which is the much better of the two.) Then I went over to Showbiz Software for a panel discussion on film financing, coordinated by Edwin Pagan, who made a brief introduction. The panelists touched on a number of topics ranging from ways to go about finding funding for your first films to finding a universal appeal for a broader audience, and a brief case study on how the indie film Quinceañera was funded by a community. Here are highlights from the discussion:Moderator:Bienvenida Matías – Executive Director, Association of Hispanic ArtsPanelists:Pooja Kohli Taneja – Founder, FilmKaravan – Curator, Filmmaker, ProducerFernando Ramírez, Esq. – Entertainment AttorneyPhil Bertelsen – Filmmaker, ProducerNicholas Levis – Ovie Entertainment, ProducerSlava Rubin – IndieGoGo, Co-FounderMike Sergeant – Filmmaker, ProducerMatías: How do you get your first money to make your film?Bertelsen: The first money is the hardest. I’m sure that’s not a newsflash. Typically it comes from well-established relationships including friends and family. Ultimately, the first money comes when you can demonstrate the reliability of your project. The trick is to get around the whole catch 22 when they say, what have you done before? If there was kind of a magic formula to that, I would have bottled it by now and sold it and paying for the rest of my career.Kohli: I think before you get into the game, you need very little money to actually build alliances…people who get on board early, which can be organizations or grants…that align with your project.Rubin: IndieGoGo is an online marketplace to connect filmmakers to fans. We’re giving the tools to filmmakers for fundraising. The filmmakers have already raised tens of thousands of dollars on IndieGoGo. Some of them have already had established films in their prior careers and their building their audiences online to turn that into money for their next films. Many of the filmmakers for the first time are raising between $500 to $10,000.Bertelsen: Your first money can be a very strategic proposition. It doesn’t require everything up front. It’s about building partnerships, whether it be with established filmmakers, production companies, websites, etc. A lot of times, the early work of getting the first money is just a matter of forming relationships who can give you credibility as a filmmaker and give your story the legitimacy you know that it has.Matías: Many filmmakers here are everything…we produce, direct, hand out the coffee, edit. How do you feel about that?Levis: Start with a package that ultimately you want to get to an investor. These partnerships are intended to tell a sophisticated investor what you’re looking for and that the return for them is there. My belief is that you strengthen yourself by delegating to individuals that will strengthen your project. You may be an amazing director, but you find a producer who is better at producing. Just because you’re a great producer, doesn’t mean you’re a great distributor. Finding your alliances and building a team…the bigger the team is that you trust, the further you’ll go.Matías: When should filmmakers think of getting an attorney as part of the team?Ramírez: Let me first say that I tend to think of funding as falling into two broad categories:Obtain secure funding from grants and foundations (ie. The Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation). That tends to be for the most part for social-themed documentaries. It takes a long time however. They usually want to see a body of work and someone with experience. It’s also an investment that’s going to pay off on their part.Private equity…trying to get money from sophisticated investors. That tends to be a significantly more complicated process because you’re dealing with securities. You have to go through processes like registering with the SEC or blue sky agencies or coming up with documents that will have enough information for sophisticated investors to make an informed decision regarding their investment, because it is a really risky business.Levis: The earlier you bring in council (and accounting), the better. Building that team is such an imperative aspect. At times, it may seem a little overwhelming, but there’s a lot of individuals out there that realize that risk. A great filmmaker or producer does not make a good lawyer or account, so asking as many questions as you can and getting free advice, so that way when you are approaching grants or private equity, you’ve got your numbers down. You have all those answers that are so important to them.Rubin: One of the things that’s important to ask yourself is what are your goals for your movie? It can be just an artistic expression. It can be because you want to change your career and do this for a living…whether it’s a success or not. Be realistic. Christopher Nolan (director of The Dark Knight) is obviously now a rich man. His first movie cost $11,000.Matías: When thinking about how to raise money, how do you divvy up the budget so you can understand who you’re going to approach?Bertelsen: I think it starts much like Slava was saying by asking what your goals are. Ask yourself, who is the audience for this film? When you start to examine your project, you make decisions on who would be appropriate person to bring this to. For example, you’re not going to bring a low-budget indie horror film to a structurally themed documentary production company. It goes without saying, but you’d be surprised at how many first-time filmmakers don’t read the guidelines and don’t pay attention to what’s being asked of them when it comes to how to prerequisite their projects. You want to be very targeted. You’ve got to do your homework and know what it is they’re looking for. Tailor your projects to those interests the best that you can.Kohli: I think it’s very important to do that homework he mentioned. Who are the players in the market and what they do? Exactly the way you have goals for your films, they have goals for their money. You need to be ready to understand who is most interested in your project. Be realistic. Who was the last you? Who did exactly what you’re trying to do? Learn from their mistakes.Sergeant: Be creative and you have to be willing to really go that extra mile. I was going to do a narrative film depending on what it would cost. When you’re doing a narrative film, anybody who’s an investor or wherever you raise money, they want to know, ‘how can I get this back?’ A movie is one of the quickest ways to lose millions of dollars really fast.Ramírez: All that information on how prepared you are should be a in a business plan. There’s a series of books out there, one that I’ve talked about on panels before is by Louise Levinson, Business Plans for Filmmakers. You’re going to have to do the research on what the market is and projections. What type of films like yours have made money? You also have to be honest for instance, these films like mine, have not made money, but most have. I was watching Quinceañera…I was so shocked in the interviews…I think they had an idea for a movie. They went to somebody. They had the money before they even had scripts. I had to rewind that. I don’t think that really happensLevis: With the packaging and everything’s in place, there are so many key elements where things can go awry. It must be frustrating even after you’ve made a few films to locate the money. The global market is such a changing one. Last tear investors on Wall Street were really aggressive, but with the economy changing so much since last year, the opportunities are not there. Europe is looking to us now, because their money is so much stronger. Right now the pound is two-to-one. That means if you can start to talk to individuals there now that for instance say they’d like to shoot in New York City…what would cost 500,000 pounds here, I can easily get $1 million American. Things kind of equal the same. The day rate here, the day rate there. That’s true with a lot of European money. They’re really looking to the U.S. because everyone wants that U.S. affiliation. The opportunity to present yourself with a co-production company out of Spain or France or London…what you’re doing ultimately is giving them the opportunity to send their money and it goes further. Your business plan should also think about what happens outside the U.S.Rubin: The Hollywood system has a term called pre-selling of foreign territories.Matías: Historically, it has been difficult for us as Latinos and Latinas to be able to break into making these films and finding this money. Have things changed? Is it easier? Do we have topics that people want? Are our own communities willing to support what might not be mainstream, even by indie definitions?Bertelsen: It is an increasingly global marketplace. I think that only adds value to our stories as Latinos, as people of color, and women in a world where we have to make up the majority. I think the goal is to find a way to reach that audience.Ramírez: I often hear that a film has to have a universal appeal. How as a filmmaker of color and you want to make a film that portrays the experience of your community in a way that’s appealing? How can we make films that can get picked up by distributors?Kohli: From a South Asian angle, filmmakers like Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta tell South Asian stories, but these are not stories for the South Asian market. These are stories that people all over the world want to hear. I think a good film from any angle, the simplest way for you to have a barometer is if people can somehow relate to it. A story we can feel, we can be a part of. That in the simplest form is a success. If you can take what is in your film to an audience that is not you…you don’t want people like you sitting in the audience watching this film, but you want people who are not like you to be able to see like you. Vanaja that went to over 100 festivals and won about 30 awards was released by Emerging Pictures, it did numbers that were less than 10% in South Asian markets. Be able to convince someone who’s not you about the story. I think people want not to educated the audience with every film. Try not to beat them on the head with it. You can get the story across in a way that delivers the message, but if you’re going for an audience that’s not your core audience, you need to make it slightly easy for them.Bertelsen: The onus on us as filmmakers of color is to prove those economics. In addition to all the things to get in the room, be prepared to make the argument with the market research.Matías: To get back to the issue of Quinceañera, the film did not have a script when they got the money. They had an idea. They had lived in the neighborhood. They had been involved with the whole ceremony of the quinceañeras. They were connected to a whole group of people who had money. It was the group of people who gave them the money, and they said, now I have to go out and make a script. They made the script in a very short amount of time. The reason that film works is they worked with the community. They found the Madrina, the woman in the community who really knew how to teach everyone how to participate in a quinceañera ceremony. That’s really what gave the film its authenticity of a right of passage for a young woman. Originally posted on:The Film Panel Notetaker - Miss a panel discussion? Don't worry! We took notes for you.
]]>Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:01:15 GMTthefilmpanelnotetakerthefilmpanelnotetaker Blog7/27/2008 8:01:15 PMNew York International Latino Film FestivalNickel N’ Diming Financing – Find the Right DealJuly 24, 2008On Thursday, I attended for the very first time the New York International Latino Film Festival, which presented over 100 films throughout the week. Earlier in the day after picking up my press badge from the Roger Smith Hotel, I hopped over to the Directors Guild Theater to see the film Mancora from Peru (the filmmakers were not present for that, so unfortunately, I have no Q&A notes, other than to say that I thought it was a fairly good film, which sort of reminded me of Y Tu Mama Tambien, which is the much better of the two.) Then I went over to Showbiz Software for a panel discussion on film financing, coordinated by Edwin Pagan, who made a brief introduction. The panelists touched on a number of topics ranging from ways to go about finding funding for your first films to finding a universal appeal for a broader audience, and a brief case study on how the indie film Quinceañera was funded by a community. Here are highlights from the discussion:Moderator:Bienvenida Matías – Executive Director, Association of Hispanic ArtsPanelists:Pooja Kohli Taneja – Founder, FilmKaravan – Curator, Filmmaker, ProducerFernando Ramírez, Esq. – Entertainment AttorneyPhil Bertelsen – Filmmaker, ProducerNicholas Levis – Ovie Entertainment, ProducerSlava Rubin – IndieGoGo, Co-FounderMike Sergeant – Filmmaker, ProducerMatías: How do you get your first money to make your film?Bertelsen: The first money is the hardest. I’m sure that’s not a newsflash. Typically it comes from well-established relationships including friends and family. Ultimately, the first money comes when you can demonstrate the reliability of your project. The trick is to get around the whole catch 22 when they say, what have you done before? If there was kind of a magic formula to that, I would have bottled it by now and sold it and paying for the rest of my career.Kohli: I think before you get into the game, you need very little money to actually build alliances…people who get on board early, which can be organizations or grants…that align with your project.Rubin: IndieGoGo is an online marketplace to connect filmmakers to fans. We’re giving the tools to filmmakers for fundraising. The filmmakers have already raised tens of thousands of dollars on IndieGoGo. Some of them have already had established films in their prior careers and their building their audiences online to turn that into money for their next films. Many of the filmmakers for the first time are raising between $500 to $10,000.Bertelsen: Your first money can be a very strategic proposition. It doesn’t require everything up front. It’s about building partnerships, whether it be with established filmmakers, production companies, websites, etc. A lot of times, the early work of getting the first money is just a matter of forming relationships who can give you credibility as a filmmaker and give your story the legitimacy you know that it has.Matías: Many filmmakers here are everything…we produce, direct, hand out the coffee, edit. How do you feel about that?Levis: Start with a package that ultimately you want to get to an investor. These partnerships are intended to tell a sophisticated investor what you’re looking for and that the return for them is there. My belief is that you strengthen yourself by delegating to individuals that will strengthen your project. You may be an amazing director, but you find a producer who is better at producing. Just because you’re a great producer, doesn’t mean you’re a great distributor. Finding your alliances and building a team…the bigger the team is that you trust, the further you’ll go.Matías: When should filmmakers think of getting an attorney as part of the team?Ramírez: Let me first say that I tend to think of funding as falling into two broad categories:Obtain secure funding from grants and foundations (ie. The Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation). That tends to be for the most part for social-themed documentaries. It takes a long time however. They usually want to see a body of work and someone with experience. It’s also an investment that’s going to pay off on their part.Private equity…trying to get money from sophisticated investors. That tends to be a significantly more complicated process because you’re dealing with securities. You have to go through processes like registering with the SEC or blue sky agencies or coming up with documents that will have enough information for sophisticated investors to make an informed decision regarding their investment, because it is a really risky business.Levis: The earlier you bring in council (and accounting), the better. Building that team is such an imperative aspect. At times, it may seem a little overwhelming, but there’s a lot of individuals out there that realize that risk. A great filmmaker or producer does not make a good lawyer or account, so asking as many questions as you can and getting free advice, so that way when you are approaching grants or private equity, you’ve got your numbers down. You have all those answers that are so important to them.Rubin: One of the things that’s important to ask yourself is what are your goals for your movie? It can be just an artistic expression. It can be because you want to change your career and do this for a living…whether it’s a success or not. Be realistic. Christopher Nolan (director of The Dark Knight) is obviously now a rich man. His first movie cost $11,000.Matías: When thinking about how to raise money, how do you divvy up the budget so you can understand who you’re going to approach?Bertelsen: I think it starts much like Slava was saying by asking what your goals are. Ask yourself, who is the audience for this film? When you start to examine your project, you make decisions on who would be appropriate person to bring this to. For example, you’re not going to bring a low-budget indie horror film to a structurally themed documentary production company. It goes without saying, but you’d be surprised at how many first-time filmmakers don’t read the guidelines and don’t pay attention to what’s being asked of them when it comes to how to prerequisite their projects. You want to be very targeted. You’ve got to do your homework and know what it is they’re looking for. Tailor your projects to those interests the best that you can.Kohli: I think it’s very important to do that homework he mentioned. Who are the players in the market and what they do? Exactly the way you have goals for your films, they have goals for their money. You need to be ready to understand who is most interested in your project. Be realistic. Who was the last you? Who did exactly what you’re trying to do? Learn from their mistakes.Sergeant: Be creative and you have to be willing to really go that extra mile. I was going to do a narrative film depending on what it would cost. When you’re doing a narrative film, anybody who’s an investor or wherever you raise money, they want to know, ‘how can I get this back?’ A movie is one of the quickest ways to lose millions of dollars really fast.Ramírez: All that information on how prepared you are should be a in a business plan. There’s a series of books out there, one that I’ve talked about on panels before is by Louise Levinson, Business Plans for Filmmakers. You’re going to have to do the research on what the market is and projections. What type of films like yours have made money? You also have to be honest for instance, these films like mine, have not made money, but most have. I was watching Quinceañera…I was so shocked in the interviews…I think they had an idea for a movie. They went to somebody. They had the money before they even had scripts. I had to rewind that. I don’t think that really happensLevis: With the packaging and everything’s in place, there are so many key elements where things can go awry. It must be frustrating even after you’ve made a few films to locate the money. The global market is such a changing one. Last tear investors on Wall Street were really aggressive, but with the economy changing so much since last year, the opportunities are not there. Europe is looking to us now, because their money is so much stronger. Right now the pound is two-to-one. That means if you can start to talk to individuals there now that for instance say they’d like to shoot in New York City…what would cost 500,000 pounds here, I can easily get $1 million American. Things kind of equal the same. The day rate here, the day rate there. That’s true with a lot of European money. They’re really looking to the U.S. because everyone wants that U.S. affiliation. The opportunity to present yourself with a co-production company out of Spain or France or London…what you’re doing ultimately is giving them the opportunity to send their money and it goes further. Your business plan should also think about what happens outside the U.S.Rubin: The Hollywood system has a term called pre-selling of foreign territories.Matías: Historically, it has been difficult for us as Latinos and Latinas to be able to break into making these films and finding this money. Have things changed? Is it easier? Do we have topics that people want? Are our own communities willing to support what might not be mainstream, even by indie definitions?Bertelsen: It is an increasingly global marketplace. I think that only adds value to our stories as Latinos, as people of color, and women in a world where we have to make up the majority. I think the goal is to find a way to reach that audience.Ramírez: I often hear that a film has to have a universal appeal. How as a filmmaker of color and you want to make a film that portrays the experience of your community in a way that’s appealing? How can we make films that can get picked up by distributors?Kohli: From a South Asian angle, filmmakers like Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta tell South Asian stories, but these are not stories for the South Asian market. These are stories that people all over the world want to hear. I think a good film from any angle, the simplest way for you to have a barometer is if people can somehow relate to it. A story we can feel, we can be a part of. That in the simplest form is a success. If you can take what is in your film to an audience that is not you…you don’t want people like you sitting in the audience watching this film, but you want people who are not like you to be able to see like you. Vanaja that went to over 100 festivals and won about 30 awards was released by Emerging Pictures, it did numbers that were less than 10% in South Asian markets. Be able to convince someone who’s not you about the story. I think people want not to educated the audience with every film. Try not to beat them on the head with it. You can get the story across in a way that delivers the message, but if you’re going for an audience that’s not your core audience, you need to make it slightly easy for them.Bertelsen: The onus on us as filmmakers of color is to prove those economics. In addition to all the things to get in the room, be prepared to make the argument with the market research.Matías: To get back to the issue of Quinceañera, the film did not have a script when they got the money. They had an idea. They had lived in the neighborhood. They had been involved with the whole ceremony of the quinceañeras. They were connected to a whole group of people who had money. It was the group of people who gave them the money, and they said, now I have to go out and make a script. They made the script in a very short amount of time. The reason that film works is they worked with the community. They found the Madrina, the woman in the community who really knew how to teach everyone how to participate in a quinceañera ceremony. That’s really what gave the film its authenticity of a right of passage for a young woman. Originally posted on:The Film Panel Notetaker - Miss a panel discussion? Don't worry! We took notes for you. http://www.spout.com/blogs/csprague/archive/2007/6/20/11482.aspx Post By: csprague
Post To: Bloggity Blah Blah Blog
Post Date: 6/20/2007 10:35:00 AM
Body: I have never been to a Film Festival before, so I was pretty fresh to the scene at Water Front in Saugatuck, MI this year. It was a small, quiet resort town, mostly untainted by hype or the onslaught of cinephiles. There were just a lot of people, anywhere between the ages of 1 and 80, who simply came out to enjoy the films and maybe meet a few other film-lovers. The festival itself flowed pretty smoothly (except Fed-Ex some how managed to misplace several films, which then had to be shown in digital instead of celluloid; much to the film-purists chagrin), which is pretty incredible considering it is a completely volunteer-run festival. Even the promotional media that they showed before films seemed well-done, and were at the very least clever and humorous. The first film I watched while I was there was The Go-Getter, a film by Martin Hynes; his second after a film he made in 1999. The Go-Getter stars Nick Offerman, Jena Malone, William Lee Scott, Zooey Deschanel, and Lou Taylor Pucci. The main character, Mercer, is played by Lou Taylor Pucci who, although he had a bit of a shaky start, pulled off a pretty convincing character through which I was reminded of the strange transition between adolescence and adulthood with all of its awkward and scary moments. The film follows Mercer on a crime-initiated road trip after the death of his mother. At first, I was a little unsure of how the movie would unfold. The first half hour took a little too long dwelling in abstract character development that didn’t really give the audience much with which to work. I think the initial frustration is the lack of information that would ordinarily accompany opening sequences and give the viewer some footing from which to understand the rest of the narrative. In this case, that information is given in very small pieces as the film progresses, through new characters and flashback, we begin to put together the back story of why Mercer (and the viewer) are on this crazy trip. This isn’t a new concept in terms of narrative structure, although I would say the rate at which information is communicated is a bit slower and even delayed in this film.The Go-Getter opens with a suburban establishing shot and follows a kid (Pucci) on a bike from a birds-eye-view until he arrives at the high school. If I remember correctly this is where the voice over narration begins. Mercer says something to the effect of “then I realized how to not be stuck.” It reminded me a lot of the opening of American Beauty or Ordinary People; wide shot of a middle class neighborhood that gradually moves in with a voice over narrator who pulls you into their world. They are isolated people in the midst of a crowded existence.Upon his revelation of “ how not to be stuck”, Mercer sets in motion a plan to steal a car and begin a road trip. Of course, at first we don’t know what he is doing, he simply skips out of school and goes to borrow his friend’s uniform. When he shows up in uniform at a carwash, you can only assume that he is there to steal a car. Its interesting how they use the Point of View shots here, they show pretty much everything from inside the car with Mercer, until he pulls out into the road, then we switch to the perspective of the person whose car was stolen. The carwash attendant is freaking out and we never see the reaction of the person who just lost their car. Its an interesting piece of set up, unless you have already read the synopsis and you know that this person will eventually befriend Mercer and their anonymity will be part of the intrigue between them.You would assume it’s a coming of age kind of flick, but you don’t see any character growth until about half way through when Jenna Malone’s character is introduced. Or perhaps during Mercer’s first stop at a Pottery Studio, where he smokes pot and starts spilling his guts over the dinner table about his Mom dying and how he just wants to find his brother since its been 9 months and he thinks Arlen should know. This is the first time we really see any emotion from his character that even hints at why he has begun this journey.Even if the narrative and characters were a little shaky from the beginning, I still enjoyed the production quite a bit. The cinematography was great. They played with contrasts in artificial and natural light and incorporated the landscape into the different segments of the journey. The writing didn’t seem so great when the film started, there were a couple of initial exchanges that seemed a little forced or cliché, not at all thoughtful. In fact, I was pretty sure the main character was going to annoy the hell out of me the whole time. Luckily enough he became likeable, or at least I could have some allegiance to him considering the subject matter. I also enjoyed the soundtrack although some songs became slightly redundant. What I liked best was that the film embodied all of the characteristics of an Epic Journey narrative. It seemed to have this intention all along, but it didn’t really come into the full style until later on. As the main character becomes more adamant about his mission to find his brother the narrative seems to take shape, like a hero embarking on an epic journey. We get a lot of information about Mercer through his conversations with Kate, the girl whose car he stole to begin his journey. And through their, and several other, interactions we get flashbacks that fill in the blanks of who the main character really is. The transitions into and out of flashbacks were very good in that they were seamlessly oriented around an object or a natural break in the frame. They used light a lot for these as well. One of the best parts of any Epic journey is the characters and worlds that the hero encounters along the way. For Mercer, the pot-head pottery guy, the woman in the pet-shop who makes him help out with their community-service project, the crazy-sexy girl he used to know in junior high, the pornographer, and Kate at the other end of the cell phone, contribute not just as catalysts towards his goal but also as agents of change who participate in the process of peeling back the layers of his character and revealing to him some important ideas about life, death, and who we can be in the world. One of my favorite moments is when Kate and Mercer are talking and she asks “Doesn’t anyone know anybody anymore?” which digs into the real question of the film. Is it possible to truly be known? Or will we always be strangers no matter how close we become? For Mercer and Kate, this question presents itself and then slips into irrelevance as they continue down the path of acquaintance. …because the answers to these questions might very well be “yes”, but that is hardly a good enough reason not to try. The second film I saw at The Water Front Film Festival was Vanaja, the story of a young Indian girl who goes to live in the house of her landlady and ends up being raped by the landlady’s son. The story is told with humor and yet maintains a balanced perspective between the childhood-esque and the difficult issues that surround being a low-caste female in the Indian world. The director did a great job creating a believable world and representing the caste and patriarchal systems that are in place to keep people in their place. The narrative flowed pretty smoothly in a linear fashion and was accented along they way by beautiful dance sequences as performed by the main character, Vanaja, who was played by Umila Ramachandriah. Vanaja leaves her home and her drunken father at the age of 15 to go and live and work for the landlady of the town. Her ulterior motive is to have the landlady teach her how to sing and dance well. This is not an easy task as the landlady is extremely stubborn and stern with everyone, but she eventually relents and begins to teach Vanaja. The story develops more when the landlady’s son returns from the University in America to run for political office. He is, unfortunately, a very arrogant and self-centered young man who ends up raping Vanaja and then blackmailing her into silence. She becomes pregnant and the truth is finally revealed to the landlady who tries to make her have an abortion. In desperation, Vanaja’s father hides her out in the country with some friends until the child is born. When it is, she is asked to give him up to the landlady. This story is not really a surprising story line, it seemed predictable at times, yet was not boring. I remember feeling as though it was a little long and very depressing, but that’s what happens when you watch something that doesn’t come from the Classical Hollywood machine. I am used to being entertained and filled with warm fuzzies after good triumphs over evil and the hero gets the girl. But what I have found in most foreign film is that often good doesn’t triumph over evil, and love doesn’t always find the main characters. This doesn’t make the film bad, its just makes it harder to watch. Vanaja is actually a very good film. The acting, production, soundtrack, and design were all well done and in a way the narrative does come full circle so as to make the viewer feel some sense of relief on behalf of the main character. Yet, its not what the traditional American audience would expect and so, it is easy to write off. But don’t, give it a chance and at least try to enlarge your sympathies for what life is like for the rest of the world.The third, and final, film that I saw at Water Front was American Fork, by director Chris Bowman, produced by the same guy who also did the cult-classic Napoleon Dynamite. American Fork stars Hubbel Palmer as the very large and extremely naïve Tracy Orbison who works at a run-down grocery store and struggles with his weight and inability to pass his drivers license exam. Also in the cast is William Baldwin who plays Tracy’s acting coach Truman Hope (a washed up community theater actor who I could swear recites monologues from other films, specifically A Beautiful Mind). Tracy, like most people, is just looking to find his niche, the one thing that will make him stand out and give him something to live for. At first, he believes that acting is "the thing" and he sets out to become the best he can be. Unfortunately, because of his insecurity, naivety, and eagerness to please, he allows his acting coach to use him, which makes for some major disappointment. With acting out of the picture, Tracy turns to befriending some of the local troubled teens. Once again, eager to make a difference and too easily convinced of their intentions, he finds himself in some compromising situations. Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, his sister starts dating his old acting coach and they try to do an intervention in his life based on false accusations about his character. At the center of all of this are the constant jokes and angry remarks about Tracy’s weight. One sequence, probably at one of the lowest points of the film, the narrative crosscuts between Tracy’s sister with Truman Hope and Tracy binge eating everything in the refrigerator. It’s almost painful to watch and yet is a reminder of the destructive things we do to deal with our pain. This is one the only movies that I can think of currently that addresses eating as an addiction and not simply a coping mechanism, especially for a male.American Fork has a lot of strong points including casting, writing, acting, production design, and soundtrack. All of these things pull together a tight narrative that keeps you emotionally involved, not bored or distracted. As a viewer, you are either laughing hysterically at the awkward escapades or wanting to cry from depression, after all it is extremely frustrating to watch a person get walked all over for two hours. There isn’t really anything remarkable about the production except the fact that it is seamless and unnoticeable, which, unless there is something intentionally going, is the point of continuity in production. The use of several kinds of lighting at home, work, and in other settings plays on what is done in the light versus in the dark; out in the open or in secret. The truth about all of the characters was that while they might pick on Tracy for his weight, they all had something to be guilty of that they were trying to hide or that controlled them as a false identity. American Fork, for me, was an interesting and entertaining film with compelling characters and a quirky storyline; I’m hoping it does well in the future with further release.
]]>Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:35:00 GMTcspragueBloggity Blah Blah Blog6/20/2007 10:35:00 AMI have never been to a Film Festival before, so I was pretty fresh to the scene at Water Front in Saugatuck, MI this year. It was a small, quiet resort town, mostly untainted by hype or the onslaught of cinephiles. There were just a lot of people, anywhere between the ages of 1 and 80, who simply came out to enjoy the films and maybe meet a few other film-lovers. The festival itself flowed pretty smoothly (except Fed-Ex some how managed to misplace several films, which then had to be shown in digital instead of celluloid; much to the film-purists chagrin), which is pretty incredible considering it is a completely volunteer-run festival. Even the promotional media that they showed before films seemed well-done, and were at the very least clever and humorous. The first film I watched while I was there was The Go-Getter, a film by Martin Hynes; his second after a film he made in 1999. The Go-Getter stars Nick Offerman, Jena Malone, William Lee Scott, Zooey Deschanel, and Lou Taylor Pucci. The main character, Mercer, is played by Lou Taylor Pucci who, although he had a bit of a shaky start, pulled off a pretty convincing character through which I was reminded of the strange transition between adolescence and adulthood with all of its awkward and scary moments. The film follows Mercer on a crime-initiated road trip after the death of his mother. At first, I was a little unsure of how the movie would unfold. The first half hour took a little too long dwelling in abstract character development that didn&rsquo;t really give the audience much with which to work. I think the initial frustration is the lack of information that would ordinarily accompany opening sequences and give the viewer some footing from which to understand the rest of the narrative. In this case, that information is given in very small pieces as the film progresses, through new characters and flashback, we begin to put together the back story of why Mercer (and the viewer) are on this crazy trip. This isn&rsquo;t a new concept in terms of narrative structure, although I would say the rate at which information is communicated is a bit slower and even delayed in this film.The Go-Getter opens with a suburban establishing shot and follows a kid (Pucci) on a bike from a birds-eye-view until he arrives at the high school. If I remember correctly this is where the voice over narration begins. Mercer says something to the effect of &ldquo;then I realized how to not be stuck.&rdquo; It reminded me a lot of the opening of American Beauty or Ordinary People; wide shot of a middle class neighborhood that gradually moves in with a voice over narrator who pulls you into their world. They are isolated people in the midst of a crowded existence.Upon his revelation of &ldquo; how not to be stuck&rdquo;, Mercer sets in motion a plan to steal a car and begin a road trip. Of course, at first we don&rsquo;t know what he is doing, he simply skips out of school and goes to borrow his friend&rsquo;s uniform. When he shows up in uniform at a carwash, you can only assume that he is there to steal a car. Its interesting how they use the Point of View shots here, they show pretty much everything from inside the car with Mercer, until he pulls out into the road, then we switch to the perspective of the person whose car was stolen. The carwash attendant is freaking out and we never see the reaction of the person who just lost their car. Its an interesting piece of set up, unless you have already read the synopsis and you know that this person will eventually befriend Mercer and their anonymity will be part of the intrigue between them.You would assume it&rsquo;s a coming of age kind of flick, but you don&rsquo;t see any character growth until about half way through when Jenna Malone&rsquo;s character is introduced. Or perhaps during Mercer&rsquo;s first stop at a Pottery Studio, where he smokes pot and starts spilling his guts over the dinner table about his Mom dying and how he just wants to find his brother since its been 9 months and he thinks Arlen should know. This is the first time we really see any emotion from his character that even hints at why he has begun this journey.Even if the narrative and characters were a little shaky from the beginning, I still enjoyed the production quite a bit. The cinematography was great. They played with contrasts in artificial and natural light and incorporated the landscape into the different segments of the journey. The writing didn&rsquo;t seem so great when the film started, there were a couple of initial exchanges that seemed a little forced or clich&eacute;, not at all thoughtful. In fact, I was pretty sure the main character was going to annoy the hell out of me the whole time. Luckily enough he became likeable, or at least I could have some allegiance to him considering the subject matter. I also enjoyed the soundtrack although some songs became slightly redundant. What I liked best was that the film embodied all of the characteristics of an Epic Journey narrative. It seemed to have this intention all along, but it didn&rsquo;t really come into the full style until later on. As the main character becomes more adamant about his mission to find his brother the narrative seems to take shape, like a hero embarking on an epic journey. We get a lot of information about Mercer through his conversations with Kate, the girl whose car he stole to begin his journey. And through their, and several other, interactions we get flashbacks that fill in the blanks of who the main character really is. The transitions into and out of flashbacks were very good in that they were seamlessly oriented around an object or a natural break in the frame. They used light a lot for these as well. One of the best parts of any Epic journey is the characters and worlds that the hero encounters along the way. For Mercer, the pot-head pottery guy, the woman in the pet-shop who makes him help out with their community-service project, the crazy-sexy girl he used to know in junior high, the pornographer, and Kate at the other end of the cell phone, contribute not just as catalysts towards his goal but also as agents of change who participate in the process of peeling back the layers of his character and revealing to him some important ideas about life, death, and who we can be in the world. One of my favorite moments is when Kate and Mercer are talking and she asks &ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t anyone know anybody anymore?&rdquo; which digs into the real question of the film. Is it possible to truly be known? Or will we always be strangers no matter how close we become? For Mercer and Kate, this question presents itself and then slips into irrelevance as they continue down the path of acquaintance. &hellip;because the answers to these questions might very well be &ldquo;yes&rdquo;, but that is hardly a good enough reason not to try. The second film I saw at The Water Front Film Festival was Vanaja, the story of a young Indian girl who goes to live in the house of her landlady and ends up being raped by the landlady&rsquo;s son. The story is told with humor and yet maintains a balanced perspective between the childhood-esque and the difficult issues that surround being a low-caste female in the Indian world. The director did a great job creating a believable world and representing the caste and patriarchal systems that are in place to keep people in their place. The narrative flowed pretty smoothly in a linear fashion and was accented along they way by beautiful dance sequences as performed by the main character, Vanaja, who was played by Umila Ramachandriah. Vanaja leaves her home and her drunken father at the age of 15 to go and live and work for the landlady of the town. Her ulterior motive is to have the landlady teach her how to sing and dance well. This is not an easy task as the landlady is extremely stubborn and stern with everyone, but she eventually relents and begins to teach Vanaja. The story develops more when the landlady&rsquo;s son returns from the University in America to run for political office. He is, unfortunately, a very arrogant and self-centered young man who ends up raping Vanaja and then blackmailing her into silence. She becomes pregnant and the truth is finally revealed to the landlady who tries to make her have an abortion. In desperation, Vanaja&rsquo;s father hides her out in the country with some friends until the child is born. When it is, she is asked to give him up to the landlady. This story is not really a surprising story line, it seemed predictable at times, yet was not boring. I remember feeling as though it was a little long and very depressing, but that&rsquo;s what happens when you watch something that doesn&rsquo;t come from the Classical Hollywood machine. I am used to being entertained and filled with warm fuzzies after good triumphs over evil and the hero gets the girl. But what I have found in most foreign film is that often good doesn&rsquo;t triumph over evil, and love doesn&rsquo;t always find the main characters. This doesn&rsquo;t make the film bad, its just makes it harder to watch. Vanaja is actually a very good film. The acting, production, soundtrack, and design were all well done and in a way the narrative does come full circle so as to make the viewer feel some sense of relief on behalf of the main character. Yet, its not what the traditional American audience would expect and so, it is easy to write off. But don&rsquo;t, give it a chance and at least try to enlarge your sympathies for what life is like for the rest of the world.The third, and final, film that I saw at Water Front was American Fork, by director Chris Bowman, produced by the same guy who also did the cult-classic Napoleon Dynamite. American Fork stars Hubbel Palmer as the very large and extremely na&iuml;ve Tracy Orbison who works at a run-down grocery store and struggles with his weight and inability to pass his drivers license exam. Also in the cast is William Baldwin who plays Tracy&rsquo;s acting coach Truman Hope (a washed up community theater actor who I could swear recites monologues from other films, specifically A Beautiful Mind). Tracy, like most people, is just looking to find his niche, the one thing that will make him stand out and give him something to live for. At first, he believes that acting is "the thing" and he sets out to become the best he can be. Unfortunately, because of his insecurity, naivety, and eagerness to please, he allows his acting coach to use him, which makes for some major disappointment. With acting out of the picture, Tracy turns to befriending some of the local troubled teens. Once again, eager to make a difference and too easily convinced of their intentions, he finds himself in some compromising situations. Just when you think it couldn&rsquo;t get any worse, his sister starts dating his old acting coach and they try to do an intervention in his life based on false accusations about his character. At the center of all of this are the constant jokes and angry remarks about Tracy&rsquo;s weight. One sequence, probably at one of the lowest points of the film, the narrative crosscuts between Tracy&rsquo;s sister with Truman Hope and Tracy binge eating everything in the refrigerator. It&rsquo;s almost painful to watch and yet is a reminder of the destructive things we do to deal with our pain. This is one the only movies that I can think of currently that addresses eating as an addiction and not simply a coping mechanism, especially for a male.American Fork has a lot of strong points including casting, writing, acting, production design, and soundtrack. All of these things pull together a tight narrative that keeps you emotionally involved, not bored or distracted. As a viewer, you are either laughing hysterically at the awkward escapades or wanting to cry from depression, after all it is extremely frustrating to watch a person get walked all over for two hours. There isn&rsquo;t really anything remarkable about the production except the fact that it is seamless and unnoticeable, which, unless there is something intentionally going, is the point of continuity in production. The use of several kinds of lighting at home, work, and in other settings plays on what is done in the light versus in the dark; out in the open or in secret. The truth about all of the characters was that while they might pick on Tracy for his weight, they all had something to be guilty of that they were trying to hide or that controlled them as a false identity. American Fork, for me, was an interesting and entertaining film with compelling characters and a quirky storyline; I&rsquo;m hoping it does well in the future with further release.