The President and Me

I am feuding with President Obama.

His unintended gaff to Jay Leno comparing his bowling abilities to those of a Special Olympian has set off minor outrage in these parts.

As loyal readers know, my sister, Mary Beth- here with my dad, won a silver medal at the 2003 Special Olympic World Games in Dublin. I made a film about it and growing up with a special needs family member called "what's two+three?" Click on the link on the right and you can see more.

So when I heard about the President on Leno I jumped into action with the goal to get Mary Beth and the film to the White House to bowl against the President and to screen the film for him.

By Saturday morning my sister was on the front page of the Quad City Times Newspaper (where she and my parents live). That night she was the lead on the 10pm news- showing a clip of my film right after Obama's misspeak. A press release went to the Tonight Show- trying to get Mary Beth to the White House to bowl against the president and have Jay Leno finish what he began. Through other connections we got the film to top Obama aids in the White House. I contacted the Shrivers and the Special Olympics in D.C.

It's rare when you get a p.r. shot like this and I did whatever I could to capitalize. Coincidently, I have just begun work on the next Special Olympics film- the 2011 World Games are in Athens, Greece. I think having President Obama's endorsement would be a great way to raise some development funds.

Here are links to the article and Mary Beth's TV appearance- best seen on a PC with Internet Explorer as your browser. Scroll down to the March 21 10pm newscast. She is the lead story.

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2009/03/20/news/local/doc49c45fcfc92b2023408526.txt

http://www.kwqc.com/Global/category.asp?C=79072

PeterH

Taking Chance

In the news this week was the Obama administration's decision to revisit the policy on allowing pictures of the caskets bringing home dead soldiers. The previous president did not want pictures such as the one here to see the light of day. I am glad about Obama's decision, it's both patriotic and symbolic, but I also understand if family members of the deceased would choose not to want photos like this be seen.

All of this ties in with a new HBO film that screened at Sundance called Taking Chance. It stars Kevin Bacon who plays a real life colonel who accompanies one casket back to its final resting place. I say often that one of the things I like about films is when they take me some place I would never get to go, and this film does that. We follow Bacon's character on his journey from Dover Air Force base to the family in Wyoming. It was fascinating in its simplicity.

I have always thought Kubrick's Paths of Glory was the best anti-war war film I have seen. I think Taking Chance is right there with it. We get to see the very real and very unglamorous after effects of war. I have seen some reviews from its Sundance screening that weren't all that favorable, but I liked it. It's small and quiet and dignified and pays its respects to the fallen soldiers.

See it if you can.

PeterH

The Oscars

A quick post about tonight's Oscars. I don't really care about the awards, especially this year with times so tough it seems strange to celebrate millionaire celebrities and studios when things are so haywire in the world. I look at it sort of like this year's Super Bowl between teams I don't care about. I'll catch a little maybe, by Monday morning the highlights will be everywhere to see.

I miss bad songs and streakers and Cher in a bad dress. Bring back those Oscars or make it a 60 minute highlight show.

That said, here's what I hope happens:

Best Film and Director- Slumdog and Danny Boyle. I've met him, interviewed him, great guy, great filmmaker, I liked the film. Please win.

Best Actor- Sean Penn.

Best Actress- Meryl Streep

Supporting Actor- Heath Ledger

Supporting Actress- Viola Davis

Documentary- Man on Wire

Foreign Language- Waltz with Bashir-

Adapted Screenplay- Doubt

Original Screenplay- Frozen River.

I bet I am wrong more than half the time, but I am not in any pools, those are the folks I want to see win.

PeterH

No Subtitles Necessary

This past weekend Oscar winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond was in Chicago speaking with filmmakers and on Sunday holding a master class for students and industry professionals.

That's Vilmos on the left and director and cinematographer Jim Chressanthis on the right at yesterday's master class, and those are my Flashpoint students there in the front row.

There were two events on Saturday. On Saturday morning from 11-2, in an event only open to students and industry professionals, Vilmos and Jim screened clips from their work, discussed their techniques and choices and took questions from the audience. It was really fascinating, especially if you are a filmmaker.

On Saturday evening, in an event open to the public, they screened Jim's film No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo and Vilmos and took questions from the audience. The film is excellent- it appeared at Cannes last May and is on the festival circuit now. It depicts the friendship between Vilmos and Laszlo Kovacs from their escape from Soviet controlled Hungary in 1956 to their arrival in Hollywood, and how they helped shape the look of American films from the late 60s to today.

After the screening I was lucky enough to get to go out with them and have a drink and talk film. It was my personal highlight of the weekend.

Here's a quick list of some of the films Vilmos and Laszlo has photographed.

Vilmos:
McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Deliverance, Scarecrow, The Sugarland Express, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (won the Oscar), The Deer Hunter, Heaven's Gate, Blow Out, The Witches of Eastwick (where Jim Chressanthis was his intern). To date he has shot over 80 films.

Laszlo ( mere 70+ films before his death in 2007)
Targets, Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Shampoo, Frances, Ghost Busters, Little Nikita, Say Anything.

This will be the first of several posts about the weekend. More to follow soon.

Peter H

Sundance Film Festival- a wrap

This is my last piece on this year's Sundance Film Festival, I promise. This time it's my overview of the experience.

First and foremost I had a great time. I was only there for maybe 85 hours, but I went to seven film screenings, three panels, three parties and lots of hanging out. I saw some great films, bad films and some in between. I met a lot of industry folk and learned a few things.

Among the things I discovered:

• Independent Film is in flux. The small little film that goes big- Sex, Lies and Videotape, Blood Simple, She's Gotta Have It, Stranger Than Paradise, all 20-25 years old- is a thing of the past, BUT also maybe a thing of the future. A good story will go a long way.
• Distributors have no money for films that don't have a name or can "open."
• DIY distributing, when put in motion before production is a viable way to get your film seen.
• Sundance- it seems like all the films in the festival had some Sundance connection- getting into Sundance or the Institute is the trick, once in you are in.
• 5600 short films for 90 slots. Why even try entering?
• Where else can one go see a documentary like Old Partner- the Korean film about an old farmer and his 40-year old dying ox. That and the short film panel were worth the trip.

In short I learned a lot. glad I went, I look forward to going next year and hope we can take some students.

PeterH

Yet Another Sundance Panel

Sorry if this is getting old, but hang on for just a little longer.

Perhaps the panel I was most looking forward to attending was on Tuesday afternoon- immediately following the Obama inauguration. (A side note on the inauguration... I gave up tickets for an 11:30am screening of We Live in Public- which ended up winning the jury prize for U.S. Documentary to see Obama take office. A good trade, I think.) The panel was looking towards at the future of independent film and on it were Sundance Festival favorites- Tom DeCillo, Barbara Kopple, Gregg Araki and Steven Soderbergh.

I love all those filmmakers, but to me Tom DeCillo had the best insights on independent film. DeCillo was the DP on Stranger than Paradise- perhaps the first indie film of the 1980s indie movement. He went on to make Sundance films- Johnny Suede, Living in Oblivion (all filmmakers need to see this film), Box of Moonlight and others. He has a documentary about The Doors- called When You're Strange in the festival.

Highlights from DeCillo:

• Independent Film used to be about saying no to Hollywood, no to the suits. Now it's just the opposite. Independent film (and by extension the Sundance Film Festival itself) is more like Indiewood, or Hollydent. People want to get into Sundance and use it as a launching pad for Hollywood.
  
• It's a lot harder to raise money now as an independent because Hollywood has taken over so many independent studios.
• His definition of a director, "The guy who gets the money."
  

Other interesting comments from the panel.

Soderbergh: The most independent guy in Hollywood is Steven Spielberg beacuse he can do anything he wants.

Kopple: The most important thing is to be good storytellers. We want to see your vision not what you think Hollywood wants.

That's a good place to end, I think.

PeterH

More Sundance Panels

Another very interesting panel I attend was the new filmmaker panel co-sponsored by Variety and the Illinois Film Office. Eight first-time Sundance directors were there- three were women I am happy to say. All had films in the festival- the two with the biggest names were The Greatest starring Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon, written and directed by Shana Feste and Marc Webb's 500 Days of Summer with Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Some common comments from the panelists.

• The importance of Film school- everyone went to some film school either as a graduate or undergrad.
• Be prepared, then really be prepared.
  
• You will have a moment when all hell breaks loose. Don't worry about it.
• There are hundreds of compromises to make. be ready to make them.
• Scariest thing I have ever done.

That's just the tip of the iceberg, but it rings true to me.

When I saw the panel, only 500 Days had distribution- it has a $7 million budget. Low by Hollywood standards, but not low by typical Indie Film standards. I think that says a lot about the festival.

Two more Sundance posts on the way from me- One about the Soderbergh panel, the other just on views about the festival and the state of independent film.

PeterH