Mining Austin for CFF

Please accept my apologies for not blogging more often. I was running from screening to screening (and a few parties), so was not back at my base where the Internet was. I wish I was a better blogger. So sorry!

To catch you up, I did get a chance to see nine feature films and many shorts (only listed the two I liked below) in total out here. All really truly interesting in their own way. Our festival was promoted and many an idea for other films to bring to CFF was sprung with filmmakers. I will certainly write more analysis after digesting them all and reviewing with Doug and Tom what they saw at Sundance to try and complete a well-rounded offering, but Austin was a great place for making relationships that will last for us and finding unique films to show our town.

Cigarette Candy (short)—about soldier returning home from war with a burden to bear.

Kelp (short)—funny relationship comedy.

And Everything is Going Fine—the Spalding Gray story.

Helena from the Wedding—situational comedy ensemble piece.

Some Days Are Better—what is the meaning of life? X-generation funny.

A Different Path (doc)—unique discussion about urbanization and cars.

The Happy Poet—funny about success and morality. Possible?

Dance With the One—best drama for me. Two brothers try and make their way in life after being raised by hippies.

Tiny Furniture—mother/daughter/sister comedic drama also trying to find out who you are.

Lebanon, PA—every decision we make leads us a certain direction…sometimes home.

Barry Munday—comedy about a man who literally has to lose his “manhood” to learn to be a man. Has stars like Cybill Shepherd, Malcolm McDowell, Chloe Sevigny. If we can work it out with distributor, we could have this come to CFF. It was funny. My agent is their agent, but we must wait and see what distributor ends up on board.

Met or knew someone (thanks to great introductions from my Austin friends) so we can access these all pretty easily. Plus, six degrees from others…fingers crossed for good filmmakers to attend again.

Attended the Austin Chronicle Film Party (who sponsored the festival with others).

Attended the premier party for Dance With the One.

Have much follow-up with people met including some wonderful actors, writers, producers and others.
There are also a few films I missed but heard great things about that I will follow up with and get copies sent. I mean really, a couple of great looking films to chase down.

Also, heard that Ed Norton owns land (an island?) in our Easton area. True? His film Leaves of Grass was SXSW Friday night opening movie. Richard Dreyfuss also in it. He is also a fan of our area. Anyway, something for us to check into making a fundraiser event out of or something. He is an environmental activist and we could mix that into the fundraiser or something.

Will be at airport at 4 a.m. for my 5 p.m. departure. Thanks for the opportunity to represent CFF and bring back some gems. Great stuff all around!! And best of all was Amy’s House. (Thanks Amy and Pete!)

Goodnight.
Liza

And now from Austin...

Austin is great! Got in late on Saturday due to weather delays with flights, but got to get my badge, meet up with a few people who filled me in on films and what's "hot" so far. Then back to Amy Rich's home. Amy is an Easton High School buddy to add to the CFF connection!

Plotted my course for Sunday. Started with narrative shorts as they provide surprises and good panels with new talent. Liked one called Kelp.

I then met up with indie agent Deborah MacIntosh from William Morris Endeavor to see what might be possible for us to bring to CFF. They represent two great possibilities. First, Barry Munday and secondly Saturday Night, which has John Malkovich hosting a documentary about what it takes to make the Saturday Night Live show. Also funny and cool behind the scenes. So, she will stay in touch about those as well as send other ideas in case these films get caught up in distribution restrictions.

Then I met up with Suzanne Weinert, an indie writer/producer who used to run Julia Roberts company in NYC. Found out she is an advisory board member of SXSW. She had a film in SXSW last year that is a dark comedy that we could maybe showcase, though it will be in limited release by May. We spoke of others as she called people over to introduce me and hear of their films. It was great, plus, she was introducing the film And Everything Is Going to be Fine, the story of Spalding Gray directed by Steven Soderbergh. This film is not necessarily for CFF, but met good people to open more doors.

I then saw Helena From the Wedding, a narrative comedy but too much suburban whining and not clever enough. We'd seen these yuppies a million times. Finally off to bed and ready for Monday. Suzanne is taking me to the parties tonight, so hold onto your hats….

Liza

GOOD NEWS ALERT!

Chesapeake Film Festival Board member Liza Moore will be blogging from SXSW (South by Southwest) in Austin for the annual music and film festival. Liza's no slouch when it comes to films, screenplay and script analysis, story consulting, writing...and the list goes on.

She has connections, insight and energy. While she's in Texas, she'll be screening, scouting and spreading the word about CFF. We're delighted she's there. Stay tuned!