Great weekend at Columbia Gorge Int'l Film Festival

Top left: festival postcard; top right: me with festival director Breven Angaelica Warren; lower left: enjoying the Columbia River Gorge views

I had a great time at the Columbia Gorge International Film Festival last weekend - fest director Breven Angaelica Warren put on a great event. Foreclosed got an award as one of the best shorter (15 to 30 minute) movies, which was a terrific surprise among so many good movies.

And to top it all off, we also got a good review in the local Vancouver Voice. My favorite quote:

"[director Jeff] Bellantine and writer Mara Lesemann keep the surface of the film strictly realistic, which only adds to the suspense and the surprise." You can read the full review here:

http://www.vanvoice.com/article/21277-reviews+selected+films+showing+crgiff

I spent Sunday traveling around the area, including the spectacular Columbia River Gorge - it's definitely one of the most beautiful parts of the country.

I hope to be back at the festival again next year, and hopefully spend a bit more time sightseeing as well.

Photos from the Indie Gathering

Top left: Jay Pulk (writer/director, Copper Penny), Taryn Hough (writer/director/actor, Unit 30), and me

Top right: Taryn and me; she's holding her trophy for Best Short Movie

Lower left: Ray Szuch, director of the Indie Gathering (http://www.theindiegathering.com/) with Carlo Fiorletta, star of Foreclosed (http://www.foreclosedthemovie.us/)

The mysteries of fest acceptances

Maybe someday I'll figure out film festival acceptances, but I'm not holding my breath! You can go weeks, sometimes months with nothing except silence or an e-mail indicating yet another rejections...and then....

I got 2 acceptances this week, for 2 different shorts, and I'm delighted with both of them.

The Last Supper got its first acceptance: it's an official selection of the Silicon Valley Film Festival (http://www.svfilmfestival.org/). This is a first-year fest in Sunnyvale, CA, and they'll screen in what looks like a great location - the AMD Commons Theater (above left).

Then I found out that Foreclosed has been accepted to the Southern Appalachian International Film Festival (http://www.soapiff.com) in eastern Tennessee. I'm especially tickled by the fact that this is the first southern festival that we'll screen at - or for that matter, that any of my shorts will screen at. Their poster is above on the right.

I won't make it to the Silicon Valley fest because it's the same day as the Foreclosed screening at Columbia Gorge (I can't complain about that problem I guess), but I'm very much hoping to make it down to Tennessee for their festival. I'll be watching the mail for updates.

Indie Gathering, awards, and The Last Supper

Ray Szuch once again put on a terrific festival this past weekend; I'll have photos up soon!

Foreclosed took 3rd in Horror Comedy (and the first place winner in that category - Taryn Hough's excellent Unit 30 - was the Best Short Movie overall), and the screening went very well. Two and a Half Sisters placed 3rd in the full-length drama screenplay category.

In the meantime, I've posted The Last Supper on Vimeo:

http://vimeo.com/13822266

The logline is: What if Mary and Joseph were raising Jesus in 21st century New Jersey?

NY Post mention: Carlo Fiorletta directing Gary Morgenstein's new play

(Carlo pictured at left)

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/starr_report_JcH6XbcyLoFKEcIev3tlYN

Nice mention in today's NY Post (Starr Report) of Gary Morgenstein's new play A Tomato Can't Grow in the Bronx which Carlo Fiorletta is directing. The play goes up Sept 22-26 at the Producer's Club in Manhattan.

A brief rant: my pet peeve about screenwriters

One of my (unpaid) jobs is Director of the GIAA Festival of Short Films and Videos (www.giaafilmfest.com). We have a screenplay competition, and I read all of the submitted screenplays before passing them on to other judges.

I'll preface this by saying that I have many many (many!) flaws as a screenwriter. But my pet peeve when reading scripts is writers who violate one of the cardinal rules:
If an actor can't act it, it shouldn't be in a screenplay.

Example:
Don't write: Jane thinks about her ex-boyfriend.
Do write: Jane looks at a photo of her ex-boyfriend.

I'm done now.

The Indie Gathering, Aug 6 to 8, 2010

I'm really looking forward to the Indie Gathering this weekend - Ray Szuch puts on a terrific festival.

We've got 2 shorts screening: Carlo wrote & directed "Calamity 666" - it screens Saturday in Room A in the 1:35 PM block of micro-movies. The best line:
"That's 'arlo. He's dead. But he died happy." Second place in the MicroMovie Comedy Drama category!!

"Foreclosed" is screening in room B at 2 PM on Sunday. The machete going into the guy's head always gets a great audience reaction. It took 3rd in the Horror Comedy category - Taryn Hough's terrific "Unit 30" took first.

And as an extra added bonus, my feature screenplay "Two and A Half Sisters" took 3rd in the Drama category (I'm currently in pre-production on this, with shooting scheduled for summer 2011).

I never thought I'd spend so many August weekends in the suburbs of Cleveland (Westlake, to be exact!) but this is always a fun place.