The Road to Slamdance: The First Season, directed by Rudd Simmons

*Note: this is a film in Slamdance. I decided to focus on Sundance initially as I am only one blogger and can't handle covering both festivals, but I received the answers to my questions for this film and said, why not post them? Filmmakers, if you ever want to discuss your experience making your film in this blog. Just reach out! I'll do my best to accommodate. I'm actually looking to expand this blog and will think about adding a filmmakers section where we can all tell our behind-the-scenes stories. Filmmaking is a journey for all of us. 


Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?THE FIRST SEASON tells the story of Paul and Phyllis van Amburgh who, believing that a small, family farm is the best place to raise their children, take their life savings and buy a defunct dairy. With three children and a fourth on the way they fight to defy the odds and become full time farmers.

The film is told in an intimate cinema-verite, fly-on-the-wall style. I've always loved that kind of filmmaking; the very nature of the style forces the filmmaker to simplify. It's the complete antithesis to making a dramatic film which involves hundreds of people and truckloads of equipment.

In our case, I shot and recorded sound; there was no one else on location. In this kind of filmmaking, I think that the filmmaker needs to disappear, both on-location during the shoot and as a stylistic voice in the finished film. When a cinema-verite film works, the story unfolds as if one is sitting in the same room as the characters. It's just like a dramatic feature film, only it's real.

I've known Paul and Phyllis Van Amburgh for a long time and when I heard that they were buying a farm, I thought it would make an interesting film. Paul and Phyllis are both extraordinary people and what they were attempting to do had a built-in conflict. The structure was also there, one year divided by the seasons which would become visual markers for the various acts in the story.

How long did it take you to make your film? Five years. I lived with the farm family and filmed for the first 6 months of their starting the dairy. Then, over the course of the next 3 years, I did follow-up visits, shooting additional material, landscapes and interviews. When I felt that there was nothing else to shoot, we started post-production which took another year to complete.

How did you finance your film?The film is self-financed. Since I was doing all of the work, and filming on HD video, the shooting of the film was very inexpensive.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?Believe it or not, I think the most difficult part of the film was finding the stamina to keep going for so long.

I love character driven stories as opposed to plot driven. By their very nature, character driven films are made up of details that unfold as the story progresses. In the case of THE FIRST SEASON, those details are the small, day to day stories that define the lives of the Van Amburgh family. It's not a film about a big dramatic event, but a very intense, dramatic story about a day to day struggle. Filming that day to day struggle, I was never sure if we had a film. It wasn't until we started editing, did I really understand what the film could be.

Now, I'll admit that, shooting for five years and not knowing if there was a film in the material sounds like a crazy way of working. But once I made the commitment to the Van Amburgh family, I couldn't not make the film. I was going to find a way to make it work.

Tell us about your experience getting into Slamdance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?I was surprised, I had applied to a number of festivals and had prepared myself for the rejection, knowing that it was going to be a year-long (or longer) process where we would be accepted at some festivals but turned down by most. One morning, while walking my daughter to school, my phone rang and I got the news. I really didn't believe it so I waited until LA opened and called the Slamdance office to see if it was really true.

As far as advice? I think the most important traits a filmmaker needs are tenacity and perseverance. Make every film as if it was the only film you will ever make and then be prepared to hang in for the long term to make sure it gets the best chance of being seen by its audience. 

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The Road to Sundance: Ok Breathe Auralee, directed by Brooke Swaney

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it? 
OK BREATHE AURALEE (Shorts competition) is about a baby-crazed woman, Auralee, who finds herself drifting away from her baby-reluctant boyfriend, Colin and searching for something more.  It's part of an overall feature-length character driven piece that focuses on Urban American Indians, the four elements and the mystical in the quotidien.  So basically, I really wanted to make a movie that was kind of surreal with interesting (and not necessarily always likeable) characters. I have a bunch of female friends who have reached a point in their lives where they want to pop out a baby (and no, that's not me), but I wanted to explore what that must be like.  Auralee is also adopted away from her Native community (like many people of a certain generation) and I wanted to do a story about that, but not have it be so over-the-top about identity politics, rather more quiet and character specific to really get into her experience.


How long did it take you to make your film? 
On and off, over a year.  Shooting only took up around 7 days, but the edit was a doozy.


How did you finance your film? 
Friends, family, some through an indiegogo campaign (where we failed to reach our goal), some through a foundation, and some funds from the NYU graduate film program, and some of my own pocket money.


What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?
I think the most challenging part of making this film has been living hand to mouth and doing some serious couch surfing, while turning down more respectable work in order to finish the film.  The edit was the hardest.  After putting together an assembly cut based off the script, we knew that the film wasn't quite working.  It took months to find an editor to figure out the puzzle of the plot and the feel of the film before it all clicked.  But I knew it was in the footage there somewhere.


Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?  
Oh man, it was amazing.  Thrilling!  I've never gotten so many emails and texts and facebook messages when it was officially announced.  Really weird, good weird.  I'd point towards honing your craft and telling a good story.  The story is key.  Ask yourself is the story something that you would want to watch on the interwebs and be inspired? 


If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different? 
Oh maaaaan.  I think if I was asked this question four months ago, I would have wanted to change a lot.  But now that the film has been finished properly (with a great sound design and color and score and everything), I don't think I would change a thing.  When it all comes together, those little things that you'd want to change become obsolete.


What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?
More festivals!  No distribution yet, but we're working on that.  We'd love for more people to see the film, whether they want to or not and whether they like it or not! 


Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?
Work with people who inspire you to do your best.  And keep at it!  I've been submitting to Sundance for ten years now!



OK BREATHE AURALEE - TEASER TRAILER from Brooke Swaney on Vimeo.

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The Road to Sundance: Dr Breakfast, directed by Stephen Neary

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?

My film's called "Dr Breakfast" and it's playing in Animation Spotlight. It's about a lonely man whose soul bursts out of his eyeball at breakfast. The soul flies all around the world eating everything. Meanwhile, two deer bathe and dress the man's catatonic body.

I had some really old drawings of a soul bursting out of a man's eyeball--I save all my sketchbooks. And I wanted to try building a film based on a continuity of emotion rather than logic. I started thinking a lot about the creative process. For me it's very bumpy. There's lots of starting and stopping. Perhaps days of mundane work will go on before a little moment of eureka. And the whole time you're lucky just to have friends that tolerate your quirks and keep you sane. So most of all, this film is about that rejuvenating nature of friendship.

How long did it take you to make your film?

I worked on the Dr Breakfast off and on for about a year. I think I had various drafts of the script before that, but it didn't congeal until later. From there I did all the storyboards and animation. I live in New York City, but work in Connecticut, so most of the work was done on the train. Laptops, portable light-boxes, and lots of stares from strangers. 

How did you finance your film?

I draw storyboards at a feature studio called Blue Sky for my day job, but really Dr Breakfast wasn't extremely expensive to make. The most expensive thing is my time--many boring hours. I paid my friend Robin Arnott to do some great sound.  And Nick Koenig wrote some awesome music. That money all came from the day job. Wish I could have paid them more though, cause it really sounds quite good.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?

Making an animated film takes so long, the hardest part for me is sticking with early decisions. When you're working on a personal project with no real deadline or expectations, it's easy to get lost. I had to trust my instincts, stick to my storyboards, and just make the thing or else I knew I could wind up working on it forever. 

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?  

I have no idea. I'm still pretty sure they made a mistake. I would say, just do your thing, make your art, enjoy. I've applied before, but I'm glad that this was the film that broke through for me.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?

I would have changed a couple shots, adjusted things here and there. But at some point you've got to let go. I always think of this Chuck Jones quote, it goes something like, "Short films aren't made, they are abandoned." 

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?

You can actually already see Dr Breakfast online. I put it up online a few weeks before finding about Sundance.

http://vimeo.com/26942241

and youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exvJEilKgEg

I might go with distribution at some point, but as an unknown filmmaker, the exposure is the biggest help. I'd love to keep sending to festivals. And I definitely want to keep developing these characters.


For More Information:
Stephen Neary's Blog

Dr Breakfast - TRAILER from pizzaforeveryone on Vimeo.

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The Road to Sundance: Juku, directed by Kiro Russo

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?

Our film is titled JUKU. The Jukus are mine thieves, expert miners who choose to risk their lifes in order to obtain large quantities of mineral. There are hundreds of stories about Jukus "Pirates" of the mine. When I was a child my grandmother told me many stories about the mine, she was from the mining town of Huanuni where we filmed the short film and I was always very curious about these stories and this world. On the other hand, JUKU has a lot to do with experimenting with light.

We start from the premise of how to handle a short where almost nothing is seen, and everything heard; this in a context that has gone through our

cinema´s and narrative history in different kinds of ways: the mines. JUKU will be screening at Sundance in the Shorts competition Program 5.

How long did it take you to make your film?

It took about a year and a half, we stopped a lot because there was not to much budget that made the post production process too long.

How did you finance your film?

The film is a very low budget production, a lot of the money we spent was actually from my savings account. The equipment was largely lent to us by friends and local production companies.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?

One of the main complications we came across was the decision of the mining company to choose our acting crew for us. Our casting for the leading role had to be made among the team we had been assigned. Therefore the sort of casting and meeting with the crew had to be made on the first shooting day. Of course, the help of the mining company and the sort of joy that the miners had in making this possible was the main reason that this film was made succesfully. Another complication, and this one in a technical level, was the illumination. It was very clear from the start, that the characters of this short had to be mainly represented by the lights they were carrying, it was a specification I gave to Pablo Paniagua, the photography director. Finally he came across the idea of using a very little 1000 w fresnel connected to a motorbike battery hidden in the suit of the main character.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?

I found out about our film getting accepted in Sundance while I was in a Script and cinematography workshop, at first I didn´t really realize what it meant, of course I knew about the size of this accomplishment, but I didn´t foresee the help that this recognition is going to give us in order to make the feature film we´re working on “Viejo Calavera”. We´re really proud of being the only latin american short film, and we are very glad to be representing.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?

I would make it less solemn, it has too little humor.

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?

We hope JUKU enters another festivals, hoping that the possibility of raising funds for making “VIEJO CALAVERA”, the feature I will be directing, will be fruitful.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?

I think that one should be sincere with the things one does.

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The Road to Sundance: Una Hora Por Favora, directed by Jill Soloway

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?UNA HORA POR FAVORA is in Shorts Program 1. I was inspired to make it because my best friend and muse and actress in my film wanted to add to the current canon of "Hey, Girls Are Funny Too!" TV and movie stuff. Beyond that it was great to make a comment about objectification and using people. Much like the rose ceremonies of The Bachelor and the line-up of the hookers on HBO's Cathouse, the male immigrant workers of LA are available daily to choose from, like a buffet. This film pushes that idea to an extreme when Michaela's character chooses someone who not only refuses to be used but also insists on showing her a part of herself she never wanted to see.

How long did it take you to make your film? About three months.

How did you finance your film? With my own money!

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it? Being willing to ask for feedback, listen to it, and let enough time pass so that I could synthesize peoples' reactions into my own meaningful creative solutions.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?
Working with Michaela was great because we're so relaxed and comfortable collaborating. So having close friends nearby is one trick. I think it makes you do your best work. Yet I am sure that asking Wilmer Valderrama to be in the film helped. He is not only famous but also incredibly talented. So maybe the pointer is, don't ignore going after names or established talent; they are often game to participate-- but don't forget to keep your creative besties close at hand.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?  Not really, I couldn't have asked for a better result!

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?
As my film is a short, distribution isn't really an option. It will be part of Yahoo Shorts, an online contest where it will be available to see for the length of the fest. You can't vote until Jan. 19, but the link to participate is www.sundance.yahoo.com.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance? I guess just DO IT. You have to be headstrong enough to get it made but not so bull-headed that you're unwilling to collaborate or listen to constructive feedback, which is absolutely necessary. 

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The Road to Sundance: Teddy Bear, directed by Mads Matthiesen

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?

Teddy Bear [which plays in the World Dramatic Competition] is in many ways inspired by a short film I directed four years ago. The film is called Dennis and was in competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. While making the short I got to know the bodybuilder Kim Kold who is playing Dennis. Kim was a non-actor and I met him doing casting sessions in the Danish bodybuilder community. I remember doing the first casting with him. He came in the room and starting doing the lines. I knew by that instant that this guy was something special. He could act and visually he was all I was looking for. Later in a master class I showed Actors Studies legend Frank Corsaro the short film and after seeing it he said: “Why don’t you make it into a feature?” This got me thinking and after meeting with the scriptwriter Martin Zandvliet we slowly started to work on the idea. Kim Kold was up for the challenge of doing a feature and we set out to do the film. And 2-3 years later I finished the film.

How long did it take you to make your film?

It took around 2 years to make it. And I have been working on it for 3-4 years from when I got the idea.

How did you finance your film?

The film is mainly financed thought the Danish government (The Danish Film Institute). Additional there are some television pre buys, fond money, distributions pre buys and private finances in the movie.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?

It’s hard to pinpoint one single challenge that was the hardest while doing this film. But one of them was definitely the fact that I wanted to work with “real” people in the cast. Most of the actors in the film are real people (“non actors”) casted in the environment we were filming. From the outset, it was my idea to create a credible story world with believable characters, almost documentary in tone. The story itself is, of course, wholly fictitious in which the “non actors” are acting, but the “cast” was composed of real people deployed in the real settings we portray in the film. The bar girls in Thailand are real bar girls, the men around them are the real people who hang out in these places, and of course, Kim Kold (main character) is a real professional bodybuilder. The characters were cast in their real locales, and the film was shot on location in the midst of all the crazy stuff going on.  Real people on “real sets” were used to create a credible world, to get as close to the “truth” of the characters. Working mostly with amateurs was a big challenge but also a gift because you get a great deal of authenticity when you work with real people in real environments.

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted? 

Sundance is a great opportunity to get you film out in to the world. For me the audience is an important element of why I have made this film and I think that with Sundance I have the possibility to get out to a much broader audience. I really hope that the film will connect with people and give them a good experience. Having the film shown at the festival has been on my mind from the start of the production of the film. It somehow began at Sundance with the project four years ago with the short film Dennis, and luckily I get to come back and show Teddy Bear. I’m very pleased that the film ended up like it did and that it was selected for the competition. I hope that Teddy Bear will make a tribute together with the other films at Sundance, and make it an inspiring festival of 2012.

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?

I don’t really think much about what I could have done differently. I do think of what has gone wrong so I can do it better next time. But making a film is a process where things are decided in an ongoing flow so how the film ended up is the consequence of many different elements in the process and in many ways it couldn’t have been done differently at the time.

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?

Hopefully the film will travel the world on film festivals after Sundance. Just after Sundance the film will be competition for the best Nordic film at the Göteborg Film Festival which is one of the big Scandinavian festivals. The film will come out in the cinemas all over Denmark just after Sundance and hopefully we will be able to sell the film to other territories.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?

I think that filmmakers should find their own individual path in the process. I can provide one advice: Go make your films whatever it takes! Make your film with little or no finance if the alternative is that you won’t get it made. The more films you make the better you get at it, the more you learn about telling stories though the film media.

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The Road to Sundance: The Arm, directed by Brie Larson, Sarah Ramos & Jessie Ennis

Tell us about your film. What inspired you to make it?"The Arm" will be showing the Narrative Short Competition at the Sundance Film Festival. The idea started as something very simple. I walked into Sarah's house and she asked me if I thought text messaging was funny. I said yes. We then spent the next few hours coming up with a story depicting the aloofness of this new type of communication and how easy it is for things to be misconstrued. Jessie was added to the team a few months after and was very present in the re-write.

How long did it take you to make your film?We wrote in on the 3 hour Greyhound bus ride from Dallas to Austin. It took a month of pre-production, three days of shooting, followed by another month of post.

How did you finance your film?Sarah and I covered the minimal $800 it cost to shoot. We were fortunate enough to find people who were willing to work for free, most being close friends and family. Our Cinematographer, Blake McClure owned a 5D and I had a lighting kit. Funnily enough, our only big cost was breakfast burritos, and the many 5 hour energies I downed throughout filming.

What was the most challenging part of the filmmaking process and how did you overcome it?Tacking down a frozen yogurt shop was by far the most difficult. Our first choice was the yogurt shop that inspired the short - they fell through a few weeks before filming. Our second had a manager that yanked us around quite a bit. Weeks of unreturned phone calls and hoops made impossible to jump through. We gave up on them a mere 3 days before filming. The shop we eventually shot in, The Chill saved the day. We always had this panning reveal at the beginning and that could have never been accomplished without bar seats. The Chill had them perfectly - plus their topping selection was by far the grandest. Mini cheesecake bites?! Hello?!

Tell us about your experience getting into Sundance. Are there any pointers for filmmakers for getting accepted?
It was never our intention to submit to festivals - we just wanted to make something. Jessie, Sarah, and myself all love and have watched so many films, good and bad; it's easy to complain about boring, repetitive, bad movies instead of making your own. Discovering weird, out-of-the-box filmmakers like Todd Solondz inspired us to make riskier choices because we found them amusing and assumed if it genuinely made us laugh and care, it might do the same for other people!

If you had to make the film all over again, would you do anything different?I'd love to do it all over again, just to re-live the experience. But not because I feel there is anything to change. We are very proud of what we made.

What’s next for your film? Do you have distribution? If so, when and how can people see it and if not, what are your hopes for the film?
We've submitted to a few other festivals; just playing the waiting game at this point. As of now it will be screening a few times at Sundance and then directly after at the Santa Barbara Film festival. Distribution would be very exciting, but getting into Sundance has already exceeded our expectations.

Can you provide any advice to other filmmakers who dream of getting their films made and into Sundance?Entertain yourself. Don't make it for Sundance, or anyone. Make something for yourself, it's the most rewarding. And then if other people like it, you'll feel even greater. But if they don't, you followed your instincts, you're figuring out your voice, and who cares what anyone else thinks? Haters gonna hate.


For More Information:
Download of The Arm Trailer

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