IFP Announces New Partnerships and Opportunities for Producers

IFP is thrilled to announce two new partnerships - one in South America and one in South Asia - which will help our community to continue to expand their networks in the international marketplace.

First, through our partnership with Latin American Training Center, IFP will select up to five American independent producers to participate in their Rio International Festival Producer’s Panel September 23-28, 2010 .

The Rio International Film Festival’s Producer’s Panel is a week-long program which runs concurrently with the Rio International Film Festival. Conceived to boost international co-productions and encourage production in Latin America, the fellowship with LATC will be offering many formal and informal networking opportunities throughout the week to assist producers in finding partners for their projects and expanding their international contacts.

Open to emerging and established producers, the Fellowship will cover the cost of full program registration fees for the selected producers, but participants must cover their own travel and lodging to attend.

Qualifications: Applicants should have at least one feature-film producing credit and be a current IFP member. Applicants should clearly state why they are interested in participating by citing either a history of Latin American co-production experience OR current projects in their slate that require Latin American and/or Spanish Language co-production partners. Documentary and Narrative producers are welcome.

In addition, the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) India, will select an American independent filmmaker and/or producer to participate in the Film Bazaar November 23-26, 2010. The Film Bazaar is a four-day market held alongside the International Film Festival of India in Goa. It is a South Asian sales and distribution platform to facilitate greater collaborations between the Indian and international film industries for distribution and production.

The Fellowship will cover the cost of full program registration fees for the selected writer/director and/or producer, as well as travel and accommodations.

Qualifications: All filmmaker or producer applicants should be a current IFP member and have fiction projects that deal with Indian/South Asian subject matter; filmmakers who are part of the Indian diaspora are given preference. Scripts should be current, with WGA registration between September 2009-2010.

Those interested in consideration for the program should apply with a one-page letter of interest describing the project(s) that would be presented and a resume to Amy Dotson, Deputy Director, IFP, at adotson@ifp.org by Thursday, August 5th.

Lab & Emerging Narrative directors in Filmmaker's '25 New Faces'

Every year we eagerly anticipate who the Filmmaker Magazine staff will highlight as the current class of hot indie talent in their "25 New Faces" issue. There's always a few surprises, and this year, we're pleased that a few of our own talented alumni have been highlighted-

Rebecca Richman Cohen participated in the 2009 Documentary Independent Filmmaker Labs with her film War Don Don, about the international defense team for, and war crimes conviction of a Sierra Leonean rebel leader. War Don Don has played and won awards at numerous festivals, and will air on HBO in September 29.


Victoria Mahoney and Susan Youssef were both among the powerhouse women directors bringing their features to this year's Narrative Independent Filmmaker Labs.

Victoria Mahoney's Yelling To The Sky, which Scott Macaulay calls a "powerful, emotionally nuanced debut feature about a New York City teenager growing up in a mixed-race family" features Zoe Kravetz, Tim Blake Nelson and Gabourey Sibide.

Habibi Rasak Kharban (Darling, Something's Wrong With Your Head) from Lebanese-Syrian-Brooklyner Susan Youssef is the first film to be shot in Gaza in 15 years. Habibi is based on the ancient Sufi parable of the Majnun Layla, the story of a man so smitten with a nearly unattainable woman he goes insane in his quest for her.

Habibi Rasak Kharban and Yelling to the Sky are both in post-production and are available for meetings with industry at Independent Film Week; industry interested in more information about these projects can register to participate here.

Matt Porterfield, is our fourth in the 25 New Faces. Porterfield came to Independent Film Week's Emerging Narrative program with his script Metal Gods in 2008. The script won our Panasonic camera package grant, but the shoot turned into his acclaimed Putty Hill, a Baltimore-based tour of the friends and family of a recently OD'd young man which debuted in Berlin and was recently picked up by Cinema Guild for a Fall theatrical release.

Congratulations to you all - we knew you when!

News & Documentary Emmy Nominations for IFP alumni

Big Congratulations to all our IFP alumni for their recent News & Documentary Emmy Nominations! Good Luck! We'll be crossing our fingers for you when the winners are announced on September 27.


The Way We Get By (PBS)
OUTSTANDING CONTINUING COVERAGE OF A NEWS STORY--LONG FORM
Aron Gaudet – Director
Gita Pullapilly - Producer
Independent Film Week - Spotlight on Documentaries 2008

Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi (HBO)
OUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM--LONG FORM
Ian Olds – Director
Nancy Roth - Producer
Independent Film Week – Spotlight on Documentaries 2008
IFP Fiscal Sponsorship

The Good Soldier ("Bill Moyers Journal"; PBS)
OUTSTANDING HISTORICAL PROGRAMMING - LONG FORM
Producer/Directors - Lexy Lovell, Michael Uys
IFP Fiscal Sponsorship

The Mosque in Morgantown ("America at a Crossroads"; PBS)
OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: MUSIC & SOUND
Composer - Kareem Roustom
Brittany Huckabee – Director/Producer
Independent Film Week – Spotlight on Documentaries 2007

Amicus Brief in Support of Joe Berlinger

Today, a panel of three Federal Appeal Court judges heard arguments to determine whether Joe Berlinger will have to turn over to Chevron 600 hours of raw footage he shot while producing the documentary CRUDE. Chevron went to court to gain access to the footage to help in defending itself against a massive Ecuadorian class action lawsuit brought by workers and residents of the Amazon who are seeking redress for years of environmental pollution.

Michael C. Donaldson filed an Amicus Brief on behalf of IFP, as well as 22 other industry organizations and individuals, who saw the order to turn over the footage as a threat to the future of investigative documentaries. The judges heard from attorneys for Chevron, for Joe Berlinger, and for the Ecuadorian plaintiffs. The hearing, which was initially scheduled to last forty-two minutes, lasted an hour and forty minutes. About the only thing the attorneys could agree on in their oral arguments was that the fate of Berlinger’s appeal was controlled by a 1998 case – issued by this same court – entitled Gonzalez v. NBC. In fact, the three-judge panel that heard Berlinger’s appeal included Judge Leval who was on the panel for the Gonzalez case.

The judges have taken the case under submission, promising to issue their decision “expeditiously.” Although one can never predict exactly what a court will decide, it’s of Donaldson’s opinion that the lower court’s order to turn over the 600 hours of footage would be substantially cut – and that an additional step would be taken of putting restrictions on how the information gathered could be used by Chevron, i.e.: that it could not simply be used in the massive PR campaign Chevron has mounted, but that it could be used only in court or government proceedings. Additionally, Donaldson felt that the judges were prepared to confirm the test set forth in the Gonzalez case which stated that, in order for a journalist to turn over material that is non-confidential, the material at issue must be of likely relevance to a significant issue in the case and not be reasonably attainable from other available sources – a test that is extremely important to the documentary community.

Other potential decisions could include sending the case back to the trial court with some clear direction as to how to decide these issues, ordering the trial court to view the footage before Chevron is able to view it, throwing out the subpoena in its entirety, or issuing an order that combines one or more of the above options.

After the hearing, Donaldson – who authored the Amicus Brief for filmmakers – praised the International Documentary Association for recruiting co-signers to their Amicus Brief. He felt that the voice of filmmakers was heard, stating “Everyone was extremely well prepared. The judges were attentive, interested and extended the arguments by asking extensive, well-informed questions. You can’t ask for much more –except a decision that favors the filmmaker.”

YELLING TO THE SKY director Recaps the Narrative Labs

The most common song sung throughout cineland the past few years is how"excessively difficult it is to get an Indie resourced and released in this climate." Ask anyone, two decades thick into Indie and you'll hear, long-ago-era-of-abundance stories.

Putting us, up and coming filmmakers at an anemic crossroads of [what once was] and [what isn't, just yet].

People often react to members of our production team as if we're aiming to build the Taj Mahal upon three melting icicles and a strand of retrofitted dental floss. Since hearing countless experiences on forty layers of nonconventional choices from our IFP fore-filmmakers and peers all last week, I now feel a buoyant sense of one [single] buck solid absolute.

I am absolutely, to the core certain that the old rules forever drummed into celluloid's "how to" lexicon, no longer dictate a film's platform or shelf life. The paradigm of yester-decade is not today's rule. More excitingly, this very second in time, there-are-no-rules! How rejuvenating, to be walking within the precise moment where a shifting industry, has yet to take shape. The worldwide web has miraculously leveled the playing field, decimated the platinum curtain and reinstated the long lost nectar of an almost deceased term; I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T.

YELLING TO THE SKY is jumping off in a time where there's no playbook. There's no sole structure, fold out, process, formality or convention to define film or to exhibit media.

For every one of grandcinema's decaying "must", there are twenty-two thousand present day, counter success hymns.

It is the wild wild East, and as such the only viable requirement for flight, is a willingness to play.

Not play along, not play by ideas, not play accordingly or fitfully. Just schoolyard-proper, sleeves up, love of the game "play".

That ripe smashing of old law, is taking shape as my entire team and I, continue walking thru post. As Billy and I, proceed to pick sales agents, navigate our launch, seek support and more crucially as we demand visibility.

(I'm sitting on a plane next to BIlly Mulligan, my producing partner; Billy, what's the strongest component you are leaving the lab with?

BM: At my fingertips, I feel empowered by the knowledge that was bestowed upon us. In the more micro sense, I can't stop thinking through what we learned about the ever growing and expanding opportunities for distribution and how the distribution landscape is changing at such a fast pace. I am surprised at how much, theoretically, I am embracing it.)

During such a crucial stage of our film's maturation, it's impossible for he and I, to sum up all the moving parts of this lab experience. To have the IFP team roll out point by point discussions on every single tiered aspect of post production is the filmmaking equivalent of Wonka's golden ticket. Entry in this case, seems based upon a healthy ratio of talent, discipline, sacrifice and isolation.

It's not possible to cohesively sling consonants, vowels and syllables into quantifiable expression; mirroring the density per battle, per month, per week, per day.

How do we t h a n k y o u; Amy Dotson, Scott Macauley, Rose Vincelli, Susan Stover, Tricia Cooke, the hourly speakers, the year long staff, the fellows, past and present...

How do we "self starters" thank you insightful few, for generously offering a post-pro home with which we may f i n i s h.

-Victoria Mahoney

Darren Dean, KINYARWANDA Producer, on the IFP Lab Boot Camp

Darren Dean (front left) and other fellows soak up knowledge at the Labs

Whew. I’m sure most everyone would agree when I say, “What a week!”
Sort of like filmmaker boot camp.

My only regret was not being able to celebrate with everyone on the Labs’ final day because I had to attend my wife’s boss’ daughter’s wedding (NOTE: We filmmakers should always defer to the needs of our significant others. Should this well of filmmaking dry up, as everyone keeps predicting – we will all need an employed person in our household. And we don’t want to piss them off!). Nevertheless, we all probably started drinking around the same time and – rest assured – I certainly raised my glass to all of you.

Was it just me, or did it feel like our noodles were turned inside out by week’s end? While I went into this hoping that I’d learned much of what would be discussed over the last few years, I was easily disarmed by that which I didn’t know.
And while it was abundantly clear that I’ve made (as we all probably have) mistakes along the way, it was refreshing to hear about the regrettable decisions of our mentors and the mistakes they made along the way. For me, it is pretty bold to be as successful as Scott and John and Amy and Rose and peel away the layers in an effort to better us all. When a mentor tells you about some grave move they made in years past, followed by an “I never thought I’d work again,” it is not only revealing, but relieving. It’s kind of like your dad admitting he dropped acid or your mom admitting that she regrettably slept with the captain of the football team. It doesn’t make our own mistakes go away, but simply serves to elucidate how fallible we all are. More importantly – and all egos aside – it reminds us, too, of how much we need to learn.

I have to say that I don’t agree with one of our mentors this week who implied that we are all in competition with each other. Yes – there will be festivals. Yes – there will be distributors vying for our work. And, yes – we all want to be the best that we can be. But here, as we learn – not only from our mentors, but each other – we grow into each other’s work.

The most telling line I heard all week – repeatedly, from different filmmakers – was, “I wish I’d made that film.” When you can look at the efforts and works of others and wish that they were yours, it means that you are akin with it.
I’m sure Alrick and Tovah would agree that, while we leave this week having made one film, we wish we had made nine others. And, in the year(s) that come, we will likely find ourselves championing each of your films as much as we do our own. They are all as much a part of us as KINYARWANDA.

KINYARWANDA's Alrick Brown on Wisdom, Honor, and Digesting the IFP Narrative Labs

Lab Workshop leaders Alan Chan, (producer, Half-Life), photographer, and Josh Mond (producer, Afterschool) and Alrick Brown (director, Kinyarwanda) Photo by Mike Cerda

The storm has passed, the lights have dimmed, and we are left standing holding our films in our hands. The 2010 IFP Narrative Lab is over, and in 1 short week I have gathered more information on the Finishing, Marketing, & Distribution of a film than I have in my previous 8 years in the film game. I really don’t mean to kiss up but you gotta give credit where it is due. The lab, the filmmakers, the mentors, the guest speakers, and the work of the IFP are all solid. Honestly, I underestimated you coming into this. I just didn’t know. I have since perused the website -- watched the videos, learned some of the history, and now I feel even more honored.

Actually I just lied. Not about the solid or honored thing. Do people lie on the Internet? Along with that film in our hands we walked away with some other pieces of the puzzle that will help our films find their audience and in the sentiments of Alfred Hitchcock, “Why make a movie if nobody is going to see it?” I think all the filmmakers wanted to get back to work but we were given the sound advice, by Amy, of taking this week off - away from our films so all the information can marinate. Well it’s marinating like a mutha*@#!

The task now is to finish the best possible versions of the projects with the time and resources we have and then give them their chance to be seen by as many people as they can. It seems pretty straightforward, right? But how many amazing films have come and gone that you we were clueless about. Finishing a film but not marketing it is like building a car with 3 wheels. It might go somewhere, it might get recognized, but you might not travel as far as you could. And you certainly won’t travel without scraping your ass on the asphalt. Does this mean our journey will be easy cause we are in the independent film ‘in crowd?’ Hell no. After the success of INSIDE MAN, Spike Lee was still struggling to get his films made. Many well known filmmakers can’t get their project’s marketed properly much less get the projects themselves off the ground. Spike got there because of the WORK. The hard and smart WORK. We got there because of the WORK and there is no substitution for the WORK.

During the last few workshops my brain was fried as I processed the info and I looked ahead at ALL the additional work that needed to be done. And I was stressing thinking about the next project. What would my next film be? Paola Mendoza (Writer/Director/Actress of Entre Nos) reminded us to enjoy the process and savor this accomplishment. Wisdom is simple.

Today, I told a pretty religious dude about my IFP experience, about all the amazing people I met, worked with, all the potential in the room, and he quoted something his pastor said in church on Sunday, “Things move at the speed of relationships.”

In the words of the great philosopher Bruce Lee, “Running water never goes stale.” So, fellow lab mates, mentors, and all of our collaborators, do the WORK and lets keep it moving…together.
Peace Love & Respect