State Film Festival

Some people today reported that record attendance is expected at the organization’s national conference, which will take place May 24-27 in San Diego, CA.

With its central theme “Financial Leaders in Bioscience, Innovation.  Integrity.  Influence.”, the Conference is seeing pre-registration numbers close in on 200, driven by the strong interest in a broad range of keynote and guest speakers, and breakout sessions.  This year’s conference has registrations from every major biotechnology geographic “hub” in the United States, extending into Canada.  Topics and seminars will include a negotiation master class, public speaking, bridging the gap between financial and science leaders in business and how we think about innovation, communication and risk. In addition, expert panelists will discuss trends in mergers and acquisitions, a CEO’s view of managing and interacting with Boards of Directors, and more. Featured speakers and sessions include:

• Shankar Vedantam, NPR’s social science correspondent, author and the host of the Hidden Brain podcast
• Jim Thomas, a Washington attorney, author, speaker, trainer and one of the most acclaimed and respected negotiators in the United States
• Joe Quinlan, Managing Director, Chief Market Strategist at Bank of America
• Darren Snellgrove, Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation
• Andrew Fastow, former Chief Financial Officer at Enron
• A motivating and inspiring glimpse into patient’s perspective on surviving cancer, and emphasis on the importance of innovation in drug discovery, hosted by the Susan G. Komen San Diego Foundation

In this route a producer wants to get a film made. He finds a script, and attaches the most marketable actors he can get hold of. He then needs a director – specifically, a director who can make the movie the biggest success possible. If, in the producer’s opinion, you are the best director for this film, you stand a reasonable chance of landing the gig, but even then there are always tangential complications and it is far from guaranteed. On the other hand, if the folks who are paying for the movie are convinced that you are the best director for the film, your chances are very good indeed. Again, this decision will be made almost exclusively on the basis of what you have directed in the past. Do not kid yourself that you are going to talk your way into being hired to direct when you don’t have a reel. That is not how it works.

– The only way to be in a position where producers and film investors actively pursue you to direct their film is to have made interesting and/or successful films in the past. The only way to do that is to start off as an independent filmmaker. There is no other way, and all the networking and film degrees in the world will not compensate for a poor reel.

This year’s lineup may be the best we have ever seen.  Several new directors but all fantastic films.

2016 FILM FESTIVAL SCREENING SECTIONS

Narrative Feature Competition | Documentary Feature Competition | Headliners | Narrative Spotlight| Documentary Spotlight | Visions | Midnighters | Episodic | 24 Beats Per Second | SXGlobal | Festival Favorites | Special Events | Narrative Shorts | Documentary Shorts | Animated Shorts | Midnight Shorts | Music Videos | Texas Shorts | Texas High School Shorts

2016 SXSW FILM FESTIVAL LINEUP

Ten world premieres: ten unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from 1,442 narrative feature submissions in 2016.

The Arbalest
Director/Screenwriter: Adam Pinney
The inventor of the world’s greatest toy reflects on his decade-long obsession with a woman who hates him. Cast: Mike Brune, Tallie Medel (World Premiere)

Before The Sun Explodes
Director: Debra Eisenstadt, Screenwriters: Debra Eisenstadt, Zeke Farrow
After his wife kicks him out, an anxious comedian is lured in by an intriguing woman with a stalker. Cast: Bill Dawes, Sarah Butler, Christine Woods, Michael Rivkin, Amir Arison, Keri Safran, Anna Margaret Hollyman, Gene Serritella, Kristin Slaysman, Eric Fillipkowski (World Premiere)

Claire in Motion
Directors/Screenwriters: Lisa Robinson, Annie J. Howell
Claire is sure of herself, her work, and family, until — like a bad dream — her husband disappears, leaving a trail of puzzling secrets that shatter her certainty. Cast: Betsy Brandt, Chris Beetem, Zev Haworth, Anna Margaret Hollyman, Sakina Jaffrey (World Premiere)

collective:unconscious
Directors: collective:unconscious (Lily Baldwin, Frances Bodomo, Daniel Patrick Carbone, Josephine Decker, Lauren Wolkstein), Screenwriters: Jamal Batts, Lily Baldwin, Frances Bodomo, Daniel Patrick Carbone, Mariama Diallo, Lauren Wolkstein, Concept by: Dan Schoenbrun
Five of independent film’s most adventurous filmmakers adapt each other’s dreams for the screen. This is going to get strange… Cast: Frank Mosley, Will Blomker, Lily Baldwin, Tonya Pinkins, Daniel Ryan, Ryan Cassata, Sanda Weigl, MJ Frank, Samuel John Damon, Jamal Batts (World Premiere)

Donald Cried
Director: Kris Avedisian, Screenwriters: Kris Avedisian, Kyle Espeleta, Jesse Wakeman
Returning home to working class Warwick, Rhode Island, Peter Latang encounters childhood friend Donald Treebeck for what starts as a simple favor and turns into a long van ride into two friends past. Cast: Kris Avedisian, Jesse Wakeman, Louisa Krause(World Premiere)

Hunter Gatherer
Director/Screenwriter: Josh Locy
After a three-year stint in prison, an unreasonably optimistic middle-aged man returns to his stagnant neighborhood to win back his girlfriend only to find that she and his family have done what they always wanted to do — forget he exists. Cast: Andre Royo, George Sample III, Kellee Stewart, Ashley Wilkerson, Kevin Jackson, Antonio D. Charity, Celestial, Alexis DeLaRosa, Jeanetta Arnette (World Premiere)

Miss Stevens
Director: Julia Hart, Screenwriters: Julia Hart, Jordan Horowitz
Stuck at a crossroads in her personal life, it falls on Miss Stevens to chaperone three of her students — Billy, Margot, and Sam — on a weekend trip to a drama competition. Cast: Lily Rabe, Timotheé Chalamet, Lili Reinhart, Anthony Quintal, Rob Huebel, Oscar Nuñez (World Premiere)

The Other Half (Canada)
Director/Screenwriter: Joey Klein
A grief-stricken man and a bipolar woman fall in love and try to forge a simple life together. Cast: Tom Cullen, Tatiana Maslany, Suzanne Clement, Henry Czerny, Mark Rendall, Deragh Campbell, Nancy Palk (World Premiere)

A Stray
Director/Screenwriter: Musa Syeed
Trying to outrun his bad luck, a young Muslim refugee in Minneapolis seems like he just might make it — until he crosses paths with a stray dog. Cast: Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed , Christina Baldwin, Ayla, Fathia Absie, Jamaal “Happy Khalif” Farah, Abdullahi Haji-Mohamed, Ifrah Mansour, Rhiana Yazzie, George McCauley (World Premiere)

Transpecos
Director: Greg Kwedar, Screenwriters: Greg Kwedar, Clint Bentley
For three US Border Patrol agents, the contents of one car reveal an insidious plot within their own ranks. The next 24 hours may cost them their lives. Cast: Johnny Simmons, Gabriel Luna, Clifton Collins, Jr. (World Premiere)

Ten world premieres: ten real world stories that demonstrate innovation, energy, and bold voices. Selected from 1,013 feature documentary submissions in 2016.

Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America
Director: Matt Ornstein
Daryl Davis has an unusual hobby. As a musician, he has played with legends like Chuck Berry and Little Richard, but in his spare time he likes to meet and befriend members of the Ku Klux Klan. Join Daryl on his personal quest to understand racism. (World Premiere)

Alive and Kicking
Director/Screenwriter: Susan Glatzer
Alive and Kicking gives the audience an intimate, insider’s view into the culture of the current swing dance world while shedding light on issues facing modern American society. (World Premiere)
* SXsports screening

Best and Most Beautiful Things
Director: Garrett Zevgetis
In a celebration of outcasts everywhere, a precocious young blind woman disappears into quirky obsessions and isolation. With humor and bold curiosity, she chases love and freedom in the most unexpected of places: a provocative fringe community. (World Premiere)

Goodnight Brooklyn – The Story of Death By Audio
Director: Matthew Conboy
Death By Audio, an underground art and music venue, is forced to close in 2014. The film focuses on the struggles of maintaining a community in the face of Brooklyn property development, hostile construction workers, and a one billion-dollar company. (World Premiere)

Here are some highlights from last years festival.

• Popcorn
• Chair
• Movies
• Poured coke on friend.