IFP Chicago

On October 25th, Fawzia, Brian, and I pitched “Signature Move” at Industry Days, a new event organized by IFP/Chicago and Chicago International Film Festival. “The Pitch,” as they billed it, was a chance for six local filmmaking teams to vie for a handsome package of in-kind services from various Chicago-based film companies. Sort of an “American Idol” or “The Voice” for film projects.

“Signature Move” was lucky to be chosen as one of the six contestants. Ultimately, the $20,000 prize and bragging rights went to Cornbred Films and their project “Oriole Park.” We were excited to walk away with an honorable mention, though, as well as a lot of great feedback from the jurors and the team of industry professionals who helped us prepare the weekend before. Of course, we would have loved to have won the big prize (we did receive a generous in-kind award of free office space from IFP/Chicago), but the lessons learned were in many ways more valuable. Read More

Happy Christmas

Joe Swanberg (in conversation with the Tribune’s Nina Metz) offered a chronological and candid assessment of his career to date last week as part of IFP Chicago’s “75 Minutes With” series.

A fascinating interview with Swanberg on many of the subjects he discussed last night was published online last month by Filmmaker Magazine and can be read here.

Here are a few observations from his IFP Chicago gig.

Metz asked him about his blogging about the making of his films, which she found insightful. He said he did this for his first five films, and that all are still available on the individual film web sites.

The candid sexuality in his early films was a kind of “political statement,” he says, in response to the lack of realistic depictions of the way sex is a part of our lives. Read More

How to (Pre) Sell Your Movie: Lessons Learned at The Pitch @ Industry Days

How Kissing on the Mouth Leads to Happy Christmas: Joe Swanberg Spends 75 Minutes with IFP Chicago