Jewish Eye for the Gentile Guy

Fatherland will be touching another international base when it plays in Israel as part of the Jewish Eye World Jewish Film Festival.

Romance in Durango

Just when you (and I) thought Fatherland was done on the festival circuit, I've learned it may have a few screenings left. One will be in March at the Durango Film Festival in Colorado. I believe this is the 22nd festival to screen the film.

For those who haven't been able to attend a festival screening, we will hopefully have some other distribution channels open soon. Whether it be DVD, downloads, whatever - I will post details here.

And seriously, "Romance in Durango" as the title for this post? Put a lot of thought into that one, didn't I? If I were still working at a newspaper, I'd slap myself for that.

Fatherland Distribution / O' Canada

Canadian short film distributor Ouat! Media has acquired the rights to Fatherland, and will be seeking outlets for the film. Ouat! specializes in broadcast and Internet distribution.

You can check back to Fatherland's page at Ouat! Media for details in the future. I'll update here as well, particularly if and when the film is available for purchase or download.

Audience Approval

While Fatherland has likely wrapped its festival run, we learned this week that it was the third-highest rated film by the audience at the Port Townsend Film Festival in September.

Audience awards are notorious for Chicago Machine style ballot stuffing, so this is especially encouraging as nobody affiliated with Fatherland was able to attend this festival. They liked us. They really, really, etc.

There has also been a major development on the distribution front, which I hope to post sometime this weekend.

ISFF Award

Fatherland was named Best Foreign Language Period Piece at this year's International Student Film Festival. The festival ran this weekend in Hollywood. Fellow Chapman film The Vaudevillian took home the Grand Jury Award.

The final scheduled festival screening of Fatherland will be this weekend at the Red Rock Film Festival. In the last year, it has played at more than 20 festivals on three continents. Though I was only able to attend a few of the festivals, it's been gratifying to know that on a given weekend the film is playing in some corner of the world.

As Fatherland winds down its run on the festival circuit, the producers are considering distribution options. We hope to soon be able to announce where the film will be available on DVD and the web.

Red Rock Film Fest

Fatherland will screen in competition at the Red Rock Film Festival, Nov. 13-16. Also screening will be The Vaudevillian, an excellent film from another Chapman grad, Bryan Nest, which I was able to see at the Siouxland Film Festival.

Macedonia, Hollywood and nearly Greece

Fatherland will be screening at the International Cinematographers Film Festival in Macedonia at the end of Sept., as well as the International Student Film Festival Hollywood in November.

The film was also selected for the Short Film Festival in Drama in Greece, but won't be screening due to some logistical issues. But hey, it's always nice to be invited.

Big Bear Film Festival

In honor of Fatherland's upcoming screening at the Big Bear Film Festival, here's a picture of a big bear.

Temecula and Europe

A few new bits of Fatherland news: Fatherland will be screening at the Temecula Valley International Film & Music Festival in September. Also, programmers for several European festivals who saw the film at Cannes have expressed interest, so we anticipate more screenings on The Continent in the coming months.

Fatherland dances with Dances With Films

Fatherland will screen July 29 at the Dances With Films festival, at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in Los Angeles.

And with this news comes a flood of memories, as the Laemmle Sunset was our go-to spot for independent films and a few painful Q&A's. (Is there any other kind?)

Walking up from the parking lot, we'd have to pass this gym that was always being used by at least a few really exaggerated "LA types." Think skin tanned like leather and 60-year-old men and women with closets full of spandex.

I can only hope a few of them will step off their elipticals and walk upstairs to watch Fatherland.

Interrobang Film Festival in Des Moines

Fatherland will screen Friday and Saturday at the Interrobang Film Festival. We were also awarded an honorable mention in the Pro/Pro-Am Short category.

Screenings will be Friday at 4pm and Saturday at 5:15pm in the Pappajohn Center. Fatherland will be part of a 1 hour block of other professional shorts. Other films screen throughout the three days of the Des Moines Arts Festival, including Andy Brodie's End of the Sawdust Trail. All screenings are free.

As of right now, I plan to attend the Saturday night screening. If you see me, say hello.

Now playing in Jacksonville and Cannes

Fatherland continues its reign over the state of Florida with yet another festival screening - tonight at the Jacksonville Film Festival. I think this marks the fifth festival appearance in The Sunshine State.

This week also begins Fatherland's screening at the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner. Helpful tip for anyone flipping through the Cannes website - if you click the Union Jack at the top of the page, it will translate itself into English. This would have saved a lot of time while I was filling out my contact info, trying to figure out if Godar was my nom or my prenom.

Newport Beach Recap

Fatherland played to a good sized house at the Newport Beach Film Fest on Friday night, less than half of whom were family, crew or friends of the production. The 8:15pm slot was pretty cherry, though there were other notable films screening at the same time.

We were part of a program of four war-related shorts that the programmers titled "Full Metal Jacket." I was kind of hoping there would be a least a few walk-outs who came expecting the Kubrick film. It was a cohesive program but man, watching that much war is a bit of a downer. I think we could have used a quirky romance somewhere in the middle. As the program ended, everyone dried their eyes and Rob and I participated in a brief Q&A. The filmmakers were all relatively brief and humble, which may be a first in Q&A history.

The festival continues through this week, but I really enjoyed the bit I was able to attend. My favorite film also happened to be the first I saw - a sensitive and suspenseful short from South Africa called Small Killing.

I spent the last part of my time in SoCal visiting good friends that we see far too little of. It was a real thrill to be back in the area, and I was reminded of many of the great and some of the not-so-great things about that place. But as a visitor, it's much easier to just relax and enjoy the things that make Los Angeles unique.

Fatherland at Cannes

I recently learned Fatherland will be screening at next month's Cannes Film Festival, as part of the Short Film Corner. In addition to any scheduled screenings, films in the Short Film Corner are available for viewing on-demand by festival goers.

I just created an online profile with the festival and don't know too many more details at this point.

Ben's new French phrase of the week: Etas Unis - which means United States!

Next week, learn how to say: Your visual flourishes can't hide the complete absence of narrative.

More South Florida Screenings

Fatherland will be making its third appearance in the Miami area, May 6-11 at the Delray Beach Film Festival. It previously screened at the Miami and Palm Beach International fests.

Eddy Award

Fatherland screened to a great crowd at the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival and was awarded the Silver Eddy in the Pro-Am Short category.

I was able to introduce and watch the screening on Friday night, which looked and sounded great. Sincere thanks to those who stopped by to watch. There seemed to be many at the festival to see the films, and not just to support a film they were involved in. That made the screening much more gratifying as a filmmaker.

I regret that I wasn't able to stick around for Saturday and see more of the films, which sound varied and interesting. I hope to go back next year.

More Southern California Screenings

Fatherland will be screening at the Riverside International Film Festival on April 20th.

Also, I've learned the screening at Newport Beach will be at 8:15pm on Friday, April 25th. I'll be at the screening, as will Robert, and would love to see any familiar faces from the Left Coast.

Viva Siouxland

At the last minute, I made it up to Sioux City Saturday for Fatherland's premiere screening in the great state of Iowa.

The Siouxland Film Festival is a great exhibition of work by regional filmmakers and grad students from across the country. Unlike most festivals, it's really more about providing an enjoyable screening for the public. There's no workshops, Q & A's, nor even introductions of the filmmakers. Instead, the films are just screened back to back in the beautiful setting of the Orpheum Theater. I'd estimate the crowd at at least 300, and unlike many festivals, most of those were NOT friends and family of the filmmakers.

I was very happy with how Fatherland looked and was received by the audience. It was the first time I've seen in on the big screen, and I couldn't have hoped for nicer venue. I was also really impressed with the two other films from Chapman University - Making a Killing and especially The Vaudevillian.

Sioux City! Tomorrow Night!

Looks like the Iowa premiere of Fatherland won't be next Friday in Cedar Rapids - it will be tomorrow (Saturday) night in Sioux City, at the historic Orpheum Theater for the Siouxland Film Festival.

In addition to Fatherland, the program includes End of the Sawdust Trail from the talented Andy Brodie, and several films by fellow Chapman Alums. Take that, AFI! That's how we roll, OC style!

CR Screening

Screenings of Fatherland at the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival have been scheduled.

It will be shown Friday night, April 4, at 7:52 pm in Theater C, and Saturday afternoon at 2:46pm in Theater A. Further details are on the festival's website.

I'll be there, so if you come out to the screening please say hello. I'll be the guy introducing the film and then evaluating everyone's reaction.