The LA Film Festival is coming June 16-26 and the screenings are now posted on their web site so you can take a look and start to plan your festival experience. The gala screenings sound terrific.

A Better Life is the poignant, suspenseful tale of an illegal immigrant in LA struggling to build a better life for his beloved son.

Ryan Gosling in Drive, one of the gala selections at the upcoming 2011 LA Film Festival

Ryan Gosling is a stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver in Drive, a robbery that goes desperately wrong. Brutal and beautiful, Nicholas Winding Refn’s film noir is as black as they come.

I am also planning to check out some pre screenings including Somewhere Between – (DIRECTOR/PRODUCER Linda Goldstein Knowlton) – Coming of age in America is complicated by questions of self identity and family in this intimate look into the lives of four teenage girls, all united by one thing: They all were adopted from China.

I can’t believe how much has happened since last year, and since the 2009 festival in Westwood. We are huge advocates of FIND. We thought LAFF was a great opportunity to connect with other filmmakers and people involved in the industry, so we’ve decided to continue our Film Independent (FIND) membership as well.

I always advise filmmakers to take advantage of social media to launch their films. Every film should have a Twitter and Facebook page. If you don’t know how to use social media professionally, find a consultant who does or do your homework. You’ll have such an advantage if you can communicate with your potential audience, fans, and followers, and even the press, not just bloggers but mainstream journalists. I would also highly recommend contests as a great way to spread the word and reward people for following or even finding you online. You could give away something as simple as a pair of tickets, movie schwag with the film title, or in some cases, props from the movie, although props are probably most valued if you have recognizable talent.

The funny ladies of Boom Chick Boom do it again with this spoof on Chris Brown and Ike Turner. Hayden was the DP for this sketchisode.

Hayden was DP for this sketchisode from the talented Boom Chick Boom ladies on KoldCast TV.

We are so excited about working with the talented chicks of BoomChickBoom. Sign up for their new web series on KoldCast TV and spread the word!

After we saw Kevin Smith at the Avid Booth, we had a great time looking at equipment and catching up with ProductionHub and Film Independent yesterday. Flying Cam quoted us a cool million on their mini helicopters that fly with 10 pounds of camera equipment for 30 minutes. You actually get two copters for that price, so you’ll always hopefully have a working unit on set.

Also met Chandler, Arizona-based CamMate Systems, who have been making cranes for the industry for 16 years. The biggest difference between them and their competition is that they don’t have any wires that can get tangled when you are doing a 360 degree shoot.

We also stopped at the Bavaria booth to hear more about shooting there. Thanks to those folks who were so helpful that they’ve already shared some contact info for funders in Germany.

It was fun seeing filmmaker, Kevin Smith, in person for the first time today at NAB in Vegas. I spoke to him last fall right before he was going to do Red State and there was no sign back then that he was thinking of retiring from film. I was pitching another project and had called the office back after five p.m. on Friday to try to reschedule a shoot with his people. Instead a familiar male voice answered.

“View Askew,” he said.
“Is this Kevin?” I stammered. What can I say? I’m a big fan of his and it was a surprise to be speaking to him live.

I wanted to tell him that he had inspired me to go into the business, that I thought he was funny, that I couldn’t wait to see his next film. or even better, pitch him on collaborating with me on An Unbroken Chain, my passion project, a feature aimed at sixteen year old boys. That I was always so impressed by his raw honesty and fearlessness. Instead I tried to play it cool and told him I was calling to schedule him in a comedy project I was helping produce. I figured I would wait and meet him in person and tell him all that stuff then.

However, the other producer put the project on hold when he went out of the country.

Today at the Avid booth, Kevin shared about his decision to stop making films which I heard in his Smodcast and read in the LA Weekly recent cover story. I couldn’t help thinking that he’s making a mistake, or that he’ll maybe soon change his mind. He also said that sharing rough cuts with his cast and crew helped make a better film, one of the best tips he’s ever given, I think, in all his podcasts and Q&A’s, and I’ve been listening for awhile. Thanks, Kevin for all the inspiration and laughs. Good luck with your new venture, SIR (Smodcast Internet Radio, of course. )

I have been scared to leave my MacBook home on a trip and yet so tempted.. Today I am attempting my first blog on just the IPad and an iPhone. Issue one, easily retrieving pix from iPhone. Then it’s a huge pain to look up the irks for each company I’d like to link so I’m skipping that step in order to post in a more timely way.

So many cool things today. We went to the Canon booth to confirm that there’s no new cameras, so if you use the 5D and 7D, relax.. At least for now. The rep suggested that the issues in Japan could continue to cause manufacturing issues/ delays as with the current iPad 2 backup.

We listened to Alex Buono at Canon. as I tweeted, he used the 5D to shoot the opening for SNL as well as Detroit 187.. Also, Alex mentioned a cool Sunseeker iphone app that tells you where the sunlight will fall anywhere in the world.

Saw some cool glasses at Hoodman that flip up one at a a time for the camera peeps.

It was cool to see Shane Hurlbut A.S.C. all over the RedRockMicro and Tiffen booths..

More to come. Excited to see Kevin Smith at Avid and stop by the Film Independent booth tomorrow.

p.s. I cheated and posted the pic w/ H’s laptop!

Lois Chooljian of Radio Ink receives KickButt sales rep Inky Award

We attended the INKYs, a relatively new award ceremony for media covering media technology at announced Sunday evening during the NAB Show in Las Vegas. Nominees were allowed to be submitted by any industry person at no charge during the nomination process at the beginning of 2011. Winners were chosen by a judging committee from the nominees in each category. Heavy weight was given to nominees with strong written entries vs. number of submissions entered. Following is the list of 2011 winner, by category.

Excellent Editor (Radio)
Paul McLane of Radio World

Excellent Editor (Television / Print / USA)
Tom Butts of TV Technology

Excellent Editor (Television / Online / USA)
Harry Jessell of TVNewsCheck

Excellent Editor (Television / International)
Mark Hallinger of TV Technology Europe & Asia Pacific

Excellent Editor (All Other Categories)
David Keene of Digital Signage

Stupendous Staff Reporter or Writer
James O’Neal of TV Technology

Fab Freelancer
John Bisset of Radio World

Kick Butt Sales Rep (Radio)
Lois Chooljian of Radio Ink

Kick Butt Sales Rep (Television)
Vytas Urbonas

Unsung Behind The Scenes Hero (Television)
Caroline Freeland of New Bay Media

Unsung Behind The Scenes Hero (Radio)
Erin Shipps of Radio Magazine

During the awards ceremony, The INKYs Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Stevan B. Dana,
founder of IMAS Publishing that created benchmark publications brands such as Radio World and TV
Technology.

This year, the reception was also dedicated to the memory of Art Constantine, a fabulously fun industry colleague who was killed with his with his wife, Lisa Schub, during a motorcycle crash with a police cruiser on March 19, 2011 in New Jersey.

Celia Vine is the partner company for The INKYs this year while BeattheTraffic, DekTec, OneDomain, and StorerTV are sponsored The INKYs. ATI is sponsored the reception in memory of Art, specifically.

We met one of the DekTec guys and look forward to coming to the booth to check out their stuff.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) announced today that it has entered into a partnership with Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival.  As a result of the museum’s analysis and strategic planning process (funded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association) over the past year around its current film program, Film Independent was identified as an ideal partner for its film series.  The collaboration combines LACMA’s efforts in presenting film within an encyclopedic art historical context with Film Independent’s strong relationships with filmmakers and expertise in building audiences and developing programs for a wide spectrum of films.  The partnership is effective immediately, with new programming to begin in September 2011.

LACMA and Film Independent are also thrilled to have The New York Times as the sole Presenting Sponsor of the new Film Series.  As a national newspaper that has long offered extensive coverage of films and filmmakers, this collaboration will serve to establish a larger cultural presence in Los Angeles for The New York Times.

LACMA and Film Independent will inaugurate the new weekly Film Series in September 2011 with previews of feature-length narrative and documentary films; archival films and repertory series; conversations with emerging and established filmmakers and artists; international showcases; family films; and special guest-curated programs. In addition, monthly post-screening receptions will bring together the Los Angeles creative community by offering a gathering place for film lovers, artists and the general public. The current LACMA film program, as well as Film Independent’s year-round Film Series will continue through mid-September.  Additionally, LACMA will continue its Tuesday matinee series and film programs presented in conjunction with special exhibitions.

Film Independent, has launched a new Documentary Lab, sponsored by Latino Public Broadcasting, with 14 filmmakers and 9 projects participating. Taking place in Los Angeles, the Documentary Lab is an intensive seven-week program, with a main focus of assisting documentary filmmakers on their works-in-progress and providing creative feedback.

The Documentary Lab Mentors include filmmakers Laura Gabbert (No Impact Man), Scott Hamilton Kennedy (The Garden), Doug Pray (Art & Copy), AJ Schnack (Convention), Sundance Film Festival Senior Programmer Caroline Libresco, and producers Heather Rae (Frozen River) and Eddie Schmidt (Troubadours). Guest speakers include filmmakers Jen Arnold (A Small Act), Jeff Malmberg (Marwencol), Chicken & Egg’s Julie Benello, Paradigm Consulting’s Peter Broderick, Donaldson & Callif LLP’s Michael Donaldson, Latino Public Broadcasting’s Luis Ortiz, and ITVS’ Richard Saiz.

Some of the 2011 Documentary Lab filmmakers and their projects are:

1. Above the Fold – A one-hour documentary about a group of young Latino journalists who responded to negative portrayals of Latinos in the Los Angeles Times by writing their own stories. Working against the resistance of their editors, they were vindicated in 1984 when they became the first Latino group to win the Pulitzer Prize. Roberto Gudiño is a Los Angeles based documentarian and has won numerous awards. His documentary about a coffee cooperative that helps alleviate illegal immigration, Just Coffee, was awarded the UA Centennial Achievement Award and has gone onto to screen in numerous national and international festivals. Below the Fold garnered him an Imagen Award nomination and the prestigious Directors Guild of America Jury Prize. Roberto was selected by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to shoot Burning the Midnight Oil, a documentary commissioned as part of their ongoing “Storyteller Initiative.” He is currently developing, directing and co-producing Above the Fold for television, and is also in Film Independent’s Project:Involve.

2. Call Me Kuchu – Four LGBT Ugandans fight for justice and freedom on the frontlines of Africa’s gay rights movement. At once tragic and hopeful, this is their story. Katherine Fairfax Wright graduated from Columbia University with a double major in Anthropology and Film. She is the producer of Gabi On the Roof In July, which premiered at Cinequest 2010, and won Best Narrative Feature and Best Actress at the Brooklyn Film Festival. Weaned on a school of vérité filmmakers, she has worked closely with Nelson Walker, Fellipe Barbosa, and Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt. She associate-produced Perlmutt and Walker’s award-winning Lumo, which aired on P.O.V. Wright also associate-produced Perlmutt’s Les Vulnerables, the closing short at New York Film Festival 2007. Wright has worked in a producing role on five other films and she is an award-winning photographer. Malika Zouhail-Worrall is a print and video journalist whose work has been published in The Financial Times and at CNN.com. She has reported for CNN.com from India, Uganda, China and the U.S., including a feature article on the lack of workplace rights for transgender employees in the U.S. That story was told through the painful experiences of a transman who transitioned from female to male while working at a Connecticut factory. Zouhali-Worrall graduated with a BA from Cambridge University and an MA in International Affairs from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po).

3. Gravity – This is the awe-inspiring and touching love story of Carl and Jean Boenish, a young couple who invented the sport of B.A.S.E. jumping. Marah Strauch graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a dual degree in film and glass art, studied filmmaking and screenwriting at NYU and The New School, and recently attended Werner Herzog’s Rogue Film School. She has directed over a dozen short films (NU, Ghoul of My Dreams, Avenue C, Free Form), many of which toured the festival circuit and were shown in galleries nationwide. Marah has been writing, researching, developing and shooting Gravity for over four years, and recently completed restoration of the entire catalogue of Carl Boenish’s pre-B.A.S.E. jumping skydive films. Gravity was recently selected for Film Independent’s Fast Track program at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Marah is also a well-respected commercial and documentary editor/producer, and recently edited a national campaign for American Express, which featured documentary-style portraits of well-known tennis players Billie Jean King, Venus Williams and John McEnroe.

4. The Light in Her Eyes – In a world rarely seen by outsiders, Houda al-Habash empowers women by teaching Qur’an at her mosque in Damascus, Syria. The story of one summer at Houda’s school reveals why women are choosing Islam in a rapidly changing world. Julia Meltzer has directed and produced 5 award-winning documentary projects. Her video work with David Thorne, including It’s Not My Memory of It, We Will Live to See These Things and Not a Matter of If But When has been awarded prizes at the European Media Arts Festival, Transmediale, and the Rio de Janeiro Short Film Festival. Recent art work has been exhibited at Modern Art Oxford, Steve Turner Gallery, HomeWorks IV in Beirut, and the 2008 Whitney Biennial. She is a recipient of grants from Art Matters, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, the Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowship Fund, the Guggenheim Foundation, and was a Fulbright Fellow in Damascus, Syria in 2005-06. She is a fluent Spanish speaker and proficient in Arabic (Levantine spoken dialect). Laura Nix recently produced the documentary festival hit The Yes Men Fix the World and is currently a writer on the documentary California State of Mind: The Legacy of Pat Brown, about the former governor. Her non-fiction work has been shown on HBO, IFC, Planet Green and the History Channel, in addition to international DVD distribution. She is the writer and director of the narrative feature The Politics of Fur, which played in over 70 film festivals internationally, and won numerous awards including the Grand Jury Prize at Outfest. In 2001, Laura co-founded the production company Automat Pictures, where she produced and/or directed over 100 presentations, including the feature documentary Whether You Like It Or Not: The Story of Hedwig. Previously, she was a member of Oscar-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s production team as Associate Producer of The Celluloid Closet.

For the entire list of filmmakers, visit FIND’s web site.