Cucalorus screening response

          On Sunday, November 16^th, Kevin and I met up and attended the showing of the documentary Happy Valley. The film was directed by Amir Bar-Lev (who was not in attendance at the event). I hadn’t heard or read anything about the film, apart from a short plot summary, prior to the screening. The documentary’s focus was the 2011 Penn State scandal involving renowned assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky, and legendary head football coach, Joe Paterno. The narrative was created through primary interviews with Jerry Sandusky’s adopted son, Joe Paterno’s wife and sons, and a former Penn State student (and former Penn State football fan) who had attended the university during the scandal. There was also plenty of footage from Penn State’s campus and community, as well as found footage of news broadcasts and television interviews incorporated throughout the film to help shape the narrative and a set a tone for the documentary.

            In terms of professionalism, access to locations, range of pertinent interview subjects, and overall quality, I thought the film was very successful. These elements were combined well to produce an emotionally and visually effective film. It was a timely piece, and looked and sounded great (which is probably why Cucalorus labeled it a “premium” screening, and admission was $15 instead of $10). Kevin and I seemed to be the college student minority in the audience, as most attendees appeared to be around retirement age. A handful of audience members were actually decked out in Penn State garb, and did the “WE ARE—PENN STATE” chant right before and after the screening.

            The only part of the film I didn’t think was quite as effective as it could have been was the ending—like, literally the last few seconds before the credits began. There were, I think, two or three “updates” at the end of the film and only one (from what I remember) was about an interview subject; the last update was about Sandusky’s adopted son, Matt, and then the text cut away to Matt building something in his garage while his kids played around him and a quirky, upbeat bluegrass-type ballad played through the credits. I wasn’t sure what the filmmaker was trying to make the audience think/feel with this ending, but it felt like a bit of an odd departure from the tone of the rest of the film. Overall, I did enjoy the film and was glad I had the opportunity to see it.

Festivals to Submit to

DC Independent Film Festival (FREE)

http://dciff-indie.org/

This festival attracted us because it welcomes work from student filmmakers. It offers free submissions for students (who submit before the early bird deadline), which is awesome, and it welcomes short docs (like ours!). It also helps that it’s not too far from us (Washington, DC), so shipping expenses for our film—and potentially future travel expenses (; —wouldn’t be unreasonable.

Indie Grits Film Festival ( REGIONAL)

http://www.indiegrits.com/submit/film-submissions/

This regional festival seeks films that reflect an element of the Southeast. Since Kevin and I live in the Southeast and our film takes place in the Southeast, we figured this could be a good outlet for us. The fest welcomes doc shorts and student films, so it’s great for us. Located in Columbia, SC, this fest is one of the closest ones to us that we’ve found.

The Winnipeg Real to Reel Film Festival

http://www.winnipegfilmfestival.com/

This festival is located in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada), which sounded interesting to us. It welcomes doc shorts, and seeks films that don’t depict nudity, sex, profanity, or violence. A headline from one of their festival posters read, “Cool. Clean. Compelling.” Our short doc is definitely family friendly and is an example of depicting “real life through reel stories,” in accordance with the motto on their website.

 

DIY Film Festival

http://diyfilmfestival.blogspot.com/

The DIY fest takes place year round—which means there is no deadline for submissions—so it’s definitely one to bookmark. They take student submissions, and follow the “do it yourself” philosophy, asserting on their website that “great art can be created without large expenditures.” We definitely didn’t have much of a budget for our film, so I’d say we fit this model. They screen their films year-round in LA, which sounds pretty cool.

Documentary Edge Festival

http://documentaryedge.org.nz/

This fest takes place in New Zealand—which, of course, is appealing on its own. Just by the title alone, we can see that it seeks docs (and, according to their website, doc shorts). Even better is that they are open to student submissions.

Rooftop Films

http://www.rooftopfilms.com/

This fest screens their selections on the rooftops of buildings in NY—how awesome is that?! They seem like a pretty progressive festival that is looking for all types of films. They take doc shorts, and their submission fee is a very reasonable $13.

 

Mini Cinema: Short Film Experience

http://minicinema.tv/submit-film/

This festival runs from January to September, “with a different screening of films every 2 months,” according to their website.  They take all types of shorts, including docs, so that’s good for us. The submission fee is low and they take .MOV files, so a bonus is that we would save on shipping! The fest is in LA, so our film could get a lot of good exposure with audiences there.