amy depaola
Our episode of Pink Among Men is out now! We talked creative processes, our feature, About a Donkey, and how we navigated the festival circuit to bring this enlightening film to audiences across America. Give it a listen!
Last Tuesday was a special night at IndieWorks! We celebrated the conclusion of our 6th year! Between watching the 9 fantastic films, mingling with the talented filmmakers, and engaging with the wonderful audience, we had a ton of fun! In total, we had over 70 people in attendance and it was clear the crowd enjoyed the lineup. We hope new connections were made! There was, unfortunately, some bar noise towards the end of the night, but thankfully it didn’t disrupt the films as a whole. Please know that we’re addressing this behind the scenes and will be making an announcement regarding our venue very soon!
To all of the incredible people involved in this community who submit their work, attend our monthly series, follow our content, and spread the word of anything IndieWorks... we truly thank you. It's been another great year of innovative, local films and filmmakers.
Six years ago, Christina decided she wanted to create a monthly film series for local independent filmmakers to showcase and discuss their work with an audience and connect with their (our) peers in a friendly, supportive, engaging and still encouragingly competitive environment. Sure enough, we made it happen and it has grown into something so wonderful, more so than we could have imagined over the past six years. It's been a real passion project from our team, and we hope it has stayed true to the ideals of helping independent filmmakers find an audience and build a network & community of likeminded, productive & talented individuals. Thank you all for being part of it! We're honored to screen & support your work!
The full lineup & nominations can be found in our previous post.
AUDIENCE CHOICE: "Adult" (Tatienne Hendricks-Tellefsen & Cynthia Silver) - Wins $50 towards a Seed&Spark campaign, a free one-year subscription to Seed&Spark’s streaming platform, and script coverage from the CongestedCat team of one future short screenplay.
BEST EDITING: "Goodbye Old Friend" (Rafael De Leon Jr) - Wins $50 towards a Seed&Spark campaign, a free one-year subscription to Seed&Spark’s streaming platform, and script coverage from the CongestedCat team of one future short screenplay.
BEST ENSEMBLE: "Her Being Home" (Ellie Gravitte) - Wins $50 towards a Seed&Spark campaign, a free one-year subscription to Seed&Spark’s streaming platform, and script coverage from the CongestedCat team of one future short screenplay.
BEST WRITER/DIRECTOR: "AMYDEE" (Amy DePaola - Wins $50 towards a Seed&Spark campaign, a free one-year subscription to Seed&Spark’s streaming platform, and script coverage from the CongestedCat team of one future short screenplay.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY (Adam Volerich) & GOLDEN WHISKERS (BEST OF FEST): "We Were Kids" (Adam Taylor (Pictured: Marquis Wood)) - Wins (collectively) $250 towards a Seed&Spark campaign, a free one-year subscription to Seed&Spark’s streaming platform, a 1TB G-drive, an hour production, post-production, or marketing phone consultation from 4milecircus., script coverage from the CongestedCat team of two future short screenplays, and a day of social media promotion from the CongestedCat team.
See all the fun we had and testimonials from the filmmakers below!
Check out the recaps from ALL 10 SCREENINGS of Year 6 of IndieWorks.
As we take next month as an opportunity to go out and make things, we hope you will too. Our 7th Year of IndieWorks kicks off in June on the 11th, with our Pride-themed screening -- so keep in touch & stay up to date through our social media accounts. We want to see YOU at the next screening!
Be sure to submit your films on our IndieWork page, and watch episodes of our Insider Series with the monthly Winners from all 6 years to get more insight into their screened films & upcoming work. Also, films that are available for free online from ALL 6 years are watchable on our Past Films page.
Last Tuesday was the December edition of IndieWorks! We screened 5 films and had over 50 people in house. The first set of films were mixed-medium pieces about overcoming trauma, and the second set were lighter pieces that both somewhat touched on creating art & expression. The lineup as a whole was moving and encouraging. The audience was wonderfully engaged; and, thanks to some positive adjustments by our venue after last month’s unfortunately rowdy bar crowd, the evening was immersive and sparked a lot of thoughtful conversation.
We'd like to say thank you to everyone who came out to support the filmmakers and spend the evening with us & them. We do hope you enjoyed the films, as well as the opportunity to network with other filmmakers and film enthusiasts. We know some connections were made! AND we hope you'll join us again for our January screening on 8th! It’ll be an eclectic mix of narrative films exploring tense relationships, finding one’s path, and surprising discoveries.
See photos from the evening:
The Films of the night:
The Mole (Directed by Nina Gielen, Written by Steffan Triplette)
A visualized poem about identity, marginalization, and bitter-sweet memories of childhood. Created as part of the Visible Poetry Project.
For a Better Life (Written & Directed by Yasmin Mistry)
Sold for $100 at the age of 5, Fekri suffers through years of abuse before his plight is discovered. After almost a year of hospitalization and therapy Fekri moves into a group home where he finds support, mentorship, and eventual forgiveness towards the family which sold him.
AMYDEE (Written & Directed by Amy DePaola)
Since surviving a physical assault on the steps of her apartment, Amy DePaola (30) has been keeping a low profile while visiting a local boxing gym. When a young woman turns up dead in her neighborhood, Amy is forced to face her fears again, revealing that her real fight is far from over.
Encore (Written & Directed by Noah Marthaller)
A woman struggles with her elderly father’s new living situation as his health declines and he clings to his independence.
Unfinished Business (Written & Directed by Nikolai Basarich)
rock bottom rock bottom rock bottom demon rock bottom rock bottom.
Watch our Q&A Recap. *Please know there are some film spoilers - feel free to look for an opportunity to catch the films at a festival or computer screen near you & then come back to watch!
At the end of the evening, we announced our winning filmmakers for both Audience Choice Award & Silver Whiskers Award. The Audience Choice Award is voted upon by all those in attendance, and the Silver Whiskers Award is judged by the CongestedCat Team based on a rating system of 8 categories: Story, Dialogue/Writing, Direction, Acting, Cinematography, Sound, Editing, and Production Value, along with a nuanced discussion focused on inclusion and originality. The Silver Whiskers winner goes on to screen again at our end of year Best of Fest screening next April.
The Silver Whiskers winner also receives $50 towards a crowdfunding campaign on SeedandSpark.com should they use the platform and 50% off 4MileCircus' post-production audio cleaning service for a future project.
For the December 2018 lineup, our winning films were:
Audience Choice Award: "Encore"
Silver Whiskers Award: "AMYDEE"
