Venue Search, New York Cine Radio, & Project Updates

New Venue Search for IndieWorks

Earlier this month, we hosted our very first IndieWorks screening event. The night went really well; filmmakers and film enthusiasts came together to share, enjoy, and connect with local indie film in mind. Through the success of our first event, we're making adjustments to ensure each IndieWorks event can be better than the last.

We're currently looking for a new venue that can hold a larger audience (100 people or more), with a reasonably quiet atmosphere and/or a separate room where we can project multiple screens throughout, so all of our guests can view the films comfortably.  We'd like to reach out to our audience to help us find a fun, local venue to accommodate our guests, with no admission fee, and offer a drink special to those attending the event. 

New York Cine Radio Podcast

Two weeks ago, Christina was featured again on New York Cine Radio Podcast. They spoke about her experiences as writer, director, and producer of 'Summit', as well as crowdfunding, IndieWorks, & 'Kelsey: The Webseries'. It's a great listen for aspiring filmmakers who are approaching their first projects. 

Check out the interview here. 

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'Summit' & 'Kelsey: The Webseries' Updates

We've got some updates on our current projects.

'Summit' is currently in its final ten minutes of its initial rough cut - Whoa, that was quick. We'll have more updates as the next few months approach us, when the film is in its final swing of post-production. 

'Kelsey: The Webseries' is also half-way through production! You can follow along with our production updates through our Facebook page, especially if you've ever wanted to be an extra. We're periodically looking for extras to help us fill in some of our more populated scenes. It's an awesome way to hop onto a set and see a production from behind the curtain and help out indie filmmakers!

We'll be updating on progress of our venue search and our first InsiderSeries episodes as it goes on! 

 - Chris

IndieWorks Kickoff: Thanks for the support!

Hey, everyone!  

This past Wednesday we had our very first IndieWorks film series event over at @Room_54, hosted by Lauren A Kennedy and Tony Curtis. If you're unfamiliar with IndieWorks, it's a monthly film series for emerging filmmakers to showcase their work in front of a large audience, offering an opportunity to discover shorts, find an audience, and build the community. For those who joined us Wednesday night, thank you all very much.

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 is voted upon by the CongestedCat Team by a system rating 8 categories of Story, Dialogue/Writing, Direction, Acting, Cinematography, Sound, Editing, and Production Value. It goes on to screen at our end of the year Best of Fest event.

For the June 2013 lineup, our winning filmmakers were:
    Audience Choice Award:  "5 in 3" Directed by Molly McGaughey.
    Silver Whiskers Award:  "The Sucker" Directed by Katie Carman.

Both films will be featured in our upcoming "IndieWorks: Insider Series", a video series we are featuring on our blog in which we get to know each filmmaker and learn about their creative processes, insight on the industry, upcoming projects, and more! It's another way for us to further our commitment to getting local New York City filmmakers connected to their local community. The series will be released bi-monthly, following each IndieWorks screening event, and hosted by Lauren A Kennedy & Tony Curtis.

July 17th is our next event held in Queens and we hope to see you there with a friend or two! For now, keep an eye out for the upcoming Insider Series and check out the winning films we've embedded below.

The Sucker - A short film by Katie Carman

"5 in 3" Directed by Molly Mcgaughey

The June 2013 lineup is listed here, for those who may have missed the event or want to seek out some of the films and filmmakers.

-Chris

Presenting IndieWorks (Film Series)

Hey Indie Film Community... Listen up!

Just wanted to check in and say "hi" and let you in on something that's kind of a big deal.  eginning in June, we're hosting a film series for the NYC Indie Film Community named "IndieWorks." This film series is something Christina has been wanting to do for some time now, and there's never been a better opportunity than the present to kick things off.

Each month we'll select 10 films to feature, followed by a Q&A session with the filmmakers, and award Audience Choice and Best of Fest awards to the winning shorts. Those winning filmmakers will be featured on video right here discussing their upcoming projects, experiences, and passion for working within the industry. Admission is free, and film submissions are as well.

Let's discover shorts, find an audience, and build the city's indie film community. It's our mission with IndieWorks. Help us achieve it, together. 

For more details, check out the IndieWorks page.

Post-Production & Beyond

Sorry for not updating since our Crash the Superbowl submission, our schedules got insanely hectic after that. We just wrapped production on Summit 3 weeks ago! It was the longest, coldest, and most stressful shoot we’ve ever had here at CongestedCat. But it was also the most rewarding. We learned and accomplished a lot during our 15 day shoot in Massachusetts, and I’m proud to say that our production was, in the end, a huge success! I’m positive that the final product will be impressive and entertaining! If you’d like to find out more about our Summit experience, check out our blog, facebook, and twitter!

Also, some stuff we didn’t get to update you on before leaving for Summit: “Come Here Often?” screened at the Best of 2012- Katra Series Finale on a big screen at the Poet’s Den Theater. It was a great night and I look forward to hopefully more screenings for the film! “House Near the End of the Street,” our Cabin in the Woods Horror Spoof Contest submission, made the top 10 finals! No prize money but still a huge honor! And our Crash the Superbowl submission has had a hugely positive response from viewers. Hopefully next year we make the finals! 

In other news, Kelsey and I have begun pre-production and casting for our comedic web series, “KELSEY.” We’re hoping to begin production in May. If you’d like to audition for a role or interview for a crew position, send us a message. Also, I’ve begun a new venture, not as content creator this time, but as someone who supplies an outlet for other creators to screen their work! I’m starting a monthly film series this summer in Woodside (of Queens County). I’ve brought on team members Kelsey, Lauren, and Ryan to help run the series and select films each month. We’re very excited about this new development and can’t wait to start networking with new filmmakers and screening their work! I’ll be posting updates in the following months about both the webseries and the film series. 

In other other news, “Bohemian Rhapsody: A Short-Sex Musical” and “S.K.A.” were both accepted to the Faux Film Festival in Portland, Oregon! They’re screening on March 30th and 31st respectively. I’m completely out of funds post-Summit. But I’m going to try to come up with the money to take the trip to the festival and do a Q&A for each film. I’ll let you know next month whether or not that’ll be possible. 

Be sure to check back over the next few weeks for updates about all our exciting new developments!

-Christina