Urbanworld Film Festival: INSPIRING!

Hi from Christina B!

A week ago today, we had our world premiere at the Urbanworld Film Festival in NYC. We couldn't have asked for a better festival to be included in. I can't say enough how INSPIRING the fest was! For the folks unable to join us in New York, i just wanted to share a few of the many highlights of my trip to Urbanworld.

JT composer Mike L. and dir. Christina B. at premiere

All-Access is AH-MAZING

Urbanworld grants each selected film (2) all-access passes. I, along with our composer, Mike L., were able to gain entry to all screenings, panels, and after-parties. Not too shabby, if I can say so myself. It was my first time attending a fest as a selected filmmaker, which is very different from attending as a patron or volunteer. The All-Acess badge also makes it a lot easier to start a conversation: "Do you have a film in the festival?" WHY, YES I DO!

CAUTION: Film Overload

I honestly don't think I ever spent an entire day watching films. One the second day of the fest, I know for a fact that I arrived at the 34th St. AMC at 11am and left at 11:30pm. Sounds crazy, right. I definitely caught the festival fever. Of course, I wasn't able to see EVERY film at Urbanworld. But I sure tried. Titles to look out for on the big screen or Netflix include: Love Arranged by Soniya Kirpalani (doc), Make A Movie Like Spike by Jamil Smith, Brooklyn Boheme by Nelson George (doc), Yelling to the Sky by Victoria Mahoney, Kinyarwanda by Alrick Brown and All Things Fall Apart by Mario Van Peebles.

Friends with (Film) Benefits

As a humble recent film grad screening her student film alongside some of the most prime players in today's cinema, I can admit I was very intimidated at the festival. Would my hands shake as I gave out my business card? Did I say the wrong screening time. Oh boy. Luckily, my nerves were quickly calmed. The Urbanworld filmmakers are great, nice, down-to-earth folks from every part of the globe in every field of media! Every corner I was greeted with smiles and sincere advice about how to make the most out of the festival and the ever-changing film business we're all a part of.

Meeting filmmaker Ava DuVernay

Welcome to Free Film School

That's truly the best way to sum up the festival experience. I learned something new everyday! Nuggets of gold from the digital day panels included: A) Distributors want you to prove that as an indie producers you have an engaged audience following your content. Numbers do matter! B) When it comes to web content, what matters most is STORY, PERFORMANCE, and AUDIENCE. It doesn't have to be as slick and sleek as "The Kardashians". C) In the constant battle between creating films because of passion or profit, Passion will get you, your crew, and your project much farther and the profit will meet you in the end because your work will have heart.

THE PREMIERE

Well, that's what brought me to NYC, after all! We were fortunate enough to raffle off our complimentary tickets to both the Friday and Saturday premiere to our Ithaca College alumni supporters who were in town. It was so wonderful to see all their smiling faces in the theater. "JT" had the honor of being included in the longest Shorts Block of the festival (2 whole hours) with some of the most amazing films I've seen. After snapping several photos on the RED CARPET and with our movie poster, we made our way into the theater. I have to say that was the biggest screen I've ever seen our film projected on and it felt great. There were no technical difficulties, thank goodness. The audience even laughed at the funny parts. YAY! Afterwards the Q&A was very informative, especially as a screening filmmaker. I learned the backstory of my peers films and got to answer questions about my own. The audience's overall questions and compliments were of Cynthia B's performance which I can never hear too much of. She was a hit, as always!

For photos galore, please visit our album HERE. Below is a snippet of the screening Q&A.

Urbanworld was overall an amazing festival and I hope I'm fortunate enough to come back next year. As for "Jemila's Tale", we're onward to the Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival on Oct. 15th & 16th in NYC. Please visit http://www.reelsisters.org/filmFestival2011.htm for more info. Hope to see you there!

Cheers,

Christina

Jemila's Tale featured in Hearty Magazine!

Following our world premiere at Urbanworld, Jemila's Tale has been featured at Hearty Magazine.
Check out the full article here!

We're featured on BUST Magazine Blog!

Hey there,

It's been a mad dash of social networking and word-of-mouth to let everyone know about our upcoming premiere at the Urbanworld Film Festival this weekend. So it's always a great thing to have connections in all realms of media too! Luckily the JT Team received great (and free) press from supporter and c/o 2011 classmate, Casey Krosser, who's a blogger for BUST Magazine. Thanks again to Casey for the shout-out!

Check out Casey's post here: "Go See "Jemila's Tale" at the Urbanworld Film Festival: Support Women's Indie Film"

Here are the screening details: We're in Shorts Block 2 on Fri. 9/16 @ 4:30pm, Theater 9 AND Sat. 9/17 @ 3:45pm, Theater 9 at 34th St. AMC Theater in NYC. Tickets are available now online HERE!

If you can't make it in person, no worries. You can still LIKE us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to get the whole festival experience at your fingertips.

So excited....!!!

Announcing Jemila's Tale at the Urbanworld Festival!

Announcing the world premiere of Jemila's Tale at the Urbanworld Film Festival September 14-18th 2011 in New York City!

The official Urbanworld Jemila's Tale info page: http://urbanworld.com/2011/Jemilas_Tale.html

Check out more at on Urbanworld.com.

Writer/Director Christina L. Bryant and Composer Mike Ladacoueur will be attending the festival, so look out NYC - here we come!

Stay tuned here for updates that are sure to come.

Allie's Festival Picks - Part 2

Part two of my previous festival submission post. These are the ambitious picks:

Festival de Cannes, May 2012

We have fellow Ithaca Class of 2011 grad Brad Collins to thank for the inspiration to submit Jemila’s Tale to the Cannes Shorts Corner. His thesis film, Love Potion, was accepted in the festival held in Cannes, France in May 2011 in the short films corner. We’re submitting to the 2012 festival in the same category.

"Organized by the Festival de Cannes, the Short Film Corner is the essential rendez-vous for filmmakers. Since 2004, short film producers and directors have chosen the Short Film Corner as the place to present their films, make meetings reality and take decisive steps for their future careers."

"The Short Film Corner hands you an annual, tailor-made program of industry meets, workshops and conferences that deal with strategic issues. You will benefit from all the advantages of being a Festival de Cannes accredited attendee, from being able to access the Marché du Film exhibitors or those in the Village International. You will also be able to network with all the biggest industry players: institutions, financiers and the most important international reps in the film business.

Your film will benefit from a prime viewing position within the Short Film Corner, and you will be able to take advantage by meeting professionals. Our daily meeting, facilitated by prestigious speakers, workshops and themed conferences will ensure you to get a greater knowledge and improved professional potential. Each day you will get the opportunity to participate to a wide range of events not to be missed as workshops, round tables, happy hours, etc.

Your participation the Short Film Corner will increase the chances of seeing your film selected by international festivals, as well as revealing your talent to potential partners and diffusers.
When you take part in the Short Film Corner, you get to benefit from a tool that is specifically designed to build bridges between the worlds of short and feature films."

Slamdance, January 2012

Because, why not? Slamdance is about celebrating being a filmmaker. Even the festival tagline is “For Filmmakers, By Filmmakers.” We’re filmmakers who made a small film about big ideas that celebrates the creation of story and life. So why not?

The submission process for festivals was about creating a balance between my hopes and dreams and a realistic view of where Jemila’s Tale fits into the wide world of filmmaking. Between big ticket submissions to festivals like Slamdance and Cannes, and some smaller specialty festivals like Kids First! I hope we’ve found our place.

And now we wait!

We’ll let you know when we get the good news!

Allie