Archive for Festivals

  • Dirty Step Upstage accepted into another festival

    July 18th, 2010

    Funday Sundays is a diversion from the rest of the week.

    We’ve had a lot of movement on the film festival front.  Last week Dirty Step Upstage won Best of Show: Feature Film at The Accolade Competition. And I’ve just found out that Route 66 Film Festival will be showing Dirty Step Upstage on September 17 at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield, Illinois. Moviemaker magazine listed the Route 66 Film Festival as one of the 25 festivals worth the entry fee.

    The Route 66 Film Festival began in 2002 as a part of the Mother Road Festival celebrating the vehicles and history of the famous highway. Their mission is to support and recognize independent filmmakers of all ages and backgrounds. The general theme of the festival is journey, whether emotional, physical, spiritual or personal. And Dirty Step Upstage has been quite the journey.

    Teaser and trailer follow…

    July 18th,2010 Awards, Blogging, Dirty Step Upstage, Events, Festivals, Funday Sundays, Video | Sections: , , , , | No Comments

  • Dirty Step Upstage wins Best of Show Accolade

    July 11th, 2010

    Funday Sundays is a diversion from the rest of the week.

    Funday Sunday indeed. I received a letter from The Accolade Competition announcing that Dirty Step Upstage won Best Of Show, with the quote:

    DIRECTOR AMBER MOELTER EXHIBITS UNIQUE VISION AND APPROACH.

    The Accolade awards go to “filmmakers, television producers and videographers who produce fresh, standout entertainment and compelling documentaries.  The Accolade is an international awards competition that honors those who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity.”

    Dirty Step Upstage was  was one of four films to be bestowed this honor, the other were: Columbia college short film ”Final Revision” , music video ”The Me You See”, and Australian comedy program “Wilfred – Series 2″.

    The letter from Accolade says:

    You can be justifiably proud of winning an Accolade.  The judging standards are high and winning means the craft and creativity exhibited by your entry is outstanding and stands above other productions.

    Many thanks go to my amazing cast and crew, without which this wouldn’t have been possible.

    July 11th,2010 Awards, Blogging, Dirty Step Upstage, Events, Festivals, Funday Sundays | Sections: , , , , | 1 Comment

  • Dirty Step Upstage receives 3 nominations at Washington, D.C. Festival

    June 17th, 2010

    On Theatrical Thursdays I write about movies.

    We just received the news that “Dirty Step Upstage” has garnered three nominations at the World Music & Independent Film Festival: Best Actress for Nova Reid (who already won Best Actress at the Maverick Movie Awards), Best Actor for Tom Wontner (who received a nomination at Maverick Movie Awards), and Best Original Soundtrack (which also had a nomination at the Maverick Movie Awards).

    The awards will be given out on August 21 at their red carpet event at the Capital Hilton, which will welcome special guest stars Louis Gossett, Jr. (An Officer and a Gentleman), Johnny Alonso (Dawson’s Creek/One Tree Hill), Cynthia Rothrock (Shanghai Express) and more. If you are interested in attending you can purchase tickets here. Part of the proceeds will go to the Leukemia and Lyphoma Society as well as an art fund for Foster Children.

    Congratulations go to my talented cast and musicians that contributed to the soundtrack!

    In similar news, Dirty Step Upstage won “Best Drama” Van Gough Award from Amsterdam Film Festival on May 31.  I announced it earlier this month in my newsletter but not on the blog.   You can subscribe to the newsletter here.

    June 17th,2010 Awards, Blogging, Dirty Step Upstage, Events, Festivals, Theatrical Thursdays | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments

  • Dirty Step Upstage receives award at Mexico International Film Festival

    May 1st, 2010

    We just got the news that Dirty Step Upstage is being honored with the Silver Palm award at the Mexico International Film Festival later this month.

    MIFF contacted us with the news that Dirty Step Upstage “demonstrated excellent and outstanding filmmaking and is deserving of special recognition.”

    Sweet!

    May 1st,2010 Awards, Blogging, Dirty Step Upstage, Events, Festivals | Sections: , , , , | 6 Comments

  • ALMT-ThTh: Dirty Step Upstage is in Cannes (and how sales agents work)

    April 8th, 2010

    On ALMT-Theatrical Thursdays I write about movies.

    Just to keep y’all updated, we got the word earlier this week that Dirty Step Upstage has been selected for the Cannes Independent Film Festival. Not to be mistaken for the Festival du Cannes, the CIFF takes place at the same time of year as the most prestigious festival in the world! Recently a sales agent said it was rumored to be like Slamdance is to Sundance.

    Speaking of sales agents, I have had the very pleasant experience of having sales agents come to us! For those new to the film biz, here’s basically how it works:

      1. 1. Make your film.
      2. 2. Research sales agents.  A great way to find out who’s reputable is to check out Film Specific.  I’ve been working with Stacey Parks for about 3 years now and I really trust her judgement.
      3. 3. Visit the agents’ web sites. Watch the trailers.  See what looks like your film: genre, budget, stars (or lack of).  In other words, don’t send a low-budget horror film to an A-list agency.
      4. 4. Email the appropriate sales agents with a direct link to your trailer. A MUST!
      5. 5. At this point you wait a week. Repeat step four.
      6. 6. If the sales agents are interested, they will ask for a screener.
      7. 7. Negotiations follow. Ask Stacey Parks (see step 2) for advise on what kind of deal you want.

    Once you have a sales agent, they’ll take your film to markets, like the Cannes market that happens during the festival (May), Berlinale (Feb), or AFM in Santa Monica (Oct/Nov).  There are other markets too, but those three are the big ones. They’ll set up booths with posters, one sheets and trailers of the films they represent, and the ‘buyers’ will shop. The buyers are distributors. They’ll buy your film rights, probably packaged within a collection of other films, for their territory.  Other factors like Theatrical, Broadcast, VOD (Video On Demand), and the like are part of that deal.

    No one told me it would be this complicated when I set off to make my little story back in 2007. So, imagine my glee when sales agents actually started contacting us, saying they had been keeping an eye on the film.  We’ll probably be selecting our sales agent in the next month or so and I’ll be sure to keep you posted on how that goes. Hopefully we’ll have an agent for Cannes, while the film is playing there.

    April 8th,2010 Blogging, Dirty Step Upstage, Festivals, Theatrical Thursdays | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments
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