FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – September 12, 2007 – San Francisco, CA
Film Arts Foundation launches national edition of its awardwinning magazine for indie filmmakers
Film Arts to be unveiled at IFP Market in New York next Sunday, 9/16
Film Arts Foundation, one of the largest regional membership organizations in the country, is launching a national edition of its award-winning 25-year-old magazine with the September/October 2007 issue. Now called Film Arts, the refocused bi-monthly publication will be unveiled at the IFP Market in New York this coming Sunday, 9/16. Since its earliest incarnation in 1979 as FAF Newsletter – typed on two legal-sized sheets of paper – Film Arts has evolved over the years into a seminal chronicle of the Bay Area’s indigenous filmmaking achievements under its former Release Print banner. Beginning this month, the magazine’s focus shifted to the big picture – with profiles of today’s dynamic filmmakers, ‘making-of’ features, reports from the trenches, and a suite of topical columns by seasoned movie makers and industry insiders – called “Ask the Documentary Doctor,” “Producer's Notebook,” “The Cutting Room Law,” “Show Me the Money,” “Distribution Test Kitchen,” “Gearhead,” “Storytelling,” “The Director's Chair,” “Experimental,” “On Location,” and “Marketing and Outreach.” As well, there will be festival spotlights and a comprehensive compendium of festival calls for entries, funding opportunities, residencies, alternative exhibition channels and other opportunities. As an example, the current issue – themed “Indie Nation” – showcases 13 film colonies that have "declared independence": Austin, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami,
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Minneapolis, New York, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and Wilmington. Other features include discussions with Canadian director/screenwriter Guy Maddin on his silent film, “Brand Upon the Brain!,” acclaimed documentarian Heddy Honigmann on her latest work, “Forever,” and Loren Mendell and Tiller Russell on their fourth documentary, “Bad Boys of Summer.” This month’s columns cover such subjects as “The pains of [documentary] metamorphosis,” “Production value is overrated!,” “When clips go wild,” “Tapping foundations that ‘don’t fund film,” “The freakonomics of DVD distribution,” and “The Age-Old HD vs. Super 16 debate.” And this month’s festival spotlight is on the AFI/Discovery Channel’s Silverdocs and Madcat Women’s International Film Festival in San Francisco. “Let’s face it, independent filmmaking is a daily grind,” says editor Michael Read. “If you’re not scrambling for money, you’re trying to stay on top of the latest digital tools, festival deadlines or which distributor is buying what. By expanding its focus, we felt Film Arts could fill a crucial niche for the truly independent filmmaker looking for soup-to-nuts solutions applicable to their own movie making challenges and dilemmas. We believe below-the-line talent at all stages in their careers will find the kind of relevant, roll-up-you-sleeves advice and insights that can both save them money and streamline getting the job done.” Among the big picture perspectives Film Arts will present over the next year are… • November/December 2007 – “The Filmmaker's Guide to Festivals”: Tips for submitting your film to festivals big and small; choosing which festival is right for your film; navigating international festivals; strategies for maximizing your festival screenings; making a splash with local and national press; how distributors operate at festivals; the online festival. • January/February 2008 – “The State of Documentary”: Finding funding for personal docs; approaching international funding sources; the evolving ethics of doc making; the digital doc: what we've gained and lost; fair use: balancing risk and necessity; the marquee doc: has it really created new markets for doc content?; producing docs for the global marketplace; public television: friend or foe? • March/April 2008 – “New Frontiers in Fundraising”: Fiscal sponsorship and cofinancing; best bets for grants and foundation support; what constitutes "fundable"?; tapping friends and family; tips for stretching existing resources; avoiding budget blowouts; negotiating broadcasting deals. • May/June 2008 – “Global Cinema”: Mining new hotbeds of filmmaking activity around the world; reports from international festivals and markets; ten emerging filmmakers to watch from the international indie scene.
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July/August 2008 – “Organizing Chaos”: When filmmaking becomes a descent into hell; refining the filmmaking process; lean and mean versus slow and steady; union versus non-union cast and crew; crafting a real world budget.
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September/October 2008 – “Focus on Narrative”: Profiles of five no-budget narrative films. Saving money without compromising quality. Working with a skeleton production crew. New techniques in storytelling, screenwriting, and directing.
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November/December 2008 – “Marketing and Publicity”: Focus on niche marketing; maximizing your press kit; creating a community around your film on the internet; perfecting the pitch; building buzz and finding your audience. Formed in 1976 by a handful of filmmakers seeking to obtain a single film editing flatbed to share,
Film Arts Foundation has played a quintessential role in supporting the creative endeavors of local talent through a rich educational curriculum of classes and workshops taught by award-winning filmmakers and industry professionals, state-of-the-art facilities and equipment rentals, fiscal sponsorship (allowing members to solicit funds from government, foundation, individual and other philanthropic sources), and exhibition opportunities. Members of the non-profit organization have either won or been nominated for over 30 Academy Awards over the past three decades. Significant of the profound role it is has played, Film Arts Foundation was honored with a month-long tribute at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, designated by the MacArthur Foundation as one of seven media arts centers in the country of "national significance,” and given the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers’ “Indie Award” for outstanding media arts center. Variety at one time also noted: “There are arguably more indie filmmkers per capita in San Francisco than in any city in the world and most of them, at one time or another in their lensing careers, touch base with Film Arts Foundation." Despite the trend towards online publishing, Michael Read says a great deal of thought went into their decision to continue the magazine in the traditional format. “I believe that print and online publications are fundamentally different. While the Internet puts a vast array of unfiltered information at one's fingertips, many people still prefer the printed page for reading longer, more in-depth articles. Film Arts’ forebear, Release Print, has always been a reader's magazine and we continue that tradition.” Film Arts is available for $18 a year to non-California residents and as a Film Arts Foundation membership benefit to those living within the state. To order online, go to www.FilmArts.org or call (415) 552-8760, extension 353.
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News items and story ideas can be submitted to filmartsmagazine@filmarts.org. To advertise, contact Arne Johnson at 415.425.8843 or ads@filmarts.org. *
About the Editorial & Design Staff
A publications specialist and media critic for 15 years, Editor-in-Chief Michael Read has written for Artweek, Art News, Photo District News, The Village Voice, The Sun, and the San Francisco Chronicle. He has edited and designed several books about art and photography, and with Andy Grundberg was the founding editor of see: a journal of visual culture (distributed by MIT Press). In addition, Read has managed and designed many websites, including lonelyplanet.com, the recipient of two consecutive Webby awards during his tenure. He has also written several travel guides, including Lonely Planet’s guides to Jamaica and Puerto Vallarta. Associate Editor Laurie Koh, a former copy chief for Girlfriends magazine, also writes for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, one of the Bay Area’s leading alternative weeklies. She has made two short films: the documentary “Sisterz of the Underground: Extra Credit” (2003) and the narrative “Between the Lines” (2005), the latter of which has screened at the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, Boston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and Inside/Out Toronto Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. She is a member of the shorts screening committee for the 2008 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, and has served as curator of the film program “What Are You So Afraid Of?” for Intersection for the Arts. Executive Director of Film Arts Foundation and Film Arts Publisher Eric Hayashi was a producer of the critically-acclaimed feature film, “Only The Brave,” line producer of the award-winning short feature, “Forgotten Valor,” and script consultant for the PBS-broadcast “I’m on a Mission From Buddha” – all directed by Lane Nishikawa. Hayashi has spent his entire career working in the arts. In 1973, he cofounded the Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco, where he produced over 75 original works while serving as its Executive Director and Artistic Director. With that company he presented and co-produced new works by Culture Clash, Karina Epperlein, Canyon Sam, The Midnight Series with R. Crumb, Aztlan Nation and Eva Garcia. He has since served on the executive staff of the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., as the Executive Director of the Kansas Arts Commission, and as the Interim Director of the accredited Institute for Teledramatic Arts & Technology at California State University Monterey Bay. Hayashi currently serves on the executive committee and as a board director for the Western States Arts Federation.
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Graphic design for Film Arts magazine has been provided by Underground Advertising, a San Francisco communication strategy, advertising and design agency dedicated to working with non-profits and foundations. Headed by creative director Charles Cardillo, Underground uses the communication tools of the private sector to promote the mission of such social and environmental organizations as The International Labour Organization/United Nations, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Rainforest Action Network. San Francisco illustrator Hugh D'Andrade created the relaunch issue's cover art. ***
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Lyla Foggia Foggia Public Relations LLC (503) 622-0232 lyla@foggiapr.com
Michael Read, Editor Film Arts Magazine Film Arts Foundation michael@filmarts.org Office: (415) 552-8760 x331 Cell: (510) 292-1366