La Niña del Desierto screens at the Newport Beach Film Festival

http://newportbeach.bside.com/2010/films/childofthedesertlaniadeldesierto_newportbeach2010;jsessionid=08FBE8F7EB0158369E6123BBBBC659C6

La Niña takes the Award for 3rd best drama in the nation.

http://emmysfoundation.org/cta-winners

urFrenz takes 4 Awards at Methodfest

Method Fest hands out awards
Lily Holleman, Brian Cox take home acting prizes
By Gregg Kilday
April 1, 2010, 01:00 AM ET

At the 12th annual Method Fest’s closing-night awards reception Wednesday in Woodland Hills, Lily Holleman earned the Christie Geraldine Page Award for best actress for her performance in “urFRENZ,” and Brian Cox took home the Time Warner Cable John Garfield Award for best actor for his role in “The Good Heart.”

Jeff Phillips’ “urFRENZ” also claimed the City of Calabasas Jury Award for best picture.

The LA.com Audience Award for best feature film went to “Tic,” directed by Keith Parmer and starring Lennie James, Treva Etienne, Gary McDonald, Tina Casciani and Daniele Favilli.

2010 Method Fest Award Winners

Best Actress
Lily Holleman, “urFRENZ”

Best Actor
Brian Cox, “The Good Heart”

Best Feature Film
“UrFRENZ,” Jeff Phillips

Audience Award Best Feature Film
“Tic,” Keith Parmer

Best Foreign Film
“The City of Your Final Destination,” James Ivory

Best Supporting Actor
Nathan Halliday, “Desert Son”

Best Supporting Actress
Najarra Townsend, “urFRENZ”

Best Ensemble Cast
“Tic,” Keith Parmer

Maverick Award for Low Budget Feature Film
“Homewrecker,” Brad Barnes, Todd Barnes

Best Screenplay
Nicholas Gyeney, “The Penitent Man”

Best Director
Hilbert Hakim, “Krews”

Maverick Award, Acting
Anslem Richardson, “Homewrecker”

Festival Director’s Award, Best Film
“Handsome Harry,” Bette Gordon

Maverick Award for Best Acting in a Low Budget Film
Julie Dray, “Do Elephants Pray?”

Maverick Award for Marketing, Promotion, Social Networking for an Independent Film
“The Rock ‘n’ Roll Dreams of Duncan Christopher,” Justin Monroe

Best Short Film
“The Butterfly Circus,” Joshua Weigel

Best Student Film
“The Godmother,” Lior Chefetz

Best Actress in Short Film
Vanessa Hidalgo, “Culebra”

Best Actor in Short Film
Nick Vujicic, “The Butterfly Circus”

Best Youth Film
“Love is a Fallacy,” Duncan Ballantine

Best Actor in Youth Film
Jesse Pilchen, “Love is a Fallacy”

Special Awards

Bruce Dern — Lifetime Achievement Award
Lily Holeman — Rising Star Award

via [The Hollywood Reporter]

UrFrenz Review in Variety

UrFrenz

By John Anderson

Inspired by the Megan Meier cyber-bullying case of 2006, the low-budget, high-reaching “UrFrenz” isn’t satisfied to merely dramatize the scandalous MySpace suicide, but uses its various aspects to open a window into Internet abuse, adolescent pathologies and the parental heart of darkness. Briskly paced character play skirts formulaic pitfalls via J. Soren Viuf’s creative handheld shooting and remarkable perfs by fledgling thesps Lily Holleman, Najarra Townsend and Michael Robert Kelly. Subject, and a sense of the genuine, could draw a niche aud of teens because they’ll recognize their online world, and parents because they fear it.

Helmer Jeff Phillips doesn’t spell everything out in his script; he lets the camera do much of the storytelling. Catharine (Holleman) virtually runs off the screen in the opening shots — she’s been running for awhile, it seems, and from herself. When she changes in front of a mirror, we see old, self-inflicted scars on her stomach, and fresher lacerations on her thighs.

Catharine is a “cutter,” and the cause, at least partly, seems to be her abandonment by her childhood pal Madison (Townsend). Resentment over being unfriended in real life explains why Catharine thoughtlessly passes along a nasty rumor about Madison and her boyfriend. Very little, however, explains the reaction of Madison’s mother, Debbie (Gayla Goehl), who slowly, but with increasingly venomous intent, uses a phony online personality named Brandon (played in Catharine’s fantasies by James Maslow) on a fictional site called UrFrenz to seduce the lonely, insecure and self-destructive girl. Where Debbie plans to take all this scheming isn’t clear at first, even to her, but imminent catastrophe seems to loom over every chatroom exchange.

Phillips doesn’t in fact give viewers what they expect, but he does deliver a perfectly plausible scenario for what, even in real life, was an unbelievable narrative. Debbie, having turned she-bear over the perceived abuse of her daughter by Catharine, has had the good fortune to hire high school senior Jacob (Kelly) as her real-estate-office gofer. Jacob becomes Debbie’s online guide to chatrooms and Web jargon, and while it isn’t quite clear what the otherwise decent guy thinks he’s doing — Debbie’s clearly not up to anything good — the tutorials he provides his boss in online culture also serve as a primer for auds unfamiliar with the language of social networking.

But what makes “UrFrenz” really special isn’t educational, but emotional: The waifish, underfed Catharine is oftentimes the picture of teen misery, and young Holleman makes her not just sympathetic but iconic. While Townsend and Kelly naturally capture the unpleasant attitudes of self-entitled teens, Holleman gives us the high-wire hormonal fragility of the unpopular teenage girl. All three should benefit largely from the showcase of “UrFrenz.”

Tech credits are generally good, and Lisbeth Scott’s score is perfection.

via[Variety]

UrFrenz is an Official Slamdance Selection

Lots of Choices for Slamdance
18 films selected from 5,000 submissions

The “anarchy fest” has chosen.
Slamdance’s 2010 feature competition will serve up 10 narrative and eight documentary feature films, programmed in the spirit of the fest’s motto “by filmmakers, for filmmakers.”

As in years past, competing films are by first-time feature directors working with limited budgets and without domestic theatrical distribution in place. Among the 18 titles, 11 are world premieres.

This year’s slate was selected from a record 5,000-plus submissions. “The quality of indie filmmaking is getting higher while productions costs are getting lower,” said Slamdance prexy and co-founder Peter Baxter. “Far apart from the apparent industry downturn, there appears a great sense of what is possible rather than impossible with our submissions.”

In 2008, the fest screened Oren Peli’s $15,000 phenom “Paranormal Activity” (pic’s debut was at Screamfest in October 2007), after which DreamWorks execs took notice. Pic has since topped $100 million at the domestic box office via DreamWorks’ former home Paramount.

Fest also will bow Steven Soderbergh’s “And Everything Is Going Fine” (Daily Variety, Dec. 9). The short-film lineup and three special screenings will be announced next week.

The 16th annual fest runs Jan. 21-28 in Park City, Utah. The event, which runs concurrently with Park City’s Sundance Film Festival, additionally will mount its first Filmmaker Summit this edition. “It’s time for filmmakers to embrace new tech tools to make the most of exhibiting their work,” Baxter said. “This must now be part of their filmmaking process. With the Filmmaker Summit this year we intend to help our community along this new path.”

The full competitive lineup follows. All are U.S. films unless noted otherwise.

> Denotes world preems

NARRATIVE COMPETITION

> “Cummings Farm” (Andrew Drazek) Comedy about three couples who try group sex at a lakeside strawberry farm, naively hoping it will lead to enlightenment; with Laura Silverman.
> “Drones” (Amber Benson & Adam Busch) A man discovers a universal threat to his life, job and the planet; Angela Bettis and Jonathan M. Woodward star.
> “The Four-Faced Liar” (Jacob Chase) When a small-town couple meets two best friends, unexpected sparks fly; cast includes Emily Peck, Marja-Lewis Ryan and Todd Kubrak.
> “The Last Lovecraft: The Relic of Cthulhu” (Henry Saine) An ordinary guy is stuck in his boring life until a strange old man gives him an ancient relic and tells him that he’s the last bloodline of H.P. Lovecraft; with Devin McGinn and Kyle Davis.
“One Hundred Mornings” (Conor Horgan) Ireland. Set in a world upended by a complete breakdown of society, two couples hide out in a lakeside cabin hoping to survive the crisis; Ciaran McMenamin, Alex Reid and Rory Keenan star.
“The Scenesters” (Todd Berger) Dark comedy featuring Sherilyn Fenn, Suzanne May and Blaise Miller about a group of crime scene videographers who hatch a plan to catch a serial killer picking off beautiful young hipsters on the east side of Los Angeles.
> “Snow and Ashes” (Charles Olivier-Michaud) Canada. A war correspondent in Eastern Europe wakes from a coma to discover his collaborator missing; Rhys Coiro, David-Alexandre Coiteux, Lina Roessler and Frederic Gilles star.
> “URFrenz” (Jeff Phillips) High school girls and their parents collide over the use of a popular social networking site when the identity and motives of an online boy come into question; featuring Lily Holleman, Gayla Goehl and CaroleAnne Johnson.
> “The Wild Hunt” (Alexandre Franchi) Canada. A medieval reenactment game turns into a Shakespearean tragedy when a non-player crashes the event to win back his girlfriend; cast includes Kaniehtiio Horn, Mark Anthony Krupa and Ricky Mabe.
> “YellowBrickRoad” (Jesse Holland & Andy Mitton) An expedition looks for answers to something horrible in the forest, but the forest finds something horrible in them; stars Cassidy Freeman, Lee Wilkof and Anessa Ramsey.

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

“American Jihadist” (Mark Claywell) What makes a man willing to kill and die for his religion?
> “Biker Fox” (Jeremy Lamberton) A part docu, part self-help testimonial about Biker Fox, who advocates “cogitating positive vibes to the cortex of your cerebellum.”
> “Candyman” (Costa Botes) A look at the rise and fall of David Klein, inventor of Jelly Belly sweets.
“General Orders No. 9″ (Robert Persons) An experimental docu that contemplates loss and change in the American South.
“Mamachas del Ring” (Betty M. Park) Chronicle of the lives of Bolivian women wrestlers.
“Mind of a Demon: The Larry Linkogle Story” (Adam Barker) The birth of freestyle motocross became the demise of the sport’s most infamous legend, narrated by Lemmy.
“Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae” (Stascha Bader) Canada. The musicians of Jamaica’s Golden Age of music, Rocksteady, come together after 40 years to record a greatest hits album and perform a concert in Kingston.
> “William Burroughs: A Man Within” (Yony Leyser) A portrait of the Beat author and American icon, with David Cronenberg, Gus Van Sant, Peter Weller, Iggy Pop and Laurie Anderson.

via[Variety]

La Guererra is an Official Selection at LALIFF 2009

2009 LALIFF – OFFICIAL SHORT FILM SELECTIONS

ABUELO
AMANECER
AMOR CRUDO
ARANCELES
BRACEROS
CLEATS
COMO CONOCI A TU PADRE
DEATH RATTLE
EL DESCUBRIMIENTO
EL MUERTO
EL TIO FACUNDO
EL TRIP
EL TUX
EL VIEJO
HACIA LA VIDA
HERMANOS
INOCENTE
LA GUERRERA
LA NOSTALGIA DEL SR. ALAMBRE
LITTLE VILLAGE
MARINA, LA ESPOSA DEL PESCADOR
NINA QUEBRADA
NO SE PREOCUPE
PIM PAM PUM
PORQUE HAY COSAS QUE NUNCE SE OLVIDAN
PRAYER IN THE NIGHT
QUASE TODO DIA
RED MESA
RISING UP
SOCARRAT
TAG
TANGO
THE BOOK OF THE BORDER
THE LAST WHITE DISHWASHER
THE MEMORY OF WHEN
TIJUANEROS
TWILIGHT TANGO
WELCOME TO PARADOX

Just added:
COMO CONOCI A TU PADRE
PIM PAM PUM

As always, the winner of our Shorts Program is automatically considered for the Academy Awards for the Best Short Oscar®. Congratulations to these young filmmakers.

Feature films and Documentaries will be announced at our press conference the week of the 28th of September.

Thank you for your incredible support.
-LALIFF Programming Department

via [Facebook]

La Niña del Desierto Takes 3 Awards Including Best Picture at the 2009 Cecil’s

2009 CECIL AWARDS

EXCELLENCE IN PRODUCING
Undergraduate
Winners: Stephanie Altishin & Bryan Mosko for “Passing On”
Nominees:
Elaine Ackley for “Dead Love”
Christian Heuer for “Couple of Friends”
Brian Sokolik for “The Fourth Horseman”
Matt Sullivan for “La Guerrera”
Graduate
Winner: Marcus Metsala for “Heal”
Nominees:
Mamito Kukwikila for “Last Call”
Christina Medina for “Melting the Snowman”
Doug Thagard for “Clemency”
Ashley Zastrow for “She’s a Fox”

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Undergraduate
Winner: Katie Shattuck for “The City of Lights”
Nominees:
Katy Echols for “SS Humanity”
Chelsea Pickens for “Peter and the Mischievous Hanky”
Mandy Noack for “Beverly”
Daisy Robinson for “Mind Machine”
Graduate
Winner: Prajakta Ghag for “Heal”
Nominees:
Renee Baltsen for “Last Call”
Sarah Pott for “Turn Around”
Yoanna Wijaya for “Good Grief”

BEST TV SCREENPLAY
Winner: Clay Keller – DINNER THEATRE “Pilot”
Nominees:
Patrick Rosenquist – BREAKING BAD “Lung Capacity”
Christopher Smith – WASTELANDS “Pilot”
Travis Stuman – A LA CARTE “Pilot”
Sabrina Zubieta – UNITED STATES OF TARA “Formal”

BEST SCREENPLAY FEATURE
Winner: Andrew Scheppmann for “Rougaroo”
Nominees:
Oliver Evangelista for “It’s Over”
Dan Gausman for “Fletch”
Jacob Tanenbaum for “Anathema”

MIR TUKHI FOX BROADCASTING AWARD
Winner: Katie McKenzie
Nominees:
Ricky Courtney
Jaclyn Zepnick
Jenae Suite
Russell Ford III

BEST TV SHOW
Winner: “Kate So Far,” – Exec Producer/Creator -Heather Schlossnagle; Producers-Kyle Berns, Keith Carter, William Walsh, Preston Zeller; Directors-Melissa Kosar, Brandon Miller, Heather Schlossnagle
Nominees:
“Couple of Friends” – Producers: Christian Heuer, Arwen Byrd, Bryson Pintard;Writers-Christian Heuer, Mike Bernstein; Directors: Sebastian Pardo, Jason Brescia, Ian Beckman, Brian Garson
“Red White & Blue” – Executive Producer-Nick Doll, Producer-Russell Ford, Director-Chase Carnahan
“Linear Notes” – Producers-Katie McKenzie, Saul Spady, Cori Coffin; Director- Jorge “Coco” Moore
“Nightcap,” – Show#116, Season 11; Producers-Brittany Gordien, Monse Medina, Ricky Courtney

BEST COMMERCIAL
Winner: Equality California – “Equality 2009,” Cambria Cavanagh, Erin Dudzinski, Logan Grooms, Aaron Haines, Melissa Hoffman
Nominees:
The Human Rights Campaign – “I Don’t Want To Be Accepted,” Tasha Hunter, Heba Mouradi, Christian Polsinelli, Laura Croswaite, Ian Christianscher
Nike – “Being Fit Never Gets Old,” Al Raitt, Rebekah Roberts, Jonathan Sotzing, Andrew Manzella, Daniel Barber
Schweppes – “Schwhiskey,” Nell Becker, Meagan Bickerstaff, James Martin, Derek Mills, Racheal Stirling

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Winner: When I’m Not Alone – Director Rhianon Gutierrez, Editor Zara Ahmed
Nominees:
Mother Journey – Writer/Producer/Director-Ruthie Rubietta
Courage – Writer/Producer/Director-Jonathan Formica
Giant Steps – Directors Brock Carter, Zac Petrillo, Erika Cohn, Sasha Milonova, Emily Wilkinson
Children of Morumbi – Directors Tyler Zelinsky, Tyson Hauff, Zara Ahmed, Rhianon Gutierrez, Joshua Kun

AD CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR
Winner: Output Advertising – Laura Croswaite, Matthew Dekneef, Jennifer Lutman, Rebekah Roberts, Jennifer Tran
Nominees:
Vamped Images – Erin Dudcinski, Lauren Cannizzo, Jordan Spuck, Aaron Haines, Drea Felix
Agency 35 – Mike Alfaro, Katie Armitstead, June Kim, Emily Lavender, Taylor Wilson
The Idea Factory – Mike Mueller, Rebecca Rice, Stephanie Frommlet

BEST ENTERTAINMENT MARKETING PLAN
Winner: Mari Feazel for Turn Around
Nominees:
Ashley Vargus for Mexicali
Megan Corey for The Death of Roger
Kristine Simon for Dead Love
Niko Turko for Cosmic Lottery

PR CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR
Winner: Laguna Playhouse – Jannah Kociencki, Ashley Vargus, Brittney Sochowski, Mari Feazel, Lauren Hertel
Nominees:
Cordelia Knott Center for Wellness – Alex Forbes, Genesis Gonzales, Alice McWilliams, Lauren Ramos, Kevin Rumbaugh
Action in Africa – Tori Dumke, Hannah Taylor, Kasey Marshburn, Amanda Clark, Stephanie Solares
Big Brothers/Big Sisters – Shauna Brown, Riley Donovan, Mijung Kim, Michaela Morales, Chantal Palacci
Hands and Hearts for Art – Vanessa Banuelos, Crystal Chou, Audrey Marshall, Nicole Riedman, Kate Westervelt

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Undergraduate
Winner: Boa Simon for “La Nina del Desierto”
Nominees:
Tom Banks for “The Fourth Horseman”
Yuki Noguchi for “Here’s to the Hopeless”
Chris Richmond for “The City of Lights”
Tashi Trieu for “Broken”
Graduate
Winner: Dani Sanchez-Lopez for “Heal”
Nominees:
Tyler Brazil for “Clemency”
Joel Remke for “Good Grief”
John Woodside for “Abreojos”
Richie Yau for “Stones”

OUTSTANDING SCHOLARLY ACHIEVEMENT
Winner: Georgette Jeppesen

RON THRONSON DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD
Winner: Rob Margolies

EINSTEIN AWARD
Undergraduate
Winner: Ericka Concha
Graduate
Winner: Heather Schlossnagle

ACCOMPLISHMENT IN DIGITAL ARTS
Winner: Alex Moaveni for “Spacebrain Tourguide”
Nominees:
Brian Thomas for “A Tough Read”
Bari Smith for “Be The Change”
Michael Cusic for “Picnic”
Andrew Finch, Visual Effects Supervisor and artist on “Mind Machine”

BEST SOUND DESIGN
Undergraduate
Winner: Mike Robertson for “The Fourth Horseman”
Nominees:
Alex Baker for “SS Humanity”
Ian Beckman for “Abreojos”
Bobby Brinkerhoff for “Peter and the Mischievous Hanky”
Brianne Hunt for “The City of Lights”
Graduate
Winner: Rosemary Marez for “Clemency”
Nominees:
Mark Hawkins for “Stones”
Julia MacMullen for “Kowalczyk”
Sean Rowe for “No Absolution”
Jered Zalman for “Loaf of Bread”

BEST EDITOR
Undergraduate
Winner: Ericka Concha for “Tijuaneros”
Nominees:
Zac Anderson for “Couple of Friends”
Alex Fortunato for “The Fourth Horseman”
Spencer Seibert for “Where it Stops”
Laura Zempel for “When the Voices Fade”
Graduate
Winner: Yukako Shimada for “Turn Around”
Nominees:
Dennis Alaniz for “Clemency”
Julia MacMullen for “She’s a Fox”
Rosemary Marez for “Last Call”
Jered Zalman for “The Fighting Kind”

BEST DIRECTOR
Undergraduate
Winner: Malachi Rempen for “La Nina del Desierto”
Nominees:
Cameron Clark for “Passing On”
Erika Cohn for “When the Voices Fade”
Joe Dietsch for “The Fourth Horseman”
Nick Erickson for “Here’s to the Hopeless”
Graduate
Winner: Nils Taylor for “The Fighting Kind”
Nominees:
Mian Adnan Ahmad for “Heal”
Joseph Albanese for “Clemency”
Fevzi Balli for “Baby Blue”
Prarthana Mohan for “Turn Around”
Cameron Sawyer for “She’s a Fox”

BEST PICTURE
Undergraduate
Winner: “La Nina del Desierto”
Nominees:
“The Fourth Horseman”
“Here’s to the Hopeless”
“Passing On”
“When the Voices Fade”
Graduate
Winner: “Heal”
Nominees:
“Clemency”
“The Fighting Kind”
“She’s a Fox”
“Turn Around”