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I love Paris! Serving on the jury of U.S. in Progress to judge five American independent films in post production, bonding with filmmakers, organizers and the beautiful city itself, being part of a larger festival which featured films I particularly enjoyed like Nina Simone, Love Sorceress… Forever, It Felt Like Love by Eliza Hittman, Umbrellas of Cherbourg, what’s not to love?

The friendly openness of everyone at the festival made the event special. Sophie Dulac, the festival’s founder (and distributor, producer and exhibitor) whom I interviewed last year and again, almost as old friends again this year (see upcoming blog!), the publicist and programmer, Maxine Leonard, the staff, the Us in Progress organizers – Adeline Monzier (now also Us representative for Unifrance), Ula Śniegowska, Artistic Director of Wroclaw, Poland’s American Film Festival and Mobile New Horizons, my fellow jury members for USinP, and of course, the filmmakers themselves created a fun and inspiring event. What a great international film business we are in!

As I write this, the mailman just delivered a book, entitled Titra Film, A Cinematographic and Family Chronicle, sent to me by my fellow jury-member, Isabelle Frilley, who now, along with her children, owns and operates Titra, now called TitraTVS, the sub-titling company founded by her grandparents in 1933 shortly after talkies made subtitling de riguer . Very involved in the world of cinema, and inspired by her literary tastes, Isabelle has also helped develop multi-lingual subtitling for cinema, subtitling for the hearing impaired, and audio-description for the visually impaired. For many years, Isabelle Frilley has been a member of the juries of “Ciné en Construction” (for Latin-American cinema, in Toulouse), of “Cinéma en Mouvement” (for Mediterranean cinema, in San Sebastian), and of the Caméra d’Or in Cannes. She is only one of the illustrious jury among whom I was honored to count myself. Others included Julie Bergeron who runs Cannes Marche’s Producer Network among other things, Europa Distribution Eve Gabereau of Soda Pictures, a London-based indie distributor, Ciné Cinéma’s Bruno Deloye, Firefly’s Philippe Reinaudo, Commune Image’s Michael Werner, Eaux Vives Production’s Xénia Maingot, and Matthias Lavaux, the cofounder of touscoprod, the French crowdfunding website dedicated to movies, launched in January 2009.

1982 by Tommy Oliver

USinP’s winner, Tommy Oliver, whose previous film Kinyarwanda was a favorite of mine at Sundance a couple of years ago which Roger Ebert ranked 6 on his top ten films of 2011, is now in post on 1982 and won Us$60,000 worth of post production services.

Tommy’s directorial debut, 1982, starring Hill Harper, Sharon Leal, La La Anthony, Bokeem Woodbine, Wayne Brady and Ruby Dee, tells the story of a black father whose wife succumbs to a crack cocaine addiction and his efforts to shield their 10-year old daughter from the ill effects of having a drug addicted mother while trying to wean her off of her addiction. It's set in 1982 in Philadelphia at the very onset of the crack cocaine epidemic and ultimately, it's a story about a father doing whatever he can to protect his family. It's semi- autobiographical story and inspired by true events.

He also wrote and produced 1982 which also received a prestigious San Francisco Film Society Krf grant .

Tommy himself is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, a Microsoft alum and founder of Seattle-based interactive media firm Viliv Studios as well as La- based production company Confluential Films, which he started with actor/ author/ speaker Hill Harper.

I can confidently predict that this film will be seen on the festival circuit as it brings a humanity to the issue we’ve seen dozens of time – crack in communities – but never like this. We don’t see the ugly community violated by violence. We see a loving family coping with a personal and private disaster. Hill Harper plays a loving, compassionate good man. Comparisons will be made with Fruitvale Station, another African American “issue” film (police brutally killing an innocent family man) which will be released July 12 by The Weinstein Company. We need more such films to create a consistent pipeline for audiences who will pay to see these films. AFor his film 1982, he has devised a super-sophisticated, break-the-record domestic marketing plan. I am eager to watch the trajectory of this one.

The runner-up film, Bfe was supported with great gusto by its director and producer, Shawn Telford and producer, Mark Carr who brought a special energy to the entire event and were full of fun throughout. Shawn charmed his French hosts with his French. Watch for the film and with it, watch for Shawn!

I Believe In Unicorns is the feature debut of director Leah Meyerhoff. It was nominated for a Calvin Klein grant at the 2012 Gotham Independent Film Awards and stars Natalia Dyer, Peter Vack, Toni Meyerhoff, Julia Garner, Joshua Leonard and Amy Seimetz.

As noteworthy as the film is and as talented as Leah is, the producers themselves are also notable and prolific! Allison Anders, Katie Mustard and Heather Rae who also produced the Academy Award nominated film Frozen River, starring Melissa Leo, which won the 2008 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, opened the New York Film Society’s New Directors/New Film series and was acquired by Sony PicturesClassics. She won the 2008 Independent Spirit Award for her production work on Frozen River. Heather also produced Mosquita Y Mari (Sundance 2012), Backroads (Sundance 2000), Trudell (2005 Sundance Film Festival), Ibid (2008 SXSW), The Dry Land (Sundance 2010), Magic Valley (Tribeca 2011), and is currently in post-production on Five Thirteen (with Tom Sizemore), Ass Backwards (with Alicia Silverstone and Vincent D’Onofrio) and Plastic Jesus (with Paul Schneider and Mackenzie Foy). For six years she was a programmer for the Sundance Film Festival and ran the Native Program at the Sundance Institute and recently joined the Sundance Board of Trustees.

Ping Pong Summer

Michael Tully made his directorial debut, Cocaine Angel, world premiered at the 2006 International Film Festival Rotterdam, Michael Tully (Director) was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film. His follow-up, Silver Jew, world premiered at the 2007 South By Southwest Film Festival. In 2011, he wrote, directed, and acted in Septien, which world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was picked up for distribution by Sundance Selects. He’s currently in post-production on his newest feature, Ping Pong Summer, which he wrote and directed. Since 2008, he has been the head writer/editor of HammerToNail.com, a website devoted to championing ambitious cinema.

Producers: George Rush, Brooke Bernard, Ryan Zacarias, Michael Gottwald, Billy Peterson, Jeff Allard

Main Cast : Susan Sarandon, John Hannah, Leah Thompson, Judah Friedlander, Amy Sedaris

Children

Director : Jaffe Zinn Producer : Jaffe Zinn and Sterling Hoch

Aside from the jury, the films were seen by members of Europa Distribution:

Alpha Violet - Keiko Funato & Virgine Devesa - France - Sales agent Bac Films - Crasset Véronique - France - Sales agent & Distributor Bankside - Alice Ramsey - UK Sales Agent Chrysalis - Camille Lopato - France – Distributor Content - Toby Melling - UK - Sales Agent Coproduction Office - Marina Perales & Philippe Bober - France - Sales Agent Distrib Films - François Scippa-Kohn - France - Distributor Equation - Didier Costet - France - Distributor Eurozoom - Manon Galibert - France - Distributor Film Republic Rashid Xavier UK sales agent Films Boutique - Jean-Christophe Simon - Germany - Sales Agent Hanway - Fabien Westerhoff - UK - Sales Agent Happiness - Isabelle Dubar - France - Distributor Heliotrope - Laurent Aléonard & Goldfain Philippe - France - Distributor Imagine - Bral Tinne - Benelux - Distributor Jour 2 Fête - Sarah Chazelle - France - Distributor K5 Intl - Oda Schäfer - Germany - Sales Agent Kmbo - Grégoire Marchal - France - Distributor Le Pacte - Nathalie Jeung - France - Sales Agent & Distributor Level K - Freja Johanne - Denmark - Sales agent Locarno Film Festival - Aurélie Godet - France - Festival Memento Film - Tanja Meissner & Ram Murali - France - Sales Agent & Distributor MK2 - Emmanuelle de Couesbouc / Juliette Shramek - France - Sales Agent Premium Films - Karwan Kasia - France - Sales Agent & Distributor Reel Suspects - Frederic Gentet - France - Sales Agent Rezo - Sebastien Chesneau - France - Sales Agent & Distributor Sacrebleu - Louise Bellicaud - France - Producer Soda Pictures - Eve Gabereau - UK - Distributor Sophie Dulac Distribution - Eric Vicente - France - Distributor The Works - Steve Bestwick - UK - Sales Agent Tribeca Film Festival - Frédéric Boyer - USA - Festival Trust Nordisk - Silje Glimsdal - Denmark - Sales Agent Urban - Claire Charles-Gervais - France - Sales Agent & Distributor Versatile - Violaine Pichon & Pape Boye - France - Sales Agent Wide Management - Loïc Magneron - France – Sales Agent Wild Bunch - Emmanuelle Fellous - France - Sales Agent & Distributor Zed - Martine Scoupe - France - Distributor...

“In Production” is a regular column which focuses on notable independent films that are currently shooting.

Daniel Radcliffe is stuck in the friend zone in Michael Dowse’s The F Word. Resuming his post-Harry Potter career, Radcliffe stars alongside Zoe Kazan (Ruby Sparks) in this romantic comedy about a young man who meets the love of his life only to discover that she is already spoken for — not the most uncommon circumstance. The cast also includes Rafe Spall (Prometheus), Megan Park (ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager) and the terrific Adam Driver (HBO’s Girls). Written by Elan Mastai (The Samaritan), The F Word is currently filming in Toronto, Canada, with David Gross (The Goon) producing and Entertainment One overseeing the project.

A Fourth of July celebration turns into an absolute nightmare in Russell Friedenberg and Randy Redroad’s dark comedy An Unkindness of Ravens. Currently shooting in Idaho,...

The Hollywood Reporter has informed us that Amy Smart and Joshua Leonard will be starring in the upcoming dark comedy, An Unkindness of Ravens. The project is written by Russell Friedenberg, with Randy Redroad taking lead as director. The comedy “concerns a group of friends whose lives are changed by their encounter with a strange nature photographer.” The pair will be playing a “troubled married couple hosting a group of friends at a Fourth of July weekend reunion.” Will McCormack will be playing the mysterious photographer, with Christian Campbell, Friedenberg, Victoria Smurfit rounding out the cast of friends. Natalie Imbruglia (yes, she acts too!), Calum Grant and Castille Landon have also been cast in various roles as well.

Although Smart and Leonard – who got his start in The Blair Witch Project – have had successful careers the past few years, I can’t really say that their presence in this film does little to excite.

Ibid, the new film from award-winning producer Heather Rae, is coming to DVD from IndiePix. The film was the winner of the Independent Spirit Awards 2009 Producer’s Award and was in an official selection in both SXSW and the Munich International Film Festival in 2008. Ibid was created by the producers of the Academy Award-nominated "Frozen River." To celebrate the release, BuzzFocus and IndiePix are teaming up to giveaway (5) copies of Ibid on DVD. About Ibid Like Laurel and Hardy, Jake and Elwood, or Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo before them, Lionel (Christian Campbell, Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical) and Tin (writer/director Russell Friedenberg) are on a grand, mystical journey into the depths of the American psyche. After God appears to them as an aged cowboy named Don, and enlists them to inscribe the “Last Commandments” – an addendum to the original 10 – the pair decides they must escape from Trinity, ...

Mickey Rourke added to his award season haul and stole the show at the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday with a hilarious and rambling acceptance speech.

A starstudded crowd at the Santa Monica, California ceremony gave the 56-year-old actor a standing ovation when he stepped onstage to collect the Best Male prize for his role as a washed-up grappler in The Wrestler.

During a bizarre speech, he dedicated the award to his beloved pet dog Loki, who died this week (15Feb); threatened to beat up comedian Rainn Wilson, who had impersonated him in an earlier skit; forgot the name of his The Wrestler co-star Marisa Tomei; and broke his microphone.

He said, "That little blond dude who did that thing (Wilson), I'm going to beat your ass when I get out of here... I've got thousands of letters about my dog that died six days ago. Loki, Loki, this is for you baby."

And he needed help from the audience when he forgot to thank Tomei, who played a stripper in the film. He said, "My memory ain't that good. I want to thank....." and paused, prompting the crowd to yell "Marisa". He responded by saying, "Melissa? Marisa? Marisa Tomei. She had to do all this bare-a**ed. Not many girls can climb the poll. She climbed the poll and she did it well."

The Wrestler also lifted the Best Feature award and the Best Cinematography prize for Maryse Alberti.

There were also big wins for Best Female Melissa Leo, Best Supporting Female Penelope Cruz, Best Supporting Male James Franco and Best Director Tom McCarthy.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Best Feature: The Wrestler

Best Director: Tom McCarthy (The Visitor)

Best First Feature: Synecdoche, New York

Best Screenplay: Woody Allen (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)

Best First Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black (Milk)

Best Female Lead: Melissa Leo (Frozen River)

Best Male Lead: Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)

Best Supporting Female: Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)

Best Supporting Male: James Franco (Milk)

Best Cinematography: Maryse Alberti (The Wrestler)

Best Documentary: Man On Wire

Best Foreign Language Film: The Class

Robert Altman Award: Director Charlie Kaufman and the ensemble cast of Synecdoche, New York

Someone To Watch Award: Lynn Shelton (My Effortless Brilliance)

Truer Than Fiction Award: Margaret Brown (The Order Of Myths)

Producers Award: Heather Rae (Frozen River and Ibid)...

Fox Searchlight's "The Wrestler" was named best feature at the 2009 Film Independent's Spirit Awards. It also scored trophies for actor Mickey Rourke and cinematograper Maryse Alberti.

"The thing I love about the Spirit Awards is every film here is a passion piece; we all bled to get to this room," director-producer Darren Aronofksy said as he accepted the award with fellow producer Scott Franklin at the free-wheeling ceremony held Saturday in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica.

"I realized while doing special effects on a space movie that I really loved working with actors more than anything else," Aronofsky said about his decision to make a movie about a washed-up wrestler trying to reclaim his life.

In the weekend's first showdown between Rourke and "Milk's" Sean Penn, it was Rourke who triumphed as best male lead.

In a raucous acceptance speech, in which he freely lobbed...

By Stephen Saito

Jason Bateman and Sandra Oh braved the early call time this morning in Los Angeles to announce this year's nominees for the Spirit Awards. The awards will take place on February 21st, and will be broadcast live and uncut on IFC at 5pm Et/2pm PT. Here are the nominees:

Best Feature

"Ballast"

Producers: Lance Hammer, Nina Parikh

"Frozen River"

Producers: Chip Hourihan, Heather Rae

"Rachel Getting Married"

Producers: Neda Armian, Jonathan Demme, Marc Platt

"Wendy and Lucy"

Producers: Larry Fessenden, Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani

"The Wrestler"

Producers: Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin

Best Director

Ramin Bahrani, "Chop Shop"

Jonathan Demme, "Rachel Getting Married"

Lance Hammer, "Ballast"

Courtney Hunt, "Frozen River"

Thomas McCarthy, "The Visitor"

Best First Feature

"Afterschool"

Director: Antonio Campos

Producers: Sean Durkin, Josh Mond

"Medicine for Melancholy"

Director: Barry Jenkins

Producer: Justin Barber

"Sangre de Mi Sangre"

Director: Christopher Zalla

Producers: Per Melita, Benjamin Odell

"Sleep Dealer"

Director: Alex Rivera

Producer: Anthony Bregman

"Synechdoce, New York"

Director: Charlie Kaufman

Producers: Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Sidney Kimmel

John Cassavetes Award (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)

"In Search of a Midnight Kiss"

Writer/Director: Alex Holdridge

Producers: Seth Caplan and Scoot McNairy

"Prince of Broadway"

Director: Sean Baker

Writers: Sean Baker, Darren Dean

Producer: Darren Dean

"The Signal"

Writer/Directors: David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry

Producers: Jacob Gentry and Alexander Motiagh

"Take Out"

Writer/Directors/Producers: Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou

"Turn the River"

Writer/Director: Chris Eigeman

Producer: Ami Armstrong

Best First Screenplay

Dustin Lance Black, "Milk"

Lance Hammer, "Ballast"

Courtney Hunt, "Frozen River"

Jonathan Levine, "The Wackness"

Jenny Lumet, "Rachel Getting Married"

Best Screenplay

Woody Allen, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, "Sugar"

Charlie Kaufman, "Synecdoche, New York"

Howard A. Rodman, "Savage Grace"

Christopher Zalla, "Sangre de Mi Sangre"

Best Female Lead

Summer Bishil, "Towelhead"

Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"

Melissa Leo, "Frozen River"

Tarra Riggs, "Ballast"

Michelle Williams, "Wendy and Lucy"

Best Male Lead

Javier Bardem, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"

Richard Jenkins, "The Visitor"

Sean Penn, "Milk"

Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker"

Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler"

Best Supporting Female

Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"

Rosemarie DeWitt, "Rachel Getting Married"

Rosie Perez, "The Take"

Misty Upham, "Frozen River"

Debra Winger, "Rachel Getting Married"

Best Supporting Male

James Franco, "Milk"

Anthony Mackie, "The Hurt Locker"

Charlie McDermott, "Frozen River"

JimMyron Ross, "Ballast"

Haaz Sleiman, "The Visitor"

Best Cinematography

Maryse Alberti, "The Wrestler"

Lol Crowley, "Ballast"

James Laxton, "Medicine for Melancholy"

Harris Savides, "Milk"

Michael Simmonds, "Chop Shop"

Best Documentary

"The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)"

Director: Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath

"Encounters at the End of the World"

Director: Werner Herzog

"Man on Wire"

Director: James Marsh

"The Order of Myths"

Director: Margaret Brown

"Up the Yangtze"

Director: Yung Chang

Best Foreign Film

"The Class" (France)

Director: Laurent Cantet

"Gomorrah" (Italy)

Director: Matteo Garrone

"Hunger" (UK/Ireland)

Director: Steve McQueen

"Secret of the Grain" (France)

Director: Abdellatif Kechiche

"Silent Light" (Mexico/France/Netherlands/Germany)

Director: Carlos Reygadas

Robert Altman Award (Given to one film's director, casting director and ensemble cast)

"Synecdoche, New York"

Director: Charlie Kaufman

Casting Director: Jeanne McCarthy

Ensemble Cast: Hope Davis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan, Dianne Wiest, Michelle Williams

Someone to Watch Award

Barry Jenkins, "Medicine for Melancholy"

Nina Paley, "Sita Sings the Blues"

Lynn Shelton, "My Effortless Brilliance"

Truer Than Fiction Award

Margaret Brown, "The Order of Myths"

Sacha Gervasi, "Anvil! The Story of Anvil"

Darius Marder, "Loot"

Producers Award

Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy, "Treeless Mountain" and "I'll Come Running"

Jason Orans, "Goodbye Solo" and "Year of the Fish"

Heather Rae, "Frozen River" and "Ibid"...

With six nominations each, "Ballast," a drama about survival in the Mississippi Delta, "Frozen River," a portrait of two single moms on the Canadian border, and "Rachel Getting Married," the account of a dysfunctional family wedding, led the nominees for Film Independent's Spirit Awards, announced Tuesday morning.

All three films were nominated for best feature along "Wendy and Lucy" and "The Wrestler."

Charlie Kaufman's "Synecdoche, New York," a twisty, M.C. Escher-like film, was singled out as the winner of the group's Robert Altman Award, give to one film's director, casting director and ensemble cast. Kaufman will share the award with casting director Jeanne McCarthy and his actors Hope Davis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest, and Michelle Williams when the Spirit Awards are handed out Feb. 21.

"Synecdoche" also figure in the best first feature lineup, along with Antonio Campos' "Afterschool,...

Year: 2008

Release date: Unknown

Director: Russell Friedenberg

Writer: Russell Friedenberg & Jason Rainwater & Randy Redroadw

IMDB: link

Trailer: link

Review by: Ulises Silva

Rating: N/A

The bottom line: An experiment in psychedelic indie road-trip filmmaking that’s sure to provoke thought, but that’s also bound to confuse, disorient, and maybe lose you on the way.

From the moment ibid starts, you can tell you’re in for a different kind of film. And it doesn’t even have wto do with the slow-moving march through Trinity Psychiatric Center as we follow a stern-eyed, pigtailed nurse past all varieties of mentally handicapped patients. I think it has more to do with the subdued, drab color palette, and the general blankness of the mise-en-scéne. There’s a lot of white and blank space around the characters, a lot of emptiness that surrounds them, both inside the hospital and out. The movie is,...