Some of Team Cinereach will be at the Berlin International Film Festival for the next several days to cheer on these six films, all supported through various Cinereach programs.
Please check them out if you’re in the neighborhood!
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Posts Tagged ‘On the Ice’
02/06/2013
» Cinereach Supported films at the Berlinale 2013
02/16/2012
» On the Ice Opens in Theaters
Written and directed by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, and produced by Cara Marcous and Lynette Howell, On the Ice opens in select theaters on Friday, February 17th.
MacLean’s feature debut follows two Inuit teenagers on the snow-covered Arctic tundra, at the top of the world in Barrow, Alaska, as they try to get away with murder.
Featuring breakout performances by Josiah Patkotak and Frank Qutuq Irelan, On the Ice, premiered at the 2011 Sundance film festival and has won numerous awards including Best First Feature and the Crystal Bear for Generations 14plus at the 2011 Berlinale. The Village Voice says the film is “a marvel of concentrated, classical storytelling” calling it “ethnodocumentary noir, since MacLean includes elements of Iñupiaq language and culture.”
Producer Cara Marcous takes a moment to reflect on the hybrid release of the film, working with PMK-BNC Films, Sundance Artist Services Initiative and others to help create the best distribution strategy.
With the help of many, On the Ice begins Distribution
a guest post by Producer Cara Marcous
On the Ice opens this Friday, so things are a bit of a blur. But I wanted to write briefly, and share some of what we’re trying to do. We are releasing this film without an outside distributor. We are collaborating with Marian Koltai-Levine and her team at PMK-BNC Films, Sundance Artist Services Initiative, WME, and Brigade PR. It’s been a long process so we are all very excited to finally get our film out into the world.
Our release falls somewhere in the gray area between a self-release and a release with a traditional distributor. We are not four-walling theaters, we are not re-inventing the wheel; we are working with experienced distribution professionals to function as a traditional distributor would function. The difference is that we are making the final decisions, we are strategizing day to day. Together with our team, we are digging into each market and devising our best approach. We are by no means coming to those decisions on our own, but the collaboration goes both ways because we understand our film and its unique audience better than anyone else could.
We raised our distribution funds through Kickstarter. Many of the backers were basically pre-buying the DVD to support us, some wanted the cool gifty stuff and then some just wanted to support the film or our team. We raised about $85,000 through Kickstarter and another $5,000 directly through a foundation, to end up with about $82,000 for our entire release (after covering Kickstarter’s fee). It is not a lot of money to release a film—very little in fact—but we have had a determinedly lean and mean approach and we’ve managed to do a surprising amount with our $82,000. We’ve confirmed 16 theaters so far nationwide, a much wider release than many indie titles see. It’s been an intense crash course in film distribution, but it’s also been a thrill because things are tangibly changing in the indie film distribution universe, and I hope we’re on the cusp of it.
I hope you will all come to see On the Ice this weekend because it is a suspenseful entertaining film, from a fascinating place. I also hope you will be excited to support a team of people who are actively taking a risk to find a viable alternative distribution method. Small indies with unique voices and first-time actors can make money. Help us prove it. See you at the theater!
Cara Marcous (Producer)
Cara produced the award-winning feature film On the Ice which premiered in competition at Sundance 2011. On the Ice won Best First Feature and the Crystal Bear for Generations 14plus at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival; The FIPRESCI Prize for Best New American Film at the Seattle International Film Festival; and Best Feature and Best Cinematography at the 2011 Woodstock Film Festival. She also produced the short narrative film Sikumi, which has won numerous awards including the Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and the BAFTA/LA Award for Excellence, and has screened at over 50 festivals around the world. In 2005, she produced the documentary feature When the Season is Good: Artists of Arctic Alaska after working for years with acclaimed independent producer Ben Barenholtz. She has also produced several plays including the premiere of her own full-length piece Lapse at Walkerspace in New York City. Ms. Marcous is the recipient of the Sheila Johnson Fellowship for the 2009 Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Creative Producing Initiative.
Cinereach is proud to announce that five films supported through various Cinereach initiatives will be showcased at this year’s BFI London International Film Festival, running October 12 – 27.
Dragonslayer
Director: Tristan Patterson
Nonfiction | Winter 2010 & Summer 2010 Grantee
Festival Screening Information
Drag City in association with Killer Films presents the transmissions of a lost kid, falling in love, in the suburbs of Fullerton, California. Featuring skateboarding, the usual drugs, and stray glimpses of unusual beauty.
Here
Director: Braden King
Fiction | Supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute
Festival Screening Information
Measurement and orientation break down in an intensely visual, landscape-obsessed road movie that chronicles the relationship between an American mapmaker and a foreign art photographer who impulsively decide to travel together into deeply uncharted territory.
On the Ice
Director: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
Fiction | Winter 2010 Grantee & Supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute
Festival Screening Information
On the snow-covered Arctic tundra, at the top of the world in Barrow, Alaska, two Inuit teenagers try to get away with murder.
Pariah
Director:Dee Rees
Fiction | Winter 2009 & Winter 2010 Grantee
Festival Screening Information
When forced to choose between the fragile cohesion of her middle-class family and loyalty to her best friend, a Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.
Return
Director: Liza Johnson
Fiction | Winter 2010 Grantee & Supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute
Festival Screening Information
Back from a tour of duty, Kelli slowly realizes that her everyday life doesn’t resemble the one she left. Can she regain her place in the kind of life she’s been fighting to protect?
The Forgiveness of Blood
Director: Joshua Marston
Fiction | Supported through Cinereach Productions & Winter 2009 Grantee
Festival Screening Information
In The Forgiveness of Blood, the lives of a teenage boy and his younger sister are thrown into turmoil after a killing in a dispute over land draws their northern Albanian family into a blood feud.
The contagious energy of film festivals makes them the ideal environment to experience new films. If you’re in New York, Los Angeles, DC or beyond, please check out these upcoming events, as well as the Cinereach-supported films that are screening at them. The links below will take you to more information about the festivals, films and screening details.
Sheffield Doc/Fest
Sheffield, United Kingdom
June 8th – 12th
Sheffield Doc/Fest brings the international documentary family together to celebrate the art and business of documentary making. In addition to a wealth of inspirational documentary films, Doc/Fest offers pitching opportunities, controversial discussion panels and in-depth filmmaker masterclasses. Cinereach is excited to have several grantee projects involved in this year’s Doc/Fest, in various ways including a world premiere for one!
Just Do It: A Tale of Modern Day Outlaws
Winter 2011 Grantee
Director: Emily James
Producer: Lauren Simpson
For a year the filmmaker submerged herself in documenting the secret activities of environmental direct action activists in the UK. The result is a behind the scenes portrait of a community of actively engaged citizens who aren’t prepared to sit back and allow the destruction of the world’s ecosystems and climate.
Just Do It Screening Information – World Premiere!
Sheffield Doc/Fest will also screen If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (screening information). See the Human Rights Watch Film Festival section below for more information about the film.
Several Cinereach-supported projects are also participating in the MeetMarket. Look for Gardens of Paradise, Teenage, When Two Worlds Collide and Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute grantee God Loves Uganda.
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Human Rights Watch Film Festival
New York, NY
June 16th – 30th
The Human Rights Watch Film Festival brings to life human rights abuses through storytelling in a way that challenges each individual to empathize and demand justice for all people. In presenting this work, the festival creates a forum for courageous individuals on both sides of the lens to empower audiences with the knowledge that personal commitment can make a difference.
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute
Directors/Producers: Marshall Curry & Sam Cullman
Daniel McGowan was arrested for being part of the Earth Liberation Front, a group responsible for arsons against timber companies and SUV dealerships. Through his story the film sheds light on two of our most important and timely issues–terrorism and environmentalism.
If a Tree Falls screening information. Discussions with filmmaker Marshall Curry will follow both screenings.
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Los Angeles Film Festival
Los Angeles, CA
June 16th – 26th
The Los Angeles Film Festival is produced by Film Independent, an organization dedicated to promoting and supporting independent films and filmmakers. In the heart of downtown Los Angeles, the festival connects the movie-loving public to emerging talent, through FREE screenings of films. Included in the festival:
On the Ice
Winter 2010 Grantee & Supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute
Writer/Director: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
Producer: Cara Marcous
On the snow-covered Arctic tundra, two teenagers try to get away with murder.
On the Ice screening information
The Bully Project
Summer 2009 Grantee
Director: Lee Hirsch
Producer: Cynthia Lowen
“A year in the life” of America’s bullying crisis that offers an intimate look at how bullying has touched the lives of five kids and their families.
The Bully Project screening information
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BAMcinemaFest
Brooklyn, NY
June 16th – 26th
Now in its third year, BAMcinemaFest collects dynamic and innovative new work from recent festivals. It has been called New York’s “best independent-film showcase” by Richard Brody of The New Yorker. Four films supported by Cinereach will be included in this year’s lineup, including a short nurtured through the Reach Film Fellowship.
Love Lockdown
2010 Reach Film Fellowship Project
Director: Nadia Hallgren
A young mother from the Bronx reaches out to the incarcerated father of her children, via Lockdown Love, a popular late-night radio show.
Love Lockdown screening information
Dragonslayer
Winter 2010 & Summer 2010 Grantee
Director: Tristan Patterson
Producer: John Baker
The transmissions of a lost kid, falling in love, in the suburbs of Fullerton, California. Featuring skateboarding, the usual drugs, and stray glimpses of unusual beauty.
Dragonslayer screening information
BAMcinemaFest will also screen On the Ice (screening information) and If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (screening information). Please see previous festival sections for more information about those films.
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Silverdocs
Silver Spring, Maryland
June 20th – 26th
The AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival has been called “Non-Fiction Nirvana” by Variety, the “Pre-eminent documentary Festival in the US” by Screen International and the “premiere showcase for documentary film” by Hollywood Reporter. Silverdocs is a festival and conference that promotes documentary film as a leading art form, supports the work of independent filmmakers and fosters an atmosphere for public dialogue and civic engagement around the issues and ideas explored in the films. Included in this year’s Silverdocs are:
Donor Unknown
Winter 2010 Grantee
Director: Jerry Rothwell
Producers: Hilary Durman & Al Morrow
A twenty-first century tale of identity and genetic inheritance, and perhaps the family of the future.
Donor Unknown screening information
Silverdocs will also screen Dragonslayer (screening information), The Bully Project (screening information) and If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (screening information). Please see previous sections for more on these three films.
03/03/2011
» Joshua Marston’s The Forgiveness of Blood takes home Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Script
Joshua Marston and Andamion Murataj received the Silver Bear Award for Best Script at the 2011 Berlinale. Marston and Mourataj are the writers of Cinereach Productions’ The Forgiveness of Blood, which also received a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury.
The film, produced by Paul Mezey of Journeyman Pictures, and directed by Marston, follows the lives of a teenage boy and his younger sister when they are thrown into turmoil after a killing in a dispute over land draws their northern Albanian family into a blood feud.
The Forgiveness of Blood was produced in partnership with Fandango Portobello, Artists Public Domain, and Lissus Media and received grants from the Goteborg Film Festival Film Fund and New York State Council on the Arts.
This recent Hollywood Reporter interview with Marston sheds more light on the story behind the film.
The Forgiveness of Blood
Writers: Joshua Marston & Andamion Murataj
Director: Joshua Marston
Producer: Paul Mezey
Cinereach congratulates Here, On the Ice, and Yelling to the Sky, which also screened in competition. On the Ice (a Winter 2010 Cinereach Grantee and supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute) won the Best First Feature Award, which includes a 50,000 Euro prize. Here (supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute) was recognized with the C.I.C.A.E. Prize from the Panorama Jury.
On the Ice
Writer & Director: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
Producers: Cara Marcous & Lynette Howell
HERE
Writers: Braden King & Dani Valent
Director: Braden King
Producers: Jay Van Hoy & Lars Knudsen
Yelling to the Sky
Writer & Director: Victoria Mahoney
Producers: Billy Mulligan, Ged Dickersin, Diane Houslin, Victoria Mahoney
Now in its 61st year, the Berlin International Film Festival, also known as the Berlinale, remains one of the world’s most important film festivals. The 2011 Berlinale takes place from February 10th – 20th, and Cinereach is a proud supporter of four films included in this year’s festival!
The Forgiveness of Blood
The lives of a teenage boy and his younger sister are thrown into turmoil after a killing in a dispute over land draws their northern Albanian family into a blood feud.
Winter 2009 Cinereach Grantee, and supported through Cinereach Productions
Writers: Joshua Marston & Andamion Murataj
Director: Joshua Marston
Producer: Paul Mezey
In Competition – Berlinale Screening Information
HERE
On assignment to create a new, more accurate satellite survey of Armenia, an American cartographer forms a powerful bond with an Armenian expatriate and art photographer.
Supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute
Writers: Braden King & Dani Valent
Director: Braden King
Producers: Jay Van Hoy & Lars Knudsen
In Panorama – Berlinale Screening Information
Photo Courtesy of Sebastian Mlynarski
On the Ice
On the snow-covered Arctic tundra, two teenagers try to get away with murder.
Winter 2010 Cinereach Grantee, and supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute
Writer/Director: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
Producers: Cara Marcous & Lynette Howell
In Generation 14plus – Berlinale Screening Information
Photo Courtesy of Kirsten Johnson
Yelling to the Sky
As her family falls apart, seventeen year old Sweetness O’Hara is left to fend for herself in a neighborhood where her survival is uncertain.
Supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute
Writer/Director: Victoria Mahoney
Producers: Billy Mulligan, Ged Dickersin, Diane Houslin, Victoria Mahoney
In Competition – Berlinale Screening Information
Built upon a solid legacy of film that it has helped to introduce to larger audiences, The Sundance Film Festival continues to showcase a sampling of exciting, independent work. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival will take place January 20 – 30th, and Cinereach will be there to see all that we can. We will also be there to cheer for the films that Cinereach has been able to support through various avenues.
Photo Courtesy of Tarek Moukaddem
Circumstance
Summer 2009 & Summer 2010 Cinereach Grantee
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Writer/Director: Maryam Keshavarz
Producers: Karen Chien & Melissa Lee
A wealthy Iranian family struggles to contain a teenager’s growing sexual rebellion and her brother’s dangerous obsession.
HERE
Supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Writers: Braden King & Dani Valent
Director: Braden King
Producers: Jay Van Hoy & Lars Knudsen
On assignment to create a new, more accurate satellite survey of Armenia, an American cartographer forms a powerful bond with an Armenian expatriate and art photographer.
Sundance Screening Details
Photo Courtesy of TJ Watt
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute
U.S. Documentary Competition
Directors/Producers: Marshall Curry & Sam Cullman
Daniel McGowan was arrested for being part of the Earth Liberation Front, a group responsible for arsons against timber companies and SUV dealerships. Through his story the film sheds light on two of our most important and timely issues–terrorism and environmentalism.
Kinyarwanda
Summer 2010 Cinereach Grantee
World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Writer/Director: Alrick Brown
Producers: Darren Dean, Tommy Oliver & Ishmael Ntihabose (EP)
Based on accounts from survivors, Kinyarwanda tells the story of Rwandans who crossed the lines of hatred during the 1994 genocide, turning mosques into places of refuge for Muslims and Christians, Hutus and Tutsis.
Photo Courtesy of Sebastian Mlynarski
On the Ice
Winter 2010 Cinereach Grantee & Supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Writer/Director: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
Producer: Cara Marcous
On the snow-covered Arctic tundra, two teenagers try to get away with murder.
Pariah
Winter 2009 & Winter 2010 Cinereach Grantee
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Writer/Director: Dee Rees
Producer: Nekisa Cooper
When forced to choose between losing her best friend or destroying her family, a Bronx teenager juggles conflicting identities and endures heartbreak in a desperate search for sexual expression.
In addition to these features, a previous film written and directed by 2011 Reach Film Fellow Nick Paley will be shown in the U.S. Narrative Shorts program.
Andy and Zach – When Zach decides to move out, his roommate Andy tries to set up a new life without his best friend.
Sundance Screening Details