NO ALTERNATIVE / Feature film

Directed by William Dickerson

Produced by Carrie LeGrand

CAST :

USA

The movie is listed 3 times in competition for the 2018 PAMA for :
– Best Feature Film
– Best Actress
– Best Overall Soundtrack

PITCH : A coming-of-age drama that blasts open the world of grunge-era teenagers in the early 90s. Thomas Harrison is determined to start his own alternative band after the suicide of Kurt Cobain — it’s an obsession that blinds him to what’s either the mental collapse, or the eruption of musical genius, of his little sister, Bridget. Bridget boldly rejects her brother’s music, and the music of an entire generation of slackers, by taking on the persona of a gangsta’ rapper named ‘Bri Da B.’

Festival’s appreciation :

“NO ALTERNATIVE is a rock’n’roll coming of age story with some serious autobiography inside. It is fun, entertaining and at the same time the movie is able to turn dark with some high quality performances, first of all Michaela Cavazos, nominated as Best Actress this year at the PAMA. Michaela steals the movie and carries it to a full range of emotions. It’s music, it’s History, it’s real: it’s moviemaking.”

HIGHLIGHT :

William Dickerson, author of the book DETOUR: HOLLYWOOD, is known worldwide for his approach on how to make indie movies with almost no money. He wrote the novel NO ALTERNATIVE in 2012, and then adapted it himself for the big screen.

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NO ALTERNATIVE Press Kit.

“The reason I picked up an instrument was because Kurt Cobain killed himself. There was something inside me that wanted to keep his music alive—so I bought a guitar. My own Grunge band generated a following in New York; however, while our intentions were genuine, we were unknowingly capitalizing on the musical trends at the time. On the flipside, my younger sister ignored the radio-friendly Grunge that was the mainstream and turned to an even newer form of emerging music: Gangsta’ Rap.

The character of “Bri Da B” is inspired by my sister, who for most of her life suffered from mental illness. One of the ways she was able to cope and enjoy life was through rapping. When the character of Bridget becomes “Bri Da B,” that transformation into someone else helps lessen the pain she is feeling in her life.

My novel, on which this film is based, was published in 2012. It was born from what I imagined my worst nightmare to be: losing my sister. She had a history of addiction and attempted suicide several times. I wanted to show her, through my writing, just how horrible it would be to lose a sibling—to lose me—in an effort to save her from herself.

However, it wasn’t enough. She overdosed two years later. Tragically, my worst nightmare came true.

My sister was on numerous prescription anti-depressant, anxiety and pain medications at the time of her death. The 90’s saw a lot of kids just like my sister, who were driven to suicide because of misdiagnoses and over-prescribing—it’s an epidemic that has largely gone unnoticed. This epidemic, along with that universal sense of teenage alienation, are themes explored in “No Alternative.” This film is deeply personal for me, but it’s also a story that I know will resonate with teenagers of yesterday, today and tomorrow. It’s the perfect time period to confront the ideas of suicide, addiction and mental illness, in hopes of removing the stigmas attached to them. So many people refuse to talk openly about mental illness and view suicide in a taboo light, which is extremely detrimental. I want this film to shine a light on these subjects through dramatic storytelling.

I believe, as artists, we are all expert at one thing—while we may be capable of telling a variety of different stories, there’s the one story which burns inside, which we were meant to share and use all the skills and resources at our disposal to tell, no matter what stands in our way.

For me, this is that story.“

 

Director Biography – William Dickerson

William Dickerson graduated from The College of The Holy Cross with a Bachelor’s Degree in English and received his Master of Fine Arts in Directing from The American Film Institute. His debut feature film “Detour,” which he wrote and directed, was hailed as an “Underground Hit” by The Village Voice, an “emotional and psychological roller-coaster ride” by The Examiner, and nothing short of “authentic” by The New York Times. His award-winning work has been recognized by film festivals across the country. His first book, “No Alternative,” was declared, “a sympathetic coming-of-age story deeply embedded in ’90s music” by Kirkus Reviews. His second book, “DETOUR: Hollywood: How To Direct a Microbudget Film (or any film, for that matter),” is available now. Midwest Book Review writes: “‘DETOUR: Hollywood’ is candidly practical, thoroughly ‘user friendly’, and an essential instruction guide — especially for independent filmmakers working on shoestring budgets.”He recently adapted “No Alternative” into a motion picture starring Michaela Cavazos, Conor Proft, Chloe Levine, Kathryn Erbe and Harry Hamlin.

 

SNAPSHOTS / Feature film

Directed by Melanie Mayron

Produced by Jan Miller Corran and LeeAnne Matusek

USA

CAST :

Piper Laurie (Carrie, Hustler, Twin Peaks)

Brooke Adams

Emily Baldoni

Max Adler (Glee, Sully)

Brett Dier (Jane the Virgin)

Emily Goss (The House on Pine Street)

Shannon Collis (Inherent Vice)

Cathy DeBuono

Christopher McVay

Shana Sarin

The movie is listed 4 times in competition for the 2018 PAMA for :
– Best Feature Film
– Best Director (Melanie Mayron)
– Best Actress (Emily Baldoni)
– Best Score (David Michael Frank)

HIGHLIGHT :

Distributed by Gravitas Ventures (World)

Festival’s Appreciation :

SNAPSHOTS is quite a good film, just goes better saying it. It goes to your heart, it talks to your inner child as much as your grown up soul. In addition to having the pleasure to see Piper Laurie back on the big screen, the movie offers a perfectly balanced cast with three incredibly good actresses on top of it. It is smart, genuine, soft.

PITCH :

When a grandmother’s secret past collides with her granddaughter’s secret future and her daughter’s angry present, can the love of three generations be enough to accept decades of deceit. With a simple roll of film it begins.
Set in the present with flashbacks to the early 1960’s, Snapshots brings together the matriarch Rose (Piper Laurie), her daughter Patty (Brooke Adams) granddaughter Allison (Emily Baldoni), Shannon Collis as Young Rose and Max Adler as her husband Joe, Emily Goss as Louise and her husband Zee played by Brett Dier.

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Press Kit.

As the director of notable films like Mean Girls 2, Slap Her She’s French, The Babysitter’s Club, and Freaky Friday, Mayron has brought her directing expertise to television shows like Grace and Frankie with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, The Fosters, Jane the Virgin, In Treatment (HBO), Pretty Little Liars and numerous others. In addition, she has been on the other side of the camera as an actress in the award winning Thirtysomething, Lipstick Jungle, Jane the Virgin, Criminal Minds, Pretty Little Liars, Breaking the Girls and Playing for Time.

Director Statement

“Snapshots” is a film I very much wanted to see made. It spoke to me on two levels. The first is about love. The complexity of love, who we love, how we choose someone to love, how that affects the path of our lives, and how that path becomes our destiny, and in the end, our legacy. All we have is our life. Our one small, gigantic life amongst so many in the world. But what unites us all as humans, is the experience of love. That experience, if we are lucky enough to experience it, of being swept away by the knowing of a partner, a soul mate is the most breathtaking of experiences. And then there is the time we are born into, the social mores at that time of our life experience. “Snapshots” visits the same experience in two different time/spaces, fifty years apart. It is a heartbreaking and yet revelatory story about love and time.
And then there is another theme present, and that is of holding a secret. It takes courage and tremendous risk to reveal a secret long held, that can be incredibly hard to understand as well as hurtful. In the end, when the secret is out, we are privy to the very private struggle and painful journey one takes to accept, forgive and reclaim trust in someone you love.

I am so very proud of the cast we assembled to do the project and the work that was done. Because in the end, with this particular film, to everyone who contributed to it, it was all about this particular story about this particular love, and this particular family, that everyone felt needed to get out there.

THE SHEPHERDS OF CAT ISLAND / Short script

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

Written by Attila Rostas

USA

The movie is listed to the 2018 PAMA for :
– Best Short Script (unproduced)

Based on true events, The Shepherds of Cat Island, is a continuous, single take drama that puts individual and collective responsibility under microscope to examine systematic prejudice and racial tension in the midst of WWII. A strong German shepherd runs across an open clearing. Major DeWitt is in charge of conditioning the animal and the Japanese-American Nisei soldiers for the scheduled government inspection. Shortly after the agents arrive, the project leader, Mr. Prestre, sends out Williamson, a Caucasian, and Shindo, a Japanese-American soldier to hide in the woods. The German shepherd is trained to follow and hunt down only the Japanese-American. The dog leaves after the two ‘dog baits’, and as we follow the Major’s steps around the deserted landscape, the secret military project gradually reveals its characters and core theory that it was built upon. Soldiers and leaders, dogs and trainers, White- and Japanese-Americans construe this hidden but true piece of history that may help us to navigate among contemporary interpretations of patriotism and basic human rights.

PRIZE LIST

The script has been selected to the following festivals prior to the PAMA :

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Attila Rostas is a multiple Award winning Hungarian born American Writer, Director and Producer with strong emphases on social injustice, human biases and prejudice in his filmmaking body. Attila holds a University Degree in Economics and Diplomatic Services from Europe, and an MBA in International Business from Pace University in New York City. During his studies he took a study trip to the European Union in Brussels and did voluntary work for the United Nations in New York City where he got exposed to the disconnectedness of politics and social responsibility. After working in several countries in the corporate World, Attila enrolled to New York Film Academy then finished his film studies at SF Film School in San Francisco.
His very first short film in film school Gloomy Sunday was already selected and screened at international film festivals in Barcelona and New York City, his next narrative film, The Audition was screened at festivals in Hollywood, Toronto, and Pori, Finland. His thesis film, the multiple award winner Silentium Dei, is a single take, continuous drama about violence chauvinism and human brutality. The film screened over 20 festivals including Raindance Film Festival in London, Brooklyn Film Festival in New York, Los Angeles, Edinburgh, Tehran, Budapest, Eindhoven, Thessaloniki, and Tirana among many other places. The Shepherds of Cat Island is Attila’s conscious step toward his debut feature film in development about the Japanese-American internment in California during WWII.

 

Writer Statement

In 1942 October, with the approval of President F.D. Roosevelt, 26 Japanese-American Nisei soldiers were transferred from Camp McCoy, Wisconsin to the Mexican Bay for a Secret Military Project. The Nisei participated in the so-called ‘War Dog Project’ to train special dogs for the military aiming to help the battles on the Pacific. The project on Cat Island was implemented on the theory that Japanese descents smell different from Caucasians, therefore dogs can be trained to smell that ‘Japanese scent’. When the project did not meet the expectations, the leaders, William A. Prestre and the U.S. Army, carried out even more brutal training methods to deliver results. The film portrays the American battlefield during WWII., not on foreign but domestic soil.
I came across the infamous War Dog Projects of the U.S. Army while doing research for my debut feature which is in development, about the Japanese internment in America during WWII. I was staggered by the facts, how irresponsibly the government approved such a controversial theory about Japanese-American citizens, and how quickly they put that misconception into practice. I was even more appalled by the aftermath of the failed project. No remorse, no regret, no public apology. Recent shifts in the American political landscape stirred up the multicultural melting pot in our society. The ever-increasing witch-hunt of immigrants started to dominate the political and other public rhetoric. The definitions of national and individual safety became unclear again. Being an immigrant myself, The Shepherds of Cat Island is my direct reflection on the manipulative nature of this persistent political myopia.

PARIS YOU GOT ME / Short film

WORLD PREMIERE

Directed by Julie Boehm

Produced by ALEKSANDRA TODOROVIC and ANN KATRIN BOBERG

CAST :

GERMANY

The movie is listed 4 times in competition for the 2018 PAMA for :
– Best Production
– Best Dance
– Best Student Film
– Best Director

PITCH : Art may change the inner as well as the external world“
That’s how our protagonist Ksenia experiences it. The street artist George lures her into his magic world of art illusions.
An artistic dance about the realisation of your dreams. Paris, you got me!

Festival’s appreciation :

“Paris You Got Me is visually and artistically amazing. It’s a living dream, a visual feast, an emotional ride, full of joy and so colorful. A lovely mix of modern and vintage aesthetics all in an dreamy movie.”

HIGHLIGHT :

It is he first time a student film also is listed for best Director. It is also the first time a dance film is nominated for any other best category. The team of Paris You Got Me is making history at the PAMA Festival !

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“Since I ‘m 4 years old, I dance: rhythmic gymnastics, acrobatics and ballet shaped my sense for aesthetic movements.
The protagonist Ksenia Parkhatskaya is a friend whose dancing career I’ve been following for years.
It is inspiring to collaborate with other artists and to create something entirely new together!
I discovered my passion for urban art when I worked for an art magazine some years ago.
Modern art questions the current affairs and it is an aesthetic expression of our freedom of speech.

With this film I want to motivate the viewer to turn his wishful thinking into reality.
The desire to break out of everyday life and to do things that seem like “magic” to others shall be aroused.
Let’s learn to dance, to develop our day dreams and to shape our environment and create a positive, peaceful future.”

Director Biography – Julie Boehm

Julie Boehm is a free cross-media artist in the district of Painting, Photography, Illustration, Composing, Bodypainting, Dance and Film. Her experience as a former dancer of Rhythmics Gymnastics, Acrobatic and Ballett influenced her affinity for dance projects.
After her studies at the “Academy of Fine Arts Vienna” (Painting),” Graphische Vienna” (Multimedia), “Babelsberg Filmschool” (Digital Filmdesign) she worked as creative director for the Art Magazine Spykeheels in Berlin. 2018 she finished her studies at the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg in the subject of Animation.