Fusion Film Festival

Celebrating women in TV, Film & New Media

Rachel Thaw

The Q&A before the Q&A: A Talk with NYU-Alum Janicza Bravo, Writer/Director of Gregory Go Boom

Writer/Director of Gregory Go Boom and Special Guest for Fusion’s Opening Night – Thurs. March 6th

Janicza Bravo’s new short Gregory Go Boom is the freshest and most intriguing short out there this season (already having swept up the Grand Jury Prize for Narrative Short at Sundance). With laughs, and heart, and killer form the film goes beyond the boundaries of the newly emerging dry, dead-pan comedy genre of our generation and captures perhaps the best performance of Michael Cera’s career thus far. Recently, I had a chance to pick the brain of the woman behind the film and get to know a little bit more about Janicza’s inspiration and perspective as a writer and director – though, of course she we still have many more questions in store for her in person after screening Gregory Go Boom in the Cantor Film Center this Thursday at 7pm.

What was your inspiration for the story of Gregory Go Boom?

A couple of years ago I was out to dinner with my boyfriend and his uncle. Next to us was a paraplegic man. He seemed preoccupied, distracted. He was waiting for something; for someone. There was an air about him that totally grabbed my attention. In walks this woman. Blonde and very beautiful. It was clear by the look on her face that they’d been set up. She looked at him in this way that is very hard to explain. It was devastating. I didn’t see the look on his face because I couldn’t bare it. He must have been crestfallen… The film is born out of that look. The way that must have made him feel so small. The film is about being dismissed because of limitation.

What was it like getting the film made, gaining support, and building a team? Did you work with your connections from NYU in any way?

The film came together pretty fast. It had its challenges like all work does. It was produced by JASH. Jash is a comedy collective that puts out comedy content curated by Michael Cera, Sarah Silverman, Tim and Eric and Reggie Watts. My producing partner, Brett Gelman, and I pitched a few ideas and they loved Gregory most. We were a small team with a small budget so there was very little room for ego. The 2nd and 3rd dates that Gregory goes on are with Mireya Lucio and Anna Rose Hopkins who are old pals from NYU.

How did your background as a Tisch drama major guide you in this project? Do you think it gave you a unique approach to characters, story, etc. than a film background would? 

I am deeply grateful for my theatre background. It influences all of my choices from framing to blocking to casting. I tend to grain towards wide shots and long takes with very little coverage. I like scenes to play out and breathe which is definitely a result of my days back at Playwright Horizons. There are no cutaways in theatre. Sometimes I wish I knew what everything on a film set was called but ultimately that’s not the kind of filmmaker I am. I am not a technical person.

How would you describe what it is like being a female filmmaker in this time?

It’s a very thrilling time. It’s nice to be among a strong crop of women. That said the conversation of being a woman filmmaker for me is not one that is devoid of race. The industry is a very male and very white. That’s a fact. It’s a fact that I use to let affect me. I felt if there wasn’t someone like me already then it meant there would never be anyone like me.

I can’t put into words how exciting it is that something I directed is playing at NYU. I really cherished my time there. I’ve dreamt about playing my work Cantor and directing one of the main stages. So this is truly very awesome.

Interview by Danielle Massie

Adobe Creative Cloud – Creating a Connection Between Student Filmmakers

It’s no secret that the competitors of Fusion Film Festival 2014 are in the running to win some great prizes. A lot of people, however, don’t know just how great these are to a filmmaker. One of the prizes up for grabs at Fusion this year is being offered up by the renowned and innovative technology company, Adobe.

Adobe has generously contributed five 1-year subscriptions to the student pack of Adobe Creative Cloud to for Fusion’s winners that includes Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Adobe Muse, and Adobe Premiere Pro. Normally valued as a $600 bundle per subscription, the winners in the categories of Graduate Film, Undergraduate Film, Sight & Sound, Animated Short, and Web-Series will take this career-shaping package home for free.

The whole host of Adobe products allow artists of the technological generation to polish and professionalize their work before putting it before clients and the public and to create overall higher quality products than their competitors. Adobe has just made further innovative shockwaves in the creative community by launching Behance – a product that allows creatives to showcase their portfolios electronically thereby networking faster and further by linking artists to the creative cloud.

Students are now able to put out professional-grade work through the use of the creative cloud linked to Adobe. Showcased on Adobe’s web sites are stories of talented individuls who have used Adobe products to take their work to the next level. Such artists include Nika Tang, who was able to use Adobe to launch her clothing designs into the forums of Fashion Week, and Brecht Vanthof who used the Adobe Creative Cloud to craft his surf films.

Since its founding Adobe has always had a strong impact within the creative community and is continuously spearheading new innovations to open up doors for artists to enhance, hone, and change their crafts. Fusion is excited to announce that we have the support of Adobe in the form of five $600 value prize packages at our 2014 festival.

By Elizabeth Groth

To The Moon and Back With More: Emma Thatcher, 2013 Docs-In-The-Works Finalist Completes Feature

Fusion Film Festival is often the starting grounds for future projects and Emma Thatcher’s experience has been a prime example of that. She was a finalist in the 2012 documentary pitch category and has just completed the film she pitched, To the Moon. A recent Tisch graduate, this documentary is Emma’s first feature film.

To the Moon follows 18 college students and graduates biking from San Francisco, CA to Amherst, MA to visit various cooperative businesses. Emma says that “on one level, it is a film about cooperation, sustainability and adventure,” but her and her team did not want it to become an educational film about co-ops; instead, they focused more on their individual subjects and their personal, emotional journeys. Their goal of this film is to initiate conversations and “highlight the importance of dedication and innovation to demonstrate change in action,” especially in this era of active blogging and in the midst of college-aged uncertainty.

Emma had a very unique Fusion experience. The semester her pitch was part of the festival, she was actually studying abroad. She had her producers pitch the film and relied on them to relay any feedback the pitch received. Despite the distance and consequent obstacles, Emma still felt “very drawn to [Fusion’s] mission” and “welcomed by all involved” in the festival. She acknowledges the importance of community in the art world and the festival is great source of that, both within NYU and beyond. Naturally, connecting with Fusion again stems from her wanting “to share the final product with the people who provided so much advice and support.” And Fusion is equally glad to celebrate To the Moon with Emma.

Currently, Emma is working with two of her Tisch peers, Nino Chichua and Anita Gou, at a film collective the three founded. They created Open Harbor Pictures with a mission to make international documentaries. Their next project, “Alcohol,” is a look at how alcohol is consumed around the world and will explore its political, social, and emotional charges.

Learn more about Emma’s documentary HERE and follow her film collective’s work HERE. Support more documentaries that may become realities by attending this year’s Docs-In-The-Works on Friday, March 7th at 3 pm in Tisch Theatre 006.

By Amanda Saiewitz

Tips on How To Run a Festival – From Our Mentors at Nantucket

A few weeks ago, the Fusion Team held a workshop with our mentors at festival the Nantucket Film Festival where we talked about everything from getting sponsors to creating the perfect marketing pitch. Bill Curran, the Festival Producer, Basil Tsiokos, the Film Program Director, Nicki Doyamis and Jess Byers, the Development Manager and the festival Coordinator, respectively, made up the intimate and knowledgeable panel.

As is stated in their mission statement, the Nantucket Film Festival focuses on the awareness and appreciation of the art of screenwriting. Each year they honor a different screenwriter who has been exemplary in the field of screenwriting. This year, the festival is honoring Aaron Sorkin, who is best known as the screenwriter behind The Social Network and the creator of the television shows The West Wing and The Newsroom.

Along with honoring a noted screenwriter each year, the Festival also awards new voices in screenwriting who have made an impact, special achievements in documentary storytelling, and the Adrienne Shelly Excellence in Filmmaking Award, which is presented to a female involved in the creation of film who has stood out among her peers. As the awards span all aspects of screenwriting, it is clear that the Nantucket Film Festival caters to a vast audience.

The Festival also hosts an All-Star Comedy Roundtable each year, bringing together the top writers, directors, and performers in comedy who talk about their experiences in the field. Last year’s comedians included Ben Stiller, Mike Myers, Seth Meyers, and Michael Ian Black. While the Nantucket Film Festival is smaller in size than other film festivals, it was inspiring to hear about how this reputable festival still brought large audiences and successful writers together to celebrate screenwriting in film.

This year, the Nantucket Film Festival will be celebrating its 19th festival. These many years of experience gives Nantucket some great insights to share with Fusion about running a successful festival. One of their main tips is to always be professional and positive, especially when working with other companies, including those who might be sponsors for the festival. It was inspiring to hear how important a confident attitude can take you, whether you are working for a major film festival like Nantucket Film Festival or a student run festival like Fusion.

In terms of advertising for and marketing the festival, the Nantucket panel advised to take a cue from social media and connect events that were happening in popular culture with events that Fusion was involved in. Everyone loves top-ten lists, so use Twitter or Facebook to pull people into the “Top Ten Women in Film” that they have to check out, or “The Five Must See Films of February” that have Fusion Alumni involved in them. The bottom line: Keep people interested and involved in the Festival,
and always present a positive image to the public. Successful film festivals are all about teamwork and building a team that is knowledgeable, determined, and passionate about making each year the best it can be.

To have the chance to talk to such successful and knowledgeable insiders as the Nantucket Film Festival team was an incredible opportunity. Their insights into what makes a film festival successful were a reminder of how any festival, including Fusion, can always grow and improve to make each year the best festival yet. It was inspiring to hear from such notable people in the film festival industry, and about how as students putting on a film festival, Fusion has a lot in common with the Nantucket Festival.

By Madeline Smith

“Comedians in Cars Getting Wired”: More Amazing Prizes From Our Sponsors at Gotham Sound

We at Fusion are very excited to inform contestants, festival enthusiasts, and fellow Fusionites alike of more amazing news from our sponsors – Gotham Sound has teamed up with the festival again to sponsor some incredible prizes. The company has generously offered five $200 certificates with a donation value of $1,000.

Gotham Sound and Communications, Inc. is the ideal one-stop audio shopping and service experience. The company’s services range from equipment rental to equipment repair. In addition to its up-to-date stock and talented technicians, Gotham’s knowledgeable staff is on hand to provide insightful advice. Whether a major studio film or a student project, Gotham Sound and Communications, Inc. is dedicated to providing reliable, expert support. Check out this real-life scenario, straight from the Gotham blogs, to see just how Gotham tools can aid you in resourceful filmmaking:

“Suppose you have a certain high profile talent who has a kooky idea for a show. He wants to take classic cars, pick ­up other high profile talent, drive them around the city (stopping at various locations), treat them to coffee, and drive them back home – all while seamlessly recording their entire conversation, without having a sound person present in the car as it zips around New York.

What would you do?

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

This is exactly the scenario presented to Gotham when director Jojo Pennebaker called us in 2012 about Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee. The stipulations were that it had to be seamless, it had to be unobtrusive, and there had to be total coverage – with no retakes. Lucky for us, Zaxcom wireless provide a unique feature set that allowed us to accomplish exactly this.”

Read more on how Gotham met the challenge of the in-car-mike on Gotham’s blog.

For Fusion winners, Gotham is an incredibly useful tool in creating independent projects. The rental inventory is diverse enough for any sized project and budget, from an Intermediate Narrative production to a first feature. Getting an independent project underway can be difficult, but the support of Gotham and their technical wizards can make the entire process a great deal easier, just like they did for Jerry Seinfeld.

Be sure to attend the Student Showcase and Award Ceremony at Cantor Film Center on Saturday, March 8th at 7pm to find out who will win this great prize.

By Amanda Saiewitz

More Great Prizes From Our Amazing Fusion Sponsors: AVID

Our generous sponsors and partners in film editing education at Tisch School of the Arts, Avid, will offer their leading software, Avid Media Composer, to a talented Fusion winner. Make sure to attend our Student Showcase at 7pm on Saturday, March 8th and see who will win this career-altering prize!

Media Composer is the most widely used NLE for professional film and video editing, making it the most valuable software on the market to help aspiring filmmakers establish an easier work flow with other professionals and make their mark in the industry. The new advances of Avid Media Composer 7 bring accelerated high-res-to-HD workflows along with automated media management and Interplay Sphere for Mac Support. Avid is also introducing a newly innovative Symphony option, adding advanced color tools, mastering tools, and Boris Continuum Complete.

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Read our Avid Everywhere white paper to learn more.

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Our digital audio and video solutions continue to revolutionize the art of creative storytelling, and have earned us hundreds of awards, including two Oscar® statuettes, a Grammy®, and 14 Emmys®.

Fusion Past & Present: Erin Sanger Post-Bombshell Win

With Fusion 2014 and the awarding of this year’s most excellent female-driven student work on the horizon, we can see that not much farther than that horizon are the success stories of Fusion winners past and present. One such winner, Erin Sanger, whose riveting smash Bombshell took home Best Undergraduate Film and Cinematography in 2013, has been successfully working on a documentary project since her win. After participating in Fusion and continuing to find success as a director, Sanger said nothing but good things when recalling her Fusion experience.

“The festival was great. All of the work was very strong and it was a good venue for me as an undergraduate student to see work that I wouldn’t normally see. One of the graduate level films that won last year remains one of my favorite student films ever. It was also nice to be exposed to the documentary work being done at NYU, which I was somewhat isolated from as a narrative filmmaker,” Sanger said.

Sanger’s short narrative film Bombshell struck an emotional chord with the judges as it portrayed a child’s view of conformity and hate without oversimplifying. As Sanger describes it, the film is about “a group of suburban kids who enact a hate crime over the Fourth of July and how the weight of their actions affect themselves and their relationships with one another.”

Sanger just wrapped production on a documentary of her own after witnessing the amazing passions of the filmmakers at Fusion’s Docs-In-The-Works competition. The doc follows a double-amputee EOD Specialist and his wife as they grapple with his injuries in their new life. Sanger described the harsh human element to directing a documentary as “an emotional but rewarding experience.”

Because of the positive experience she had as a contestant and winner and all of the opportunities and knowledge she received from her participation in Fusion, Sanger continues to uphold Fusion’s aim to promote a continued increase in job opportunities for women behind the camera. The Fusion legacy grows each year, 2014 officially bringing in more submissions than any before. As Sanger puts it herself, “It’s a wonderful platform for both students and alumni to showcase their work, to become informed through terrific panels, and to network with industry professionals. There’s no reason to not submit.”

By Elizabeth Groth

Last Call for 2014 Submissions (Ending the 30th at Midnight) & New Amazing Prizes Courtesy of VideoBlocks and GraphicStock!

As Fusion submissions for the 2014 festival enters its final countdown don’t miss out on the amazing opportunity to join the Fusion community (not to mention the chance to win some fantastic prizes). VideoBlocks and GraphicStock have generously offered a one year unlimited download membership to VideoBlocks.com worth almost $1000 as well as a one year unlimited subscription to GraphicStock.com worth $500!

VideoBlocks has provided stunning, award-winning stock footage to every major network and cable channel, as well as to independent and student filmmakers, for over 10 years. They stand today as the industry’s top choice for royalty free motion backgrounds, production music, sound effects, After Effects templates and stock footage. Their proud partner, GraphicStock, provides unlimited downloads to royalty free graphics, images, icons, buttons, textures, and backgrounds, perfect for launching the site of a web-series or film start-up campaign. GraphicStock has provided over 2,928,000 graphic downloads to date.

Submit today and embrace the opportunity to have your work celebrated amongst your peers, your mentors, as well as industry legends while launching your career with life-long connections and creatively prolific prizes!

By Danielle Massie

Fusion Alums Lauren Ciaravalli and Misha Green Attend Sundance Institute’s Women In Film Finance Forum

On November 12th, 2013 the Sundance Institute held a one-day finance forum in Los Angeles with their allied partners of the Women in Films Initiative to give accomplished female writers, directors, and producers an overview of current film financing models. Through extensive panels on what investors search for in today’s market, case-studies on film financing successes, and training on how to garner confidence while raising money for a film, Sundance and WIF sought to challenge what they uncovered in their startling 2012 case study. The study, authored by Dr. Stacy L. Smith, analyzed over 30,000 data points over 11 years and concluded that independent narrative films rely almost entirely on a male-operated structure, female-helmed projects are perceived to lack commercial viability, and women are often viewed as lacking conviction when requesting film financing. The forum set out whole-heartedly to challenge these findings and the reflections and speeches given at the event by Ciaravalli and Green show the great strides female filmmakers are making in producing their own films and festivals at an early level.

Misha Green directed three well-received short films during her time at NYU Tisch and won the Fusion Film Festival competition for her short screenplay In Between Days. Misha went on the produce In Between Days as a digital short for Nylon Magazine, sign with CAA, and write and produce for multiple hit television series, including “Sons of Anarchy” and “Heroes.” Misha is currently working on adapting Colleen Curran’s “Whores on the Hill” as her directorial debut.

Lauren Ciaravalli graduated from Tisch just last year and was one of the co-directors of the Fusion Film Festival as well as a winner for her Sight & Sound film, Mrs. Sheridan, her short screenplay, Tryouts, and her TV pilot script, The Hilltop. She recently created and sold the dramedy web-series Max + Max for PetParents TV and completed her second short film, Dream Date.  Lauren now lives in Los Angeles as she begins her career in scripted television as an assistant at William Morris Endeavor Entertainment.

As a strong leader and participant in the festival, Lauren presented the mission and methods of Fusion to celebrate both the accomplishments of women in the film industry and foster collaboration of the sexes before the forum. Lauren thanked many of the female industry mavens in the room, particularly those from our mentors at the Nantucket Film Festival for supporting the growth of Fusion in our efforts to honor everything the Women in Films Initiative stands for.

By Danielle Massie

Fusion: A Proud Partner of Sundance Film Festival’s Women Filmmakers Initiative

Though undeniable strides have been made in the last 50 years in the realm of women’s rights, the film and television industry has unfortunately lagged behind. The Fusion Film Festival has teamed up with other film festivals and institutions to remedy this lag. There were a total of 3,879 feature films submitted to the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Of those, a meager 16.9% listed female directors. Keri Putnam, the Executive Director of the Sundance Institute was quoted as saying “…What we’ve already found is that if statistics tell us a story, the story being told about women filmmakers today needs work.”

To combat this gender discrepancy, the Sundance Institute and Women in Film have partnered up in the hopes of promoting secure careers in the film field for women. The Women Filmmakers Initiative was thus born.

In getting The Women Filmmakers Initiative on its feet, the Sundance Institute collaborated with USC Annenberg by jointly researching the prevalence of women in the film industry. The Initiative has aligned with many other innovative partners such as the AFI Conservatory, Athena Film Festival, Paley Center for Media, PGA, and Women Make Movies among others. The chief aim for The Women Filmmakers Initiative in garnering information was to determine just what the first areas of concern to be addressed should be. In the end, four main goals for the 2012 year were stated as primary areas of focus: Mentorship, Finance Education, Training, and Access and Raising Awareness, and Facilitating Collaboration.

Women in Film and the Sundance Initiative hosted a one-day Forum on November 12, 2013 to provide female writers, directors, and producers in the film industry with current film financing models, information on what investors are seeking, and information on examples of properly financed films. The conference also provided information about how to have more confidence necessary when fundraising for a film project. Fusion’s Allied Partner status to the Initiative granted Fusion the opportunity to send a filmmaker/fellow to attend the Forum. Tisch UGFTV alum Misha Green attended in this position. Additionally Lauren Ciaravalli, a previous Fusion co-director, attended the Forum in the role of spokesperson and spoke about Fusion’s history at the Paley Center for New Media in Los Angeles.

As a part of The Women Filmmakers Initiative, various schools of status within the entertainment realms have been named Allied Partners of this initiative. As NYU’s very own Fusion Film Festival continues to grow, it has had the honor of being named an Allied Partner as another step towards gender equality in the film industry. Putnam has been quoted saying, “Sundance Institute has long believed in the value of diverse storytellers contributing to a vibrant culture.” Undoubtedly, this Mentorship Program is just another step closer to achieving the ultimate goal of diverse vibrancy in storytelling culture.

By Elizabeth Groth