NYC film screenings, June 2014

Get info on: 

Where We Started NewFilmmakers NY screening - June 10, 

Breakthrough Weekend theatrical premiere June 12, 

Where We Started NYC theatrical premiere June 12,

Breakthrough Festival NYC (featuring Breakthrough Weekend, Where We Started, Matha, Mille Soya, Resurrection of Serious Rogers, Little Fishes, and shorts) - June 12-18.

All screenings at Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave, NY, NY 10003

Contact: breakthroughfestnyc@gmail.com

All info at this link - http://diyfilmmaker.blogspot.com/2014/05/upcoming-nyc-indie-film-events-where-we.html

Where We Started screenings news - May 2-8 LA, June 10 NYC, June 12-18 NYC

Where We Started will screen at Arena Cinema Hollywood in Los Angeles for 1 week, May 2 - 8.

Film will screen on July 10 at NewFilmmakers New York at Anthology Film Archives in NYC.

Film will screen as a part of Breakthrough Festival NYC for a week, at Anthology Film Archives, from June 12 - 18.

More information coming soon!

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DIY Dialogues: Chris Hansen - parts 1 & 2

At The Chutry Experiment blog - part 1.

And here's Part 2.

From the interview:

"What role have festivals played in shaping the reception of your films? Do they have an important role to play in shaping the reception of your work?

Festivals are vital to me. They are the only way I can count on getting my work in front of audience in a way that I’m happy with. If my film gets into a festival, and the festival has a decent audience (which is admittedly the job of both the festival and the filmmaker), then I can use that to build word of mouth and create awareness of the film. One critic who saw a film of mine at the Virginia Film Festival loved it so much that he’s become a cheerleader of sorts for my work. That’s the kind of experience you want – people become fans and follow your work."

An interview with director Chris Hansen about his first 2 features.

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Where We Started nominated for Best Feature Drama at Trail Dance 2014

 Check out the list of nominated films here - http://www.traildancefilmfestival.com/nominations_2014.php

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Trail Dance 2014 poster :: Where We Started will screen at fest

Check out the Official Selections 2014 here - http://www.traildancefilmfestival.com/official_selections_2014.php

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Where We Started is going to Trail Dance 2014!

Where We Started has been selected to the 2014 Trail Dance Film Festival in Duncan, Oklahoma!  Trail Dance has been selected by Movie Maker magazine several times as one of the coolest film festivals around.  More about Trail Dance here - http://www.traildancefilmfestival.com.

Rick Schmidt's review of Where We Started

It’s not very often that I get to be this excited over a indie feature, but the fine work of WHERE WE STARTED has urged me forward to give a shout-out. Working within the tight parameters of low-budget, Chris Hansen has beautifully directed his script of 30-something travelers, both married, meeting inadvertently and hooking up at a motel where they happened to rest for the night. Watching this slow slide into sexual intimacy – breaking all the rules and oaths of their marriages for this future love – is both terrifying and fascinating, a car-wreck of mores and choices in modern society. Hansen offers us a close-up view of the laws of attraction, soul-mate intrigue, coupled with cold-water realism for what such decisions ultimately represent. Since over half of marriages end in divorce, the subject of his movie couldn’t be more pertinent.

As this couple finds itself headed toward an inevitable affair because of their close proximity, obvious physical attraction and sexual hunger not fully met by their respective households (chalk this up to the regularity of most marriages?), we can’t help but put ourselves in their shoes. How close to the line would we go if we found ourselves in a similar, tantalizing situation? Would we enjoy intellectually jesting with a member of the opposite sex? Would we flirt? Would we ‘accidentally’ drop our guard, set aside the pledge of our marriage for just one night of orgasmic pleasure? What would we do?

Once, when I asked a college friend what happened to his marriage he replied, “I blinked,” when mentioning his one-night stand that ended things. Here’s a movie that extends that ‘blink’ long enough to take stead of the consequences. We get to have a ‘ghost of Christmas future’ glimpse of just how their relationship might proceed if each party eradicated themselves from current spouses (and children). As our couple hashes out the nuts-and-bolts of courtroom divorce, changing jobs/cities from those already established, child custody confusion, etc. (not usually a factor in deciding a momentary fling with a stranger…), the movie becomes something of a cautionary tale, a kind of wake up call. My Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices book suggested that people should consider making “adult movies” (not talking about pornos): “An adult movie will necessarily be hard and challenging, just as all real adult relationships are,” says the Preface. Hansen gives no easy answers. This is the value of ‘indie’ thinking and filmmaking, at its best.

From its opening shots, right up to the end credits, the outstanding performances of Matthew Brumlow and Cora Vander Broek, modeled expertly by director Chris Hansen, keep the viewer absorbed as much as any recent Hollywood or top foreign film fare. But unlike Hollywood movies that put special effects/pyrotechnics first, only utilizing relationship-moments to give their bloated stories a human face, to keep us invested in characters caught in various digital dilemmas, WHERE WE STARTED captures and holds the viewer without need of fictional warfare, secret agents, or sailors caught bobbing on high seas in perfect storms. For anyone who has spent time clicking away at their Netflix queue, gathering up four-star movies, they’ll find that WHERE WE STARTED will fall easily into that top list, quite comparable with the best French, German, Swedish, and yes, American movies. See it!

-- Filmmaker/author Rick Schmidt, Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices, Extreme DV (Penguin Books), Morgan’s Cake, Sticky Wicket, etc.

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