Virginia Festival of Student Film

Posted by admin on April 14th, 2009 filed in Personal

Last weekend, I attended the Virginia Festival of Student Film, hosted by Reno 911′s Sarah Tiana. The festival was coordinated by Zac Fabian, a friend of mine at the University, and put on by the Virginia Filmmakers Society. 

I had the pleasure of meeting Jeff Lowell, writer/director of John Tucker Must Die, Over Her Dead Body, and Hotel for Dogs. Jeff Lowell has been living in Charlottesville for 5 years now, he is a great guy and very funny (he is a comedy writer). Also, I had a good chance to talk with Barry Sisson, owner of Cavalier Films, his best suggestion for independent filmmakers is “know your audience.”

I raised the question, during a panel discussion on “The Future of Film,” to  Lane Kneedler, a programmer for the American Film Institute, who watched 899 films last year, “have you seen more films being made for specific audiences, and do you predict more film’s being produced with the intent of self-distribution?” His reply was that he has definitely seen more films made for a niche audience, however, they were not particularly better, like WWII films for example. After speaking with Jeff Lowell, after the panel, he said, film’s that are set in actual towns are more specific, and people can relate to them better than just setting a film in “Small-Town America” My conclusions, shoot a film in a city that has never been shot before, you’ll know your audience, and it will relate to those people.