By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

2013 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS FILMMAKER GRANT WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Posted Sunday, January 13th, 2013 - 1 Comment »
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
 
Spirit Award Winners To Be Revealed on Saturday, February 23
 
Premiere broadcast on IFC at 10:00 pm ET/PT
LOS ANGELES (January 12, 2013) – Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced the winners of its four Spirit Awards filmmaker grants today at its annual Spirit Awards Nominee Brunch held at BOA Steakhouse in West Hollywood. Salma Hayek and Jeremy Renner hosted the casual event and handed out the honors.
Winners for the remaining categories will be revealed at the 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards in a tent at Santa Monica beach on Saturday, February 23, 2013. The awards ceremony will premiere later that evening at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on IFC, and as previously announced actor, writer and producer Andy Samberg will serve as host of the ceremony.
“We at Film Independent understand how valuable these grants are in the world of independent film,” said Film Independent Co-President Josh Welsh. “The additional financial support it affords the winners will ensure their artistic vision moves forward.”
“We love to highlight talented, hardworking filmmakers whose herculean efforts can be seen in their films,” said Film Independent Co-President Sean Mc Manus.  “We commend all the finalists and recipients for keeping the independent spirit alive through their tireless work.”
Adam Leon, director of Gimme The Loot, received the Someone to Watch Award.  The award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award, which is in its nineteenth year, includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant. The finalists for the award included Rebecca Thomas for Electrick Children and David Fenster for Pincus.
Peter Nicks, director of The Waiting Room received the Stella Artois Truer Than Fiction Award. The award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not received significant recognition. The award is in its eighteenth year and includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Stella Artois. Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims for Only The Young and Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel for Leviathan were also finalists for the award.
Mynette Louie received the Piaget Producers Award.  The award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The annual award, in its sixteenth year, includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget. Finalists were Derrick Tseng and Alicia Van Couvering.
Laura Colella for Breakfast With Curtis, which premiered at the 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival, received the third annual Jameson FIND Your Audience Award.  The award helps one low-budget independent film find a broader audience. The award included a $50,000 marketing and distribution grant, funded by Jameson® Irish Whiskey. The other finalists were Sara Lamm, Mary Wigmore, Kate Roughan and Zachary Mortensen for Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin And The Farm Midwives and Jeremy Kipp Walker and John Mitchell for History Of Future Folk.
The Film Independent Spirit Awards are sponsored by Premier Sponsors Piaget and Jameson® Irish Whiskey and Lincoln and Principal Sponsor Stella Artois. WireImage is the Official Photographer, PR Newswire is the Official Breaking News Service of Film Independent and American Airlines is the Official Airline.
For more information on submission guidelines, voting, media and publicist credentials, and the history of the Spirit Awards, please visit SpiritAwards.com.
ABOUT THE FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS
Now in its 28th year, the Film Independent Spirit Awards is an annual celebration honoring artist-driven films made with an economy of means by filmmakers who embody independence and originality. The Spirit Awards recognizes the achievements of American independent filmmakers and promotes the finest independent films of the year to a wider audience.
Awards are given in the following categories: Best Feature, Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay, Best Director, Best Screenplay, John Cassavetes Award (given to the best feature made for a budget under $500,000), Best Male Lead, Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Male, Best Supporting Female, Best Cinematography, Best International Film, Best Documentary, and the Robert Altman Award.  The Filmmaker Grants include the Piaget Producers Award, Someone to Watch Award, Stella Artois Truer Than Fiction Award and Jameson FIND Your Audience Award.
ABOUT FILM INDEPENDENT
Film Independent is a non-profit arts organization that champions independent film and supports a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation, and uniqueness of vision. Film Independent helps filmmakers make their movies, builds an audience for their projects, and works to diversify the film industry. Film Independent’s Board of Directors, filmmakers, staff, and constituents, is comprised of an inclusive community of individuals across ability, age, ethnicity, gender, race, and sexual orientation. Anyone passionate about film can become a member, whether you are a filmmaker, industry professional, or a film lover.

Film Independent produces the Spirit Awards, the annual celebration honoring artist-driven films and recognizing the finest achievements of American independent filmmakers.  Film Independent also produces the Los Angeles Film Festival, showcasing the best of American and international cinema and the Film Independent at LACMA Film Series, a year-round, weekly program that offers unique cinematic experiences for the Los Angeles creative community and the general public.

With over 250 annual screenings and events, Film Independent provides access to a network of like-minded artists who are driving creativity in the film industry. Film Independent’s Artist Development program offers free Labs for selected writers, directors, producers and documentary filmmakers and presents year-round networking opportunities. Project Involve is Film Independent’s signature program dedicated to fostering the careers of talented filmmakers from communities traditionally underrepresented in the film industry.
For more information or to become a member, visit FilmIndependent.org.
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Posted in Movie City News, Press Releases | 1 Comment »

One Response to “2013 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS FILMMAKER GRANT WINNERS ANNOUNCED”

  1. Indy film says:
    March 21, 2013 at 11:10 am

    Up and coming brilliant Filmmaker Antonio Racciano (2013) has been making an impressive showing throughout the Indy circuit. We had the good fortune to meet at the Toronto Film Festival in 2012 when he was making his film debut as an actor in Ben Affleck’s Argo, playing a small cameo role as “The Waiter”, in the scene at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. I had the good fortune to sit down with Antonio for an impromptu interview. Here is a transcript of our fascinating interview.
    Me: How are you enjoying Toronto?
    Antonio Racciano: I love it, I grew up not too far from here in Buffalo.
    Me: Right across Peace Bridge.
    Antonio: Yes, that’s right. My family and I would come to Toronto quite frequently and we always had a great time. It’s a beautiful city.
    Me: What have you been working on?
    Antonio: Well, I’m here in support of Ben Affleck and his movie Argo, in which I make a cameo appearance.
    Me: I saw it, you did a great job. How fun…
    Antonio: Thank you, I had a good time doing it.
    Me: I couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t have any lines in the film.
    Antonio: Yes, I didn’t want any..
    Me: Why?
    Antonio: ..I just felt like this is Ben’s movie and I just wanted to make a cameo appearance for fun…be on the set and have a good time…it was an extraordinary experience working that day, everyone was there, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Ben Affleck even Jennifer Garner was there that day, hanging out, watching. It was alot of fun.
    Me: Are you working on a new film?
    Antonio: Yes I have been working on a new film. It’s called “Their Unique Journey Inside Hollywood”.
    Me: What’s it about?
    Antonio: It’s an in depth look into how friends of mine have made a success in Hollywood…Everyone who is successful has had to follow a unique path to make it in Hollywood. It’s not like being a Doctor. You know after you finish Med School, you will be a doctor but in the entertainment industry, there is no such true path to success.
    Me: Sounds like an interesting movie, I can’t wait to see it. Who’s in it?
    Antonio: Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Vince Vaughn…and the list goes on.
    Me: When’s it coming out?
    Antonio: we are in the process of editing in post at the moment. We have a release date set for January 2013. We’ll see what happens.
    Me: Well thank you for taking some time to sit down with me.
    Antonio: It was my pleasure..
    Well that was my intereview with the very talented Antonio Racciano, here in beautiful Toronto at the film festival.
    Here is a link to Antonio Racciano’s IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2750806/
    Antonio Racciano’s Movie links: https://sites.google.com/site/antonioraccianoproductions/

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon