By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

Slamdance To Close With James Franco’s First Film Of 2015

Posted Thursday, January 8th, 2015 - Comments Off on Slamdance To Close With James Franco’s First Film Of 2015
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SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL TO WRAP WITH YOSEMITE PREMIERE AND JAMES FRANCO EVENT

 

Festival explores DIY world of filmmaking according to James Franco in “Coffee With” event, followed by his latest film collaboration “Yosemite”

 

(LOS ANGELES, CA – January 8, 2015) The Slamdance Film Festival today announced the latest edition of its “Coffee With” events featuring independent film champion James Franco, followed by a Special Screening of his latest film collaboration Yosemite, directed by Gabrielle Demeestere and a Rabbit Bandini Production. This unique program will close Slamdance’s 21st festival on Thursday, January 29th, 2015 and will be the World Premiere of Yosemite, a film that chronicles the intertwining tales of three 5th grade friends which unfold in the suburban paradise of Palo Alto, as the threat of a mountain lion looms over the community. As the premiere film festival by filmmakers for filmmakers, Slamdance’s “Coffee With” events aim to discuss the various ways to sustain a successful filmmaking career from the guests’ personal experiences in their fields. “Coffee With…James Franco” will look at the actor and producer’s prolific independent film work, including his new production of Yosemite. Past “Coffee With” guests have included Chad Hurley & the Russo Brothers, Jonathan Demme & Neil Young, Ted Hope, and Vilmos Zsigmond.

 

“We are thrilled to have such a talented and passionate supporter of independent film sit down and share his knowledge and experience with the Slamdance filmmakers,” states Anna Germanidi, Slamdance Film Festival Director.

 

The 2015 Slamdance Film Festival will take place from January 23rd – 29th, 2015 in Park City, Utah at the Treasure Mountain Inn, located at 255 Main Street, Park City, UT 84060.

 

All Access, Industry, Local’s, and Student Festival Passes are available now online. Individual tickets will be available on 12/23. To purchase, click here: http://showcase.slamdance.com/Passes-and-Tickets

 

About Slamdance

Slamdance is a year­-round organization and film festival that serves as a showcase for the discovery and development of emerging independent talent and innovative filmmaking. Slamdance is the only festival programmed entirely by filmmakers and is a fertile ground for new filmmakers to begin their careers. The festival began as an alternative to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah and they continue to run concurrently.

 

Notable Slamdance alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Christopher Nolan (Interstellar), Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), Marc Forster (World War Z), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), Lena Dunham (Girls), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Anthony & Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin), Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) and Lynn Shelton (Humpday). Box Office Mojo reports alumni who first showed their work at Slamdance have accumulated over $11.5 billion in the Box Office to date.

 

Slamdance’s On The Road events and Slamdance Studios’ developing commercial distribution platform continue to increase opportunities for filmmakers both internationally and domestically. In partnership with Vimeo On Demand, Slamdance Studios is developing Slamdance 20, a collection of twenty festival award­ winning and audience favorite films; titles include Matt Johnson’s The Dirties, Andrew Edison’s Bindlestiffs, and Daniel Martinico’s OK, Good. The 2014 On The Road tour was presented by CreativeFuture.

 

Over 2,500 submissions competed for prizes in the 2014 Slamdance Screenplay Competition. This year’s Grand Prize winner was the Original Teleplay Search For Life by Andrea Janakas, which was awarded a total of $7,000 in cash prizes. Submissions for the 2015 Slamdance Screenplay Competition will open on February 23rd.

 

2015 Slamdance Film Festival Sponsors include Digital Bolex, The International Fusion Doc Challenge, Directors Guild of America, Pierce Law Group, CreativeFuture, Writers Guild of America West, Different By Design, Carhartt, Festival Scope, Final Draft, Park City’s Treasure Mountain Inn, and Salt Lake City’s BlueStar Juice Bar & Cafe, Beehive Distilling, and Xmission. Slamdance is proud to partner with sponsors who support emerging artists and push the boundaries of independent filmmaking.

 

Additional information about the Slamdance Film Festival is available at www.slamdance.com

 

Connect with Slamdance:

http://twitter.com/slamdance and http://www.facebook.com/SlamdanceFilmFestival

 

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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