Day THREE: June 5, 2010

Two Minute Two Step:

Shooting Today-- TWO MINUTE WARNING shoots today from 4:30-8:30pm and will screen tomorrow night in front of an evening feature FUGUE at 9:30pm. Shooting will take place in the Filmmakers Lounge directly across from the theatre (on the second floor inside of 8000 Sunset).

4-6pm Happy hour in the Filmmaker Lounge

Screenings:

10am EXPEDITION INISPIRATION + WOMEN WITH ALTITUDE

EXPEDITION INSPIRATION: Five men and woman who have had their lives affected by breast cancer climb 13,000 foot Mount Borah in Idaho, as part of Expedition Inspiration, a non-profit organization that takes breast cancer survivors up mountains after treatment. The climbs are a way for the survivors to reclaim their bodies from the deadly disease, and for family members to honor the memory of those lost to breast cancer.

WOMEN WITH ALTITUDE: Seven women set out from San Francisco to climb three high-altitude peaks in the Bolivian Andes. But they are not just seven women, they are survivors and activists on domestic violence. Beset by severe winter storms, rockfall, and altitude sickness, braving the failure and fatalities of other teams on the mountain, the Women With Altitude go for the final 20,000-ft summit drawing on the strength of will of local Bolivian activists who courageously face uphill battles of their own.

12:30pm Competition Shorts: Group 1: A Darker Silence, Curious, The Farmer’s Daughter, Flint Creek, I am a Fat Cat, Let’s Talk, Summer Waters

2:45pm SCRIPT FOR SALE + SHE WORE SILVER WINGS

After 40 years in the business, the Motion Picture & Television Fund Wasserman Campus became the home of scenic designer Ben Resella. At 91 years of age, this artist, World War II veteran, and survivor of the Bataan Death March is on yet another journey – to finish and sell his screenplay. Can Ben convince a youth-obsessed industry that great storytelling is timeless?

5:00pm Competition Shorts Group 2: Bottles, Gay Baby, Guillotine guys, Jane in the Factory, Stranger, The Tedious Existence of Terrell B. Howell, Waking Sonya

7:15pm THE MAN THAT I WAS (and 2 min. 2 step "Attach of the Future Cell phones")

Dave leaves his job, home in Los Angeles and girlfriend abruptly, taking only his beloved dog Preacher back to Dallas in an attempt to make his life feel more complete. Along the way Dave discovers that self-imposed exile and escapism often come at great cost.

9:30pm FORGOTTEN PILLS

Patrick and his girlfriend Megan decide to spend a night out with their childhood friends, Ryan and Sean. The four meet in order to experiment with new pills called “Blue and Whites,” which cause instant amnesia at the stroke of midnight.

11:45pm SPIRIT CAMP

When a goth girl is forced to attend cheer camp as part of rehabilitation from a juvenile correction facility, she clashes with the "popular girls" and finds herself embroiled in a bitter rivalry with the bitchy ringleader. As members of the spirit squad start turning up dead, the girls must put aside their differences as they struggle to survive the murderous rage of a crazed psycho-killer lurking among them.

Thanks to Rocky Curby for today's photo.

DAY TWO Schedule: June 4, 2010

Two Minute Two Step:

Shooting Today-- ATTACK OF THE FUTURE CELL PHONES shoots today from 12-4pm and will screen tomorrow night in front of an evening feature. Shooting will take place in the Filmmakers Lounge directly across from the theatre (on the second floor inside of 8000 Sunset).

4-6pm Happy hour in the Filmmaker Lounge

Screenings:

2:45pm THE ROAD: Return to Funk and SUNSET TO SUNSET

Music Videos: Arcadia, Back Op Arabesque, Hollow Earth, Horror of our Love: A Short Film, Let Me In, Mala Junta, Museaum: Adrienne Pierce, Point of Honor: Red Hills, Sunday Stroll, Switch Hit Resistor, They Can’t Deport Us All, The Waking Hours: Erased.

5:00pm WE GOTTA GT BUSCEMI

Nick James is on a 3-year quest to make a low-budget film. After Nick is unable to find one person willing to invest in his movie, he begins lying that Steve Buscemi is attached as the star.

7:15pm SOLITARY (and 2-min 2 step: You've Lost Your Long Term Memory)

When Sara Ballard becomes trapped inside her suburban home by the sudden onset of agoraphobia, her fear becomes a nightmare when her husband mysteriously disappears.

9:30pm COST OF A SOUL

Two wounded veterans return home from Iraq to find themselves trapped in the same slum neighborhood they joined the military to escape. As they struggle for redemption, their lives collide and their families become entangled in a web of crime and corruption.

11:45pm BROKEN SPRINGS: SHINE OF THE UNDEAD ZOMBIE BASTARDS

Townspeople who once thirsted for local home-made “mountain dew” begin hungering for human flesh and blood. Ken, Dave and his little brother Brandon are in a race against time to save their loved ones from a hoard of cannibal zombies and get out of town - preferably without any body parts missing.

WELCOME to the 13th Annual Dances With Films Festival!!

Well, the day we've been working toward for many months has finally arrived! Today is the FIRST day of the 13th Annual Dances With Films Festival! Almost 100 features, shorts, docs, narratives and music videos from all over the world will be screening, celebrated and discovered. Here's to another fantastic year of movies...

Here's Today's Agenda at a glance:

4:30 - 7:30pm: Opening Night Party kicking off DWF 13! This is a "meet the filmmaker" event for filmmakers, press and industry. An advance RSVP is required. Unlike where the Closing Night Party will be - space is limited...so if you are bringing an "entourage" - please let us know ahead of time.

Two Minute Two Step
Shooting Today: YOU'VE LOST YOUR LONG TERM MEMORY shoots today from 2-4pm and 7-9pm. It will screen tomorrow at 7:15pm in front of the feature: SOLITARY. Shooting will take place in the Filmmakers Lounge directly across from the theatre (on the second floor inside of 8000 Sunset).

8pm: Opening Night Film - FEED THE FISH –Alumni Spotlight

A burned-out writer has a mid-life crisis. With his career at a standstill & his relationship in shambles, he leaves Los Angeles to do the Polar Bear Plunge. On his quest he tests the icy waters of Lake Michigan on a snowy winter day & finds his lost passion.

For advance tickets and complete schedule:
http://danceswithfilms.com/10_schedule.html

8000 Sunset Plaza

A quick note about signage, etc. at 8000 Sunset. The Plaza has been incredible

in welcoming Dances With Films once again, but please remember to be respectful

with regard to any signage. We will have a "board" on the main floor (below the

theatre) to put up flyers, etc....however, please do not put signage anywhere else

in the Plaza. It will only be taken down...so we ask you for your cooperation.

Parking at 8000 Sunset Plaza

There is plenty of parking at the theatre - but make sure that you get your

tickets validated at Laemmle Theatres (a validation is 3 hours). If you are

planning on staying for the day -

in order to avoid paying an enormous parking

fee - you will need to rotate your car.

2010 Two-Minute Two Step

Last night was the big filmmaker technical meeting for this year's Two-minute, Two step.

If you don't already know about this program, you should! Filmmakers from all over the country submit 2 minutes scripts. Eight are chosen to be produced during the festival and screened as PART of the festival at the Leammle on Sunset! One of the shorts will be selected to win the grand prize, which for this year is a Canon Rebel 2TI (that shoots amazing video!)

Tim Smith from Canon USA was on hand to show some samples of video footage from the 5D Mark II, which is what this year's shorts will be shot on. Each of the eight filmmakers selected are given these cameras to use, a location to shoot, audio and editing equipment. They will supply the rest: cast, crew, design, costumes, etc... They will only have 4 hours to shoot and edit these short films, which will screen the following day!

Below is the Shooting schedule for this year's 2 Steps. Come stop by!

Thursday June 3^rd

^{“You Have Lost Your Short Term Memory” Written and Directed by Morrison Keddie}

2-4 p.m. (break for opening night party!! 4:30-6:30) 7-9p.m. finish shooting

Friday June 4^th

^{“Attack of the Future Cell Phones!” Written and Directed by Peter S. Soby Jr. 12-4 p.m.}

^{Saturday June 5th}

^{“Two Minute Warning” Written and Directed by Jerry Kernion 4:30-8:30p.m.}

^{Sunday June 6th}

^{“Surprise Party” Written by Jeff Lorch & Jeff Grimm, Directed by Jordan Rennick 12-4p.m.}

^{“Suspect #1” Written by Dirk Sanders & Evan Unruh, Directed by Evan Unruh 7-11p.m.}

^{Monday June 7th}

^{“I Met a Girl, Ask Me How.” Written by Vanessa Newell, Directed by Vanessa Newell & Mikael Kreuzriegler 1-5p.m.}

^{Tuesday June 8th}

^{“A Bump in the Night” Written by Pang-Ni Landrum, Directed by Ian Vogt & Pang-Ni Landrum 12-4p.m.}

^{“Ahab’s Sushi Bar” Written and Directed by Nick Lane 7-11p.m}

Guest Bloggers: The Shumway Brothers

In June 2009 we finished our 5 year project called "Enigma." Now we had a decision to make: which festival should be our world premiere? We had premiered a previous film, “Over the Moon” at Dances with Films and the experience had been great – it even won “audience choice!” We decided that DWF was the best place to premiere Enigma. After a wonderful, problem free screening, we repeated history with another “Audience Choice” award! Wow! Our world premiere had gone without a hitch! The festival was fun, and now we were excited to do this a bunch more times! Awesome! So we got accepted to more festivals, and were all ready to have the same experience we had at DWF...

And then our eyes were opened.

We had been to “Dances” twice, and twice had a great experience. So we thought that all festivals would be like “Dances.” And then we discovered… not all film festivals are created equal!

Communication is key with film festivals. You have to know what’s going on to get the most out of the event. “Dances” takes this a step further with the orientation meeting. Here we got the chance to meet other filmmakers before the fest. At the meeting, the DWF staff told us what we should be doing to help promote our films and the fest. They covered postcards, posters, and they planted great ideas about S.W.A.G! (You know. $h!t we all get!). So we got our stuff and saw how well it worked and how much better it made the entire experience.

This meeting prepared us better than we realized. At many of our future festivals we took what we learned from DWF and applied it. We were quite lucky to have received this preparation at our first fest and not our last. At every fest we went we were more prepared and knew what and how to advertise our film and in turn we put more people in the seats.

"Enigma" has now been to 18 festivals, we have been awarded 20 festival awards and 16 nominations and it all started with Dances with Films

###

The Shumway Brothers are two-time festival Alums.

Jason Shumway has been making movies since the young age of 14. After getting his first taste of video editing at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Jason became an award winning filmmaker while studying in J. Everett Light Radio/Television program. For college Jason was lucky enough to be accepted to the prestigious University of Southern California. In this top rated film program Jason directed eight films and crew on many more. He has recently worked on shows for G4TV and NBC. Currently he is a staff editor at E! Entertainment Television. Jason produced the indie Feature Film “Bloomington” Premiering at Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco on June 23rd 2010.

Matt Shumway graduated with distinction from Art Center College of Design. There he created his award winning film “Over the Moon.” That film led him to Rhythm and Hues Studios where he works as an Animation Supervisor. His feature film credits include X2, Garfield 1 & 2, Chronicles of Narnia, A Night at the Museum, The Golden Compass, The Incredible Hulk, and Land of the Lost. Matt was nominated for and Annie Award in 2006 for his work on Aslan for Narnia. He is currently the Animation Supervisor for Cabin in the Woods, A Drew Goddard / Joss Whedon Film due out Jan 14th 2011.

'Short' Shorts... (Part 4)

If anagrams didn't do it for you, how about twitter length (140 characters or less) film descriptions? The full-length descriptions are available at www.danceswithfilms.com - as are tickets! But for the time-challenged, here are some 'short' versions of DWF 2009's short films:

• A DANCE OF TWO (June 10 5pm) The American Dream fulfilled, now-retired Ray seeks love/understanding from 30 year younger girlfriend Sylvia.

• THE DEVIL’S MATCHMAKER (June 10 5pm) One man takes great pride in setting up couples whose last names form hideous & hilarious combinations.

• LIFE IS LIKE A SHORT TRAIN RIDE (June 10 5pm) As life starts to come to a close, one might remember one’s parents, youth, growth and love.

• MY BROTHER’S KEEPER (June 10 5pm) In 1970s Detroit, if Jimmy & Clarence don’t look out for one another, the city is gonna get a lot tougher.

• OGLES WITH GOGGLES (June 10 5pm) A drunken one-night-stand recounted Dr.-Seuss-style with narration & dialogue full of alliteration & rhyme.

• PROMOTION (June 10 5pm) Down on his luck and being passed over for a well-deserved promotion, Todd Miller tries to take his office hostage.

• RECALL (June 10 5pm) A young woman is visited by a troubled childhood friend.

• TWILIGHT TANGO (June 10 5pm) The story of a young couple in love. When the lights go out, every sleep disturbance imaginable besieges them.

• WORTH (June 10 5pm) A non-descript violin at an upscale auction is wildly out of place. Who decides what something/someone is really worth?

'Short' Shorts... (Part 3)

If anagrams didn't do it for you, how about twitter length (140 characters or less) film descriptions? The full-length descriptions are available at www.danceswithfilms.com - as are tickets! But for the time-challenged, here are some 'short' versions of DWF 2009's short films:

• A GREY EULOGY (June 8 5pm) Mekala, a mentally handicapped girl, attends her mother’s funeral & delivers an impromptu heart-rendering eulogy.

• ALL DRESSED UP (June 8 5pm) Quirky Daphne’s love of costumes gives her another chance at love after a series of hilarious dating disasters.

• BRICKS AND ASHES (June 8 5pm) In the old west, vengeance is served daily, good & evil are blurred & characters clash with dangerous results.

• CAPES (June 8 5pm) In his quest for salvation, a man plummets to the depths of primal Hell & ultimately finds peace & camaraderie in death.

• COCHRAN (June 8 5pm) Jim Cochran hates his job. One fateful day, a decision to pick up something he finds in the woods will change his life.

• THE COLLECTOR (June 8 5pm) In the last hours of life, an aging man reminisces & realizes that the things worth collecting are uncollectible.

• CROSS-EYED DINNER THEATER PRESENTS! (June 8 5pm)Protesters threaten to shut down the dinner theater’s production of ‘Death of a Salesman’.

• DANIEL FINDS HIS WALKING STICK (June 8 5pm) A funny & sad portrait of an aging, lonely man suffering from Alzheimer’s in a changing world.

• GAMES (June 8 5pm) Nathan doesn't care for the outside world. He’s satisfied with his games & his thoughts. That is, until Karen shows up.

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• THE BOOK OF TOMORROW (June 9 5pm) Billy Allen must deal with being the new kid in town. He discovers a comic book that reveals the future.

• THE CROOKED EYE (June 9 5pm) Sharon struggles with a recent divorce & current perception problem; adapted from Betty Malicoat's short story.

• ENIGMA (June 9 5pm) A simple mission for transport ship Genesis has become a mystery: All hands on board have been killed. But how, and why?

• RAIN RAIN (June 9 5pm) Ginny Nallion discovers a family secret & her dreary life becomes a fantastic adventure, at least ‘til Mom gets home!