The Hamptons International Film Festival
April 8, 2010
(East Hampton, N.Y.)-The Hamptons International Film Festival will host its 10th annual Screenwriters’ Lab cosponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation this April 16 – 18 in East Hampton, NY.
Over the course of one long weekend, emerging screenwriters will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one each day with established screenwriting mentors who will advise them on how to develop their scripts and move their projects closer to production. Within this supportive environment, the screenwriters are encouraged to take risks and discover new possibilities for their projects. Participants also attend group discussions over meals, while evening events bring them together with board members, sponsors and the local artistic community.
“The Screenwriters’ Lab is one of our most exciting year-round activities because it allows us to be involved with artists and the creative process at an early stage,” states Director of Programming David Nugent. “The lab revolves around a relaxed exchange of ideas and creative energy, and it allows us to support emerging artists which has always been at the heart of our mission as an organization.
Following the lab, the festival will assist writers in making contact with industry producers, agents, and development executives, and continue to support the writers as they revise their scripts. According to Executive Director, Karen Arikian, “Thanks to the continued generosity of the Sloan Foundation, several of the screenwriters will also be invited back to the festival in October to continue to refine & advance their projects. This is one of a number of our initiatives that we think is crucial to nurturing the next generation of artists.”
2010 Screenwriters’ Lab Mentors
1) BILLY FROLICK is an American writer and film director. For DreamWorks Animation, Frolick has written the feature screenplays HOLY COW (with CHICKEN RUN writer Karey Kirkpatrick) and MADAGASCAR (with directors Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, and Mark Burton, co-writer of WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT), which grossed over a half a billion dollars worldwide during its 2005 theatrical release. Frolick’s latest project, for Kiev’s Umbrella Vision studio, is the original screenplay for PAWS & WIRES, which will be the first 3-D, computer-animated feature ever produced in Ukraine. His feature film directing debut, IT IS WHAT IT IS screened at several global festivals, including the 2003 New York International Independent Film & Video Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Picture. Frolick’s writing pieces have appeared in The New Yorker, Movieline, TV Guide and The Los Angeles Times, and he has served as the pseudonymous author of several book-length parodies, including, THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HELL. Frolick’s 1995 Dutton book WHAT I REALLY WANT TO DO IS DIRECT tracked seven film school graduates over three years. In addition to moderating and appearing on many film school and festival panels, Frolick is an adjunct professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he teaches Screenwriting.
2) MARIA MAGGENTI received her M.F.A. in Filmmaking from NYU in 1995. That same year her feature film debut, THE INCREDIBLY TRUE ADVENTURES OF TWO GIRLS IN LOVE, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Over a decade later, her second feature, 2006’s PUCCI FOR BEGINNERS, also saw its world premiere in Park City, where it screened in the Grand Jury Prize program. Her work as a screenwriter includes THE LOVER LETTER, AN AMERICAN GIRL (rewrite), HE’S A WOMAN, SHE’S A MAN, JEMIMA JAMES, HOTEL DE PARIS (aka MONTE CARLO) and WHITE PEOPLE. Alongside her feature film work, Maggenti served as a writer/co-producer on WITHOUT A TRACE (CBS), as well as a co-producer on the CW’s 90210. Her extensive teaching and mentorship experience includes NYU’s Graduate Film School, the One on One Film Program, Inner City Filmmakers, Maisha Film Lab, RiskTakers Inner City Girls Program and the Hamptons International Film Festival’s Screenwriters’ Lab in 2007.
3) J.D. ZEIK has been a working writer for the last two decades. Over this time he has worked with every major studio in Los Angeles, and he continues to work within the studio system on both original works and as a script doctor. Among his credits is his original screenplay, Ronin, starring Robert DeNiro. Other projects include THE TOUCH, with Michelle Yeoh, PISTOL WHIPPED, with Steven Seagal, and the TV film (and subsequent series) WITCHBLADE, on which he also served an executive producer. He has worked with artists as varied as James Cameron, Alfonso Cuaron, and 50 Cent. J.D. graduated from SUNY Purchase, where he started his writing career as a playwright. His plays have been produced in both New York and Los Angeles. Since the spring of 2000 he has taught screenwriting in both the Film and the Dramatic Writing programs at Purchase.
4)Karin Chien is an independent film producer based in New York City, and the 2010 Piaget Producers Award recipient from the Independent Spirit Awards. Karin has produced seven feature-length films, including THE EXPLODING GIRL (2009), THE MOTEL (2005) and ROBOT STORIES (2002), which have won over 75 festival awards, premiered at Sundance and Berlin, and received international distribution. Karin is currently in post-production on two Sundance Filmmaker Lab projects, CIRCUMSTANCE and AYITI, AYITI, and in pre-production on Bradley Rust Gray’s JACK & DIANE. Karin is the president and co-founder of dGenerate Films which distributes the best of contemporary Chinese independent cinema. Karin is also the curator of the Chinatown Film Project, an inaugural film exhibition for the Museum of Chinese in America.
2010 Screenwriters’ Lab Participants, Screenplays and Project Descriptions:
1) ROBERT COHEN – BYSTANDER
In 1964, Kitty Genovese was raped and murdered outside an apartment complex in Queens while 38 witnesses looked on. Though the attack lasted over 30 minutes, none of the witnesses called the police or intervened in any way until she was already dead. Daniel Swingley, a psychological researcher, studies the phenomenon of the 38 witnesses. As Swingley becomes immersed in the study, his research partner, John Darley, begins to question his motives. BYSTANDER is a fictionalized account of the aftermath of the Genovese case and the groundbreaking research on this social psychological phenomenon.
Writer’s Bio:
Robert Cohen received his MFA in 2009 from the Rita & Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he received the graduate award for excellence in television writing. His stage plays have had workshops and performances at Tisch, including October 11, which was a winner of NYU’s 10-Minute Play Contest. Robert was awarded a $10,000 screenwriting grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in 2008 for his original screenplay PRISONER’S DILEMMA and again in 2009 for his original screenplay BYSTANDER. Recently, Robert was a story consultant and voiceover writer for two episodes of Jobsite, a special event on the History Channel. He currently writes a blog for the Huffington Post.
2) TODD KRAININ – TUBE WARS
TUBE WARS is the true story of Philo Farnsworth, the 14 year old farm boy who invented television while plowing his family’s fields in Utah. His struggle to build the most influential technology of the 20th century pits him against David Sarnoff, the chairman of RCA, one of the most powerful corporations in America. The two men are ultimately bound by money, ambition, a belief in the transformational power of technology, and a race to be known forever as the Father of Television.
Writer’s Bio:
Born and raised in New York City, Todd Krainin is an international photojournalist. Assignments have taken him to nine countries on three continents; he has covered the Nepalese civil war for The Kathmandu Post and photographed American teenagers involved in counter-terrorism training camps for The New York Times. In the decade between graduating from McGill University and purchasing his first still camera, Todd was an actor. He toured the US in the role of Demetrius in the National Theater’s production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, and appeared in the mini-series GEORGE WALLACE and in Ron Howard’s feature film, ED-TV. He is currently shooting, producing, and editing a documentary film about the trial of Alejandro Gama, a 15 year old alien smuggler who is accused of murdering six illegal immigrants.
3) JUSTIN SCHWARTZ – THE DISCOVERERS
THE DISCOVERERS is an intimate human comedy about a dysfunctional family that goes on a Lewis and Clark re-enactment trek and discover themselves and each other in the process. In the road movie tradition, the film shows how sometimes you have to get lost in order to find yourself.
Writer’s Bio:
Writer/Director Justin Schwarz has been named a Kodak “Rising Star,” was a Regional Finalist for the Student Academy Awards, and his award-winning short films have screened internationally at venues including the Cannes Film Festival, Slamdance Film Festival, and The Museum of Modern Art. He has taught film theory and film directing at Columbia University, served as Head Judge of the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival Shorts Competition, and served on the Selection Committee for the Slamdance Film Festival. He graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University and received his MFA in Film with Honors from Columbia University. Prior to getting the film bug, he worked as a writer and analyst for The City of New York, The Department of Health and Human Services, Senator Dianne Feinstein’s Office, and Bill Clinton’s White House.
4) Dušan Sekulovi? – THE FOLLY OF THE CICADA
A young mute boy’s life changes forever when two beautiful sisters arrive in a secluded Sicilian village. When the sisters stray from their road trip and discover an idyllic deserted cove they imagine a quick day’s skinny-dipping. However, the whole village is already aware of them, and there ensues an intense duel between the most eligible bachelor in town and the boy, revealing a tragedy many have long conspired to bury.
Writer’s Bio:
Dušan Sekulovi? grew up in Italy, Yugoslavia and then Switzerland. After enduring life as a camera assistant, gaffer and coffee machine throughout various film projects in London, Sekulovi? moved to New York. There he landing a day job as an art director in advertising and discovering stand-up comedy at night. His first feature debut, PUSSYFOOT, a no-budget New York romantic comedy, premiered at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival 2008 and, after a successful festival run, landed a distribution deal. His new script is THE FOLLY OF THE CICADA. Dušan Sekulovi? lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and daughter.
Past Screenwriters’ Lab mentors include Michael Cunningham (THE HOURS, EVENING); James Vanderbilt (ZODIAC); Whit Stillman (METROPOLITAN, THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO); Ira Sachs (FORTY SHADES OF BLUE, THE DELTA); Jeff Sharp (Producer, YOU CAN COUNT ON ME); Maggie Greenwald (SONGCATCHER); and Dylan Kidd (RODGER DODGER).
The 2010 Hamptons International Film Festival will take place October 7-11, 2010, which include Columbus Day weekend. Now entering its 18th year, The Hamptons International Film Festival continues to thrive as a prestigious forum for independent and international film. The Festival is traditionally held for five days in mid-October in theatre venues from Montauk to Southampton and attracts roughly 15,000 visitors annually. At least twenty countries are represented in the slate of roughly 100 films that are showcased each year, with an awards package worth over $200,000. The festival continues to grow as a precursor to the awards season, with films from the 2009 edition earning 17 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture nominee UP IN THE AIR (US Premiere), THE MESSENGER, THE YOUNG VICTORIA (US), THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS (US), and AJAMI (US). Other past highlights include 2008 Academy Award and Golden Globe Best Picture winner SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (East Coast), 2008 Independent Spirit Award Best Feature winner THE WRESTLER, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (US), MAMMOTH (US), VIDEOCRACY (US), CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH (US), WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY (East Coast), TWO LOVERS (North American), VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR (US), SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK (US), NOWHERE IN AFRICA (US), THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY, THE SAVAGES (East Coast) and OPEN WATER (World). Last year’s guests of the Festival included Sharon Stone, Alan Alda, Steve Buscemi, Anna Kendrick, Josh Lucas, Emmy Rossum, Mira Nair, Cheryl Hines, and Paprika Steen. We are also an Academy Award-qualifying festival for short live-action and animated films.
CONTACT: David Nugent, Director of Programming, Tel: (212) 675-3835, email: david@hamptonsfilmfest.org
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wow;thank you,im one of them and want to develop my talent,can you please tell the requirements to apply?
- Posted by: mark