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The Kings of Queens: QIFF Day #3 + Wrap-Up

We came to NYC on 11/13 to screen our short film Snow Bunny at the Queens International Film Fest.  Here’s what we did on Day #1.  Here’s what we did on Day #2.

DAY THREE, SUNDAY, 11/15

Brunch w/ Nina-Rose

Still high from our screening on Saturday night, Jessica and I skipped to a coffee shop in Jackson Heights for coffee, pumpkin scones, and good company. Jackson Heights, by the way, is supposedly the most diverse area in the country.  We might vouch for that. A neighborhood with people of many ages, social levels, and ethnic backgrounds. Kumbaya!

Catching up on the interwebs

Relaxing at The Verve

Found out from trusty Twitter friend Matt Shea (@MattOfAllMedia) that the QIFF awards ceremony was pushed back to 6:30pm (I’m guessing someone had to make another emergency run to Staples. Get it?  Because on Day #2…oh, nevermind…), so we decided to relax at the hotel before meeting a friend for dinner. One of us turned on a football game and fell asleep. Her name rhymes with Dessica.

Subway art

Pretty subway car (sans upholstry)

Refreshed and revitalized, we headed to Manhattan.

J & J on NYC train: "No upholstery!"

J & J on San Fran train: "Upholstery?"

Unlike the public transit in San Francisco, the NYC trains were completely upholstery-free…which we liked.

The stars of Snow Bunny

On the train, we got a message from Marci and Jeremy, the stars of Snow Bunny. Turns out their baby boy, Isaac Evan Price, arrived on the night of the Snow Bunny screening at QIFF. We don’t have a picture yet, so you’ll have to trust us that he’s beautiful.  And he definitely has star potential…Snow Bunny 2, anyone?

Justin & Julie

Julie & Jess in NYC

Met Julie’s old high school friend Justin for dinner at Little Frankie’s on the Lower East Side.  Great food.  Great conversation. Great way to spend our last night in NYC.  We flew back to Chicago the following morning.

And that brings us to the end.

• Did we enjoy our trip? Yes.

• Do we want to go to more film festivals? Absolutely.

• Anything we would have done differently? We were a bit shy at this fest, so next time we’ll try to meet more filmmakers and make more contacts.  We’ll also set aside more time to see other films.

• What was the best part about the fest? Showing Snow Bunny; meeting filmmaker Matt Shea, producer Maria Lokken & Eren Gulfidan from the Film Annex.

• What was the worst part? Showing Snow Bunny. (Just teasing…we were nervous but proud.)

• Any regrets? Just one: we never got to eat Pizza in the Cone.

Jessica + Pizza in the Cone

The Kings of Queens: QIFF Day #2

So, we came to NYC on 11/13 to screen our short film Snow Bunny. You heard what happened on Day #1, right? If not, click here.

DAY TWO, SATURDAY, 11/14:

• We started the day with a surprisingly lovely complimentary breakfast + free espresso drinks at The Verve Hotel, then walked through Queens toward the main Queens Film Fest site. On our walk, Jessica stopped and made this face:

"What the what?" Jess on Day 2 of QIFF

Because she saw this:

Julie + PIzza in the Cone

Pizza in the Cone. Unfortunately we were still full from breakfast, so we moved along.

Frank Sinatra School of the Arts

Got to the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, where we met filmmaker Matt Shea.

Jess & filmmaker Matt Shea

• Matt directed Patriotic Danger, a 1-hour action short that screened at QIFF on Fri, 11/13. We were so relieved to find that Matt was as nice and kind as he’d seemed over Twitter. (Follow him: @MattOfAllMedia)  He was also just as hilarious as his astute Tweets about the festival.

• We tried for the second time to get our QIFF filmmakers passes. This time we were told the passes were ‘on their way’ (they must have had a hangover from the night before), so we waited.

Snow Bunny Swag

While we waited, another filmmaker came in and ranted & raved because QIFF staffers had failed to returned his emails and calls for weeks. He threatened to pull his film. The poor QIFF staffer behind the desk did the best he could to calm the filmmaker down. We decided that we could wait a little longer for our passes, so we dropped off some Snow Bunny swag, including some posters by artist Danny Hein, and left.

Brunch w/ the Greenberg-Segan's at Cafe Bar

Nina-Rose + Leontine

Sascha + Jessica

Brunch with Leontine Greenberg + Sascha Segan + their incredibly cute daughter Nina-Rose at Cafe Bar.  Brought Leontine back to QIFF with us.

Our QIFF Badges

• Finally got our QIFF passes but were told that they’d run out of lanyards. “Someone’s getting the lanyards at Staples right now.” Great.

• Met up again with Matt Shea and took in about 10 shorts of assorted genres, styles, and production values. Some of our favorites included Kwame by Edward Osei-Gyima and Visit China by Anthony Samangy. One that we really wish we’d seen: Jenny Got a Boob Job by Lon Diamond.

• Attended a panel on movie distribution. After much confusion about who was actually supposed to be running the panel, we listened to a couple of film distributers from Cavu Productions explain why none of us in the audience was ever going to get anywhere without them.  Okay, to be fair, that’s not exactly what they said.  But they did say that in order to make it in film, you have to have a great story (check), make features (someday), have hundreds of thousands to invest not only in the movie but in distribution costs (wait…), and you have to hire someone like them to get the movie into theatres (oh, I get it.)  It was nice that they shared, but the panel was 40% solid advice + 60% a commercial for Cavu Productions.  Can’t blame them. We’re wiser for having been there.

• In the back of the room was a group of young men who turned out to be the brains behind the movie Self Helpless, which also showed at the festival. They’d gotten their film into some theatres in the Vermont area and were also headed to Boston.  The folks on the panel told them that it was a HUGE mistake to open anywhere but NY or LA if you were serious.  We told them that we thought it was wonderful that they’d secured those venues and to keep on keepin’ on. Follow the journey of Self Helpless on Twitter at @selfhelplessmov.

• To kill time before our 8pm showing, we grabbed some pizza (not in cone form), got lanyards for our passes (yay!), then scarfed Thai food (burp) before attending our Snow Bunny screening.

Julie + Jess

A Good Sign: We're on the schedule

Before Snow Bunny Screening

8pm – Snow Bunny screening…it was wonderful. We were in a block with 3 other shorts, including the movie “Inside of Me,” whose cast and crew were the most exhuberant we saw the whole fest.  Jess and I held our breath the whole time. The packed room laughed and gasped at the perfect times.  We each noticed things we wished we had changed about the movie, but it was a good experience overall.

Julie & Jess after the screening

Julie & Jess w/ Maria Lokken

Jess, Matt, Julie & Eren Gulfidan of FilmAnnex

After the screening, we had the great fortune to meet a couple of people we’d connected with on Twitter: producer Maria Lokken (@Maria_56) and Eren Gulfidan of Film Annex (@gulfi). Both women were complimentary, supportive, and wonderful to talk with.  We hope to see them again next time we’re in NYC.

Jess & Leontine at Omonia Cafe

Matt & Julie @ Omonia Cafe

At the end of the night, we ended up at Omonia Cafe, a Greek bakery / bar with thumping music and a truly diverse crowd. A perfect way to unwind after the screening.

Check back in to see what happened on Day #3 of our NYC / QIFF adventure and to find out why Jess and Julie were so happy on this subway ride:

Best subway ride ever!

The Kings of Queens: QIFF Day #1

DAY ONE, FRIDAY 11/13

• Left our humble Chicago home while it was still dark. Our bags were packed with DVDs, posters, postcards, and business cards.  And a couple of pieces of clothing. Once at O’Hare, we found out our flight to LaGuardia had been cancelled due to high winds. Caught first available flight to Newark, NJ.

• In Newark we took an air tram to the train. The tram was so slow that we decided it was propelled on the backs of hundreds of crawling babies. Completely abomidable AND inefficient. (DISCLAIMER: We neither saw nor heard anything that confirmed out baby theory.)

You lookin' at Jess?

• Made our way to Manhattan, walked to Times Square, got sneered at, got over it, then took train to Queens. Also started getting hilarious updates about the film fest from friend Matt Shea (@MattOfAllMedia on Twitter).

The Verve Hotel, Queens

• Checked into The Verve Hotel on the recommendation of travel expert / cell phone afficianado / lifetime New Yorker Sascha Segan. Clean, quiet, pretty, healthy treats in the vending machines, free espresso drinks. Everything we wanted and more.

Julie @ QIFF

• Headed to the QIFF Film Fest headquarters (Cafe Bizarre) to get our QIFF Filmmakers All-Access passes: “They’re not here right now,” we were told with a smile. Weird. Maybe our passes were taking a walk around the block? Odd for the 2nd day of a festival in its 7th year, but anyhoo…

Jess & Leontine, probably making fun of Julie

• Met our friend (artist Leontine Greenberg) for dinner before heading to her art opening on the lower east side at MyPlasticHeart. She sold almost all of her paintings. We’re pretty sure we’re her good luck charm.  She might also be a beautiful and amazing painting genius.

Art Show @ My Plastic Heart

wine + gourds = fancy

The goods at the show

• Got a snack at the gigantic Whole Foods mothership across the park. Fell in love with it even before we found out that it’s where they film NY Top Chef shopping scenes.  Took turns breathing in the air that Padma Lakshmi might have once exhaled.

• Julie’s high school friend, NYC theatre director Justin Donham, dropped in for a moment, then we grabbed drinks & apps w/ Leontine. Headed back to the Verve way past our bedtime, but when in New York…

Ready for Day #2 of our QIFF / NYC Adventure? Click here to find out what we did and why Jessica made this face:

"What the what?" Jess on Day 2 of QIFF

The Kings of Queens: King is a Fink at QIFF

When we came out to New York this weekend, we had 3 main goals:

1. To survive the screening of Snow Bunny at the Queens International Film Festival (QIFF)
2. To catch up with old friends from high school and college
3. To meet up with new friends we’ve made through Twitter

We are happy to report that we achieved all of our goals and more.  We’ll write more about our experience at this festival when we get back to Chicago, but right now we’d just like to thank some special people.

• Big thanks to artist and good friend Leontine Greenberg (@leontinemay on Twitter) for showing us the city and celebrating our screening at QIFF alongside her own successful art opening at My Plastic Heart.

• Thanks to Maria Lokken (aka @Maria_56 – Twitter friend / television producer / class act) for coming to our screening and mentioning it on her blog.

• Thank you to filmmaker Matt Shea (@MattOfAllMedia on Twitter) for his tireless tweeting about the QIFF experience, for hanging out with us, and for sharing a copy of his QIFF-screened movie Patriotic Danger.

• Thanks to Eren Gulfidan (@Gulfi on Twitter) from the Film Annex, an incredibly kind and supportive woman whom we hope to get to know more in the near future.

Here are a couple of pictures from our wonderful weekend:

Julie + Jess + Matt Shea + filmmaker friend

QIFF VIPS!

Julie & Jess in NYC

Jess & filmmaker Matt Shea

Jess & artist Leontine Greeberg

Jessica in Times Square

We’re on the Road to Somewhere

 

This has been a great, productive year for King is a Fink Productions.

We wrote and produced 4 short films (Snow Bunny, Sound Sleeper, Anxiety Acres & Libidoland). Snow Bunny was accepted into 2 film fests (Lakedance International Film Festival & Queens International Film Festival) and nominated for an award.  We’re on our way to finishing our 3rd feature-length screenplay.  We’re toying with the idea of finding funding to produce our first one (Baker’s Dozen), which showed well in this year’s Blue Cat, Outfest, and Great Lakes screenplay competitions.

We’re on the right track, but, despite our recent successes, it’s still easy to stumble into a puddle of self-doubt. Is this really a good idea?  Shouldn’t we get our heads out of the clouds? We should just put our noses to the 9 – 5 grindstone and focus on our 401k’s?

The doubts are normal.  We expected to have low points.  What we didn’t expect was to find such a supportive indie movie community to help us through them.

HERE ARE SOME PEOPLE WHO INSPIRE US AND KEEP OUR INDIE SPIRITS UP:

NIC BAISLEY

• ON TWITTER: @filmsnobbery

• WHAT HE DOES: runs movie site Film Snobbery.com, hosts live show, provides honest reviews of indie movies (including shorts)

• WHY WE LOVE HIM: Nic’s friendly & accessible, the consummate host, promoting the work of new/unheard of indie filmmakers, sharing advice freely, and connecting new indie film folks with established people in the industry to create a community that benefits everyone.

GARY  KING

• ON TWITTER: @grking

• WHAT HE DOES: Gary directs feature-length movies via his production company Kitchen Table Films. Films include Dismal, Hubris, New York Lately, What’s Up Lovely? He also writes a kickass blog.

• WHY WE LOVE HIM: Gary shares his process freely, he’s friendly, promotes our work, is always on the go, and he’s even found a way to parlay his personal directing success into paying gigs from other people: he’s currently directing a movie in Ohio.  He’s also hinted at a (maybe) musical film in his future (or was this just us dreaming?)  We can’t wait to see what he does next.

PHIL HOLBROOK

• ON TWITTER: @philontilt

• WHAT HE DOES: Directs short films (Honest Work) with Creative Jinx in Minnesota; runs the EgoFest, a free fest for short films

• WHY WE LOVE HIM: He does what we do (makes shorts w/ his friends).  He’s extremely supportive of other people’s work in the Twitterverse, obviously talented, shares film/production tips, promotes other people’s work, gets our sense of humor…+ HELLO! Free film fest!

JAMIN WINANS & KIOWA WINANS

• ON TWITTER: @doubleedgefilms

• WHAT THEY DO: They produce feature films via their production company, Double Edge Films; this week their wildly popular movie INK was in the top 20 movies on IMDb despite not having a distributer.

• WHY WE LOVE THEM: They found a path to their audience and to distribution on their own terms. Rather than just relying on film fests, the Winans picked a unique route for INK – they premiered at the first sizable fest that accepted them, showed their film in independent theatres across the US, then distributed the movie themselves on Blu-Ray and DVD.  Soon it’ll be on Netflix & in Blockbuster stores around the country.  They used social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) to the fullest extent and have been extremely generous in sharing their process; just listen to this 11/1 radio interview they did with Film Courage.

Of course, not everyone is encouraging and supportive. But that’s for another day…

Update: Snow Bunny’s 1st Night Out

Last night Snow Bunny screened at the Lakedance International Film Festival in beautiful Sandpoint, Idaho, at the historic Panida Theater.

Even though we couldn’t make the trip, we were honored, excited, and, strangely, nervous last night when the screening was scheduled to begin.  A little under the weather, we toasted each other with OJ and headed to bed, delighted that our little movie was about to be watched in a real theater by real film lovers who bought real tickets to see it.  Those are our favorite kind of people.

Today, Lakedance (@lakedancefilm) was kind enough to send us a Tweet (I heart Twitter) about how the screening went.  Here’s what they said:

“@kingisafink (that’s us) great screening, big applause at the end. Comments were “creepy” and “that was seriously messed up”.. but said with a smile”

We couldn’t have asked for a nicer less than 140 character review. Is Snow Bunny creepy?  Sure.  Is it messed up?  Hell, yeah.  The family in our movie is quiet but raging, calm yet churning, appropriate (oh so appropriate) yet ready to burst at any moment.  We love  Snow Bunny, and we’re glad the audience at Lakedance did, too.

So what’s next? Snow Bunny screens at the Queens International Film Festival on Saturday, 11/14, at 8pm at the stunning Frank Sinatra School of the Arts.  This’ll be the first film fest we’ve been able to attend, and we intend to make it count. Can’t wait to see old friends, meet Twitter friends, and make new friends who can, maybe, help us figure out the next step in this fun indie movie making journey.

November is for (Movie) Lovers

King is a Fink = Jessica + Julie

November is King is a Fink’s favorite month.  Here’s why:

• We had a private screening for the Idville Collection (ANXIETY ACRES & LIBIDOLAND) on Sunday, 11/1, and it was lovely.  Check out the pictures here.

• Our short drama SNOW BUNNY is showing at Lakedance International Film Festival in Sandpoint, Idaho, tomorrow night at 7pm.  Wish we could be there; will celebrate here in ChiTown with the stars instead.

• SNOW BUNNY is also showing at the Queens International Film Festival on Saturday, 11/14, at 8pm. Details here.  We will be in attendance with some old (and new) friends.  Watch out New York!

Idville Screening: Take Two!

More pictures from Sunday night’s packed Idville Collection screening in Chicago. Friends, family, and fans gathered to see and discuss Libidoland and Anxiety Acres.

Andrew Lindsay, Star of Libidoland

Yes – Chris & Norah liked Libidoland.

Julie w/ Anxiety Acres’ scariest (and only) hitchhiker, Danny Hein

Natalie & Shannon show us how to rock the ‘red carpet’

Our Indiana crew, without whom nothing would ever get done. Or started.

Beth Ivy, star of Libidoland

Libidoland music makers, Jeremy Price & Dan Querfeld (Felled Hands)

King is a Fink = Jessica + Julie

Julie & Jessica w/ friends Steven, Andrew & Andy

Heather Rush & Mike Ayres, stars of Anxiety Acres

Jess & Julie set up the show

 

Idville Screening: Take One

On Sunday night we had a private Chicago screening of the Idville Collection: Anxiety Acres & Libidoland.

While we entered the night full of pre-screening jitters, the overwhelming support of our friends and family made the night a huge success.  Congratulations to Andrew Lindsay, Beth Ivy, Heather Rush, and Mike Ayres on their big screen debuts.  And thank you to everyone who shared their time and energy.

Here are a few pictures.  More pictures and details soon!