Filmmakers Lab
Oscar-nominated film/filmmaker coming to Wichita in February
“Incident in New Baghdad” filmmaker James Spione to speak and teach at Tallgrass events on Feb. 10 and 11 in Wichita
WICHITA, KAN — Documentary film director James Spione will be in Wichita Feb. 10 and 11 to present his Oscar-nominated documentary film INCIDENT IN NEW BAGHDAD and teach a Tallgrass Filmmakers Lab. The documentary received the Academy Award nomination Jan. 24 for Best Documentary Short Subject film, and features Wichita resident Ethan McCord, a former U.S. Army Specialist and subject of a 2007 WikiLeaks controversy, who witnessed one of the most notorious incidents of the Iraq War — the slayings of two Reuters journalists and a number of other unnamed civilians by U.S. attack helicopters in Iraq.
Award Winning Filmmaker Kicks Off the 2012 Tallgrass Filmmakers Lab series
The 2012 Tallgrass Filmmaker Lab series debuts on Saturday, Feb. 11 with Making and Marketing An Independent Documentary In the Digital Age led by award-winning filmmaker James Spione. Spione’s most recent short film INCIDENT IN NEW BAGHDAD won Best Documentary Short at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, Grand Prize Documentary Short at the 2011 Rhode Island International Film Festival the Audience Award for Best Short Film at the 2011 Tallgrass Film Festival and is shortlisted for a 2012 Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Short Subject.
The class will be from 1:30 to 4 p.m., Feb. 11 at the Wichita Art Museum in the Howard Wooden Lecture Hall. Advanced registration is $20 for general admission; $15 for students/teachers/seniors/TFA Members. Admission is $25 at the door. For advanced registration, click here.
Following the extraordinary trajectory of this award-winning film, Spione reveals how the power of 21st-century social media has radically transformed the creation, marketing and distribution of independent film. By comparing his previous filmmaking experience before the emergence of today's online tools, Spione's candid presentation will offer a rare and detailed behind-the-scenes look at how the interconnected power of Facebook, Twitter and Kickstarter, in conjunction with established venues like film festivals and television, helped bring his latest film from his home editing suite to an international stage.
BlueCat Screenwriting Workshop returns
For the second year in a row, award-winning screenwriter, TFA National Advisory Board Member and KU alumnus, Gordy Hoffman will present his Bluecat Screenwriting Workshop: The First Ten Pages in Wichita. This year, the day-long course will be presented during the ninth annual Tallgrass Film Festival, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday, Oct. 21, at the Naked City Gallery, 121 N. Mead, Ste. 104.
Full registration enrollment for those with the first 10 pages of a screenplay is $95 and is limited to 10 writers. For those who wish to audit the class and participate in the discussion without submitting written material, enrollment is $45. Registration must be completed here. (Tallgrass Film Festival TALLPasses and Friday SMALLPasses do not include admission to the workshop. A discount will be provided will be provided to TFA members: $85 full registration/$30 audit.)
Movie Trailers 101 & The Business of Film Marketing
June 9, 2011, Wichita, KAN — The Tallgrass Filmmakers Lab will present its third workshop of the year, focusing on the essential business of film marketing. “Movie Trailers 101 & The Business of Film Marketing” will be taught by Erin Wyatt, award winning Trailer Editor and co-Owner of the Los Angeles film and television marketing company, Seismic Productions. The class will be from 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 16, at Integrated Media Group, 143 N. Rock Island, third floor.
Go inside the multi-million dollar world of movie marketing, with Wyatt, an accomplished producer and editor whose work includes trailer and television campaigns for film studios including 20th Century Fox, New Line Cinema, Lions Gate Films, Roadside Attractions, Focus Features, Screen Gems, Warner Brothers, The Weinstein Company, Miramax and Universal. His work includes campaigns for BROTHERS, SUNSHINE CLEANING, THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT, SEX & THE CITY, PRECIOUS, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA and TRANSAMERICA, among many others.
Tallgrass Filmmakers Lab Presents a Workshop: “Props for Stage & Screen” with Internationally Recognized Prop Master/Art Director Tom Mittlestadt
Wichita, KAN — The Tallgrass Filmmakers Lab presents its second workshop of the year “Props for Stage and Screen” with internationally recognized Prop Master/Art Director Tom Mittlestadt. The workshop will take place 2-5 p.m. on Saturday, April 30 from at Hewitt’s Antiques, 228 N. Market, second floor.
Tallgrass Filmmakers Lab presents a Free Workshop: Contemporary Indie Cinema Appreciation, with Programming Director Nick Pope
The Tallgrass Filmmakers Lab will present a Free workshop* on Saturday, Feb. 26 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the House of Schwan, 3636 N. Comotara, with TFA Co-Director of Programming Nick Pope.
Independent film has existed since the inception of the movies. From Charlie Chaplin to Quentin Tarantino, filmmakers have found great success making movies outside the studio system. But what is an independent film? And when did "arthouse" go mainstream? Taking a look at some of the most influential independent film directors of the last 20 years, we'll see where these directors began and where they have gone since. From the Coen Brothers (Blood Simple, True Grit) to Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Black Swan) and many more (including Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, Michael Moore, Wes Anderson, Kevin Smith and Christopher Nolan) we'll examine how these artists funded their first feature films and how (and why) they have become mainstays in the contemporary Independent film movement. We'll also take a look at the 2011 Academy Award nominees for Best Director and examine their careers as they've gone from "indie" to "mainstream".
The workshop is sponsored by Tallgrass Brewing Company and is limited to the first 30 registrants. Email RSVP is required. Complimentary beverages.
About Nick: A child of the '80s, Nick thrived on American independent cinema of the 1990s. Fond of filmmakers such as David O. Russell, Darren Aronofsky, Neil LaBute and others, Nick took his enthusiasm to the University of Kansas where he studied film criticism, history, and production. He has been with the Tallgrass Film Festival since its inception in 2002. A programmer for the last six seasons, Nick currently serves as Co-Director of Programming for TFA.
*(Please note: Several of the films in discussion are R-rated, parental discretion advised.)
Tallgrass Filmmakers Lab presents a Bluecat Screenwriting Workshop with award-winning scribe Gordy Hoffman
Wichita, KANSAS — 
Tallgrass Filmmakers Lab, the education arm of the Tallgrass Film Association, presents a screenwriting workshop with Gordy Hoffman, the Sundance award-winning writer/director (LOVE LIZA, A COAT OF SNOW) and founder of the BlueCat Screenplay Competition, from 9a.m.-6p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 16 at Rock Island Studios, 338 N. Mead.
“As a proud alumnus of the University of Kansas, I have felt a profound connection with Kansas throughout my entire professional life as an artist,” said Hoffman. “I'm truly excited about furthering a kinship to screenwriters in Wichita and hope to build a foundation on which we can develop stories and make movies in and around Kansas for years to come."
