2013 Rhode Island Film Forum

Thursday, August 8, 2013 • 8:30 AM – 1:00 PM

• Download last year's Event Program

2013 Application Form, coming

Only $10 for the event, breakfast included

(with special rate available to visiting filmmakers who preregister at RIIFF)

WHAT IS THE RHODE ISLAND FILM FORUM?

The RI Film Forum is a one-day symposium hosting leading national and local film industry players, conversing about the key issues facing the Rhode Island and New England film community today. This informative and entertaining discussion presents our region's small business owners, filmmakers, community organizations, and film enthusiasts with the latest opportunities for better understanding, and getting involved with, local film production and exhibition.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Rhode Island Cities & Towns
Filmmakers
Film Production Crews
Film Exhibitors

Film Students
Artistic Directors, Film Vendors
Civic Organizations
Historic and Preservation Groups
Property Manager
Recreation Managers
Hotel Managers, Rental Agencies

Be a part of this multi-million dollar industry here in Rhode Island

Here’s your chance to become involved with Rhode Island’s “stars” of the film community. The one-day forum will bring together leaders of the film industry with the decision-making community leaders and historic, natural and commercial property managers of Rhode Island. New technologies, the impact of tax credits, plus so much more will be addressed.

“How To” Sessions:

• How to work with the film industry
• How to get the film industry to work with you
• How to be prepared and pro-active

• The growth of college film programs
• What are the resources that filmmakers need?
• Understand how to create a partnership so that everyone involved benefits.
• What are the emerging technologies that will be impacting on future film productions?

• Union or non-union?

• Funding

Rhode Island in Film & Television

Here are some of the films made in the Ocean State. To learn more about Rhode Island's film history, click here.

• The Great Gatsby (1974)
• The Scarlet Letter (1975)
• The Betsy (1978)
• Mr. North (1987)
• Mermaids (1990)
• Reversal of Fortune (1990)
• Wind (1992)
• Federal Hill (1993)
• The Buccaneers (1993)
• True Lies (1994)
• Dumb and Dumber (1994)
• Killer ( 1994)
• American Buffalo (1995)
• Code of Ethics (1996)
• Ties to Rachel (1996)
• Strangers in Transit (1996)
• Outside Providence (1997)
• Tax Day (1997)
• Amistad (1997)
• There's Something About Mary (1998)
• Meet Joe Black (1998)
• Me, Myself & Irene (1999)
• NBC 's Providence (1999 -
• The Brotherhood (2005 - )
• Underdog (2007)
• Dan in Real Life (2007)
• 27 Dresses (2008)
• Hachiko: A Dog's Story (2008)
• Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Will you film be next? Will your community host the next film or photo shoot?

The Rhode Island Film Forum is designed to provide a networking platform, spur dialogue and get answers to your questions from those who make decisions.

First held in 1998 at the Aldrich Mansion in Warwick, the 2012 will be bigger, cover more ground and will be capped by a keynote address on Thursday, August 9th.

Apply to the RI Film Forum 2013

2013 Application Form, coming

• Download the Event Program

You Can Also Order Your Pass Online:

Only $10 for the event;

For more information on THE RI FILM FORUM 2013, call the RIIFF offices at (401) 861-4445.

August 8th 2013 • 8:30 AM – 1:00 PM

The Providence Biltmore Ballroom, 11 Dorrance Street, Providence, RI

Last Year's Program:

Thursday, August 9th:

8:00 AM          Registration

8:30 AM          Welcome & Opening Remarks

9:00 - 9:50 a.m.

Panel One:

MAKING THE MOST OF RHODE ISLAND ON FILM

The state’s film industry is a jobs engine waiting to be harnessed. Now more than ever, as Rhode Island holds the second highest unemployment rate in the nation, it is time for a conversation about how local businesses can work with filmmakers and distributors to increase revenue.

A panel of local business leaders, government officials, and marketing experts will show guests how everyone from self-starters to long established family businesses can take advantage of opportunities available within the local film industry.

Panelists:

Steven Feinberg

Steven Feinberg is the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Film & Television Office. He formerly spent 22 years in Los Angeles and worked with every major Hollywood studio as a writer, director and producer. Since 2004, in his capacity at the Film & TV Office, he shepherded over $300 million of film and television production into the state, creating thousands of jobs for local talent, crew and small businesses.

He received the first Annual Imaginnaire Award from New England’s Imagine Magazine, has been the Honorary Chairman for Rhode Island's official Academy Award Oscar Night in 2009 and 2012, served as the Vice-President on the Board of Directors for “Celebrate Rhode Island” in 2010 to assist families with heating during difficult times, is a member of the Touro Fraternity, was designated the “Rhode Island Hospitality Ambassador of the Year 2010” by the Ocean State’s Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, received the George M. Cohan Ambassador Award from the Rhode Island International Film Festival in 2011 and, most recently in 2012, was nominated by the United States Coast Guard for the Department of Defense Joint Civilian Orientation Conference.

Steven studied cinematography at UCLA and film and television production at the prestigious USC Cinema School.

Ben Bornstein

Ben Bornstein, a Massachusetts native, moved to Los Angeles from Boston in 2004 to pursue a career in the film industry doing Special Make-Up FX. He left home with enough money to make it for two weeks and the hope that he would find work to survive beyond that.

He has since contributed to over eighty projects – his resume boasts credits on numerous major films, television shows, and commercials. He founded Creative Initiative Make-Up & Effects Studio in 2005.

At the age of 27, he moved back to Boston to establish himself and his company as a heavy competitor in the East for all Special FX Make-Up projects. Since being back in Boston, Bornstein hit the ground running and got hired on The Fighter, Knight And Day, The Zookeeper. With his combination of personal talent and contacts in the industry, Bornstein is equipped to fulfill this role. From the smoky eye of a big-screen vixen to the dripping tentacles of an alien invader, Bornstein can do the make-up that makes the movie.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1771523/

Colin Walsh

A noted Rhode Island-based location Manager whose film work includes, Body of Proof , Moonrdsie Kingdom, Out of the Furnace, The Fighter, Hachi: A Dog's Tale, Empire State, 27 Dresses, Underdog, Evening, Brotherhood, and Fever Pitch.

Duncan Putney

Duncan Putney is a New England based union actor and award winning screenwriter. Recent acting jobs in front of the camera include "R.I.P.D." (Universal), "The Gilded Lily's" (ABC/Disney), and "Brilliant Mistakes" (Salisbury Films). As the co founder and creative producer of Original Concept and Development Associates (OCD) along with Andre Stark of Black Shark Films. Duncan is currently directing/producing a WW2 themed short film for OCD titled "Half Pint" that he also wrote. The 7DayPSA competitions that OCD created for FLICKERS have garnered three Emmy nominations in 2011 and one win in 2012. Duncan's screenplays have won awards at the Woods Hole Film Festival, the International Family Film Festival, the Going Green Film Festival, and more, as well as having scripts selected for the Grub Street Screenwriters Salon and the Green Chair Reader. Produced projects have won two Golden Screen Awards and one New England Emmy Award.

Anthony Ambrosino

Anthony Ambrosino is a Rhode Island based producer, director, and advocate for film and television production in the New England area. His projects include several award winning short films and two other feature films (Sleather (2009) and Herbeast Comes to Life (2009)). As a crew member Anthony has worked on numerous feature films and television programs for companies such as Paramount Pictures, The Mark Gordon Company and Picture House Entertainment. In 2006 Anthony was a founding member of the Rhode Island Film Collaborative (RIFC), a non-profit organization designed to help foster the growth of and educate the local independent film community. On the heels of the film collaborative’s success in local independent films, Anthony, along with several other production professionals formed the Rhode Island Production Coalition (RiPro), a trade organization to help with development, advocacy, fundraising, charities, local legislation and higher education as it relates to media production in the state of Rhode Island. Anthony is also a producer and programmer for the Pawtucket International Music and Film Festival and in 2009 with his partners, launched the film production company, The 989 Project.

10:00 - 10:50 a.m.

Panel Two:

FILM EXHIBITION BEYOND THE MULTIPLEX

Rhode Island’s film festivals provide treasured movie-going experiences for Rhode Island film lovers. At the same time, the state’s year-round independent film exhibitors face an increasingly challenging and rapidly shifting marketplace that has demanded innovative responses.

A panel of exhibition experts, including RISD Museum Director John W. Smith, Kathy Staab, owner and Executive Director of the Jane Pickens Theater and Event Center, and Keith Brown, URI filmmaker and co-founder of the Boston Open Screen, will discuss the possibilities that the future holds for film exhibition in Rhode Island.

Panelists:

John W. Smith

John W. Smith was appointed Director of the Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design in September 2011. Previously, he was director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art, the world’s leading research center devoted to the study of the visual arts of America. During his tenure, he worked successfully with the Board of Trustees and staff to greatly increase the visibility of the Archives. He expanded the exhibitions and publications program, integrated the vital contributions of contemporary artists into the Archives programming, and raised nearly $15 million in private philanthropic support. In 2007, Smith oversaw the landmark acquisition of the Leo Castelli Gallery archive, which provides a detailed portrait of the dealer who championed the careers of such major artists as Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol. He also led a major project to digitize the Archives’ collections and redesign its website, which offers access to over 1.5 million objects from the Archives’ vast holdings.

Prior to the Archives of American Art, Smith served for 11 years at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, PA. As assistant director for collections, exhibitions, and research (2000-2006), Smith raised funds, organized exhibitions, published books, and oversaw all aspects of the permanent collection. As curator of archives and director of the Archives Research Center at The Andy Warhol Museum (1994 to 2000), Smith established the founding policies and guidelines of the center and raised money to support its programs. He also served as interim director of the museum from 1995 to 1996. In addition, Smith served as chief archivist at the Art Institute of Chicago (1990 to 1994), visiting archivist at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London (1991), and as founding curator of special collections and archives at the Chicago Park District (1988 to 1990).

Keith Brown

Keith Brown holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Rhode Island and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Boston University. He developed and taught a course for the Experimental College at Tufts University which focused on the study of representation of youth in American film. He has also taught 16mm film production courses at Boston University. Keith is currently a Lecturer in the Film/Media program at the University of Rhode Island. In the Fall of 2011, Keith was honored with the Teaching Excellence Award from the College of Arts & Sciences at URI.

Keith's work has been exhibited at the Boston Cinema Census, the Antelope Valley International Film Festival, the Georgetown Indy Film Fest, the Syracuse International Film and Video Festival, Film Stock, and the Rhode Island International Film Festival. He is also one of the founders of Boston Open Screen, an open-mike night for filmmakers, which is now held at the Somerville Theater in Massachusetts.

Keith is also the program director of the KidsEye Filmmaking Camp, a summer week-long program, run by the Rhode Island International Film Festival, which teaches children how to be filmmakers. In addition to still working with 16mm and Super 8 film, he also works with digital video. He recently produced a short film titled Hollywood Express which examines the culture around one of the last remaining video stores in Cambridge MA. http://www.kbrofilms.com

Kathy Staab

Kathleen Staab has been the president/owner of The Jane Pickens Theater & Event Center (www.janepickens.com) for the past eight years. Her background in retailing has guided a unique approach to programming one of America’s oldest theater buildings. An experienced fashion industry executive, Kathleen has been a senior merchandising executive withseveral major retail companies including Jordan Marsh, Macy’s, Talbot’s and Brookstone. She is a graduate of Kansas State University with a BS in Business/Clothing Retailing.

The JPT building was recently the subject of a Master’s Studio program in the School of Interior Architecture at Risd. The Pickens Has also been chosen by Yankee Magazine as one of the top five cinemas in New England & as the “Best Date Night” by the readers of Newport Life Magazine.

11:00 -11:50 a.m.

Panel Three:

TRANSMEDIA TECHNOLOGY: THE FUTURE OF STORYTELLING

How does a media company founded just three years after the invention of still photography survive for nearly two centuries –– and remain fresh and vital in the Internet Age? The Providence Journal, published daily since 1829, has accomplished this by emphasizing news, public service and story.

And in 2012, that includes storytelling in documentary films posted as videos to its web site, www.providencejournal.com

Join Michael Delaney, Journal Managing Editor for Visuals, and award-winning staff photographers/videographers Sandor Bodo, John Freidah, Frieda Squires and Steve Szydlowski as they show some of the paper’s finest films and discuss their craft from artistic, news and business points of view.

Journal videos have won several awards, including a 2011 New England Emmy for Freidah’s “Marathon Man,” which will be shown at the forum. The paper’s first feature-length documentary, “Coming Home,” about veterans of the War on Terror, was nominated for a 2012 New England Emmy and won the 2012 Edward R. Murrow Award for best online documentary, New England Region, from the Radio Television Digital News Association. Also in 2012, the paper’s “Justice for Jason: Foreman family strives to change Rhode Island Law” was nominated for a New England Emmy in the Outstanding Societal Concerns Category.

Panelists:

Michael Delaney

Michael Delaney is The Providence Journal's Managing Editor for Visuals, a post he has held since 2000. He oversees a 30 person staff that includes photographers, picture editor/designers, and visuals technicians. Prior to that he held the positions of AME/Visuals, Chief photographer, and Sunday Magazine picture editor at the Journal. He was a staff photographer at the Miami (Fla.) News from 1979-1986. He is a graduate of Providence College.

Sandor Bobo

Born in Budapest, Hungary, of artist parents, the young Sandor Bodo was carried under wraps and on shoulders as the Bodos fled Hungary during the Uprising of 1956, eventually to resettle in Nashville, Tennessee. Even as a lad, Bodo was always involved in the making of images and objects of art. Undergraduate work at Brown University brought Bodo to Providence in 1971. After securing a BA concentration in Fine Art at Brown, he extended his education in England at Sheffield Polytechnic School of Art and Design and with an MFA in Photography from the Royal College of Art in London in 1978. He has since lived and worked in Providence and currently is a staff photographer at The Providence Journal, where his images and videos can be seen daily.

John Freidah

Emmy-award winning photojournalist John Freidah has been at The Providence Journal since 1995 where his documentary photography has highlighted both national and local issues: affecting legislative policy, raising public awareness and empowering individuals. John's work has appeared in such periodicals as National Geographic, Time Magazine, Newsweek, and on ABC's Nightline. He has lectured throughout the United States and Europe on the art of storytelling using photography. He traveled twice to the war zone in Iraq to cover Rhode Island troops. Two of these soldiers are profiled in his documentary “Coming Home,” which was just honored with a regional Edward R. Murrow Award and will be shown during the 2012 Festival.

Frieda Squires

“My mother gave me a camera when I was 10 years old for a road trip to California from Oklahoma,” Squires writes. “Took photos all through high school but never thought it would be a career. After a year of business college, I joined the Navy, hoping to become an air controller. But luck would have it they didn't like my Oklahoma ‘twang’ and my second choice was to become a photographer. After photo school in Pensacola, Florida, was sent to Newport Naval Station and worked there for two years. After the Navy, went back to college for journalism and got my first newspaper job in my hometown, Ada, Oklahoma.” Squires returned to Rhode Island in 1979 and calls her many years as a Providence Journal staff photographer “the best job in the world.”

Steve Szydowlski

Steve Szydlowski grew up in Rhode Island and started shooting pictures in the early late 70s, and started at The Providence Journal as a staff photographer in 1987, a job he has held ever since. “I started shooting film with a Super-8 camera, mostly shooting street scenes in South Providence where I lived at the time,” Szydlowski. “I was influenced by film makers like Jim Jarmusch, who made some great gritty B & W films, Stranger Than Paradise and Down by Law; I like the way he composed his shots. Years later, I'm exploring the life of Rhode Islanders with video and editing other photographers' work for the Journal web site.” www.providencejournal.com

12:00

GEORGE M. COHAN AMBASSADOR AWARD PRESENTATION

FLICKERS: Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) ispleased to announce Nancy Carriuolo, President of Rhode Island College, as the recipient of the 16th-annual Festival’s George M. Cohan Ambassador Award.

Presented annually, RIIFF’s George M. Cohan Ambassador Award recognizes an outstanding artist whose work, passion, and drive epitomizes a level of excellence that reflects creatively on their Rhode Island roots or work. Named after famed Providence entertainer George M. Cohan, this award honors truly unique Americans who have made a timeless contribution to the arts and who have inspired future generations of Rhode Islanders.

According to RIIFF’s Advisory Board President, Michael Drywa, Esq. “In the case of President Carriuolo, the award recognizes her work as an arts activist and supporter. Her visionary work has fostered an environment where Rhode Island College has become a nationally recognized incubator for the arts and a nurturing environment for young talent.”

Acting Executive Editor of the Providence Journal, Karen Bordeleau will present the award

12:15 - 1:00 PM - Keynote Address

Amy Redford.

Amy made her directorial debut with The Guitar, starring Saffron Burrows. Amy has recently directed an episode of Law & Order: SVU. She also recently completed a short film called DeLiVeRy with Ethan Suplee and Lukas Haas. Upcoming projects include the features : Phoenix, The House that Jack Built, Cowboys and Indians, El Americano, Claude and the Birthday Cake (which she is co-writing with Jude Falaise), Eating the Cheshire Cat, and the television series DICK. She is also co-creating the web-series The Royal Hotel with Deirdre Lewis and Amanda Green, featuring various artists experimenting outside of their established genres and media.

As an actress, Amy recently appeared in Sunshine Cleaning with Amy Adams; First Person Singular, directed by Sam Neave; and The Understudy, directed by Hanna Davis and David Conolly. Her other films include: This Revolution with Rosario Dawson, directed by Stephen Marshall; Cry Funny Happy, directed by Sam Neave; Last Man Running, directed by Damon Santostefano; Maid In Manhattan directed by Wayne Wang; Strike the Tent (a period civil war piece); The Music Inside (based on a true story of a halfway house for mentally ill patients in Montana); When I Find the Ocean with Diane Ladd; and Giving it Up with Mark Feurstein. Amy's theatre experience includes: Daisy Foote's play Bhutan, directed by Evan Yanoulis (Cherry Lane Studio and Mainstage, New York Stage and Film); The Golden Ladder; The Messenger; Touch My Face; Stuck; Who Will Carry the Word; Hello and Goodbye; and The Shape of Things. Regional work Includes: The Shape of Things (Canadian Premier at Cand Stage), Collected Stories, and Hello and Goodbye.

Ms. Redford also co-created Switch Track with Yael Farber and Darrill Rosen, developed at Mabou Mines and then the Sundance Playwrights Lab. She appeared in Rebecca Gilman's The Crowd You're in With and Karen Zacharias' The Book Club Play at the O’Neill Theatre Center. She directed Flo's Ho's with Teri Lamm, inspired by Julia Jordan's play of the same title for Epic Theatre Center. She also directed Watersports at Ensemble Studio Theater.

Amy has worked at New York Stage and Film, Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, the Sundance Filmmaker and Theatre Labs, the Dorset Theatre, and the Tectonic Theatre Company. TV credits include: Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Dellaventura and Wonderland. Amy is a member of the Board of the Grand Canyon Trust, protecting the Colorado plateau. She was also on the advisory board of the IMPACT Arts festival. Ms. Redford did her postgraduate work at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, studied at American Conservatory Theater, The Actors Center, Circle Rep, University of Colorado, Boulder and earned her BA from San Francisco State University.

2012 RI Film Forum August 9th

You can participate in either the one or two day program.

Cost: $10 per day

Apply to the RI Film Forum 2013

2013 Application Form, coming

• Download the Event Program

Please print out the application form and fax directly to our office at 401.490.6735

Questions? Call 401-861-4445 and speak with Kathleen Gallagher

or email kgalla@film-festival.org

Who's Who at the Rhode Island Film Forum:

• Dr. Kevin Esch, Director of Special Programs and Policy

Dr. Kevin Esch has taught film studies at Tulane University and Hofstra University, and currently teaches at Roger Williams University and the University of Rhode Island. His articles and reviews have been published in Jump Cut, Film Quarterly, Journal of Film and Video, Film Criticism, and a recently published collection on screen acting from Routledge. He is at work on his first book, to be titled In the Moment: Mythologies of Performance in the Contemporary Hollywood Industry. In a previous life, he was a film reviewer for WORT-FM in Madison, Wisconsin.

• Kathleen Gallagher, Program Associate, George Washington University

OUR 2012 SPONSORS: