Welcome to the 2021 FilmNorth Forum, where we’ll address the latest indie film topics and trends, and celebrate successes through exciting in-person and virtual events presented this month you won’t want to miss! Highlights include a screening of Being BeBe (includes post-screening Extravaganza), the Tribeca Film Festival hit about renowned drag performer BeBe Zahara Benet (Q&A follows); a panel with groundbreaking Indigenous media artists and how they embrace new art forms and visual language through new technology; a film distribution workshop copresented with Film Fatales and Distribution Advocates; Leadership Through Art, a virtual discussion with four Bush Fellows on the transformational power of media arts; and a conversation with trailblazing indie producer Christine Vachon (coming early 2022).
FORUM PRESENTING SPONSORS
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
A CONVERSATION WITH PRODUCER CHRISTINE VACHON – In-Person Event FREE
Thursday, February 17, 2022, 6:30pm
Location: University of St. Thomas O’Shaugnessy Education Center Auditorium
Parking: Free at the Tommie East garage, 75 Cleveland Ave N, Saint Paul (next-door to the O’Shaughnessy Education Center)
RSVP closed. Walkups accepted with proof of full Covid vaccination and mask.
Parking: click here for the event page with free parking info.
NOTE: To ensure COVID safety, proof of full vaccination (booster also strongly encouraged) and masks are required.
Join us for a not-to-be-missed conversation between independent producing icon Christine Vachon and producer Rebecca Green, the founder of the influential website dearproducer.com.
Christine Vachon is an Independent Spirit Award and Gotham Award winner who co-founded indie powerhouse Killer Films with partner Pamela Koffler in 1995. Over the past two decades they have produced over 100 films, including some of the most celebrated American indie features: Carol (nominated for six Academy Awards), Far from Heaven (nominated for four Academy Awards), Still Alice (Academy Award winner), Boys Don’t Cry (Academy Award winner), One Hour Photo, KIDS, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Happiness, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, I Shot Andy Warhol, and I’m Not There (Academy Award nominee). In 2021 alone Christine has produced Todd Haynes’ new documentary, The Velvet Underground, the Emmy-winning Netflix series Halston, and the Gotham Award nominated FX series Pride.
Rebecca Green produced two of the top-grossing and critically acclaimed independent films of 2015, It Follows and I’ll See You in My Dreams, which generated a combined domestic box office total of $22 million. Named one of Variety’s “10 Producers to Watch” and nominated for the Piaget Producer’s Award at the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards, Rebecca was also a 2017 Women at Sundance Fellow, Creative Advisor for the 2017 and 2018 Film Independent Producing Lab, and the Fall 2016 Allesee Endowed Chair in Media Professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. In 2017 Rebecca established Dear Producer, a platform where producers share their experiences, celebrate achievements, and provide mentorship for the next generation. Rebecca holds a B.F.A. from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
O’Shaughnessy Education Center and Tommie East parking garage at the University of St. Thomas
75 Cleveland Avenue North, St. Paul, MN 55104 (click on image to enlarge)
Sponsored by:
BEING BEBE Screening [SOLD-OUT]
Saturday, November 13, 2021, 7pm, Walker Art Center
Extravaganza – $10
Purchase Extravaganza tickets here. Note: advance tickets required; there will be no ticket sales at the door.
INDIGENOUS IMMERSIVE MEDIA PANEL – Pre-Recorded, Online Event FREE
This panel of Indigenous led artists and producers will explore and discuss their practices of 360 video, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) video projectionism, music production, and performance. How are artists across Minnesota including tribal communities and recreating new art forms and visual language through these newer technologies along with the immersion of indigenous, traditional culture, language, practices and ancestral knowledge? Moderated by Walker Art Center Moving Image Curator Pablo de Ocampo.
Panelists: Rosy Simas (Haudenosaunee, enrolled Seneca, Heron Clan)
Missy Whiteman (Northern Arapaho and Kickapoo)
Michael Wilson/Tiree & Hutch (Anishinabe)
Monday, November 15, 2021, 12 noon (available to view through December 15)
Sponsored by:
LET’S MAKE A DEAL: UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS OF DISTRIBUTION – Live Online Event FREE
Join FilmNorth, Film Fatales, and Distribution Advocates for a teach-in about negotiating distribution with Avril Z. Speaks (Producer, Jinn), Amy Hobby (Producer, What Happened, Miss Simone?), and Andrew Neel (Director of Acquisitions, Radiant Films International).
Terms. Territories and Media Types. In this session, a producer and a distributor will break down these specific components of a distribution deal. Hearing from both sides of the negotiation table, this session will help documentary filmmakers understand how to protect the interests of their film and avoid some of the common mistakes made by creators. Whether navigating educational or other distribution platforms, panelists will share how filmmakers can get the most out of their deal by knowing the basics.
Friday, November 19, 2021, 4pm CST
Registration required, click here.
Sponsored by:
LEADERSHIP THROUGH ART – Pre-Recorded,Online Event FREE
Join acclaimed media artists and Bush Fellows Naomi Ko, E.G. Bailey, and Rhiana Yazzie in a conversation with D.A. Bullock for a discussion about the transformational power of media arts within their communities. Bush Fellowships are among the largest leadership grants available to artists, providing recipients with an extraordinary opportunity to strengthen and develop their leadership skills so they can make a difference in their communities.
