Slamdance by Filmmakers for Filmmakers

At the opening night party, I joined the large crowd of Slamdance filmmakers gathered in the corner of the room.  Instantly, I felt like I was in a pre-game huddle as one by one, each of us went around the room and introduced ourselves.  

What followed was a week of inspiring films, exciting talkbacks, deep conversations, and the feeling that I was part of a family of filmmakers.

Through out the week, I was exposed to many different styles of cinema as well as modes of process. My favorite revelations from the festival are:

Embrace your limitations, those limits will guide you to deeper creativity. 

Start your filmmaking process with a question. 

Independent films are made by families.

Cinematographer, Kimberly Culotta and I loving the fresh air of Park City

My sister, Elizabeth and I enjoying our daily free veggie burger

PEARL WAS HERE PRESS FROM OUR SLAMDANCE PREMIERE

"Pearl Was Here is a tonal adventure. For much of the film, Pearl’s actions and eventual plight are cute and humorous; at a certain point, however, a darker cloud starts to set in and there’s an ominous tension that develops, finally climaxing in a fashion that is as shocking to the characters in the film as it was to me watching. And it works, sticking with you long after the film has ended."
FILM THREAT

"A very sweet, and then frightfully brutal take on child/parent relations."
TWITCH FILM

"Miana Abramson's performance is nothing short of amazing. Abramson is so perfectly cast in this part — there is absolutely no denying that she must have at least a little bit of Pearl inside her. No child actor can be that good, can they?" 
SMELLS LIKE SCREEN SPIRIT

"The acting from Abramson is truly stellar...The straightforward approach, with great attention to every little detail, from director Kate Marks will also strike a chord for any parent who has experienced the struggles of raising a child, and how every parent handles certain situations differently."
SLUG MAGAZINE

The cinematographer, Kimberly Culotta from PEARL WAS HERE talks about our screening and the audience reaction with TWITCH
"The most satisfying moment for me this week was in our screening... 'cause there's a moment in the film when the tone shifts, and everyone was laughing and then... the mother slaps the daughter... and it was gasps... the whole audience... and then silence. I literally started crying in that moment. Just to be that present with the film, to be with that crowd... "

We were spotlighted in USA TODAY

You can listen to my red carpet interview at Slamdance on AudioBoo

The packed screening of Pearl Was Here and He's Way More Famous Than You

It was exciting to talk about the film in the Q&A