Alternative indie festival nurtures filmmakers

Letters of rejection are never easy to take. In 1995, however,
three independent filmmakers never received their Sundance
rejection letters. Unsure about their status in the prestigious
film festival, they booked hotels in Park City, Utah, and when they
were finally notified of their rejection, they decided to create
their own film festival and to “slam” Sundance.

And so Slamdance was born.

Since its inception 11 years ago, when filmmakers Jon
Fitzgerald, Dan Mirvish and Shane Kuhn worked the projection booth
and handed out fliers, the festival has grown bigger and bigger and
has received more submissions with each passing year. It has
garnered growing media attention as well by being the first
festival to showcase the work of Mark Forster (“Finding
Neverland,” “Monster’s Ball”) and
Christopher Nolan (“Memento”). In addition, the 2003
short film “Peluca” was so successful at Slamdance that
it was picked up by a distributor and turned into the
feature-length “Napoleon Dynamite.”

However, the festival continues its commitment to showcasing
low-budget films from first-time directors. Recent graduate of
UCLA’s directing program, Erika Tasini, is case in point. Her
film, “Winter Sea,” which was her senior thesis project
at UCLA, is having its world premiere at Slamdance this month.

“Once you finish a film, you submit it to as many
festivals as possible,” Tasini said. “You never know
who is going to like it.”

“Winter Sea,” which explores family relationships
and a woman’s struggle for independence, has won awards at
festivals ranging from Azerbajan to Daytona Beach.

Tasini notes that what makes Slamdance stand apart from other
film festivals is that the judges are filmmakers themselves. People
whose films are accepted into the festival may go on to be involved
in the selection process for the following years. Hence the
festival’s tagline: “By fimmakers, for
filmmakers.”

“I found out that a filmmaker who won the audience award
at Slamdance last year was on the jury this year and really fought
for my film,” Tasini said.

Even the Slamdance award, a dog statuette named Sparky, is in
keeping with the festival’s ultra-indie atmosphere. Along
with the Grand Jury and Audience Sparky awards for narratives,
documentaries and shorts, Slamdance also sponsors a teleplay
competition in which the winner gets a script deal with 21st
Century Fox.

A recent trend in the world of filmmaking has been the emergence
of more and more festivals. While Slamdance has established itself
as a relevant festival, it is one of many held all over the world
annually.

Tasini notes that there is a relationship between the increasing
number of festivals and the increasing number of films being
made.

“Digital technology has made filmmaking more available and
has caused the market for filmmakers to be a lot more open,”
she said. “But the problem remains for those who wish to be
professional because the transition from festival circuit to a
distribution deal is a lot more difficult”.

As a low-budget, collaborative effort, “Winter Sea”
exemplifies a Slamdance film. In her first year of film school,
Tasini had a class that divided into three groups of seven, with
each person making a film with the help of the group. Members of
the group then rotate positions in each film.

“While the group is only bound to crew for each other
during the first year, it’s definitely possible to
collaborate with your classmates, depending on how you establish
your relationships,” Tasini said. “Luckily, I had a
good selection of people to crew for me at UCLA.”

Still, Tasini is most grateful for UCLA because its proved a
safe environment in which she could take risks.

“I needed to learn commercial filmmaking, but my goal was
always to find my voice as a filmmaker,” Tasini said.