The Film Commission of Greater Kansas City has created The Robert Altman Emerging Filmmakers Fund, which is a sustainable fund designed to help filmmakers get their short film productions off the ground. This new fund will leverage individual, institutional, charitable and corporate support to reach critical mass. All donations go the the Commission.

We hope you’ll consider either donating to the fund or joining the cause on Facebook and telling your friends about it. Donations can be made anonymously through Facebook with any major credit card or Paypal account.

Here are some reasons why we think this fund is important:

1. As cities like Austin, Philadelphia and Baltimore have shown, filmmaking is an economically viable driver for local economies outside of LA and NYC.
2. Filmmakers develop and hone their style and creative voice by making short films.
3. If you give filmmakers money to make their short films, they are more likely to develop into feature filmmakers.
4. The more we help filmmakers develop into feature filmmakers, the more likely they are to make feature films here that benefit our local economy.
5. The Kansas City area has developed sustainable ways to support visual and performing arts, but is lacking a mechanism to help filmmakers.

Thanks in advance for all your support and if you have any questions you can email the Fund Director/Founder, Justin Gardner, at marketing@kcfilm.com.

Join CinemaKC for a special evening when they join forces with Tallgrass Film Association to present a short film program of some of their favorite short films from past Tallgrass Film Festivals, including some of their top selections from Kansas filmmakers.

The screening will take place 7:30 p.m., Saturday, June 25 at the Screenland Crown Center, 2450 Grand Blvd., 3rd Fl., Kansas City, MO. Admission is $8 general admission/$6 students. Several filmmakers and Tallgrass Film Festival staff will attend for a Q&A immediately following the show. The evening is co-sponsored by the Kansas Film Commission.

Selections include:

• Kavi (2009/USA, KS) Director Gregg Helvey *nominated for 2010 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short
• Candy (2010/USA, KS) Director Misti Boland *winner of Spotlight on Kansas Filmmakers Audience Award
• Official Selection (2009/USA, KS) Director Vince Masciale
• Dried Up (2010/USA, KS) Directors I, Powers, J. Casper
• Electric Revolution (2008/USA, KS) Director M. Moormann, *winner of Tallgrass Audience Award, Short Film
• The Job (2007, USA) Director Jonathan Browning
• Photograph of Jesus (2010/UK) Director Laurie Hill
• Spider (2007/Australia) Director Nash Edgerton
• Learn Self Defense (2005/USA, KS) Director Chris Harding, *winner of Tallgrass Audience Award, Short Film
• Elijah Returns (2007/USA/KS) Director Tyler Emerson

For more information visit CinemaKC’s event page on Facebook.

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 held 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.

“Anyone who’s been to the movies, or even steps outside for the matter, can attest to the fact that marketing is an essential element of the movie business,” said Lela Meadow-Conner, Executive Director of the Tallgrass Film Association. “We’re excited that Erin is coming to Wichita to share some of this insider knowledge with our moviemaking community — information that is invaluable for filmmakers.”

The class will consist of two parts. First, Wyatt will provide an overview of movie marketing, topics to include working with studios and filmmakers, impact of the internet age and the differences between marketing major studio and independent pictures. During the second half of the class, Wyatt will dissect several movie trailers, providing insight into structure, length, music, copy, graphics and voice over techniques as well as discuss current industry trends.

Advanced RSVP is required. The enrollment fee is $20 General Admission/$15 for students and teachers/seniors/TFA Members for those who register/RSVP before July 1. After July 1, enrollment fee is $25 General Admission/$20 for students and teachers/seniors/TFA Members. Registrants may prepay by using the form below, or clicking here, or may pay with cash or check at the door.

About Erin Wyatt:

A Colorado Springs native, and CU Boulder graduate, Erin moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dreams of acting…or so he thought. In 2001, he landed a gig at Seismic Productions as an assistant/messenger, with no interest in movie trailers or marketing. During his free time, Erin taught himself how to do motion graphics and was soon working on graphics jobs at the company. On the weekends, he experimented with editing, taking Final Cut Pro classes and playing around on his first generation iMac (while all of the other editors were still using Avid.) One day, the owner of the company noticed a spot Erin had cut for the Mark Wahlberg film ROCK STAR and said, “Wow, that’s really good!” The spot was delivered to the client at Warner Brothers who said, “I want everything on this campaign to like THAT.” And so, an editor was born.

Before long Erin became the main editor at Seismic, garnering Key Art and Golden trailer nominations for films like Roman Polanski’s THE PIANIST. He soon carved out a niche for himself as a go-to editor for films of all genres, from romantic comedy, to drama to independent. Some of his work includes 27 DRESSES, BRIDE WARS, SEX & THE CITY, BLADES OF GLORY, INCEPTION, GREEN LANTERN, SUNSHINE CLEANING, LOST IN TRANSLATION, HAIRSPRAY, PRECIOUS, SAW, and THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT.
He has received 22 award nominations and 4 wins at the Key Art and Golden Trailer Awards for work like the BROTHERS trailer, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN trailer, BLADES OF GLORY trailer, TRANSAMERICA trailer, and PRECIOUS.

In 2010, after seven years as Senior Editor, Erin became a co-partner/owner of Seismic Productions, where he continues to be in demand as an editor, but has added producing and managing a staff of thirty employees to his resume.

Next Saturday, CinemaKC presents the 11th Annual One Night Stand by the Independent Filmmakers Coalition of Kansas City (IFCKC) on June 18 at theScreenland Armour Theater on 408 Armour Rd. in North Kansas City. The program includes a mixer at 6:30pm followed by the screenings and a Q&A with filmmakers starting at 7:30pm.

The One Night Stand filmmaking challenge is simple.  Starting at 9:30 am on Saturday, June 18th, teams will have just ten hours to conceive, shoot and produce a short film, to be screened at 7:30pm that same evening. All of the teams are given a theme, a required line of dialogue, and a prop to use in the film. No production can be done prior to the event.

“It’s similar to most of the forty-eight hour competitions,” says IFC president Brian Boye, “except we did it first. The One Night Stand was one of the first timed competitions in the country. This will be our eleventh year, and it keeps getting better.”

Teams will have just 10 hours to write scripts, rehearse, shoot, and edit the short films. The final length of each story will be determined by the number of teams that enter the competition. The entry fee for teams is $30, and there is no limit to the number of teams or team members.

The One Night Stand has been one of the more successful fund-raising events for the IFCKC a 501(c)3 organization that works to help local independent filmmakers gain experience and learn more about the filmmaking process. Professionals, semi-pros, and hobbyists all participate in the organization’s events, and some have gone on to be successful professionals in the film industry. Admission will be $10 for IFCKC members, $15 for non-members.

Download the One Night Stand entry form by clicking that link.

For more information, follow CinemaKC onFacebook.com/CinemaKC”

Click the link below to launch the official PDF flyerl ..

A&E Networks Kansas Open Audition Flyer

Monday, May 16, 2011
Screenland Crown Center
2450 Grand Blvd., 3rd Floor
Kansas City, MO 64108

1:30 p.m. Doors Open
2:00 p.m. Screening
Q & A with Abigail to follow

You are invited to this special screening of Abigail Disney’s documentary, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, with a special sneak peek of her new documentary to air this fall, Women, War & Peace.

About Abigail Disney

Abigail Disney is a filmmaker, philanthropist, and scholar. Her longtime passion for women’s issues and peace building culminated in her first film, the powerful feature documentary, Pray the Devil Back to Hell (Fork Films, 2008). The film is about the women of Liberia who brought peace to their broken nation after decades of destructive civil war. Abigail is now producing the mini-series Women, War & Peace for PBS about the unreported role of women in peace processes around the world.

RSVP to 913-831-0711 ext. 27 by Friday May 13, 2011

The travelling art road show, America: Now and Here, presents Kansas City Moving Images: Local Film Series, sponsored by the Film Commission of Greater Kansas City and CinemaKC.

There will be three events:
Tonight, May 12, from 7-8:30PM,
Wednesday, May 18, from 7-8:30PM &
Friday, May 27, from 7-8:30PM.

The program was curated by Benjamin Meade, who is a Professor of Film and Digital Media at Avila University. Films included in this program are from local filmmakers Nicole Esquibel, Bill Gladden, Christopher Good, Caitlan Horsman, Don Maxwell, Chuque McDonlad, Benjamin Meade, MK12, Todd Norris, Terence O’Malley, Billy Pryor, Mike B. Rollen and Richard Welnowski.

The event will be free and will be held at the Leedy-Voulkos gallery at 2012 Baltimore Avenue in Kansas City, MO.

Please consider attending and seeing some wonderful local filmmaking!

Join us and CinemaKC at the Leedy-Voulkos gallery at 2012 Baltimore Avenue on Wednesday, May 11th from 7:00 – 8:30 pm as we present the Tribeca Film Festival Screening: A Better Life.

It’s a serious of short films curated by Tribeca’s very own Jane Rosenthal & Sharon Badal and features films by Grant Barbeito, Kyle Bell, Manolo Celi, Rob Connolly, Mary Ann Kellogg, Lee Miller, Kim Spurlock and John Tamaki Dion.

It’s all part of the groundbreaking traveling arts festival America: Now And Here, which kicked off last weekend at First Fridays. For a full calendar of events, click here.

This Saturday, May 7, from 8 to 11PM we’re bringing you some fantastic films for the America: Now and Here art celebration that runs throughout the month of May. It’s all happening at the Leedy-Voulkos Gallery at 2012 Baltimore Avenue in the Crossroads Arts District.

So if you’re not watching CinemaKC’s new television show at 9:30PM on KSMO-TV, you should definitely check this event out. It’ll be a great time.

Come join Robert Altman’s wife Kathryn Altman, Altman’s son and cameraman Robert Reed Altman, songwriter Michael Altman and actor Michael Murphy as they talk about the Kansas City native who inspired an entire generation of filmmakers. A moderated Q&A will immediately follow the film.

You can buy tickets here: http://kcjubilee.org/shop/mash-altman-fund-benefit/

A portion of the proceeds from the screening will be donated to The Robert Altman Emerging Filmmakers Fund, a new program designed by the Film Commission of Greater Kansas City to help local filmmakers realize their visions more fully.

For more information on the Fund, please visit our Causes page on Facebook: http://www.causes.com/causes/591515