Scene & Heard

June is a month for events! Present, twist, animate! Check it out below, and make sure you get involved – it’s gonna be good.
2013 Pell Awards
Trinity Repertory Company announced recently that screen and television actor John Krasinski will be honored with the 2013 Pell Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts. Krasinski is a Massachusetts native, known for his work on NBC’s hit comedy “The Office,” and the recent film Promised Land with Matt Damon. Krasinski will be honored alongside recently announced Honorees Kate Burton (Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts), Tony Estrella (Rhode Island Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts), Joseph A. Chazan, M.D. (Pell Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Arts), and Martha Douglas-Osmundson (Charles Sullivan Award for Distinguished Service in the Arts).
The 17th annual Pell Awards will be held on Monday, June 10, 2013, at 7 pm at Trinity Repertory Company with a cocktail reception to follow next door from 8 – 10 pm at the Grand Hall in the Providence Public Library. Before the ceremony, a VIP reception will be held at 6 pm in the Ship Room, Providence Public Library, 225 Washington Street, Providence. Tickets for the full event, including the VIP reception cost $500. Tickets for the ceremony and post-show reception cost $250. Keep in mind that ticket availability is limited. Corporate sponsorships are also available. For more information, visit trinityrep.com or call 401- 453-9237.
Twistflix
Twistflix? Does it bear any resemblance to that other company with the “flix” in it? Why yes! Read on and find out why it’s gonna be good for all you indie film makers out there (and actors, directors, writers and anyone else in the film biz).
Boston native Joel Greenberg graduated from Emerson College and currently resides in the Los Angeles, CA, area. During his career, he has directed two feature films and produced four. His films touch upon many genres from drama to thriller to comedy and horror. But, it’s his latest venture put a halt to his filmmaking career so he could help other filmmakers all over the world.
Greenberg is the founder and creator of Twistflix. After being offered several so-called “deals” from Hollywood-based companies to distribute his own works, Greenberg soon realized that the offers Hollywood had to present him were – in his words – “disgusting … bogus … all for them, nothing for me. Nobody cared that I had name talent in my film. Nobody cared that I shot my film on the red camera. No one cared about anything that filmmakers always think will help them land their big deal. Bottom line is that I made all these movies, and I have no way to show anyone what I’ve made, unless I print a large number of DVDs and sell them myself, which really is a huge risk and most likely, financially, a losing battle,” Greenberg said. Thus, Twistflix was born.
Greenberg moved to Los Angeles in search of the right people who could help him make his vision come alive. Having the bandwidth to be able to do this was just one obstacle he had to overcome, but after about nine months in LA and a ton of meetings, he found his team to help create his vision to make Twistflix a home for independent films, where anyone could see the trailers and subscribers to the network could watch all the available features and shorts. Greenberg said he believes that all quality films are someone’s baby, and as long as they don’t look like or sound like they were made by a second grader with a camcorder, they all deserve a home.
And that is the mission of Twistflix – to be THE home for indie films.
The site is fully functional, but Greenberg says it’s only in its infancy, and new content is constantly being added. Filmmakers can submit their work directly to the site through the link on the bottom of the homepage (www.twistflix.com). The site offers a unique compensation plan where the film content contributors own a piece of the site’s revenue and are paid by subscriptions. The more subscribers the site gets, the more each filmmaker makes.
Greenberg recently was contacted by some music writers and producers who are behind many of the pop songs you hear on the radio. They ended up writing “The Twistflix Song,” which was recorded by an up-and-coming singer they are currently developing, and it is due to be released this summer. That in itself, Greenberg says, will be a huge marketing push for the company. He also created a coded coupon system that will allow anyone the opportunity to make some extra money. “Anyone can do this,” he said. “A restaurant owner, a police officer, a teacher… anyone who comes into contact with people will be great for this!”
With the coded coupons, you simply hand them out and tell people about the great indie films Twistflix offers. When someone goes to the site, enters your coupon code into the computer, and subscribes to Twistflix, you get paid a commission. The customer has the incentive to enter your code because when they do so, they get free subscription months. And the codes are tracked so that Twistflix knows exactly who to credit for the sale and pay.
Greenberg will be in Boston on June 13 for a Twistflix Dinner Presentation night. For more info, e-mail Greenburg at info@twistflix.com or check out the event on Facebook at facebook.com/events/135542643303372.
I am Woman – Hear Me Roar! And, Hear Me Create! Animate!
The 2013 edition of Womanimation!, now in its fifth year, comes to the Cable Car Cinema and Café in Providence on Sunday, June 22.
Toni Pennacchia, Creative Director of MergingArts Productions, explains the festival concept. “As the name implies, the festival is a celebration of women in animation, presenting acclaimed animated short film stories created by women from around the world.”
With a vivid mix of styles and techniques – from oil on painting to ink on paper to stop motion – the festival presents whimsical tales of coming of age, kinship, love and loss, nostalgia and journeys into the unknown. It’s a spirited blend of narrative and emotion, both with and without dialogue.
Pennacchia elaborates, “We want to both entertain and challenge the audience, regardless of what films we’re showing. Animation is naturally sort of an experimental style, but these women are really engaging storytellers offering a unique perspective. On the other hand, it’s not agenda-driven. The films are more personal than political.”
The diverse stories in the program include:
Isabel Herguera’s Bajo La Almohada, from Spain, a bittersweet animated documentary made with voices and drawings from a group of children who live in a clinic in India showing the treasures and dreams the children keep hidden under their pillows.
Bao, from Sandra Desmazières, a French animated short about a boy and his sister who take the train every day and always have a fabulous adventure. But today will be their final journey together.
The Other Side, by Jing Li, a surreal Chinese anime-style tale about unawareness of one’s own identity transitioning to the awakening of a stronger ego.
The German animated short, Keller Kind, from Julia Ocker, a Bergmanesque tale where after a woman gives birth to a child, she hides him in the basement.
In Vino Veritas, by Czech animator Aneta Zabkova, a wry look at a woman preparing for a reunion with her girlfriends after 25 years, when everything seeming to go wrong.
Screenings take place throughout the day on Saturday, June 22, along with DJ Madame B spinning tunes from women around the world in a pre-show set prior to the screenings. Screening times are at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 pm, and festival organizers will be in attendance to introduce the program. Due to some mature content and themes of the films, the program is recommended for ages 14 and up.
MergingArts Productions is an organization dedicated to cultural programming encompassing film, music and media, reaching out to communities both locally and globally. For more information, contact Toni Pennacchia, Creative Director of MergingArts Productions, mergingarts@gmail.com, 401-359-2576.
As always, stay tuned for more film news and Motif’s film review show called “Take Two” starring Nick Iandolo and me. I get to pick the next one, folks, so look out Nick – this won’t be a sci-fi flick! That’s all for now, folks. Film is rolling.