IFP Announces the 35th Edition of Independent Film Week

by Website Update on July 25, 2013

September 15-19, 2013

July 25, 2013 (New York, NY) –Today, IFP announced its 2013 slate of 163 new films in development selected for its esteemed Project Forum at Independent Film Week.

Just prior to the forthcoming opening of the Made in New York Media Center by IFP, Independent Film Week takes place September 15-19, 2013 at Lincoln Center. This one-of-a-kind event brings the international film and media community to New York City to advance new projects and support the future of storytelling by nurturing the work of both emerging and established independent artists and filmmakers. Through the Project Forum, creatives connect with the financiers, executives, influencers and decision-makers in film, television, new media and cross-platform storytelling that can help them complete their latest works and connect with audiences.

“For 35 years, IFP has promoted and served the independent film community and we’re thrilled to be able to continue to do so with an outstanding slate of both U.S. and international projects for this year’s Independent Film Week,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP. “This year, we’re heavily focusing on innovative filmmakers and creators who are pushing the boundaries of our medium and making storytelling more accessible than ever.”

Featured works at the 2013 Independent Film Week include filmmakers and content creators from a variety of backgrounds and experience. From Academy Award® winners Louie Psihoyos (The Cove) and Cynthia Wade (Freeheld) to web-series innovators such as Mesh Flinders (Lonelygirl 5) and Thom Woodley (The Burg), Independent Film Week is exploring bold new content from a wide variety of domestic and international artistic innovators.

Project Forum at Independent Film Week

IFP’s Project Forum has had a prolific history in the independent community supporting independent filmmakers at critical stages in their development processes. Formerly Independent Feature Film Market (IFFM), the program championed the early work of pioneering independent filmmakers Charles Burnett, Todd Haynes, Mira Nair, Michael Moore, Joel and Ethan Coen, Kevin Smith, and Todd Solondz. In recent years, it has also played a vital role in launching the first films of many of today’s rising stars on the independent scene including Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine), Debra Granik (Down to the Bone), Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know), Dee Rees (Pariah), and Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild ),

Under the curatorial leadership of Deputy Director/Head of Programming Amy Dotson & Senior Director of Programming Milton Tabbot, 163 U.S. and International projects have been selected for the 2013 Project Forum, evenly split between documentary and narrative features. Doc and feature projects hail from throughout the U.S., Europe and Canada, as well Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, South America, and the Middle East.

For a full list of the 2013 selected projects, click here.

Narrative Features

Narrative features in RBC’s Emerging Storytellers and No Borders International Co-Production Market sections highlight new work from top emerging and established creative visionaries on the U.S. and international independent scene.

These slates include new feature scripts from directors Carlen Altman (star/co-writer of The Color Wheel), Rama Burshtein (Fill The Void), Zach Clark (White Reindeer), Matthew Porterfield, (I Used to be Darker), Pia Marias (Layla Fourie), Martha Stephens (Pilgrims Song), Sophia Takal (Green), The Zellner Brothers (Kid Thing), and Caveh Zahedi (I Am A Sex Addict). Internationally acclaimed short filmmakers Johannes Nyholm (Las Palmas), Ian Harnarine’s (Doubles With Slight Pepper), Christopher Radcliffe & Lauren Wolkstein (The Strange One), Andrew Renzi (Karaoke!), and Lucas Leyva and Jillian Mayer’s (#PostModem) are also are presenting new feature works.

This year’s slate also features several web series innovators who have found success in the digital realm and are now embarking on their first narrative features. Participating filmmakers include series creators Mesh Flinders (Lonelygirl15), Alex Jablonski (Sparrow Songs), Angela Tucker (Black Folks Don’t), and Thom Woodley (The Burg). And for the first time this year, an original web series, Awesome Asian Bad Guys, will participate, created by the National Film Society’s Patrick Epino and Stephen Dypiangco.

A number of top documentarians are also crossing over into the narrative world including Jennifer Fox (My Reincarnation), Andrew Rossi & Kate Novack (Page One: Inside the New York Times), Jeremiah Zagar (In a Dream), and Pete Ohs & Andrea Sisson (I Send You This Place).

Producers and Executive Producers of note attached to participating projects include Neda Armian (Rachel Getting Married), Josh Braun (A History of Violence), Soojin Chung (Escape From Tomorrow), Chip Hourihan (Frozen River), Garurav Dhingra (Peddlers), Johnathan Duffy (Pit Stop), Julian Farve (Arcadia), Morten Kjems Juhl (Teddy Bear), Sophia Lin (Take Shelter), Julie Lynn (Albert Nobbs), Brendan McFadden (Cold Weather), Christina Piovesan (Amreeka), Mike Ryan (Junebug), Ryan Silbert (Holy Rollers), Shrihari Sathe (It Felt Like Love), Kim Sherman (A Teacher), and Brock Williams (Awful Nice).

Spotlight on Documentaries

For the first time, feature documentaries in the Spotlight on Documentaries section highlight new work from international documentarians in addition to those from the U.S.

The documentary selection includes new work from acclaimed directors such as Academy Award® winners Louis Psihoyos (The Cove) and Cynthia Wade (Freeheld) and Academy Award® nominees Marshall Curry (If a Tree Falls), Carl Deal (Trouble the Water) and Rick Goldsmith (The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers); Ed Pincus and Lucia Small (The Axe in the Attic); Kristi Jacobson (A Place at the Table); Michel Negroponte (Jupiter’s Wife); Dawn Porter (Gideon’s Army); Jamie Meltzer (Informant); Kimberly Reed (Prodigal Sons); Jesse Moss (Full Battle Rattle); Mitch McCabe (Youth Knows No Pain); Jody Lee Lipes (NY Export: Opus Jazz); Lisanne Skyler (No Loans Today), Stephanie Wang-Breal (Wo Ai Ni Mommy); Pietra Bretkelly (The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins); Yael Hersonski (A Film Unfinished); Catherine Gund (Motherland Afghanistan); Judd Ehrlich (Magic Camp); Edward Hall & James Lovelace [D.A.R.Y.L.] (Werewolves across America, Katy Perry: A Part of Me); and Andy Bicklbaum & Mike Bonanno (the Yes Men films).

While veterans comprise a significant part of the roster, a third of the documentary slate is from talented documentarians making their first features after notable short films, narrative work, or from other disciplines, including Iva Radivojevic (FILMMAKER 25 Faces 2013), Moby Longinotto (Smalltown Boy), photographer/authors Cyril Christo & Marie Wilkinson (Walking Thunder: In the Footsteps of the African Elephant); and the team of photojournalist/cinematographer Jessica Dimmock (Without) and photographer Christopher LaMarca (American Photography 28).

About IFP

After debuting with a program in 1979 New York Film Festival, the nonprofit IFP has evolved into the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers, and also the premiere advocate for them. Since its start IFP has supported the production of 7,000 films and provided resources to more than 20,000 filmmakers – voices that might not otherwise have been heard. IFP fosters the development of 350 new feature and documentary films each year through its Project Forum of Independent Film Week, Independent Filmmaker Labs and projects in its fiscal sponsorship program.

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