Navigating the Festival Circuit

The explosion of independent film in the last two decades has paralled a similar explosion in film festivals the world over. Now it seems like every decent-sized city in the country (or the world) has its own film festival, eager for your entry fees. Navigating the field can be a confusing, expensive and nerve-wracking experience if you don't know what to expect (or not expect). Join three Austin filmmakers who have just finished up their phenomenal festival runs - Laura Dunn (THE UNFORESEEN), Chris Eska (AUGUST EVENING) and Jeff Nichols (SHOTGUN STORIES) - for a discussion of the ups and downs, ins and outs and pros and cons of today's film festival circuit.

About the panelists:

Laura Dunn's previous documentaries include THE SUBTEXT OF A YALE EDUCATION (1999), a chronicle of labor strikes on the Yale campus, and GREEN (2000), a sobering look at environmental racism along the Mississippi River petrochemical corridor, a.k.a. "Cancer Alley". Laura won the 2008 Film Independent Truer than Fiction Award for her first feature, THE UNFORESEEN (2007), which is currently finishing its domestic theatrical run. It was executive produced by Terrence Malick and Robert Redford, premiered at Sundance, toured festivals internationally, and will have its television premiere this August on the Sundance Channel.

Chris Eska studied sociology and art at Rice University before attending UCLA's MFA film directing program. His short films have screened on PBS, at the Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker's Competition, the Texas Filmmaker's Showcase, and at film festivals worldwide. DOKI-DOKI, his UCLA master's thesis film, premiered on the national PBS series Independent Lens. AUGUST EVENING is his first feature and was nominated for two 2008 Independent Spirit Awards, where it took home the Cassavetes Award for Best Feature (made for under $500,000).

Jeff Nichols is a writer and director born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. His feature film debut, SHOTGUN STORIES, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2007 and was released theatrically in the U.S. in March of 2008. It was nominated for a 2008 Independent Spirit Award, won the Grand Jury Prize for New American Cinema at the Seattle International Film Festival, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Austin Film Festival, and won the Fipresci International Jury Prize at the 2007 Viennale. Nichols was recently hired by Killer Films to adapt and direct the national bestselling memoir, GOAT, by Brad Land.