Thursday, June 26, 2014

Magazine Article about Me

My film school Alma mater published a great article about my recent film success and my trip to Cannes:

http://today.ucf.edu/cannes-cannes-cannes/

Because She Cannes Cannes Cannes


Alumna's short film honored at world's most prestigious festival
Cinematographer Katie Damien, '01, started working in film before she was a teenager
Growing up in a family of movie buffs and watching the Oscars every year, it seemed Katie Damien, ’01, was predestined for a future in film. In fact, she made her first movie when she was 12 years old. And, she hasn’t stopped making movies since.


Born and raised in Florida, Damien chose to attend UCF because, in her opinion, it had the best film program in the state.


“Film students could direct their own work, they got to keep all the rights to their films, and Orlando is the perfect place to be for filmmaking, with all the studios nearby and the city being so production friendly,” she explains. “’The Blair Witch Project’ had just come out, and UCF’s film program was the place to be.”


Today, she’s the owner of Kd Multimedia, a writer and director, and one of five producers in Gorilla with a Mustache Films.


Damien started the film company with a team of filmmakers she joined in 2010, in order to compete in the 48 Hour Film Project. After winning the competition’s top prize for their short film, “Touched by Angels,” they decided to make more movies together.

Last year, the group competed in the National Film Challenge. But, instead of competing against other local filmmakers, they were competing with filmmakers around the world. In addition, each team was assigned a genre, a character, a prop and line of dialogue that had to be used in its film.


After a long session of brainstorming, one of Damien’s teammates told a story about a friend who rented a car and ended up with the same make and model someone else at the agency had already rented. He didn’t realize he drove off with the wrong car — until he stopped, opened the trunk and found it full of drugs. So, it got them thinking: What would you do if you suddenly found yourself accidentally in possession of a bunch of drugs? And, again, the group won for its short film, “Joint Effort.”


“I was out of my mind excited [when I learned we won],” Damien says. “I was screaming on the phone with the other members of my team. I was in an office full of people when I found out, and they all started to gather around as I was jumping up and down, screaming like a fool.”
But, the excitement didn’t stop there. The National Film Challenge win sent their film to the Short Film Corner at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.


“I knew that Cannes was the top prize, [but] I had to get on a computer real quick and look for myself to make sure it was true,” Damien continues. “When I saw the win with my own eyes, that’s when the screaming started [again].”


Not surprisingly, Damien’s biggest dream is to some day win an Oscar.

“But, in the immediate future,” she says, “I’d just like to have a big enough budget that I can do all the things I want to in a given movie, and be able to pay all my cast and crew properly.”


Q&A REEL


Q. Who was your favorite professor, and why?


A. Sterling Van Wagenen was the director of the film program when I was there. He also taught a directing class that I took. He was amazing. It wasn’t just the knowledge he imparted or the extremely helpful real-world advice he would give, but he had a soothing demeanor about him. He had a way of squeezing your shoulder that just made you feel like everything would be okay. And for a stressed-out film student, sometimes a shoulder squeeze was exactly what you needed. Mary Johnson was a fantastic screenwriting teacher! I still use her template for creating characters when I write scripts. Mark Gerstein and Lori Ingle were also amazing editing teachers. I learned so much from them. And, I can’t skip Jonathan Mednick, my documentary film teacher. He gave me the best advice my senior year. I was working on a short documentary, and he watched it as a work-in-progress and told me: “Make it about the people. Tell their story and the rest will fall into place.” He died suddenly and unexpectedly that summer. I will always carry those words with me.


Q. How has your UCF degree helped you in your career?


A. Having a film degree, while not essential in this industry, has certainly opened a lot of doors for me. I think the quality of the education I received helped boost the professionalism of my work by leaps and bounds. I was able to try new and difficult things, take risks and fail, all without losing credibility, because I was in a supportive learning environment.


Q. Describe some of your previous films.


A. I’m just now releasing my first documentary feature film, “My Toxic Backyard,” about a community that has been fighting for clean, safe drinking water for decades since it discovered its water was contaminated by an old manufacturing plant where toxic chemicals were dumped into the ground. I’ve made a few comedy films — one comedy/horror about a vampire with a toothache. I made a short drama, “Second Parent,” about how gay parents can’t jointly adopt a child. And, I made a horror film about a couple that accidentally run over a guy with their car and soon find themselves victims of an elaborate scheme.


Q. Are you currently working on any other film projects?


A. I’m currently in post-production on my first comedy feature film with the same group I made “Joint Effort.” It’s called “One Hell of an Angel,” and it’s about a demon who gets in trouble for asking too many questions in hell and is punished by being forced to work with an angel on an impossible mission to get a washed up rock star to write a song that will change everything.


Q. All-time favorite movie?


A. “Strictly Ballroom”


Q. Worst movie you’ve ever seen?


A. The first movie I ever made as a kid. It was so bad I destroyed it.


Q. Favorite movie genre?


A. Action


Q. If someone made a movie about your life, what would the title be?


A. “The Mad World of a Creative Mind”


Q. What or who inspires you?


A. In the film world, Robert Zemeckis. That man can make any kind of movie and make it well.


Q. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?


A. Beer taster. I’ve heard that’s a thing…


***Check out Katie Damien’s day-by-day journal of her experience at the Cannes Film Festival.***

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Blue Ghost Fireflies

David Ostergaard holding a blue ghost firefly for a long exposure.

Walk in the woods of the Southern Appalachian Mountains as night in early spring and you may be lucky enough to spot tiny fairies carrying blue candles, gliding over the forest floor.  That's what blue ghost fireflies look like to the naked eye.  They are very rare and can only be found in the Southern Appalachian Mountains and in Texas, just North of Mexico.  They're small and shy, but if you're in the right place at the right time and are patient, you may be lucky enough to see a few.  Even smaller than their more common firefly cousins, they glow for long periods of time, sometimes up to a minute.  I went on a hike in Dupont Forest with David Ostergaard and Tina Herring.  David was quick enough to catch one and I photographed it in his hand.  They photographed green, but to my eye their light looked light blue.

Katie



Monday, June 16, 2014

Cannes Film Festival and Romania

I just returned from a whirlwind vacation/work trip to the Cannes Film Festival where my award-winning short film "Joint Effort" screened (see the movie here: In a previous post) and then Romania where I visited Dracula's castle.  If you want to know more about Cannes check out the page I made dedicated to my experiences there: My page about Cannes and stay tuned (I just realized how antiquated that term is.  In the digital age, does anyone tune a dial anymore?) for more on Romania! 

Katie
David Ostergaard, Tina Herring, Lela Winton, Billy Goodrum, there with the award-winning short film "Joint Effort" produced by Gorilla with a Mustache Films.

a bedroom in Dracula's Caster (Bran Castle)

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Romania

Peles Castle
I loved Romania!  I traveled to Bucharest on my own and spent my entire trip as a single female traveling around Romania and not able to speak anything except the essentials (which all travelers should acquaint themselves with before traveling in any new country) and I never felt lost or afraid.

The Essentials:

Please: Varog
Thank you: Mull-Too-Mesk
Excuse me: Scuz-At-Zima
Sorry: Um-Me-Parrie-Rew
Yes: Da
No: Nu
Where is the bathroom: Un-De Este Toiletta


I had just wrapped up an action packed week at the Cannes Film Festival and wanted to experience some of Europe that I never had before.  Eastern Europe has been on my list for a while.  I worked with quite a few Eastern Europeans on ships and had heard fabulous stories about the countryside and decided that I should see some of Romania.  I mainly stayed in Bucharest and went on day trips to Transylvania, but now I wish I had made Transylvania the main place I had stayed.  The Carpathian Mountains are gorgeous and the countryside looks like something out of a medieval fairytale.  There were gypsy houses, horse drawn carts and castles.
The Black Church in the town of Brasov

I visited beautiful medieval churches and monasteries.  One of the churches had a mural on the roof of Jesus and God.  I don't know that I've ever seen God depicted like that before, it was really neat to see.

Peles (sounds like Pelish) Castle was the most ornate castle I've ever seen in my life.  The amount of detail in the various carvings and artwork was breathtaking.  My favorite castle though was Bran Castle which is called Dracula's castle, though it wasn't a residence of Vlad the Impaler, but rather the castle that Bram Stoker based his description on in the book.  Vlad Tempes also had a totally different feel in Romania.  He is seen as something of a folk hero.  He protected his people and kept them safe and today they are still grateful for it.

Bran Castle Courtyard
A bedroom in Bran Castle
Bran Castle as seen from the village below

Friday, June 13, 2014

Mt. Express Article on our trip to Cannes

Fabulous article about the trip Lela and I made to the Cannes Film Festival:


Cannes or bust: Local filmmakers report on their trip to the prestigeous film festival

Katie Damien and Lela Winton at Cannes Film Festival

Scroll down for the full week’s worth of posts.

Local filmmakers Katie Damien and Lela Winton are part of the Gorilla with a Mustache Films crew who attended the Cannes Film Festival (yes, the one in France) to screen their short comedy, Joint Effort.
The group spent a week in that glamorous locale, taking in wonderful films, eating French food, imbibing champagne and rubbing elbows with celebs. Damien and Winton sent back updates — e-postcards, if you will. See info on the film at the bottom of the page.

May 24

On this, my final day at Cannes I find myself reminiscing over the time I’ve had. It all feels like a wonderful dream that I don’t want to wake up from. I’ve had drinks on a yacht, crashed parties, met celebrities, seen amazing movies and walked the red carpet. And I’ve made so many great contacts in my time here. Today was a day of movie watching. I saw tons of short films and made it to the last feature film, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigsby.
 
 I could not have hoped for a better experience here. I am now full of excellent food, Wine and wonderful memories. When I get home I will begin contacting the many people I’ve met here. I hope that every filmmaker has the opportunity make it to the Cannes Film Festival. And I hope to return again soon. — Katie

May 23

Tonight is the 20th anniversary of Pulp Fiction winning the Palm D’Or at Cannes. We celebrated with Tarantino, Thurman, Travolta and Weinstein on the beach at a special screening — so fun! Cannes does these great free beach screenings every night but the special screening of Pulp Fiction was something special. The crowd was ecstatic. People were shouting favorite lines, cheering, whooping and laughing loud together. I could just barley see Quentin Tarantino from where I sat and he seemed just as excited as ever to be showing his film to a crowd.
Most of the festival attendees have packed up and left so there was not a whole lot of work getting done today. Katie and I broke into the press conference area though for some great photos (see above). — Lela
• • •
Things are really starting to wind down for the Cannes Film Festival.  Lela and I went to the Marche du film, but found it fairly sparse. After playing around in the press conference area, we decided to do a little sightseeing. And who should we meet at the top of the tower at a museum, but the very people we were looking for earlier: film distributors (below). We exchanged cards and even showed them our trailer on the iPad we are always carrying around. We ended the day with a beach screening of Pulp Fiction introduced by none other than Quentin Tarantino. It was a great end to a great day. — Katie

May 22

Today a young Frenchwoman (named Alice, pictured below) accidentally spilled her wine all over Lela’s dress. By way of apology, she got us two tickets to a red carpet screening premiere with celebrities in attendance. When Lela and I went on the red carpet before, it was early in the day and there were no celebrities or photographers around. This was the real deal. It was all at the last minute, and because I wasn’t expecting it, I was not properly dressed. I had to literally run to the apartment and back to get there in time. I put on my Ship to Shore dress again in record time. — Katie

May 21

Spent a great day with David and Tina in nearby Antibes while Billy Goodrum did photo shoots, dinners, press functions, etc.  I finally got to wear my Ship to Shore dress for a screening. I turned many a head in it.
At the end of the day Lela and I  reconnected with our esteemed composer Billy Goodrum who you can see in red carpet photos standing next to Sophia Loren! I didn’t get to chat with her, but did speak with her director son who is charming and very nice even though he must have been exhausted. Billy, Lela and I went for drinks with the George Clooney of Italy, Enrico Lo Verso [see photo at top of page]. Oh la la was he handsome!  And so chivalrous, too. He escorted Lela and me home after he broke up a bar fight. What a man. — Katie


May 20

Today we screened Joint Effort for a packed theater.  People laughed and seemed to enjoy the movie. It was great to have David Ostergaard and Tina Herring join us, as well as Billy Goodrum, our composer. Billy also had another movie screening at Cannes. Lela and I went to his other screening, where Sophia Loren attended. She is amazingly beautiful at any age! A full and wonderful day. — Katie

May 19

The most exciting thing that happened today was running into Benicio Del Toro on the street!  Then chasing after him and grabbing a quick selfie. He was just so cool.
Today was my first day to walk the red carpet. Lela and I had to wait in the rain on the off chance there was extra space in an afternoon screening. We were lucky enough to get into a screening of Foxcatcher. Excellent movie.  I have never seen Steve Carell in that type of dark role and he was amazing. The screening was in the middle of the day so there were no stars around to join us in our walk up but still very thrilling to be walking on the red carpet for the first time. — Katie
Editor’s note: Read Entertainment Weekly‘s take on Foxcatcher here.

May 18

I can’t believe it’s only been a few days — I’m starting to loose track. I’ve done so many amazing things at the Cannes Film Festival. Today, on a whim, Lela and I walked past the rows of multimillion dollar yachts looking for a man I flew in with who invited me aboard his yacht for drink. It was a very casual invitation and I wasn’t sure if we would ever actually be able to connect. Not only did he have us come aboard for drinks, but we met other amazing filmmakers, distributors and even a reporter from CNN. We had an amazing lunch followed by cheesecake and the strongest thimbleful of espresso I have ever had. We shared stories and screened a short film by one of the filmmakers. It was a phenomenal afternoon with a fabulous host! — Katie
•••
Third day here at Cannes. Started out great with a red carpet screening of Tommy Lee Jones’s new movie called The Homesman, also staring Hilary Swank. It was a pretty good film over all, though not as good as True Grit, from a few years ago, which it was strikingly similar to. After a huge tank drove down the road with the entire all-star cast of The Expendables 3 sitting on top, drawing all the tourists out to the Coisette and making walking much easier, we then moved onto a great afternoon on a swanky yacht with lots of big movie professionals. Today was full of delicious food and delightful company. Even a few good films thrown and for good measure. More tomorrow! — Lela

May 17

Hi Asheville! Having a great time here at the Cannes film Festival. Today I got my first pass to a grand theater premier: The Homesman by Tommy Lee Jones. His directorial debut! It’s screening tomorrow morning, so wish me luck.

The festival is huge and busy with people everywhere. The Mediterranean Sea is beautiful and incredibly blue. There are people from all over the world and the hotels really know how to do it up in style! Last night I went to a cocktail party at the Thailand pavilion and had some great food and conversation.
Our screening for Tuesday is filling up with 70% of the seats already accounted for. Still have seven days to go at the festival, and have seen quite a few stars and directors. Really looking forward to meeting more people. Tonight we are going to a cocktail party on a quarter billion dollar yacht. #excited! — Lela

•••
The big news of the day was the two parties we crashed at night. Lela and I went to a party hosted by Thailand. It was by invitation only and we were lucky enough to score two invitations standing in line! The princess of Thailand was there, there were live performances and films shown. We sipped our drinks and ate fantastic Thai food. Then it was off to the next big party of the night, hosted by Germany. We did not have invitations and were nearly stopped by security but somehow managed to finagle our way in. We hobnobbed with German filmmakers for a while, then strolled past the yachts before calling it a night. — Katie
•••
Had an amazing night. Started off the evening meeting some great filmmakers who hooked us up with a gentleman who got us in to the Thai national films party. It was a huge deal — very exclusive. Only about 100 people got in. Her Royal Highness the princess of Thailand was there and gave a talk and then there was a live film/Thai boxing demonstration, drinks and food. It was amazing! Then we casually snuck into a beach party for the German film commission. It was a huge party and also very exclusive. After the German Party we headed out to yacht row. The yachts were bumping with parties. Someone mistook me for a star and introduced me to their group as if I was Amy Adams. Now we are back at our apartment getting ready to sleep, because I have a red carpet screening tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. for The Homesman by Tommy Lee Jones. — Lela

May 16

Flying in, I had a bit of an ordeal with getting to France. But it turned out to be a match made in heaven when I flew from London straight into Nice.  On my flight [I] saw not only Guy Pierce (who probably would have been completely cool but I was too intimidated by to even approach) but also Matt Smith — the new Dr. Who — who was super friendly and awesome. He was much more approachable, so [below] is his photo. Very nice guy. Finally [to] Cannes and completely jetlagged … will have more tomorrow. — Katie

May 14

Here’s Damien’s first missive, sent as she was heading out of town:
I wanted to get an early start here because I have some Asheville folks to thank before I jet off. My flight is this afternoon.
“For the red carpet, I have on loan a beautiful dress made by local designer R. Brooke Priddy with Ship to Shore. For make up I went to Zack Russell with Makeup at the Grove Arcade and got some fantastic tips, guidance, a whole makeover I wasn’t expecting and great makeup that I’ll be wearing in Cannes.

More about the project, from a press release:

Asheville based Gorilla with a Mustache Films heads to Cannes Film Festival in France this month to screen their internationally acclaimed comedy short, Joint Effort. Winner of the 2013 National Film Challenge, this comedy short tells the story of a gay couple who mistakenly assume they have been mailed a box of marijuana: hilarity ensues. Joint Effort will be represented by two members of Gorilla with a Mustache Films, Director Katie Damien, a five time Emmy award winning Director based here in Asheville, whose recently released documentary, My Toxic Backyard, chronicles the story of the CTS site in Buncombe County, and local Producer Lela Winton.
Cannes is one of the largest and most prestigious film festivals in the world. Attendance is by invitation only. To earn the honor to screen at Cannes, Joint Effort competed internationally and won Best Picture, along with Best Writing for local writers Eruch Adams and Will Eill, and Best Actor for the accomplished local actor and Emmy winner David Ostergaard of Bright Star Theater, who also travels to attend the screening.
Local film buffs should keep their eyes peeled for the Gorillas feature film One Hell of An Angel currently in post-production and slated for release later this year.

About Gorilla with a Mustache Films
Gorilla with a Mustache Films is a production team based out of Asheville, North Carolina.  Originally envisioned by Producer Lela Winton, their diverse crew includes Director Katie Damien, Actor Matt Shepard, and husband-wife Writer team Eruch Adams and Coranna Adams.

Monday, June 09, 2014

My Toxic Backyard in Southern Circuit

So excited to have My Toxic Backyard accepted to the Southern Circuit film screening tour. http://www.southarts.org/touring-arts/southern-circuit/  This documentary is 1 of only 18 films that made it in!!!  I'll be traveling across 5 states to host screenings at different universities and art collectives.