One Hell of an Angel at Sick Chicks Flicks Film Festival

One Hell of an Angel not only had a great screening at the Sick Chicks Flicks Film Festival in Cary, NC we also won best feature film!  They call the awards the blood ravens.  What an honor!  I could feel a genuine love for independent film from everyone involved.  I had such a blast at this festival!

 

Hope at the Charlotte Film Festival

Hope had a great screening at the Charlotte Film Festival!  The quality was professional level, Hope looked so crisp on the big screen. The food and drinks they provided filmmakers were plentiful and delicious. Sharon and Alison were able to join me for the screening.  I got to meet up with Trinity, my incredibly talented composer for my upcoming short "Saving Jake."  I hope to be back with my next film next year!

My Fantasy/Comedy Feature Film playing in downtown Asheville!

May 9th at 7pm 

at the

Fine Arts Theater, 36 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801

Get your tickets here (be sure to select the 13th) Order Tickets Online Now

more info at: www.fineartstheatre.com

A demon with an existential crisis and an angel with PTSD team up to save the career of a washed-up rocker.
Demon, Kyle, is a stabber on the third level of hell. He knows his business. But when he starts wondering about the nature of life and death, his superiors shut him up and send him to the "Angel in Training Program."
Angel, Mezudio, has been around a very long time-so long that he developed PTSD and goes catatonic at the sight of blood. Relegated to feeding parking meters and cleaning up dog poop, Mezudio is afraid to trying anything new, but his boss has other ideas. Mezudio is charged with training the stabber, Kyle to be a good angel and earn his wings...or at least stop stabbing everyone.

Katie Damien is an Asheville based award winning Writer, Director, Photographer, and Producer. Support local film making, get your tickets today!
Tickets $10 and are available at the Fine Arts Theatre box office, or online here

One Hell of an Angel Trailer

Hope is in so many film festivals!

Hope has had such great success on the film festival circuit and there's still more to come!  Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this film.

Winner - Social Justice Film - Holden Village Film Festival
Winner - Best Cinematography - Micropolitan Film Festival
Winner - Best Actress - Micropolitan Film Festival  
Winner - Best movie poster - Longleaf Film Festival
Winner - Best Audio and Music - Colorado International Activism Film Festival
Winner - Best Titles - Colorado International Activism Film Festival
Winner - Best Actress - Colorado International Activism Film Festival
Winner - Silver - Queen Palm Film Festival
Winner - Best movie poster - Alternative Film Festival
Official Selection - Colorado Activism Film Festival
Official Selection - Women Deliver Film Festival
Official Selection - Show Me Justice Film Festival
Official Selection - Carrboro Film Festival
Official Selection - Underexposed Film Festival
Official Selection - Cinema Soup Film Festival
Official Selection - CatFly Film Festival
Official Selection - Guacamole Short Film Festival
Official Selection - Northeast Mountain Film Festival
Official Selection - Charlotte Film Festival 
Official Selection - Women of the Wold Film Festival Tunisia

My Toxic Backyard Wins Best Documentary Film at Greenpoint Film Festival

My Toxic Backyard just won the highest honor a film can win at a film festival: Best Documentary Feature!  I'm so excited!  What an honor!

http://greenpointfilmfestival.org/

Jaime Byrd (second from the left) speaking on a panel at the Greenpoint Film Festival

A news article about the festival

News article continuted

Thin Line Film Festival Video

Here's a little video I put together of my trip to the Thin Line Film Festival.

World Premiere of My Toxic Backyard

My Toxic Backyard had its first screening at the Thin Line Film Festival in Denton, Texas and I was able to attend.  This was my first time in Texas.  Denton is about 30 minutes North of Dallas.  Sadly I didn’t meet any real cowboys on my short visit. I had been expecting to see horses, holsters and hats everywhere.  The cowboy hats I did see a lot of, but Texans are not all cowboys.  In Denton everyone happen to be friendly and welcoming.  The land is flat and scrubby, but the sky is huge.  I know the sky seems like the kind of thing that should be the same everywhere you go, but it’s not.  In Texas the sky is just bigger.

There was a great line up for documentary films at Thin Line.  The festival covered room, board and transportation while there.  The staff was fantastic.  They were on call 24 hours a day!  The greenroom was stocked with food and drinks and was a great place to network with other filmmakers and VIP festival goers.  I met some great people there.  The town square is really cute and full of musicians.  I think over half the population is in a band.  My screening was at the Campus theater, which was a wonderful historic theater in the middle of town.  This was my first time attending this wonderful documentary film festival and I tip my hat to the festival organizers for putting on such a great festival.

My Short Film is an International Winner!

I just made a short film "Joint Effort" that was picked as one of the top 15 in an international competition! They are doing online voting for an audience award and you can help by liking the video on YouTube: http://youtu.be/xs7UzQCwCa0 (just hit the thumbs up button) and Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/81675843 (there is a heart in the top right inside the video window.) You have to be logged in to like it.  If we get the most likes, we could win $1000!  It's a pretty funny movie too.  We had a great cast and crew made of entirely volunteers and the whole movie was made in one weekend.  Enjoy the show!

(there is a thumbs up button at the top right corner of the movie here, but you have to be logged in for it to count, you can log in to gmail, google, or youtube to like it in this player.)

P.S. - the film would probably get a PG rating.  There are lots of drugs in it... 2.2 pounds to be exact.

Making a Film Festival Run

Film Festivals are tricky business.  As an independent filmmaker with short films, there aren't that many more venues out there to get work seen.  With that in mind, I sent my movie, "Second Parent" out to 6 major film festivals:

South by Southwest

Cleveland International

Atlanta International

The Florida Film Festival

Aspen Shorts Fest

and Nashville Film Festival

In addition, I also sent it out to two smaller fests: the Seattle True Independent Film Festival and Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival.  Most of the festivals I've had my shorts play at in the past have been smaller, niche festivals where my work stood a better chance of being accepted.  So just getting in to one of these six major festivals is a huge honor!

So far I've been rejected from South by Southwest....but I made it into the Cleveland International Film Festival! http://www.clevelandfilm.org   I'll let you know if my movie makes it into any others.

Katie

My movie in Google+ Film Festival

This is the 2nd Film Festival my movie "Second Parent" has made it into!  And unlike most festivals which only take place at a particular physical location, this one is happening as an online event.  So you can all finally see my movie!  It will be playing in a block of shorts on Saturday December 1st at 8pm (Eastern Standard Time) 5pm for my West coast friends and family.

Go to: https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/c3e426r5u1pv0knk8vhge1gj9ok for the event info.
And for more info on the festival: http://www.ugpff.com

This is the only time you'll be able to see my movie this year.  I can't make it available on youtube or any other site like that because I'm still submitting it to Film Festivals.  So if you want to see the movie along with some other great short films, follow the links above and mark your calendars.  I'll be available online for a Q&A after the films.

Katie

Asheville 48 Hour Film Festival

The team I'm in for the 48 hour film project just won the audience award for best picture in our group and the best use of character award. The whole movie is below. It was an awesome experience again this year!

Katie

Team: YA Productions
Genre: Thriller

Character: Tommy or Tina Darnes (a mechanic)
Prop: Apple
Line: "Don't be so sure."

In addition to these requirements, the film had to be more than 4 minutes, but less than 7. And all this in just 2 days.

STIFF playing at the Joli Rouge

Any one in the Asheville area next weekend, come out and see STIFF playing at the Joli Rouge (130 College Street) east side of Pack Square on Saturday November 10th at 8:00pm sharp. Our film is kicking off the official "Rejects" selection for the Asheville Rejects Film Festival so don't be late. Admission is $5.

Katie

Stiff to play at Asheville Rejects Film Festival

I bring the latest and greatest news on the short film I produced, "Stiff." The film was rejected from the Asheville Film Festival, which was a bumper, but also a highly competitive festival with over 400 entries, only 80 of which got in. Film is subjective anyway so you can't take a rejection personally.

The good news is "Stiff" got into the Asheville Rejects Film Festival. So we'll be playing at a local venue after all. If you live in the area, skip the Asheville Film Fest with their 80 stellar films and come to the Asheville Rejects Festival, where all the really cool misunderstood films will be. For more information go to:

http://www.theagentheadquarters.com/rejects.html

Katie

P.S. – the photo I attached was something I shot when we were still location scouting. Nelson, the director, is being the dead body. I walked around him and took 360 degrees of photos of the location. I merged a few together to get this funky panoramic.