"International Acclaim" ABC13, WLOS, news coverage (Dec. 16, 2013)
"Locally Produced Film" ABC13, WLOS, news coverage (Dec. 24, 2013)
"Film Project Winners Asheville" ABC13, WLOS, news coverage (July 02, 2010)
Cannes or bust: Local filmmakers report on their trip to the prestigious film festival
Alli Marshal, May 16, 2014Local 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.
Asheville filmmakers win big in National Film Challenge, will have movie screened at Cannes
Jason Sandford | December 27, 2013A team of Asheville filmmakers recently won big with their film entry in the 2013 National Film Challenge. Their movie, Joint Effort, won the Best Film award and will go to the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for a special screening.
The movie was the work of Asheville’s Gorilla With A Mustache Films, a five-person team of producers that includes the following: Lela Winton, Katie Damien, Eruch Adams, Coranna Adams, and Matt Shepard.
Joint Effort is a comedy about a package delivery gone horribly wrong. For the National Film Challenge, the group had one weekend to write, shoot, and edit the short film, then present it to the judges. Joint Effort won other awards. David Ostergaard won for Best Actor, while Eruch Adams and Will Eill won for Best Writer. Joint Effort also won the Best Use of Genre -Comedy award and was second runner-up for the Audience Choice Award. More here.
Here’s the credit rundown for Joint Effort: Katie Damien, director, with Lela Winton as second unit director. Cinematograpy by Andy Crespo. Cast: David Ostergaard, Matt Shepard, Darren Marshall, and Adam Meier.
More about the National Film Challenge and the prizes awarded:
The best film is sent to the Cannes Film Festival and given a $3000 prize. GoPro, the title sponsor, is giving out another $3000 prize for the best use of a GoPro Camera in a movie. And the Audience choice winner receives $1000. The top 15 films are selected by judges for online voting determined by YouTube and Vimeo likes . “Joint Effort” was chosen as one of those top 15 films. The team of Asheville residents is undergoing a campaign to get the word out about the film and to encourage people to vote and to hopefully win the Audience Choice award.About Gorilla with a Mustache Films: Established in 2010 when a group of producers collaborated on a 48 Hour Film Project. They won Best Picture for the city of Asheville. Heady with their recent victory (and drunk on their own sense of power), the group decided to pursue a feature film, as well as other short films. The Gorillas are currently in post-production on their first feature film “One Hell of an Angel.”
Producer and director Katie Damien said, “There’s some stiff competition in this contest. Overall the quality of all the top films is very high. I feel really honored to have our film chosen as one of the best! Asheville might not be as big as Dallas or Paris, but we’ve got some really talented people here in the mountains.”
Joint Effort on IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3347134/combined
Company IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/company/co0385222/
Gorilla with a Mustache on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GorillaWithaMustache
Local film production company wins national film award
By OnA local film production company, Gorilla with a Mustache, has won a National Film Award, and the film, “Joint Effort,” heads to Cannes Film Festival in the next year for a special screening, according to gigspotting.net.
Here’s more information from the official Gorilla with a Mustache website:
Joint Effort wins Best Film of 2013 National Film Challenge
Happy Holidays, and happy they are here at Gorilla With A Mustache as the awards for the 2013 National Film Challenge were anounced and Joint Effort won it’s fair Share!
Best Film
Audience Choice Award 2nd Runner Up
Best Actor – David Ostergaard for his role as Carl
Best Writing - Eruch Adams & Will Eill for their joint effort on Joint Effort They tied for the award with Paul Jenkins, Adam Dukes, Daniel Montgomery for‘Farmer and the Fold’ by Whisper Productions
Best Use of Genre – Comedy
And our prize as: Best Film of The National Film Challenge
-
$3,000 USD
-
Award Trophy
-
Screen at 48HFP Filmapalooza in 2014
-
Screen at the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner
-
Free registration in the 2014 National Film Challenge
Gorilla with a Mustache has been a longtime participant — and favorite — of Asheville’s 48-hour Film Project.
Here’s more information on how the National Film
Challenge works. It does seem like quite the challenge: Each team was
given a weekend to put this film together, as well as certain elements —
line of dialogue, character and prop — that had to be incorporated into
one of two genres. Deadlines are my business, and I find that set of
rules super intimidating. Congrats, you hairy apes!!
The 2013 National Film Challenge seeks audience votes
By Alli Marshall on 12/13/2013 02:46 PM, Mountain Express
More than 120 films were submitted for the National Film Challenge. The
jury narrowed that list to 15 currently being considered for Audience
Choice voting. Among them is "Joint Effort" by Asheville team Gorilla
with a Mustache. Voting is open through Wednesday, Dec. 18.
Watch "Joint Effort" below. View all 15 films and cast your vote on YouTube or Vimeo.
Gorilla With A Mustache wins National Film Challenge with "Joint Effort"
The Gorilla With A Mustache Films team out of Asheville, North Carolina won the Best Film Award in the National Film Challenge 2013 this week and the film will go on to the Cannes Film Festival this coming year for a special screening.
Their entry, Joint Effort, is a comedy about a package delivery gone wrong.
The team, in accordance with the National Film Challenge
rules was given an assignment and had one weekend to write,shoot, and
edit the short film, then present it to the judges. No small feat.
Other awards received for the film were: Best Actor - David Ostergaard, and Best Writer Eruch Adams and Will Eill for Joint Effort. Joint Effort also won the Best Use of Genre -Comedy award and 2nd Runner Up for the Audience Choice Award.
Gorilla With A Mustache Films is a 5 person team of producers: Lela Winton, Katie Damien, Eruch Adams, Coranna Adams, and Matt Shepard. They have participated in multiple 48 Hour Film Project competitions
and now for the first time, the National Film Challenge. Each time the
team was slightly different in regards to the cast and crew, but has
always had the same core of producers.
Joint Effort was directed by Katie Damien with Lela Winton as second unit director. Cinematograpy by Andy Crespo. Cast: David Ostergaard, Matt Shepard, Darren Marshall., and Adam Meier.
Gorilla With A Mustache wins National Film Challenge with "Joint Effort"
The Gorilla With A Mustache Films team out of Asheville, North Carolina won the Best Film Award in the National Film Challenge 2013 this week and the film will go on to the Cannes Film Festival this coming year for a special screening.
Their entry, Joint Effort, is a comedy about a package delivery gone wrong.
The team, in accordance with the National Film Challenge
rules was given an assignment and had one weekend to write,shoot, and
edit the short film, then present it to the judges. No small feat.
Other awards received for the film were: Best Actor - David Ostergaard, and Best Writer Eruch Adams and Will Eill for Joint Effort. Joint Effort also won the Best Use of Genre -Comedy award and 2nd Runner Up for the Audience Choice Award.
Gorilla With A Mustache Films is a 5 person team of producers: Lela Winton, Katie Damien, Eruch Adams, Coranna Adams, and Matt Shepard. They have participated in multiple 48 Hour Film Project competitions
and now for the first time, the National Film Challenge. Each time the
team was slightly different in regards to the cast and crew, but has
always had the same core of producers.
Joint Effort was directed by Katie Damien with Lela Winton as second unit director. Cinematograpy by Andy Crespo. Cast: David Ostergaard, Matt Shepard, Darren Marshall., and Adam Meier.
Gorilla With
A Mustache wins National Film Challenge with "Joint Effort"
By Dan Thornton
on December 26, 2013 8:20 AM
The Gorilla With A Mustache
Films team out of Asheville, North Carolina won the Best Film
Award in the National Film Challenge 2013 this
week and the film will go on to the Cannes Film Festival this
coming year for a special screening.
Their entry, Joint
Effort, is a comedy about a package delivery gone wrong.
The team, in accordance with the National
Film Challenge rules was given an assignment and had one weekend to
write,shoot, and edit the short film, then present it to the judges. No small
feat.
Other awards received for the film
were: Best Actor - David Ostergaard, and Best Writer Eruch Adams
and Will
Eill for Joint Effort. Joint
Effort also won the Best Use of Genre -Comedy award and 2nd
Runner Up for the Audience Choice Award.
Gorilla With A Mustache Films is a 5 person team of producers: Lela
Winton, Katie Damien, Eruch Adams,
Coranna
Adams, and Matt Shepard. They have participated
in multiple 48 Hour Film Project competitions and now for the
first time, the National Film Challenge. Each time the team was slightly
different in regards to the cast and crew, but has always had the same core of
producers.
Joint Effort was directed by Katie
Damien with Lela Winton as second unit director.
Cinematograpy by Andy Crespo. Cast: David
Ostergaard, Matt Shepard, Darren
Marshall., and Adam Meier.
- See more at:
http://www.gigspotting.net/national-film-challenge-2013-winner-gorilla-with-a-mustache-with-joint-effort.html#sthash.PdoRbS7f.dpuf
Morning Edition: Interview with Asheville Filmmaker, Katie Damien
Pam
Bunch talks to Katie Damien about the grassroots film industry in
Asheville, which relies on other members of the film community and bare
bones financing to accomplish their work. Damien's company, Gorilla With
A Mustache Films, is currently working on its first feature film. And Damien is also producing her first feature-length
documentary.
Justin Souther (2012). Gorilla With a Mustache goes long. Mountain Express
While the name of Gorilla With a Mustache Productions may be new to
many, those who follow the Asheville edition of the 48 Hour Film Project
should already be aware of this group of filmmakers. Their short film Bump
— and entrant in last year’s festival — just made its appearance at the
Charleston International Film Festival, while its 2010 entry Touched By Angels brought in a slew of awards, including Best Picture.
With that success, the crew — which consists of director Katie Damien, Matt Shepard, Eruch Adams, Cory Adams and Lela Winton — decided to take the original eight-minute-long Touched By Angels and give it the feature-length treatment. “We felt like we had momentum and confidence,” said Shepard, actor and co-writer on the project, describing the decision to go longform to Xpress. Now, nearly two years later, and with a completely fleshed-out script, the Gorilla With a Mustache troupe is ready to take the next step.
The film can be best described as an ethereal buddy comedy, about a former demon and current angel-in-training (played by Shepard). With the aid of a much more happy-go-lucky, gregarious angel (played by Dave Dietrich), Shepard must help a washed up rockstar (Asheville bon vivant Kipper Schauer) write one last great song. While it’s a simple foundation, Gorilla With a Mustache saw room to flesh out the film. “We just wanted to make this into a feature length,” explained Shepard. “There’s so much more to explore with the characters, and with what the characters are exploring about life and the universe.”
That last part is important, since the movie has more on its mind than just laughs. “Ideas of reincarnation, and how Heaven and Hell are not forever places, evolution of the soul towards Nirvana. It takes a little more Eastern view,” explains Shepard, but don’t worry about getting bogged down in a theology lesson. “At the forefront, it’s comedy.”
The group has been taking donations and has a Kickstarter going for a little over the month to meet a modest budget that with the best case scenario will afford Touched By Angels a name Hollywood actor. Regardless, the production will be hectic one, with shooting happening over a few weeks over the summer in Asheville and the surrounding area. “It’s going to be a fast and furious shoot with long days,” Shepard points out. “We know that’s what we have to do to make our film on such a tiny budget.”
Touched By Angels is just a jumping-off point for Gorilla With a Mustache, a simple project these filmmakers want to tackle for the simple love of making movies, Shepard says. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with this. I’m going into this saying I want to do this, I want to make this happen. I want to make a movie, I want to be in a movie.”
With that success, the crew — which consists of director Katie Damien, Matt Shepard, Eruch Adams, Cory Adams and Lela Winton — decided to take the original eight-minute-long Touched By Angels and give it the feature-length treatment. “We felt like we had momentum and confidence,” said Shepard, actor and co-writer on the project, describing the decision to go longform to Xpress. Now, nearly two years later, and with a completely fleshed-out script, the Gorilla With a Mustache troupe is ready to take the next step.
The film can be best described as an ethereal buddy comedy, about a former demon and current angel-in-training (played by Shepard). With the aid of a much more happy-go-lucky, gregarious angel (played by Dave Dietrich), Shepard must help a washed up rockstar (Asheville bon vivant Kipper Schauer) write one last great song. While it’s a simple foundation, Gorilla With a Mustache saw room to flesh out the film. “We just wanted to make this into a feature length,” explained Shepard. “There’s so much more to explore with the characters, and with what the characters are exploring about life and the universe.”
That last part is important, since the movie has more on its mind than just laughs. “Ideas of reincarnation, and how Heaven and Hell are not forever places, evolution of the soul towards Nirvana. It takes a little more Eastern view,” explains Shepard, but don’t worry about getting bogged down in a theology lesson. “At the forefront, it’s comedy.”
The group has been taking donations and has a Kickstarter going for a little over the month to meet a modest budget that with the best case scenario will afford Touched By Angels a name Hollywood actor. Regardless, the production will be hectic one, with shooting happening over a few weeks over the summer in Asheville and the surrounding area. “It’s going to be a fast and furious shoot with long days,” Shepard points out. “We know that’s what we have to do to make our film on such a tiny budget.”
Touched By Angels is just a jumping-off point for Gorilla With a Mustache, a simple project these filmmakers want to tackle for the simple love of making movies, Shepard says. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with this. I’m going into this saying I want to do this, I want to make this happen. I want to make a movie, I want to be in a movie.”
No comments:
Post a Comment