Just when one might think "GLORY AT SEA" had exhausted its world tour, the kind folks at the Middle East International Film Festival accepted us into their blinged out arms. Court 13's Benh Zeitlin and Viktor Jakovleski were cordially invited to decadent Abu Dhabi for the festivities, where Benh claims it rains inside a mall, and the hotel toilet flushers are solid gold. Recession be damned.
A world-class festival, headquartered at the lavish Emirates Palace Hotel, the MEIFF gave Benh and Viktor a chance to see top notch short films in the finest of theaters, dine and comiserate with film friends new and old (ie long lost Court comrade Kellanas Quinn and veteran Boogie Club founder Jamie Dutcher), and generally pretend like they were heirs to an imaginary fortune.
Then Benh came home to New Orleans, where he lives with a pig, drinks Miller High Life, and uses a rusty old bike to get around.
A great day in Court 13 land! It has come to our attention that the Court's new project "BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD" has been blessed with the generosity of Rooftop Films and bestowed their Filmmakers Fund Eastern Effects Equipment Grant!
What does this mean? It means that during production we will be given use of one whole grip truck's worth of equipment (courtesy of Eastern Effects) for free-- a load off our back, for sure.
Rooftop Films is a longtime friend of Court 13, with this only being the latest case of their benevolence. Rooftop saw "GLORY AT SEA" through hard times, awarding us a life-saving grant when money was short, and they've been kind enough to screen many a Court 13 film on many a New York rooftop--including "EGG,""I GET WET," and "GLORY AT SEA." Check out what they're up to at www.rooftopfilms.com.
If you live in New York, you have no excuse not to go see a compelling, hard-to-see movie on a starlit rooftop in Brooklyn. Plus, it's officially Fall now! Outdoor movie weather!
Court 13 friend Cary Fukunaga recently paid us a visit here in New Orleans, and between the racquetball and the Cajun food, also found time to premiere his new feature, "SIN NOMBRE." A nearly packed house gathered at Canal Place on the opening night of May 8, to watch the film and stick around for the Q & A Cary held afterwards. A picture from the premiere of Court 13ers (from left to right) Josh, Michael, Dan, and Justin, with Cary in the middle, below a somewhat silly marquee:
Cary came into the Court 13 world somewhat serendipitously; when we were in the last of 4 legs of production on "GLORY AT SEA," he and 3 blessed friends from NYU came down to help us finish it. Cary was the Director of Photography for the underwater sequences, and, with risk of tooting our own horn, we think he did a pretty good job to say the least.
"SIN NOMBRE" is the story of a young Honduran girl making the dangerous trip from her homeland to the United States, via the trains of Mexico--where she meets an exiled member of the deadly Mexican gang Mara Salvatrucha 13, on the run himself. Besides being visually stunning, the film has an attention to the detail of the reality it depicts that is based in anything but conjecture; Cary went down to Mexico and actually rode these often hijacked, gang-ridden trains himself.
Everyone should see this film, and not just because we're friends with Cary. It's one of those movies that sheds light on an experience that would otherwise never infiltrate most people's consciousness; it breathes visual life into subject matter that we rarely hear about, and when we do it's relegated to the words of print journalism or pundit talk fests. But right now, it is (probably) playing at a theater near you. Do your darndest to go see it.
Court 13 hit the road last weekend, first spending a couple nights in lovely Lafayette, Louisiana, at the Acadiana Film Festival. Acadiana is a small but welcoming festival, celebrating local filmmakers and the rich history of the area. "GLORY AT SEA" won the prize for Best Short Film (thanks Acadiana!), but the real treat was the Cajun dance parties and getting to see a few of the other films screening at the festival. Court friend Zach Godshall premiered his new documentary, "GOD'S ARCHITECTS," about five men who each build their own beautiful, peculiar monuments to God and love... It garnered 3 thumbs up from our crew; we really cannot recommend this film highly enough. Click here for some clips from the movie.
From Lafayette, we headed southeast to do some scouting for the upcoming film. Swamps, airboats, gators, good food, and beautiful landscape abounded. A rough summation of our voyage is below.
Stay tuned for some pictures from this and earlier scouting missions.
Happy Hanukkah, and otherwise, from every one of us here at Court 13. May your toddies be hot, and may you and your family catch a flick at the theaters that doesn't totally suck.
Just in time for the holiday season, the "Glory at Sea"/"Death to the Tinman" Soundtrack is now available on iTunes! The much-lauded score from Dan Romer and director/writer Benh Zeitlin--swooping, sweeping, instantly recognizable from any Obama YouTube video you may have watched in the waning days of the campaign--is accessible by merely clicking HERE.
So for all YouTubers who dropped a comment on us along the lines of "Dude, where can I get the soundtrack?" here is your answer. It's also available on Amazon, here.
