FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Greg Longstreet, Film Independent Email: [email protected] Tel: 310.432.1287 12 FILMMAKERS and 8 PROJECTS SELECTED FOR THE FILM INDEPENDENT 2012 PRODUCING LAB $25,000 SLOAN PRODUCERS GRANT AWARDED TO Producer Casey Fenton with Unmanned LOS ANGELES (October 22, 2012) — Film Independent is pleased to announce the filmmakers and projects selected for its 12th annual Producing Lab. Sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the intensive five-week program offers promising producers a nurturing, creative environment as well as the resources and support needed to hone their skills, allowing them to move their current projects into production. Film Independent also announces the recipient of the 6th annual Sloan Producers Grant to Casey Fenton, who is participating in the Producing Lab with his feature film project Unmanned. Fenton will receive a $25,000 development grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which seeks to create and develop new scripts and films about science and technology, and to see them into commercial production with national and international distribution. The grant was awarded on October 21, 2012 at the Film Independent Forum, presented by Indiewire. Unmanned is the story of a young Air Force drone operator who struggles to balance the stresses of going to war for the first time with the challenges of being a good father and husband, as he commutes each day between suburban family life and the war he fights by remote control. Last yearʼs winners were Brent Hoff and Malcom Pullinger with their feature film project El Diablo Rojo. “Weʼre thrilled to continue our relationship with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and to be able to once again award a Sloan Producers Grant,” said Jennifer Kushner, Film Independentʼs Director of Artist Development. “Two of the films weʼve awarded this grant to in the past, Future Weather and Valley of Saints, premiered in 2012 at top-tier film festivals and received critical acclaim. I look forward to seeing Unmanned follow the same path.” "We are delighted to continue our successful partnership with Film Independentʼs Producing Lab and to support Unmanned, a deeply engaging and original drama that raises urgent questions about our relationship to the technology--and to the morality--of contemporary war," said Doron Weber, Vice President, Programs at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “Like our previous completed features with Film Independent, Unmanned received earlier support from our other film partners as well as Film Independent and we are confident that FIND's superb team will help steer this exciting project into movie theaters before long." Karin Chien (Circumstance, The Exploding Girl), Ted Kroeber (Splinter, American Gun), and Alix Madigan (Winterʼs Bone) are this yearʼs Producing Lab mentors and will advise the selected filmmakers on the craft and business of producing. Filmmakers were chosen based on the strength of their submitted script, business plan, and creative vision. The Producing Lab, which is also supported by the National Endowment for the Artsʼ Art Works program, is provided free to accepted producers, and upon completion, they become Film Independent Fellows, receiving year-round support including access to Film Independentʼs annual film educational offerings, on-staff Filmmaker Advisor and the Los Angeles Film Festival. Recent projects developed through the Lab include Maryam Keshavarzʼs Circumstance, which was released theatrically in 2011 after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival; Aurora Guerrero and Charlene Agabaoʼs Mosquita y Mari, which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival; Musa Syeed and Nicholas Bruckmanʼs Valley of Saints, which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival; Jenny Deller and Kristin Fairweatherʼs Future Weather, which premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival; Suzi Yoonessiʼs Dear Lemon Lima, which premiered at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival; Morgan Stiffʼs Mississippi Damned, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2009 Outfest Film Festival; Scott Prendergastʼs Kabluey, which premiered at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival; Ted Kroeberʼs American Gun, which was nominated for three Spirit Awards in 2007; So Yong Kimʼs In Between Days, which was released by New Yorker Films in 2007; and Jessica Sandersʼ After Innocence, which was short-listed for the 2006 Academy Awards. The 2012 Producing Lab, filmmakers and projects are: 1. Alaska Is A Drag – A young gay misfit teen works in a fish cannery in Alaska and he dreams big to escape his drab reality by training to be a professional boxer and become the most fabulous drag queen in town. Kaz Kipp, Producer Kaz Kipp belongs to the Nez Perce and Umatilla Tribes and was born and reared in Los Angeles. She has produced award winning short films that have screened around the world and has also produced multimedia content featured on Comedy Central's atom.com, IFC, and the Sundance Channel. She produced the winning trailer of the Asian Pacific Islanders TV Pilot Shootout contest sponsored by FOX Diversity and the ID Film Festival. She is re-entering the festival circuit with the short film, “Fierce,” co- sponsored by NBC Universal and Film Independent. Currently, she is in development on feature films including Shaz Bennett's, Alaska Is a Drag, which has been selected as a 2012 Sundance Institute Native Producing Fellowship recipient and the Producers Guild of America “The Power of Diversity” Workshop. A short version of the feature has been selected for AFIʼs Directing Workshop for Women and is set to premiere at the 2012 AFI Fest. Kipp has also earned fellowships from Film Independentʼs Project: Involve and ABC | Disney Television Groupʼs Native American IMPACT program. Kipp is also a board member to Longhouse Media, which is an indigenous media arts organization that nurtures the expression and development of Native artists. 2. And Then I Go – In the wilderness of junior high, Edwin Hanratty and his only friend, Flake, are at the bottom of the food chain. Branded together as misfits, they are demoralized daily and misunderstood by their parents and peers. As their fury quietly simmers and Edwin's anxiety begins to overwhelm him, Flake's unthinkable idea of bringing guns into their school as a form of vengeance offers them a spectacular and terrifying release. Rebecca Green, Producer Rebecca Green is the Manager of Producing Initiatives for the Sundance Institute and is also a member of the extended Sundance family, having been a screener for the Festival for two years, as well as an attendee of the Producers Conference in 2007. As an independent producer, Green most recently completed the micro-budget feature film Something Real and Good, which will be released by GoDigital in 2013. Green is developing several projects including And Then I Go, written and to be directed by Brett Haley (The New Year) with executive producer John Hillcoat, as well as It Follows, a horror script written and to be directed by David Robert Mitchell (Myth of the American Sleepover) and If You Close Your Eyes, written and to be directed by Claudia Sparrow, who won a Student Emmy Award for her short film “El Americano.” Green also produced Tug, which premiered at the 2010 Newport Beach Film Festival and will be released in 2013. Prior to her work as a producer, Green was the Head of Creative Development for TicTock Studios, a production company in Michigan, where she played an instrumental role in the grassroots campaign to implement the state's film incentives program. Green worked at Paramount Pictures as Vice President of Lynda Obst Productions and prior to Obst, spent four years at Lionsgate, where she was a Creative Executive, as well as working in acquisitions. In addition to her producing and executive experience, Green has also worked as a screener for the Los Angeles Film Festival and has spoken on panels for organizations such as USC, IFP, and Film Independent. She earned her BFA in Filmmaking from the University of the North Carolina School of the Arts and serves on the Steering Committee for the school's West coast Alumni Association. Laura D. Smith, Producer Laura D. Smith began her film career working in development and production under Academy Award nominated filmmaker Andrew Niccol at his banner Niccol Films, followed by Ghoulardi Film Company, where she worked with Academy Award- nominated filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson and his producer JoAnne Sellar. Smith then went on to partner with producer Holly Wiersma, where she served as Associate Producer on the independent features Happy Endings, Come Early Morning, Lonely Hearts, The Tenants, and Factory Girl and was Co-Producer on The Year of Getting to Know Us and The Six Wives of Henry Lefay. After branching out on her own, Smith produced the critically-acclaimed feature That Evening Sun, written and directed by Scott Teems, which won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature and Special Jury Prize for Best Ensemble Cast at its SXSW premiere. The film went on to garner over a dozen awards on the film festival circuit, two Film Independent Spirit Award nominations, and was released theatrically in 2009. She then produced the independent feature Sironia with filmmaker Brandon Dickerson, which won an Audience Award at its Austin Film Festival premiere in 2011 and is being released this fall. Smith is currently in post-production on the documentary feature Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey with filmmaker Scott Teems, about Academy Award nominated actor Hal Holbrook and his famed one-man stage show Mark Twain Tonight! She has numerous other projects in development, including The Quarry, written and to be directed by Teems, based on the critically-acclaimed novel by Damon Galgut; And Then I Go, written and to be directed by Brett Haley (The New Year) with executive producer John Hillcoat; It Follows, a horror script written and to be directed by David Robert Mitchell (Myth of the American Sleepover), and If You Close Your Eyes, written and to be directed by Claudia Sparrow, who won a Student Emmy Award for her short film “El Americano.” Smith received her undergraduate degree from U.C.L.A., with a major in Mass Communications and specialization in Business & Administration.