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ALL DOC'D OUT: A DOCUMENTARY SURVIVAL GUIDE SEMINAR
Nonfiction filmmaking has been a centerpiece of the American film industry for most of our new millennium. Whether this resurgence can be attributed to the dominance of reality-based television, new-found artistic and technical liberties or to some good old-fashioned monetary gain, there is now a vast new playing field for today's documentary filmmaker. Learn how to keep your film alive and thriving in the competitive world of nonfiction distribution, exhibition and film festivals from a panel of industry professionals. Moderated by film consultant/ programmer Thomas Ethan Harris.

Ever wonder what lies ahead in the immediate future for a next generation of film artists?

Ever wonder if you are on the right track to finding your way as a creative filmmaker?

Ever wonder if something lies beyond the Independent filmmaking world and its 25-year old genres and formulas?

Still chasing that elusive dream?

It is time to get you back in touch with your creative instincts and discover a way to really move your film career forward.

While technology is in your favor to help you make your film, do you really understand how to create complex and indelible images that will help bring attention to your new film? What sets Almodovar, Antonioni, Bergman, Coppola, Fellini, Hitchcock, Scorsese and Tarantino’s ability to visualize apart from yours?

Believe us when we say it’s not money!

Before you finish that script…before you shoot that film…take this one of a kind, extremely motivating film aesthetics seminar that is designed to empower you with greater artistic knowledge of how to achieve the visual and aural potential of cinema.

Film festival programmer and film consultant Thomas Ethan Harris addresses why it is important for new filmmakers to think more deeply and more creatively about the construction of their images and the necessity of creating a more intricate, complex and personally realized cinema. Moving beyond the most basic forms of cinematic language is essential to having the film career you want. Learning how to effectively embrace and understand the functionality of the primary "visualizing components" of great cinematic construction (the close-up, the long take, mise-en scene, color schemes, film editing styles, sound design, production design…) is critical to establishing yourself in the U.S.’s crowded film arena.

The experience of watching over 16,000 independent feature films from emerging filmmakers (and even more shorts!) has given Mr. Harris unique insight into the contemporary world of independent filmmaking and the reasons why you must transcend it!

Film clips will be used to inspire an open dialogue with the audience.

For most emerging filmmakers, the goal of launching a film on the festival circuit begins with one ultimate dream: SUNDANCE! But what lies beyond Sundance for you and your film? In this interactive forum/discussion/ seminar, presented just in time for "festival season," film festival programmer/film consultant Thomas Ethan Harris offers filmmakers practical skills to navigating the world of film festivals to maximum effect.

What are the most significant film festivals and showcases you should be considering right now before that ultimate Sundance dream fades and you are stuck with a very good film and no place to show it?

Topics to be discussed will include:

A survey of both the world's and the United States' most important film festivals.

A breakdown and discussion of what particular film festival's are looking for and what individual festivals respond to as they build their yearly list of selected films. (The genres, tones, filmic styles, running times that most interest individual film festivals.)

How to strategize the best festival release for your particular film.

The growing importance of community and genre film festivals to your film.

The design and importance of your film's press kit and key art.

The where, whens and hows of submitting your film.

A list of film festivals to AVOID and why!

AND...

Secret "insider tips" on submitting your film to help you get selected!

Thomas Ethan Harris has served as the Director Of Programming for numerous organizations and non-profits including the Los Angeles Film Festival, the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films and the Palm Springs Cultural Center where he currently serves as Artistic Director. The experience of overseeing these selection committees has given Harris a unique insight into the contemporary world of film festivals.

Whether you are currently submitting your film to festivals or whether you are in production on your film or even if you are just prepping your first film, EVERYONE is encourage to attend this insightful, stimulating and empowering discussion of film festivals and film festival release strategizing.

Thomas Ethan Harris Biography

From 1996-2002 Thomas served as Director of Programming/Co-Creator of the highly regarded Los Angeles Film Festival (LAFF). Under his guidance, the Los Angeles Film Festival introduced such films as THE CRUISE (Artisan), THE CHATEAU (IFC), DEAD MAN (Miramax), GEORGE WASHINGTON (Cowboy), KAATERSKILL FALLS (IFC), BETTER LIVING THROUGH CIRCUITRY (Palm Pictures), THE LIFESTYLE (Sony Classics) and KISSING JESSICA STEIN (Fox Searchlight). He is credited with having introduced to the film world such acclaimed contemporary filmmakers as Academy Award nominee Bennett Miller (CAPOTE), New York Film Critics Circle Prize Winner, David Gordan Green (ALL THE REAL GIRLS), Charles Wurmfeld (KISSING JESSICA STEIN) and Thomas Bezucha (THE FAMILY STONE). Also in 1995, Mr. Harris founded (with Margot Gerber) and programmed the American Cinematheque's critically acclaimed, on-going screening series, THE ALTERNATIVE SCREEN. The Alternative Screen, which celebrated its 10th Anniversary in 2005, focuses on cinema that is more expressive in its narrative dimensions and more formally challenging than most American film work today. Upon leaving LAFF in late 2002, Mr. Harris was selected as one of Variety's "TOP 10 Industry Professionals to Watch" in the American Independent Film arena. Mr. Harris has served as a jury member to countless film festivals and as the Director Of Programming to both the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films (2003-4) and the Palm Springs Native American and Indigenous Peoples Film Festival (2005-present). Most recently, Mr. Harris has offered his talents as a curator and a consultant/film festival creator to the International Emerging Talent Film Festival in Monte Carlo, Monaco, which had its film festival debut in May 2007. Currently Mr. Harris serves as the co-creator and Artistic Director of the Palm Springs Cultural Center which focuses on emerging talent in all realms of the arts. Since 2003, Mr. Harris has owned and operated his own successful Los Angeles-based consulting business which works closely with a variety of film artists and producers from all over the United States and the international film community in all aspects of film financing, film production, screenwriting, film direction and visualization. Harris' company was founded with the principle that we have yet to see the potential of cinema and we must secure a way for a new generation of film artists and for new filmic expressions. Among his many clients are filmmakers from Argentina, China, England, France, Norway, Uruguay, and the United States and such motion pictures as THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, BIG EDEN, KISSING JESSICA STEIN, ADIOS MOMO, Disney's 2004 Oscar-nominated Salvador Dali/Walt Disney short DESTINO, TWO SOLDIERS, winner of the 2004 Academy Award for "Best Live Action Short Film" and RYAN, winner of the 2005 Academy Award for "Best Animated Short Film."