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The Us in Progress market begins tomorrow. I fly to Wroclaw, Poland, in a few hours. Translation: I am frantically packing, burning DVDs, and researching European distribution companies.

An Introduction: I’m a longtime film worker and first-time filmmaker. I’m in the final stages of finishing my first feature. I’m 33 years old, I have two daughters, and I live in central Pennsylvania. For over 12 years I have been a full-time alchemist attempting to fuse well-rounded family life with a career in film. This is an uncertain science and the results have been inconclusive. But A Song Still Inside, my current project, is my most dedicated experiment to date, one that served as an accelerant in my own experience as an ambitious filmmaker, father, and partner.

Assi, so says our tagline, is about a stay-at-home father struggling in the shadow of his wife’s success. That’s mostly true.

Us in Progress in Wrocław Poland is the only international event I know of which awards American independent films in post-production with cash awards worth Us$ 40,000 and distribution support. This two-day works-in-progress event is targeted to European buyers and as such gives American independent filmmakers the chance to expand their horizons when looking for financing and international distribution.

The event takes place during the third American Film Festival in Wrocław, Poland on November 14-16. It shows a selection of U.S. independent films seeking completion funding to a group of European buyers, programmers and post-production companies in a series of closed screenings.

Titles selected for this year’s edition are: I Used To Be Darker by Matt Porterfield (prod. Steve Holmgren & Ryan Zacharias), Milkshake by David Andalman (prod. Vinay Singh), Bluebird by Lance Edmands (prod. Kyle Martin) which was in both the Sundance Creative Producing Lab and the Directing Lab, A Song Still Inside by Gregory Collins (prod. Patricia Beaury & Rodrigo Lopresti) and two Ifp Labs titles: Cantuckee by Kimberly Levin (prod. Kurt Pitzer), Hide Your Smiling Faces by Daniel Carbone (prod. Matthew Petock).

Around 25 key European buyers will attend the event, among them Wild Bunch (France), Artificial Eye (U.K.), The Works (U.K.), Reel Suspects (France), Sophie Dulac Distribution (France), Imagine Film (Belgium), Gutek Film and Polsat . Programmers from Berlin, Cannes and Locarno Film Festivals will also be present.

The projects will have a chance to find a world sales agent and distributor as well as secure post-production partners at the event. A jury made of professionals will award one of the works in progress with a package of post-production services from partner companies including Di service worth $10,000.00 at Platige Image, a leading Polish post-production and special effects company, up to 150 hours of sound editing or soundtrack at Warsaw-based Soundflower Studio worth $10,000.00, post-production services by the Krakow-based Alvernia Studios worth up to $10.000. Another award will contribute to the promotion and distribution of a film provided by DCinex (Dcp worth $5,000), Vsi Paris (subtitling), Europa Distribution and Cicae, the Confederation of Arthouse Cinemas. One producer will also receive free registration at Producers Network, an exclusive network of Meet-and-Greet, during Cannes Marche du Film.

Us in Progress Wrocław (formerly Gotham in Progress) was started in 2011 in Wrocław, Poland by the New Horizons Association and Black Rabbit Film. In 2012, the event expanded to Paris, where it was part of Sophie Dulac’s Champs-Elysées Film Festival. 2011 Wrocław edition’s success stories include Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin’s Now, Forager: a Film About Love and Fungi which went on to Rotterdam Film Festival, New Directors/New Films and is now in U.S. distribution via Argot Pictures. Roger Ebert says, "***½ The images of wild mushrooms by Cortlund himself and the shots of food prep by cinematographer Jonathan Nastasi, approach art. Now, Forager is an uncompromising film about two people who don't deserve each other...." The title was sold for distribution to 8 other countries by New Europe Film Sales.

Amy Seimetz' Sun Don’t Shine won the Jury Award at SXSW and played in Edinburgh Iff. Patricia Benoit's Stones in the Sun played Tribeca and won Best New Narrative Director and Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival. Us in Progress Us$ 60,000 prize winner, Devyn Waitt’s Not Waving But Drowning has Sarasota Ff and was picked up for world sales by Premium Films. The winning film of the Paris edition, Champs Elysees Film Festival, was A Teacher by Hannah Fidell.

Us in Progress runs concurrently with the American Film Festival which will be honoring Wes Anderson whose Moonrise Kingdom will have its Polish premiere and Jerry Schatzberg, the legendary director and accomplished photographer who will receive the annual Indie Star award, given by the festival to helmers of American independent cinema (first one given to Todd Solondz in 2011). The festival will screen his most important films including Puzzle of a Downfall Child, The Panic in Needle Park and Scarecrow.

Formerly going by the workshop title of Gotham in Progress, Poland’s third American Film Festival’s Us in Progress Wrocław (2 day event) will see six new U.S. indie projects currently in post-prod from the likes of helmers we’ve profiled here on the site in Matt Porterfield (see still above for I Used To Be Darker) and Lance Edmands. The fest which runs next month (Nov 13-18) attracts several European buyers and fest programmers from Berlin, Cannes and Locarno, and don’t be surprised if we end up profiling a handful of these titles in Park City next January.

A Song Still Inside by Gregory Collins (prod. Patricia Beaury & Rodrigo Lopresti)

Mike is an actor. Or he used to be. Or he still could be. Except Maggie is also an actor, and a more successful one at that. As Maggie books bigger and bigger roles – and works longer...

Grzegorz Jonkajtys is one of the most exciting new directors working today. From the incredible post apocalyptic short The Ark which was an official selection selection at Cannes a few years back, to his short Legacy his visions never fail to impress.

Jonkajtys is one of those directors you keep an eye on because they always do their own thing and you just know they're going to deliver something incredible. His newest short, the dystopian and decidedly apocalyptic The 3rd Letter (formerly 36 Stairs) is nothing short of amazing.

Synopsis:

Set against a polluted, megalopolis world, the tragic tale of Jeffrey Brief (Rodrigo Lopresti) unfolds; faced with the imminent loss of his crucial health insurance, Brief unwittingly unravels the dark truth behind population control that pushes him to unspeakable lengths.

Obvious questions are when will Jonkajtys move to features and what's he got in store for us next? Well, we know...

I first met Zak Mulligan through my Dp Sean Donnelly a few years back. After a bit of back and forth on the merits of Kickstarter, I helped him with a little production design on his first feature, and we became fast friends and supporters of each others work. Zak and his directing partner Rodrigo Lopresti were recent participants of Ifp’s Independent Filmmaker Labs with their first feature film I’m not me. Zak also won the Best Cinematography award at Sundance last year for his work on the film Obselidia. He’s here to talk a bit about the advantages of staying small.

Picture this: Two guys with a camera, a rental car, and an afternoon to kill. The duo take a drive out of New York City with no particular destination in mind, possessing only the vaguest of ideas and a desire to shoot something… Anything.

For those in Seattle, your in luck. The 2nd edition of the The Maelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival is this coming weekend (September 17th - 19th) and has not only a few films to satisfy, but a couple we really love.

Our own agentorange called Adam Mason's Blood River, which will be playing, a tour-de-force. You can read our review here..

A Serbian Film may have run into a few problems elsewhere, but play here in the states is never an issue.

You can check out further details and buy tickets off the official website.

Full lineup after the break.

Blood River

USA - Director Adam Mason - 104 min

A newlywed couple are pushed to the limit during a chance encounter with a mysterious drifter in a deserted ghost town.

Mørke Sjeler (Dark Souls)

Norway, France - Directors César Ducasse, Mathieu Peteul - 97 min

A revengeful father embarks on...

Ifp have announced the lucky ten projects that have been selected to participate in this year’s narrative edition of Independent Filmmaker Labs, which officially started yesterday. Among the selected projects, we find a couple we've already been tracking and will probably be seeing this coming January in Park City. We have Dee Rees' Pariah, Andrew Dosunmu's Restless City, the much anticipated Yelling To The Sky from Victoria Mahoney and I'm adding Brady Kiernan's Stuck Between Stations as a film to watch out for. - Ifp have announced the lucky ten projects that have been selected to participate in this year’s narrative edition of Independent Filmmaker Labs, which officially started yesterday. Among the selected projects, we find a couple we've already been tracking and will probably be seeing this coming January in Park City. We have Dee Rees' Pariah, Andrew Dosunmu's Restless City,...

Ifp have announced the lucky ten projects that have been selected to participate in this year’s narrative edition of Independent Filmmaker Labs, which officially started yesterday. Among the selected projects, we find a couple we've already been tracking and will probably be seeing this coming January in Park City. We have Dee Rees' Pariah, Andrew Dosunmu's Restless City, the much anticipated Yelling To The Sky from Victoria Mahoney and I'm adding Brady Kiernan's Stuck Between Stations as a film to watch out for. The 2010 Labs include an initial five days of workshops that assist filmmakers with the technical, creative and strategic advice needed to complete their films; a Strategy & Networking Lab following in September with specialized workshops on web building, sales & marketing and audience building, as well as pre-scheduled meetings for the projects with potential buyers, funders and festival programmers during Ifp’s Independent Film Week...

We've been in touch with Grzegorz Jonkajtys, the creator of the incredible post apocalyptic short The Ark which was an official selection selection at Cannes a few years back, for a while now, and while we recently posted his short short Legacy, we knew he had something incredible in store for us.. which we just got word on.

36 Steps is his new live action/cgi blended short which will run roughly 30 minutes and involves a dystopic vision of the future where humanity depends on bio-mechanical alterations to withstand the deteriorating climate, and it's nothing short of stunning. If only it was a feature.. someone give this dude money!

Synopsis:

Set against a polluted, megalopolis world, the tragic tale of Jeffrey Brief (Rodrigo Lopresti) unfolds; faced with the imminent loss of his crucial health insurance, Brief unwittingly unravels the dark truth behind population control that pushes him to unspeakable lengths.

Trailer after the break.