#NFF17 Films in Awards Season

It's here again - awards season! You may have noticed a few of your favorite films from #NFF17 (as well as NFF alums and upcoming NFF Now films)  making the rounds. Kicking things off on January 11 were the Cinema Eye Honors, last Sunday, February 17th were the BAFTAs, the Film Independent Spirit Awards are coming up on March 3, and the 90th Academy Awards are the following day on March 4. Take a look below at the nominees and winners so far, and cheer on your favorite #NFF17 films next weekend!

THE BIG SICK

Cinema Eye Honors (Outstanding Achievements in Documentary Film):

Nominee: Outstanding Achievement in Editing
Lindsay Utz for QUEST

Nominee: Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Films Made for Television
THE KEEPERS

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BAFTAs (British Academy Film Awards): 

Nominee: Outstanding British Film and Adapted Screenplay
THE DEATH OF STALIN (March NFF Now film)

Nominee: Documentary
CITY OF GHOSTS
AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL

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 Film Independent Spirit Awards:

Nominee: Best First Feature
MENASHE
PATTI CAKE$
WINNER: INGRID GOES WEST

Nominee: Best First Screenplay
David Branson Smith and Matt Spicer for INGRID GOES WEST
WINNER: Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjani for THE BIG SICK

Nominee: Best Male Lead
Harris Dickinson for BEACH RATS

Nominee: Best Documentary
MOTHERLAND
QUEST

Nominee: Best Supporting Female
Holly Hunter for THE BIG SICK
Lois Smith for MARJORIE PRIME

Nominee: Best Cinematography
Hélène Louvart for BEACH RATS

WINNER: JEEP TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
QUEST

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Academy Awards:

Nominee: Writing, Original Screenplay
Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjani for THE BIG SICK

Nominee: Short Film, Animated
Dave Mullins and Dana Murray for LOU

Five Questions With... Geremy Jasper, Writer/Director of PATTI CAKE$ and New Voices in Screenwriting Award Recipient

First-time writer/director Geremy Jasper—a musician and past music video director—showcases his music chops in this brash and bombastic story of unlikely MC Patti “Killa P” Dombrowski. In working-class “dirty Jersey,” Patti and her best friend and music partner, Hareesh, dream of escaping their dead-end jobs and pursuing their dreams of hip-hop superstardom. When they meet reclusive Goth newcomer Basterd, he provides the missing link to elevate their sound. Breakout talent Danielle Macdonald plays Patti with the magnetism and stage presence of a seasoned recording artist, matched by the prodigious talents of Bridget Everett as Patti’s disillusioned mother, who saw her own aspirations of stardom pass by long ago.

Geremy Jasper, who will also be recognized with the New Voices in Screenwriting Award at the Screenwriters Tribute on Friday, June 23, gave us a few minutes of his time to chat about PATTI CAKE$. Take a look below, and join us for the only screening on Saturday, June 24 at 2:45pm!

NFF: How did your background in music and music videos affect or influence your use of light and sound/music in the film?

Geremy: Hmmm. The film encompasses two worlds - an objective rough & raw Jersey reality and Patti’s subjective fantasy world. These two different worlds are lit differently and sound different. One is very natural, minimal lighting and “real” sounding while the other is bold, colorful and kaleidoscopic. My DP Fede Cesca and I were not shy in pushing more color and more smoke into a fantasy scenes. My music video background gave me a love for and vivid colors and surrealism but also a handle on how to capture musical performances that feel dynamic and visceral.  It’s magic catching a song on film. 

I wrote around 25 original songs for the film, so sound was a major focus in how things were shot, edited and mixed. There a many performances that needed to feel raw and authentic and at other times take over the film almost like score.

NFF: Can you talk a little about casting, and how you found the incredible Danielle Macdonald?

Geremy: The character of Patti Dombrowski is so specific physically, emotionally, and musically that it was going to take someone incredibly special and gifted to play her. Luckily my producer Noah remembered Dani from a small role she had in a film called The East. She looked IDENTICAL to the image of Patti I had in my brain so she joined me in Utah for the Sundance Director’s Lab even though she was Australian and had never rapped before in her life. She’s so brilliant and hard working it didn't faze me so we spent the next 2 years training her to rap while developing the character. Dani carries the film on her shoulders and I think she should win every award on the planet.  

NFF: Tell us a little about your inspiration for the film. Do you have a connection to New Jersey?

Geremy: I grew up a chubby blonde, hip hop loving kid from suburban Jersey who filled secret notebooks with endless rhymes. At 23 I was stuck living in my parent’s basement working crappy jobs while nursing an unbelievable hunger to move to NYC and be a musician. I was also raised around big, sarcastic Jersey women who were always called “The Boss” as in you wanted / needed something, “Go ask the Boss.” All this got mixed up into what would become the world of PATTI CAKE$. 

NFF: Are there directors (or musicians) whose style or body of work have influenced you as a filmmaker?

Geremy: Oh yes, they all seem to be named BOB: Bob Dylan, Bob Fosse, Bob Redford, and Bobby Digital (AKA The RZA from WuTang).

NFF: Why are you excited to screen in Nantucket, and what do you hope Nantucket audiences take away?

Geremy: Growing up in Jersey my family used to spend summer vacation at a trailer park in the Poconos (no joke) and to me the idea of “Nantucket” seemed like a mythic East Coast paradise - as well as well as a wonderful word for limericks. This’ll be my first time on the island & I couldn't be more excited. My hope is that the audience will be transported into an exotic blue collar fantasia and will be dancing in the aisles. 

Nick Broomfield Will Receive Special Achievement In Documentary Storytelling Award

Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield will be presented with the Special Achievement in Documentary Storytelling Award at #NFF17. The BAFTA-winning filmmaker is best known for his celebrated work spanning over forty years, including Kurt & Courtney, Biggie and Tupac, Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, Tales of the Grim Sleeper, and The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife. His latest documentary Whitney: Can I Be Me, co-directed with Rudi Dolezal, tells the story of Whitney Houston's extraordinary life and tragic death.

Broomfield studied film at the National Film School, after discovering his love for photography on a foreign exchange visit in France at the age of 15.

He made his first film Who Cares about Slum Clearance in Liverpool, while at University, by borrowing a wind up Bolex camera, and shooting it on short ends. Professor Colin Young at the NFS had a great influence on his work encouraging participant observation, as well as introducing him to Joan Churchill. Together Joan and Nick made several films, Juvenille Liaison, Tattooed Tears, Soldier Girls, Lily Tomlin, and more recently Aileen: The Life and Death of a Serial Killer. They also have a son together.

Broomfield was originally influenced by the observational style of Fred Wiseman, and Robert Leacock and Pennebaker, before moving on largely by accident to the more idiosyncratic style for which he is better known. While making Driving me Crazy, Nick decided to place himself and the producer of the film in the story, as a way of making sense of the event.

This experiment led to a sense of greater freedom, from the confines of observational cinema, and led to a more investigative and experimental type of filmmaking. ie The Leader, the Driver and the Drivers Wife, Aileen Wuornos, Kurt and Courtney, and Biggie and Tupac.

He is the recipient of the following prestigious awards, among others: Sundance first prize, British Academy Award, Prix Italia, Dupont Peabody Award, Grierson Award, Hague Peace Prize, and the Amnesty International Doen Award.

Join us at the Screenwriters Tribute on June 23 to celebrate Nick Broomfield's extraordinary career!

#NFF17 Creative Impact in Television Writing Award Announced

This year's Creative Impact in Television Writing Award, presented at the Screenwriters Tribute, will go to partners Jeffrey Klarik and David Crane.

David Crane is the co-creator with Jeffrey Klarik of the four-time Emmy-nominated Showtime series Episodes, starring Matt LeBlanc, which is about to launch its fifth and final season. For their work on Episodes, Crane and Klarik have received four Emmy nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. They also shared two Writers Guild of America nominations for Episodes, as well as a BAFTA nomination for Best Situation Comedy and two Golden Globe nominations for Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy. David is best known as the co-creator of the long-running comedy series Friends, for which he won numerous awards including an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. David also co-created the Kirstie Alley comedy Veronica’s Closet, The Powers That Be starring John Forsythe, David Hyde Pierce and Holland Taylor, and the much-beloved HBO series, Dream On, for which he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. With Jeffrey Klarik, David also co-created the award-wining CBS comedy The Class, starring an ensemble that included Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Lizzy Kaplan and Jon Bernthal.

Jeffrey Klarik has been a writer and producer in television for over 25 years. Jeffrey directed all seven episodes of the final season of Episodes. He also created the series Half & Half which ran for four seasons. His work on the hit comedy Mad About You earned him a Golden Globe award as well as an Emmy nomination. He has also written and produced the comedies INK, The Naked Truth, and Dream On.

David and Jeffrey have been partners in life for 28 years.

Join us on June 23rd to celebrate!

The 2016 Adrienne Shelly Foundation Recipient Announced!!

Every year the Adrienne Shelly Foundation and the Nantucket Film Festival recognize a promising female feature filmmaker with the Adrienne Shelly Foundation Excellence in Filmmaking Award. The awardee receives a $5,000 grant in honor and remembrance of writer, director and actor, Adrienne Shelly and her contributions to film.

This year's recipient is IRENE TAYLOR BRODSKY, director of the feature documentary, BEWARE THE SLENDERMAN. 

Irene is an Oscar-nominated, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker whose documentaries have shown theatrically, at film festivals and on television worldwide. Her first feature film, Hear and Now, a documentary memoir about her deaf parents, won the Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival in 2007, and went on to win numerous Jury and Audience awards around the world, a 2008 Peabody Award, and a nomination for Documentary of the Year by the Producer’s Guild of America.

Irene’s most recent feature film, BEWARE THE SLENDERMAN, is a haunting exploration of an Internet Bogeyman and two 12-year-old girls who attempted to kill for him. BEWARE THE SLENDERMAN will air on HBO in 2016.

Irene has also worked as a journalist with CBS News Sunday Morning, and for 10 years worked as a Himalayan mountain guide. She is graduate of New York University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. She founded the production company Vermilion Films in 2006.

BEWARE THE SLENDERMAN plays the Nantucket Film Festival on June 22 and 23. Irene will be in attendance at both screenings.

NFF Congratulates Oscar-Nominated Filmmakers

Several Festival alums have been honored with Oscar Nominations for the 88th Academy Awards in this morning's announcement.

Best Animated Feature
ANOMALISA (Written/directed by past Screenwriters Tribute honoree, Charlie Kaufman)
INSIDE OUT
SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE

Best Documentary Feature
CARTEL LAND, Matthew Heineman
WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE?, Liz Garbus

Best Foreign Film
THEEB (pictured, NFF Now screening Jan 21!)

Best Original Screenplay
INSIDE OUT

Best Short Film, Animated
BEAR STORY

Best Song
RACING EXTINCTION

Thomas McCarthy, a past Juror for the Festival, is a Best Director nominee for SPOTLIGHT, and receiving 2 nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress is STEVE JOBS, written by NFF 2014 Screenwriters Tribute Honoree, Aaron Sorkin.

The entire list of screenplay nominees are:

Best Adapted Screenplay
BROOKLYN, Nick Hornby
CAROL, Phyllis Nagy
ROOM, Emma Donoghue
THE BIG SHORT, Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
THE MARTIAN, Drew Goddard

Best Original Screenplay
BRIDGE OF SPIES, Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
EX MACHINA, Alex Garland
INSIDE OUT, Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter,
Ronnie del Carmen
SPOTLIGHT, Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff

We also want to congratulate NFF alumni who won awards at last night's annual Cinema Eye Honors, which recognizes outstanding achievements in documentary film:
CARTEL LAND
MERU
THE WOLFPACK
HOTEL 22

NFF Award Winners Announced!

NFF is proud to announce the winners of this year’s Audience Awards: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL for Best Narrative Feature, Ron Davis’ HARRY & SNOWMAN for Best Documentary Feature, and Eric Rockey’s PINK BOY for Best Short. Me and Earl will screen tomorrow at 9:30 am in the Dreamland Main, and Harry & Snowman will follow at 10 am in the Dreamland Studio.

The Audience Award Best Film runner up was animated comedy SHAUN THE SHEEP THE MOVIE, written & directed by Richard Starzak & Mark Burton.

Kristen Dávila’s COUNTERINTELLIGENCE, a political satire set in Pakistan involving the CIA, a budding jihadist group, and an indebted gambler who plays the two off one another in an attempt to save his own neck. Dávila receives $5000 cash prize and one of only four coveted spots to participate in partner organization the Screenwriters Colony month-long writing retreat in October.

The Feature Screenplay Competition jury was comprised of Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Director, The Stanford Prison Experiment; Franklin Leonard, Founder, The Black List; and Nigel M. Smith, Managing Editor, Indiewire.

NFF recognizes the remarkable renaissance on the small screen through two Television Pilot Competitions, one for Hour-Long Pilots and the other for Half-Hour Pilots. Both winners receive a $1000 cash prize, as well as a consultation with a Showtime executive.

The Half-Hour Television Pilot winner is SOLD by Jonathan Schwartz, which is set in a fine-arts auction house.

The Hour-Long Television Pilot winner is ICE by Estella Gabriel, which details the conflicts and violence faced by a border patrol agent.

The Television Pilot Competition jury was comprised of Jacob Fenton, Agent, TV Talent, United Talent Agency; Bob Fisher, Executive Producer/Co-Creator, Sirens; and Cynthia Littleton, Managing Editor, TV, Variety.

The Short Screenplay Competition winner is MORE COW BELL by Andy Nellis, a dark portrait of a farm family. Nellis receives a $500 cash prize.

The winner of the Best Screenwriting in a Short Film Award, given to an exceptional short film featured in this year’s festival, went to writer/director Shaka King and writer Kristan Sprague for MULIGNANS.

The Shorts Competition jury was comprised of New York film critic and author Thelma Adams; Kate Lyn Sheil, Actress, House of Cards & Writer, Men Go to Battle; and Trey Edward Shults, Writer/Director, Krisha.

The Festival’s Teen View Jury Award, selected by a group of Nantucket junior high school students, went to BIRTHDAY, written & directed by Chris King.

Earlier this weekend, the winner of the ninth annual Adrienne Shelly Foundation Excellence in Filmmaking Award was announced, which bestows a cash prize to a female filmmaker in honor of the late director. The award went to director Crystal Moselle for her acclaimed debut documentary, THE WOLFPACK.

Finalists For The 2015 Showtime Tony Cox 60-Minute and 30-Minute TV Competitions

We're pleased to announce the three finalists in our Showtime Tony Cox 60-Minute and 30-Minute TV Competitions. Winners of both competitions will receive a $1000 cash prize, an all access pass to the festival and a consultation with a Showtime programming executive. Thank you to everyone who submitted and stay tuned for the winners!

60-Minute TV Pilots

Kingdom of Fife by D.L. Wright

A decadent story of power, obscene wealth, romantic entanglements and one reputation ruining incident -- involving a sheep.

ICE by Estella Gabriel

ICE is a hard-hitting, character-driven television series in the hyperrealism style of “The Wire” that captures the conflicts, violence, and humanity of the gritty world of the Nogales, Arizona/Mexico border, a volatile region where nothing is as it seems.

Wilde Life by Andrea Janakas

When forensics detective Logan Wilde is transferred from homicide to wildlife after being obsessed with a cold-case that she could not let go of, she finds herself leaving the city to work out of a small lab in Oregon, investigating the billion dollar business of animal trafficking.

30-Minute TV Pilots

On Cloud Nine by Mimi Jeffries

After accepting a bride to attend her twin brother's wedding, a single mother with no real prospects finds herself running her dysfunctional family's wedding planning company, On Cloud Nine.

Dead to Me by Stephanie Westendorf

A late 20s couple finally ends their long-decaying relationship, but when Mira, Damien's ex-girlfriend, suddenly dies and re-appears post-mortem without the ability to leave Damien's side, the pair are once again stuck together.

Sold by Jonathan Schwartz

An art historian begins working at a fine ­arts auction house, where she clashes with the profits­ driven director and high­ society chairman.

Finalists For The 2015 Showtime Tony Cox Short Screenplay Competition

NFF is proud to announce the three finalists for our Showtime Tony Cox Short Screenplay Competition. The winner, to be announced during the festival, will receive a $500 cash prize, an all access pass to attend the fest, and more. Stay tuned, and thanks to everyone who submitted.

Boomerang the Great by Ana Dominick

When her Grandpa dies, a lonely 7-­year-­old girl embarks on a tireless odyssey from the Mojave to Australia to reunite with her estranged Mama.

More Cow Bell by Andy Nellis

On this farm, black eyes and slaughter are what keeps a family together.

Stronghold by Cornelius Murphy

Madison's visit to her father's house reveals a troubling secret from the man she thought she knew.