thenationofartists.com

By Elliot V. Kotek
Oct. 15 2010

Arriving at Heartland (held in Indianapolis, Ind.), for me, is a homecoming. It’s my third time here in the last five years, and they’ve always been fantastic at treating independent filmmakers like big stars. From the limousine airport transfer to accommodations at the grand old Canterbury Hotel and modern Omni, teams visiting the nearby Colts’ stadium have been treated much less favorably.

Tonight’s event at the ArtBox Gallery reflected the major goings-on about town, with original Warhol prints on the walls (anyone got a spare $50k?) and some pretty great local artists from the Standard Recording label performing live.

For those of you in the area, put the following in your calendar: the Heartland Film Institute workshops. Some great filmmakers will be talking the process through from funding to feature filmmaking. I’ll be hosting a workshop on “Funding, Making & Marketing Your Movie Using Social Media.” I’ll also be on the lunch panel, and can’t wait to see what comes up.

Better get to nod-land; going to check out a shorts program first thing in the a.m.

Also, if you get a chance, check out the Truly Moving Pictures screening of “Conviction” on Oct. 19 — the film’s a triumphant tearjerker. And you can also check out Moving Pictures’ conversations with the film’s cast and director from Toronto:
Director Tony Goldwyn and star Minnie Driver
Stars Sam Rockwell and Juliette Lewis
Stars Juliette Lewis and Melissa Leo
Writer Pamela Gray

Hoping to post a video blog “vlog” tomorrow! Perhaps the first of many; we’ll see how it goes.

Until soon, Elliot