POST PRODUCTION JOURNAL

THE LOST CITY OF NEW YORK
(see "The Frozen Archive" by Paul Allman in the March/April issue of Film Comment)

After six months on the road at various film festivals, EvenHand is finally coming to my home town, New York City. For those of you who have not been subject to our ruthless self-promotion, please make note that EvenHand will screen at the Tribeca Film Festival next week. For dates & times consult the Tribeca Film Festival page.

The Tribeca Film Festival sprung, almost literally, from the ashes of the World Trade Center disaster in the spring of last year. It's rise to the top of the festival world was unprecedented in so short a time. This year it promises to further revitalize downtown New York and I am immensely proud to be a part of it.

Tribeca is doing so much better than it was even a year ago. I remember going to a screening at the Tribeca Film Center in late 2001 and the smell of the World Trade Center site even permeated the interior of the theater. Julie and I went to a local Tribeca restaurant for dinner that evening and we were the only customers all night. Now, it is once again teeming with people, although there are still reminders of what happened, not least of which is the enormous 16 acre hole in the ground.

The Subway entrance across the street from the
World Trade Center site, still forlornly broken and closed

I found out yesterday, upon returning from three days of the dreaded jury duty, that EvenHand's first Tribeca screening on 5/08 is already sold out. Awesome. The second screening on 5/09 is in a bigger theater and is during the day, so I expect there will still be tickets available over the next few days. But, the festival is doing an amazing promotional job -- there are TV spots, ads in the papers and magazines and even on bus shelters for gosh's sake.

We have also assembled an excellent team to support the film (and the director). Doing publicity is Rachel Goldstein of Goldstein Communications. She came recommended by Rachel Sheedy, Bill Sage's agent. So far, she has proved herself to be a veritable dynamo of activity.

Another recent addition to the team is Andrew Herwitz of the Film Sales Co. Andrew has signed on as a producer's representative for the film. He worked for six years as co-head of acquisitions at Miramax and certainly knows the selling game. As an indie filmmaker, just getting a producer's rep to answer the phone is a challenge. Signing with one means they believe that the film will sell -- excellent news for the broke director, eager to share his work with the world (or some tiny portion thereof). Detailed contact information for Rachel and Andrew can be found on the Publicity, Press & Sales page.

Another new colleague is Sukee Chew of Hopscotch Pictures. Sukee has agreed to sign on as my manager. She has great energy and enthusiasm for EvenHand and its director and I am very excited to be working with her.

Memphis
As you may or may not know, Jon and I were invited by the Memphis Film Forum to screen Cherry as a kick-off event to promote their nascent film festival. The MFF is now in its fourth year and we were pleased to be invited back. The festival was pretty laid-back, but the quality of the work seemed to be pretty high for a smaller festival. Two features that Jon and I both really liked were Kwik Stop and Outpatient. The EvenHand screening went well, although we didn't have as big a crowd as I had hoped. The enthusiasm ran high, however, and we were lucky enough to meet Debbie and her two daughters, Roz and Scarlet, the unofficial co-captains of the EvenHand fan club. The girls are now sporting complimentary "Fat Cop" tank tops, causing quite a stir in local law enforcement and among the boys in general.

Here's Joseph, Scarlet, Jon & Debbie at the Gibson party in Memphis

Dallas (USA) and Nashville
I did not attend either of these festivals, due to conflicts. Bill Sage and Fernando Cano, our producer, both attended the USA Festival in Dallas and reported that the screenings went very well. While at Tribeca I met Steve Bognar, the director of Gravel, the short film that played with EvenHand in Nashville. He said the film was very well received there, too.

Please visit the Film Festival page to see the upcoming festival schedule. In addition to Tribeca, Evenhand will screen in Atlanta, Newport and Edinburgh.

- Joseph Pierson