Anchorage International Film Festival 2018

Back by Popular Demand AIFF 2018 opens with a series of short films (narrative, animation and documentary), including Juck [Thrust], Untitled Groping Revenge Fairytale and Wild Woman! 




Capture your night with Photo Emporium Alaska and walk the red carpet at the BearTooth Theatrepub while DJ Remax Music & Lighting gets the night started. $20 General Admission, Included with AIFF Pass.




AIFF Opening Night After-party at Matanuska Brewing Company, Anchorage w/ live music by the B-49s! Come dance the night away after our screening! 


Blue - Made in Alaska
Directed by Aly Nicklas

Blue is a fantastical journey into a young girl’s imagination. Our character is a four-year-old growing up in Valdez, Alaska. Fresh off training wheels, she begins to push her boundaries and explore what’s possible on her bike, her eyes naturally drifting to the mountains. We dive into the world of her fantasy and explore the mountains, glaciers and rivers of Valdez by fat bike with a crew of boundary-pushing female athletes hailing from Alaska and beyond.

Inga - Documentary Short
Directed by Uffe Mulvad
Country of Origin - Denmark

"Through her memoirs, Inga reflects about love, old age and death. We are invited into her home, as she doing her morning rituals and baths in the cold lake. The short portrait shows in artistic and intimate pictures, a day in a life, how it's like being old and what it means for Inga."

Wild Woman - Animation / Made in Alaska
Directed by Vanessa Sweet

Wild Woman is an animated poem to mankind which invokes current world issues such as drone-strikes and religious persecution in a plea for empathy. Scenes transform and melt as the animator also explores her personal struggle of becoming a mother and identifying as such in our current social and political climate.

Mini Miss - Documentary Short
Directed by Rachel Daisy Ellis
Country of Origin - Brazil

Filmed entirely from the perspective of a 4 year old, five young girls compete to be crowned Mini Miss Baby Brasil. The film provides a unique insight into early childhood experiences and children’s innate capacity for resistance in a world dominated by adult norms & desires.

A Field Guide to Being A 12-Year-Old Girl - Documentary Short
Directed by Tilda Cobham-Hervey
Country of Origin - Australia

This is a film about 12-year-old girls, made by 12-year-old girls, for 12-year-old girls, or anyone that has been a 12-year-old girl, or will be a 12-year-old girl, or wishes they were a 12-year-old girl.

Enough | The Story of the Empowered Women of Korogocho - Documentary Short
Directed by Brent Foster
Country of Origin - Canada

Beatrice Nyariara lives in Korogocho. It's widely considered to be Nairobi's most dangerous slum.
More than 150,000 people are packed into the shanty town which is less than two square kilometers.
Crime is high. Gangs are active. Addiction is rampant.
A while back, men in her community started to attack the 'grandmothers' of Korogocho at night. Most of the women attacked are sexually assaulted, and some have been killed. The men believe that the elder women were less likely to be HIV positive. They also saw them as vulnerable.
A few years ago, Beatrice decided enough was enough. It was time to fight back. It was time to develop a community.
The result of that decision empowered the group, and taught their community to respect them, value them, and to know how to be there for them.

Together, they are taking back Korogocho.

Juck [Thrust] - Documentary Short
Directed by Olivia Kastebring
Country of Origin - Sweden

Juck is a 17-minute film which is a hybrid between documentary, dance and fiction. The film depicts the all female dance group JUCK who made a name for themselves in 2013 with a video that became a viral hit all over the world. The word “juck” is Swedish for “hump” and their groundbreaking appearance pushed the boundaries for how we are used to seeing the female body. JUCK questions the positions of object and subject. They provoke, inspire and break norms. The film poses the question: what is femininity?

Under Mom's Skirt - Narrative Short
Directed by Sarah de Chabaneix
Country of Origin - France

A young woman goes with her mother for a routine medical check-up, but this appointment will provide way too much information for her to handle… Some things should remain private, right?

Streakers - Narrative Short
Directed by Brielle Brilliant
Country of Origin - USA

A little girl decides to become a Streaker to distract from her sister's violent behavior.

**These films are in no particular order

Opening Night continues with live music by Alaskas own B-49s! 

Dipper Donuts is our official sponsor for the 2018 Filmmaker Meet and Greet. Stop by, meet our visiting filmmakers, grab a cup of coffee and an amazing donut! Hang out, make plans for the week to come, and share your stories!

If you were slacking and didnt get your tickets to the AK Filmmakers 5-Day Film Royal, head down to the new Carousel Lounge, and party the night away with Ukulele Russ! The new Carousel Lounge is an old Alaskan favorite with a new face. Hang out with our visiting filmmakers, and show them a warm welcome!

Description: Ida and John have seen the film festival universe from just about every angle. And you don't run, work at, screen at, program for, and attend over 40 festivals without picking up a few useful nuggets along the way. Have you ever had any of these questions: How do I pick which festivals to submit to? How do I prepare for a festival? When should I show up and what do I bring?  How do I promote my film and get press? What are the festivals looking for, and how do they pick the films? In this workshop, we will try to answer this for you, and all your other burning questions we can fit into 90 (or 120) minutes.

Ida bio:
Ida Theresa Myklebost is a Norwegian-American film director and journalist based in New York City.

Ida's started out as a reporter and host for the alternative and rebellious radio station RadiOrakel (the world's very first feminist radio station), and ended up at Norway's largest TV-stations, NRK and TV2, where she covered international news and politics.

Though a journalist at heart, Ida eventually wanted to go beyond state news, statistics and numbers, and explore the human stories in more depth. She wanted to hear their stories. In 2017 she debuted as a filmmaker with "Unwelcome". The award-winning short documentary has now been to over 30 film festivals around the world, and Ida has spent the last year and a half on the road with John traveling to as many of these as possible.
Ida is also a programmer for Anchorage International Film Festival and Portland Film Festival.


John bio:
John Gamache is a filmmaker and the Associate Director of the Woods Hole Film Festival in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Prior to that he served as the Facility Coordinator at a local community TV station on Cape Cod, and before that as the Civic Theatre Coordinator of the Knutzen Family Theatre in Federal Way, WA.

The Woods Hole Film Festival is a 28-year-old film festival located in the seaside village of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. It is one of the oldest festival in New England and consistently ranked as one of the top film festivals in North America by MovieMaker Magazine as well as being named one of the Top 10 Summer Events in Massachusetts by Yankee Magazine for the past two years.

John is also an independent filmmaker and video producer on Cape Cod, working predominantly for several non-profit organizations. He was also included in Cape Cod Magazines’s list of 10 People to Watch in 2018.

 
BIO
Shellea Loutsis-Allen has spent her life fighting for social justice working to bridge the collective powers of the film community and the labor movement.Shellea is the Executive Director of SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) in the Pacific Northwest. 
SAG-AFTRA is the labor union that represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, and singers. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. 
Shellea enjoys spending time in the great outdoors of the Pacific Northwest skiing, scuba diving, surfing and of course fighting for economic justice and equality! 
 
Introduction to SAG-AFTRA Low Budget and New Media Contracts.
 
As the media landscape continues to evolve and grow in new directions, our union contracts are changing to meet this new reality. This workshop is a great opportunity to join other industry professionals and brush up on the terms and conditions of the various SAG-AFTRA agreements including the Student Film Agreement, Short Film Agreement, Ultra Low Budget Agreement and Special New Media Agreement, as well as new regional contracts for commercials and corporate/educational.
 

Are you wanting to learn screenwriting? This session is for you. It will cover the industry basics to get started with screenwriting. A screenwriting panel and pitch fest will follow the session.

Two screenwriters will lead the discussion.

Geoff Marslett is a director, writer, producer, animator and actor. His career started with the punk rock animated short Monkey vs. Robot before directing two narrative films MARS and Loves Her Gun, as well as producing on and acting in the experimental feature documentary Yakona. He has appeared onscreen in films like Thou Wast Mild and Lovely and Tombstone Rashomon. He currently resides in Austin, Texas, Boulder, Colorado and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania splitting his time between filmmaking and teaching. His work has won awards at numerous festivals including SXSW and IndieMemphis; and he was named one of Filmmaker Magazines 25 New Filmmakers to Watch in 2009. He wrote feature screenplays for MARS and Loves Her Gun. Also wrote shorts The Day Before and The Phantom 52. upcoming feature collaboration with Stevie Salas that will come out next year. He taught screenwriting at UT Austin, CU Boulder and Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. He has a film screening at 9:00 PM tonight in the Late Night Animation program.

Douglass Bourne is a writing instructor at University of Alaska Anchorage. He has written several features and half-hour television scripts. Among his awards are a Best Feature at the West Field Screenwriting Awards. He has served as the program coordinator for the Anchorage International Film Festival Screenplay Contest for the last three years. In addition to screenwriting, his essays and poetry have appeared in McSweeney's and other magazines. He has also served as poetry editor and nonfiction editor to national and regional magazines and contests. 

Following the crash course in screenwriting, several screenwriters and directors will discuss screenwriting craft (cinematic storytelling), finding production, and help members of the audience refine ideas or projects into a pitch.

Panelists will include:
Receiving his BA degree in film studies from the Ohio State University in 2009, Turkish/American filmmaker Nafi Ayvaci focused on “International Screenwriting” with lectures and instruction by Disney writer Andy Rose. After 2 years of TV production experience in New York City, Ayvaci finalized his first short film, “Leke”, which was nominated for the Best Short Film Award in 49th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival. Ayvaci currently continues his commercial, film and script work in Pittsburgh, PA, while pursuing an MFA degree in Writing for the Screen and Stage from Point Park University. His script “Where the Light Enters” is currently a finalist in Anchorage International Film Festival’s Screenplay Competition.

Geoff Marslett is a director, writer, producer, animator and actor. His career started with the punk rock animated short Monkey vs. Robot before directing two narrative films MARS and Loves Her Gun, as well as producing on and acting in the experimental feature documentary Yakona. He has appeared onscreen in films like Thou Wast Mild and Lovely and Tombstone Rashomon. He currently resides in Austin, Texas, Boulder, Colorado and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania splitting his time between filmmaking and teaching. His work has won awards at numerous festivals including SXSW and IndieMemphis; and he was named one of Filmmaker Magazines 25 New Filmmakers to Watch in 2009. He wrote feature screenplays for MARS and Loves Her Gun. Also wrote shorts The Day Before and The Phantom 52. upcoming feature collaboration with Stevie Salas that will come out next year. He taught screenwriting at UT Austin, CU Boulder and Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. He has a film screening at 9:00 PM tonight in the Late Night Animation program.

JODY ELLIS is a screenwriter/freelance writer with more than 15 years experience in the writing industry. A lifetime Alaskan, her scripts have regularly placed in contests and generated interest from industry executives. Her screenplay "Pipeline' took third place at the Anchorage International Film Festival in 2016, and her short script, “The Date”, recently won first place at the 2018 Portland Comedy Film Festival. Her feature screenplay, “Domestic Violence” was just optioned by Nasser Entertainment for production in 2019.

BRYAN ALLEN FIERRO holds a BA in writing from The University of Colorado and an MFA in fiction from Pacific University in Oregon. The University of Arizona Press published his debut collection of short fiction, Dodger Blue Will Fill Your Soul, in 2016. Fierro is the recipient of the 2013 Poets & Writers Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award in Fiction. He is the recipient of the 2016 Rasmusen Individual Artist Award in Literary/screenplay, and a 2018 Alaska Literary Award recipient.

Douglass Bourne is a writing instructor at University of Alaska Anchorage. He has written several features and half-hour television scripts. Among his awards are a Best Feature at the West Field Screenwriting Awards. He has served as the program coordinator for the Anchorage International Film Festival Screenplay Contest for the last three years. In addition to screenwriting, his essays and poetry have appeared in McSweeney's and other magazines. He has also served as poetry editor and nonfiction editor to national and regional magazines and contests.

As part of the Anchorage International Film Festival, Alaska Teen Media Institute is hosting its annual Youth Film Festival “After School Special.” We’ll screen films directed and produced by Alaska youth (ages 21 and under) on a big screen at a local venue.

This is an incredible opportunity for youth filmmakers to have their work shown on a big screen in front of a live audience, and be a part of an international film festival!

We are now accepting submissions! The deadline to submit is November 26th, 2018.

Films must be under 10 minutes long and have been completed within the last year.
You can submit your film via email or dropbox to news@alaskateenmedia.org. All standard digital file types are acceptable, just make sure they’re HD.
Or you can mail in a DVD or Blu-Ray copy to:
Alaska Teen Media Institute
203 W. 15th Suite 103
Anchorage, AK 99501

Please fill out this Release Form and submit it with your movie.
The screening will take place during the festival, which is November 30th – December 9th, 2018. The exact date, time, and location is TBD. If you have any questions, feel free to email us at news@alaskateenmedia.org or call us at (907) 272-2864.
More updates to come soon!

Come celebrate our 2018 filmmakers and screenwriters with The Anchorage International Film Festival! Doors open at 11:00 and brunch at 11:30. Have a mimosa and spark up a conversation with our visiting filmmakers! Organic Oasis is catering with sweet treats from Sweet Caribou! We will be announcing our jury winners as well as our audience choice! The cost is $10 for passholders or $20 without a pass.