Mountain Xpress blogger Alli Marshall is helping people follow the progress of Gorilla With a Mustache producers Katie Damien and Lela Winton as they represent our film, “Joint Effort” that won the National Film Challenge in 2013 and was screened at Cannes. For updates click the link below or here.
“Local filmmakers Katie Damien and Lela Winton are part of the Gorilla with a Mustache Films crew heading to the Cannes Film Festival (yes, the one in France) to screen their short comedy, Joint Effort.
The group will be in that glamorous locale, taking in wonderful films, eating French cheese and imbibing champagne and rubbing elbows with celebs, through Sunday, May 25. Damien and Winton will also be sending back updates — e-postcards, if you will. See info on the venue at the bottom of this post, and check back regularly for updates.” (From Alli Marshall’s blog)
A team of Asheville filmmakers recently won big with their film entry in the 2013 National Film Challenge. Their movie,"Joint Effort", won the Best Film award and will go to the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for a special screening.
The movie was the work of Asheville'sGorilla With A Mustache Films,
a five-person team of producers that includes the following: Lela
Winton, Katie Damien, Eruch Adams, Coranna Adams, and Matt Shepard.
Joint Effort is a comedy about a package delivery gone
horribly wrong. For the National Film Challenge, the group had one
weekend to write, shoot, and edit the short film, then present it to the
judges. Joint Effort won other awards. David Ostergaard won for Best Actor, while Eruch Adams and Will Eill won for Best Writer. Joint Effort also won the Best Use of Genre -Comedy award and was second runner-up for the Audience Choice Award. More here.
Here's the credit rundown for Joint Effort: Katie Damien, director, with Lela Winton as second unit director. Cinematograpy by Andy Crespo. Cast: David Ostergaard, Matt Shepard, Darren Marshall, and Adam Meier.
More about the National Film Challenge and the prizes awarded:
The best film is sent to the Cannes Film Festival and
given a $3000 prize. GoPro, the title sponsor, is giving out another
$3000 prize for the best use of a GoPro Camera in a movie. And the
Audience choice winner receives $1000. The top 15 films are selected by
judges for online voting determined by YouTube and Vimeo likes . Joint
Effort was chosen as one of those top 15 films. The team of Asheville
residents is undergoing a campaign to get the word out about the film
and to encourage people to vote and to hopefully win the Audience Choice
award.
Producer and director Katie Damien said, "There's some stiff
competition in this contest. Overall the quality of all the top films
is very high. I feel really honored to have our film chosen as one of
the best!" Asheville might not be as big as Dallas or Paris, but we've
got some really talented people here in the mountains.
About Gorilla with a Mustache Films:Established in 2010 when a
group of producers collaborated on a 48 Hour Film Project. They won
Best Picture for the city of Asheville. Heady with their recent victory
(and drunk on their own sense of power), the group decided to pursue a
feature film, as well as other short films. The Gorillas are currently
in post-production on their first feature film One Hell of an Angel.
Joint Effort on IMDb:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3347134/combined
Company IMDb page:http://www.imdb.com/company/co0385222/
Gorilla with a Mustache on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/GorillaWithaMustache
Local film production company wins national film award
A local film production company, Gorilla with a Mustache, has won a
National Film Award, and the film, Joint Effort, heads to Cannes Film
Festival in the next year for a special screening, according to
gigspotting.net.
Here's more information from the official Gorilla with a Mustache website: Joint Effort wins Best Film of 2013 National Film Challenge
Happy Holidays, and happy they are
here at Gorilla With A Mustache as the awards for the 2013 National Film
Challenge were anounced and Joint Effort won it's fair Share! '
Best Film
Audience Choice Award 2nd Runner Up
Best Actor David Ostergaard for his role as Carl
Best Writing- Eruch Adams & Will Eill for their joint effort on Joint Effort They tied for the award with Paul Jenkins, Adam Dukes, Daniel Montgomery for Farmer and the Fold by Whisper Productions
Best Use of Genre Comedy
And our prize as:Best Film of The National Film Challenge
Screen at the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner
Free registration in the 2014 National Film Challenge
Gorilla with a Mustache has been a longtime participant and favorite of Asheville's 48-hour Film Project.
Here's more information on how the National Film
Challenge works. It does seem like quite the challenge: Each team was
given a weekend to put this film together, as well as certain elements
line of dialogue, character and prop that had to be incorporated into
one of two genres. Deadlines are my business, and I find that set of
rules super intimidating. Congrats, you hairy apes!!
The 2013 National Film Challenge seeks audience votes
By Alli Marshall on 12/13/2013 02:46 PM, Mountain Express
More than 120 films were submitted for the National Film Challenge. The
jury narrowed that list to 15 currently being considered for Audience
Choice voting. Among them is "Joint Effort" by Asheville team Gorilla
with a Mustache. Voting is open through Wednesday, Dec. 18.
Watch "Joint Effort" below. View all 15 films and cast your vote on YouTube or Vimeo.
Gorilla With A Mustache wins National Film Challenge with "Joint Effort"
The Gorilla With A Mustache Films team out of Asheville, North Carolina won the Best Film Award in the National Film Challenge 2013this week and the film will go on to the Cannes Film Festival this coming year for a special screening.
Their entry,Joint Effort, is a comedy about a package delivery gone wrong.
The team, in accordance with the National Film Challenge
rules was given an assignment and had one weekend to write,shoot, and
edit the short film, then present it to the judges. No small feat.
Other awards received for the film were: Best Actor - David Ostergaard, and Best WriterEruch Adams and Will EillforJoint Effort. Joint Effort also won the Best Use of Genre-Comedy award and 2nd Runner Up for the Audience Choice Award.
Gorilla With A Mustache Films is a 5 person team of producers: Lela Winton, Katie Damien, Eruch Adams, Coranna Adams, and Matt Shepard. They have participated in multiple 48 Hour Film Project competitions
and now for the first time, the National Film Challenge. Each time the
team was slightly different in regards to the cast and crew, but has
always had the same core of producers.
Morning Edition: Interview with Asheville Filmmaker, Katie Damien
Justin Souther (2012). Gorilla With a Mustache goes long. Mountain Express
While the name of Gorilla With a Mustache Productions may be new to
many, those who follow the Asheville edition of the 48 Hour Film Project
should already be aware of this group of filmmakers. Their short film Bump
and entrant in last year's festival just made its appearance at the
Charleston International Film Festival, while its 2010 entry Touched By Angels brought in a slew of awards, including Best Picture.
With that success, the crew which consists of director Katie Damien,
Matt Shepard, Eruch Adams, Cory Adams and Lela Winton decided to take
the original eight-minute-long Touched By Angels and give it the
feature-length treatment. "We felt like we had momentum and confidence,"
said Shepard, actor and co-writer on the project, describing the
decision to go longform to Xpress. Now, nearly two years later,
and with a completely fleshed-out script, the Gorilla With a Mustache
troupe is ready to take the next step.
The film can be best described as an ethereal buddy comedy, about a
former demon and current angel-in-training (played by Shepard). With the
aid of a much more happy-go-lucky, gregarious angel (played by Dave
Dietrich), Shepard must help a washed up rockstar (Asheville bon vivant
Kipper Schauer) write one last great song. While it's a simple
foundation, Gorilla With a Mustache saw room to flesh out the film. "We
just wanted to make this into a feature length," explained Shepard.
"There's so much more to explore with the characters, and with what the
characters are exploring about life and the universe."
That last part is important, since the movie has more on its mind than
just laughs. "Ideas of reincarnation, and how Heaven and Hell are not
forever places, evolution of the soul towards Nirvana. It takes a little
more Eastern view," explains Shepard, but don't worry about getting
bogged down in a theology lesson. "At the forefront, it's comedy."
The group has been taking donations and has a Kickstarter going for a
little over the month to meet a modest budget that with the best case
scenario will afford Touched By Angels a name Hollywood actor.
Regardless, the production will be hectic one, with shooting happening
over a few weeks over the summer in Asheville and the surrounding area.
"It's going to be a fast and furious shoot with long days," Shepard
points out. "We know that's what we have to do to make our film on such a
tiny budget."
Touched By Angels is just a jumping-off point for Gorilla With a
Mustache, a simple project these filmmakers want to tackle for the
simple love of making movies, Shepard says. "I don't know what's going
to happen with this. I'm going into this saying I want to do this, I
want to make this happen. I want to make a movie, I want to be in a
movie.
