Weekly Portrait: He's A(nother) Pinball Wizard
Indie Comedy, Hot Docs, Fellowship Graduations, March Grant Deadlines
Happy Thursday, friends, and welcome — almost — to April.
It feels right to us that a movie about a pinball fanatic is coming out now, exactly thirty years after the Broadway premiere of “The Who’s Tommy.” By the time the musical debuted, Tommy had already been a concept album, a ballet, a symphony, an opera, a film, and an Elton John single. The musical would win five Tonys.
May we all be so lucky in our IP development — and may the Spring inspire your own forms of creative wizardry!
— Jean Ellen & Kasia
Co-Founders, Portrait
Roll of Honor
Premieres, Press, Awards, and Standout Member Work This Week
Pinball: The Man Who Saved The Game: Now in Theaters
Your weekend watch: an indie comedy about pinball fanatic Roger Sharpe’s fight to legalize the game in the 1970s (yes, legalize the game of pinball). The New Yorker calls it the “cure for your post-Oscars hangover.” We call it the 1970s tonic for our oh-no-I-ran-out-of-Poker-Face-episodes depression.
Congrats to Barbie Leung, the film’s 2nd unit DP!
Hot Docs: 2023 Festival Films Announced
Congratulations to Portrait members with films in this year’s Hot Docs:
“Between Earth and Sky.” Joe Van Eckhout, DP - International Premiere.
“Another Body.” Lauren Haber EP, Nausheen Dadabhoy, DP.
“I Did Not Want to Make A War Film.” Daniel Lombroso, Producer.
“Invisible Beauty.” Andrea van Beuren, EP; Mia Cioffi Henry, DP.
“Milisuthando.” Milisuthando Bongela, Director; Marion Isaacs, Producer.
“Periodical.” - Lina Lyte Plioplyte, Director/DP.
“Still: A Michael J Fox Movie.” Annetta Marion, Producer; Clair Popkin, DP; Julia Liu, DP.
“The Stroll.” Sara Kinney, DP.
“This World Is Not My Own.” Petter Ringbom, Director; Ruchi Mital, Producer.
“You Were My First Boyfriend.” - Ines Hofmann Kanna, Producer.
Clever Commercials on Portrait, March Edition
Check out the beachy behind-the-scenes look at Maple Shipp’s spots for VRBO and Visit Folly Beach. Now Kasia just wants to go free diving.
DP Erik Ljung shared the elevated doc style he brought to the profiles for a recent campaign for Northwestern Mutual.
We loved seeing Wheaton Simis’ new show reel, with spots for BarkBox, Koolaid and others. Tobias Deml loved the reel’s “slight match cuts between projects.”
Accolades Round Up: Graduation Day
Nausheen Dadabhoy completed the first-ever cohort of the Pillars Artist Fellowship. Congrats to Nausheen and Pillars Managing Director Arij Mikati.
Annetta Marion and Lloyd Lee Choi graduated from the prestigious DGA Episodic Television Director Mentorship Program. Learn more about the program here.
Window of Opportunity
Weekly Jobs, Grants, Labs, Intensives, Programming, Events, and More
Coming Soon / Closing Soon
Programming
March 31st. newportFILM Spring Social. Join Cathleen Carr for a night of cocktails and dancing. newportFILM.
May 3rd. Distribution in a New Era with Show&Tell’s Keith Ochwat. Doc NYC.
April 1. “Filmmakers in Conversation.” Join cinematographer Julia Liu and director Alison Klayman to discuss filmmaking and collaboration. PEM.
April 10. Film Impact for Small Teams. LookyLooky Pictures.
Grants and Intensives
JFI Completion Grant. Various Sizes. Deadline TOMORROW.
Roy W. Dean Film Grant: $3,500 grants. Deadline TOMORROW.
Creative Capital Wild Futures Grant. Deadline TOMORROW.
Firelight Media Kindling Fund. Deadline TOMORROW.
WScripted Cannes Screenplay List. Deadline TOMORROW.
The Writers Lab. Discounted Deadline TOMORROW.
IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund. Deadline April 4th
Chicken and Egg + Netflix Research and Development Grant Deadline April 24th.
Film Festival Tracker
Chicago International Film Festival - Next deadline April 3.
HollyShorts Film Festival - Next deadline April 7.
Raindance - Next deadline April 10.
Jobs/Gigs Roundup
Director of Communications. Pillars Fund.
Producer, English Dubbing. Deluxe Media INC.
Producer. DAY - INT.
Videographer (Hybrid). SWBC.
Content Producer. Tiffany & Co.
Senior Video Editor. Louder with Crowder.
Multiplatform Editor, Curation and Platforms (6 months). The Washington Post.
Executive Producer. This Week - ABC News.
Senior Package Producer. CNN - The Lead with Jake Tapper.
End Credits: Scene of the Week
We’ve loved your stunning SXSW headshots from photographer Susan Taylor. Miss your free Portrait headshot during SXSW? We’ll see you in New York for Tribeca!
Until next week, friends,
JE + K