Weekly Portrait: New Year, New Work, New You
How (Not) to Lose Money on Your Film. Plus Mysteries, Cults, and Cautionary Tales to Kick Off 2023.
Happy New Year, friends!
Welcome back to your roundup of thrilling new work and opportunities for and from the Portrait community.
Your peers shared some pretty cool stuff over the holidays.
What project excites you as we roll into 2023?
Share it on Portrait this week: your premiere, teaser, work-in-progress. Tag someone who made it happen.
We’re honored to keep building for you this year. Onward!
Jean Ellen and Kasia,
Co-Founders, Portrait
Roll of Honor:
While You Were On Holiday Edition
Premieres, Awards, and Standout Member Work that Came Out While You Were Hiding from Relatives
Poker Face: Premieres January 26th
On the heels of Glass Onion’s holiday run, Peacock dropped the trailer for Rian Johnson’s next celebrity-packed mystery, Poker Face. The show follows Natasha Lyonne as she solves strange crimes.
Take note of Portrait Member Christine Ng’s cinematography — already being noted by critics as a highlight of the preview.
Stolen Youth: Premieres February 9th
You finished season 2 of The Vow over the break. You congratulated Portrait members Sam Price-Waldman, Claire Read, and Grace McNally on their amazing work on that series and you are ready for your next cult deep dive.
You are in luck.
Hulu just dropped the trailer for Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence. Shout out to producer and Portrait member Andrew Helms — like The Vow crew, Andrew and the team worked for 2+ years to tell this story.
The Janes: “We Didn’t Make This Film to Be a Guide Book… It is a Cautionary Tale.”
Portrait member Emma Pildes and Tia Lessin spoke with The Hollywood Reporter this week about their Oscar-shortlisted documentary The Janes in a post-Dobbs America. From Emma:
We wanted to make this film not just to sound the alarm, but to remind people that personal power, when it becomes part of collective action, can make movements and change the world.
New from Vice: My Life Online
The Vice team dropped its latest My Life Online episode over the holiday — and it’s a wild one. From Portrait member and editor Yalda Mostarajen:
This is probably top 5 wildest documentaries I've ever edited. It's an intense rollercoaster, but I'd recommend the watch if you can stomach the darkness.
Winter Awards Roundup
Tackling the topic of children and guns, Boys just won Best Short Drama at The Athens Short Film Festival in December. Congratulations to Portrait member Nicole Smolen, one of the film’s producers, and the entire Boys team.
Wishing the best to all the Portrait members whose films are nominated at the Cinema Eye Honors this evening, including:
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, produced by Yoni Golijov
Bad Axe, edited by Rosie Walunas
Black and Missing, directed by Geeta Gandbhir
Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey, directed by Grace McNally
Mija, directed by Isabel Castro Director, edited by Ora DeKornfed
Nuisance Bear, produced by Will Miller
Origins of Hip Hop, archival producer, Emma Francis Snyder
The Territory - produced by Will Miller, edited by Carlos Rojas
Window of Opportunity
Weekly Jobs, Grants, Labs, Gear, Festivals, and More
How Sundance and a Streamer Deal Didn’t Turn a Profit: Behind-The-Scenes Webinar Today
Ready to learn what not to do with your project in 2023?
From Portrait member and Show & Tell Founder Keith Ochwat:
We’re hosting a webinar with the filmmakers behind the feature doc ALL LIGHT EVERYWHERE on how they won a jury award at Sundance, made a 7-figure deal with a streamer, and still didn't break even after the distributor took all their fees and marketing expenses.
We'll talk deets on Today, Thursday January 12th, at 1pm PT / 4 pm ET.
You can request a guest pass for this afternoon’s webinar here.
Coming Soon / Closing Soon: Grants + Intensives
Points North $100,000 Fellowship: Application deadline January 13th
Women in Film Financing Intensive, Application deadline February 13th
Jobs Roundup
Writer / Director, MrBeast
Opinions Social Video Producer, Washington Post
Segment Producer, Good Morning America
Senior Producer, Freakonomics Radio
End Credits Scene of the Week
Don’t go skiing with Jean Ellen.
DO hang with us in Park City at Sundance next weekend.
Sign up for our Sundance lounge and programming.
Until next week, friends — and our Sundance preview!
JE + K