Welcome to Portrait: The Rough Cuts

Sundance housing, grants for moms, premieres, doc clubs, and Billie Eilish

Kasia and Jean Ellen in sunglasses, as God intended.

Hello friends, old and new!

Welcome to Portrait: The Rough Cuts. We’re sharing standout new work and opportunities from our members — and latest trends and tools from our team.

We’ll kick off with a short love letter to our founding members:

Now that you’re here, the Portrait Beta has truly begun. This fall, we’ve welcomed award-winning directors, producers, studio heads, editors, writers, cinematographers, artists, composers, and animators.

You’re part of a special group — and we have one ask of you this week.

Log in. Add a connection… or two… or twenty. Post something your peers would get a kick out of. Portrait is yours—make it your own. Onward!

— Jean Ellen and Kasia
Co-Founders, Portrait

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Window of Opportunity

Weekly Jobs, Grants, Labs, Gear, Festivals, and More

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Filmmaker Housing: Portrait’s Going to Sundance

And we want you to come with us.

Need a place to stay at the Festival? We’re hosting five filmmakers at our house in Park City. Apply or nominate a friend here. Deadline is December 23rd.

Already have housing? We still want to hang. Our house is your place to unwind and recharge, right off the main drag. Let us know you’re coming here. We’ll share more in the coming weeks!

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Grants for Filmmaker Moms: Deadline Saturday

Studio IX, founded by Portrait member Aubrey Aden-Buie, is providing financial support to mothers and caregivers to help cover the cost of childcare while they are on set, need to spend time producing or editing, attend festivals or other networking events, or do anything else that will help them finish their film. The grant includes:

• $1,000 grants to help cover the cost of childcare

• A year of complimentary Creative Cloud All Apps subscriptions for all grant recipients, provided in partnership with Adobe

Apply here.

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Jobs Roundup

• Director of Photography- Cinematographer/Editor, Bloomberg Quicktake
  (talk to Portrait member Alex Gittleson, Global Head of Production, on this one!)

• Executive Producer, BBC StoryWorks

• Director of Video, Quanta Magazine

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Roll of Honor

Premieres, Awards, and Standout Member Work to Watch this Week

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All The Beauty and The Bloodshed: Opening Weekend on the West Coast

All The Beauty and The Bloodshed opens in SF and LA this weekend, following its NYC premiere last week.

From Portrait member Yoni Golijov, the film’s producer: 

Laura Poitras’s newest feature film is a portrait of legendary artist Nan Goldin, composed of intimate interviews, Nan’s groundbreaking photography and slideshows, and footage of the meetings and epic direct actions her group P.A.I.N. organized to hold the Sackler family to account for fueling and profiting off the overdose crisis. 

Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, the film just received this glowing review in The New York Times and is on Doc NYC’s shortlist of the best nonfiction films this year.

Find Opening Day tickets in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

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The Territory: Streaming Tomorrow on Disney+

Centered on the ongoing conflicts in the Amazon between its Indigenous inhabitants and Brazilian politicians and businessmen, The Territory has won numerous awards this year and is on Doc NYC’s shortlist of the best nonfiction films this year.

From Portrait member Carlos Rojas Felice, the film’s editor, on the toughest scene to edit, the first invasion of the territory:  

It took lots of versions and trial-and-error, but by focusing on the actual invasion and having the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau’s reaction be a shorter scene, we were able to maintain the momentum without sacrificing clarity in the Indigenous reaction during the aftermath.

Read more from Carlos on the film here.

Want to talk about The Territory? Sign up for December Doc Club.

Optimist, the creative studio founded by Portrait members Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci, hosts a monthly Doc Club. Chris and Zach will be discussing The Territory with director Alex Pritz this week at their final Doc Club of the year. Check out more on Chris’ post on Portrait, here.

RSVP here to get a private screener link, even if you don’t have Disney+!

Date: Wednesday, December 7th

Time: 5:00pm PT/ 8:00pm ET

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Live from London: The Best in Animation

Portrait member Elyse Kelly’s feature “The Greatest Poem” is at The London International Animation Festival this week. It was the first production from Neon Zoo, Elyse‘s new animation studio. If you are in the UK, watch and vote for “The Greatest Poem” here, or check out the animated short and other work from Neon Zoo on Elyse’s Portrait portfolio.

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Billie Eilish: Same Interview, The Sixth Year

Perhaps you are one of the 163 million views of Vanity Fair’s Billie Eilish: Same Interview series. If so, you have Portrait member and director Joe Sabia to thank. Billie and Joe are back this week — this time with Billie’s 106 million followers asking questions alongside Joe.

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Poll of Straw

Weekly Kick in the Pants for Portrait’s Founders

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End Credits Scene of the Week

“Had a good shoot yesterday. Early morning call time and got to watch the sunrise from the 51st floor in downtown SF.” - Portrait member Josh Freund, Documentary Director and Cinematographer

Wishing you a weekend as wonderful as those last Thanksgiving leftovers. See you on Portrait, friends!

-JE + K