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Meet the Filmmaker: Tim Nolte, “Fulfillment”

Fulfillment | www.maskilproductions.com

531731_10152526036745246_604014243_nQ: Why did you become a filmmaker?

TN: Trying to figure out what I want to be “when I grow up” was a long process for me. There are so many things that interest me! I love stories—especially when they surprise and move me, or make me laugh. Light and photography have always fascinated me. At the same time, I have a strong aptitude for music and sound. I kept bouncing between interests that scratched one of these itches, until I realized that film is a perfect convergence of all three. So whenever I do grow up, that’s what I want to be.

Q: What are we going to see at the EFP? Has it screened elsewhere and what are your plans for it?

TN: I’m thrilled to be showing my latest short, Fulfillment, at EFP. It’s definitely the most serious and “artsy” of the films I’ve made. David Quakenbush, our brilliant cinematographer, described it as, “David Lynch directs the Bible,” which is higher praise than it deserves, but I’ll take it!

I wrote and directed the film, and Owen Hisle of Upon This Rock Films produced. Of course, there are many other people who played vital roles in bringing it to life. It’s screened at a few film festivals around the country, and we’ve been blessed with some awards. It was selected to go in an anthology of short films to be distributed in foreign countries without access to much Christian media. It’s not an easy popcorn film. It requires you to pay attention and think. Ultimately, that’s my hope for the film: that it makes you think.

Q: What else are you working on?

TN: I just wrapped up a long-term animation project on human trafficking for the non-profit iEmpathize. Heavy, I know! Still, it was a lot of fun, and both an honor and a challenge to work with such an important topic. I’m developing a romantic comedy feature right now, to get back to something a little lighter! There are also a few web-series ideas I’ve been kicking around, and I have this crazy idea about setting up a film-a-month group, where we take turns working on each other’s shorts.

Q: Tell us one weird thing about you and/or your movies?

TN: My philosophy is, “It’s a movie! It shouldn’t be something you see every day.” As such, my films almost always have some element of science fiction, fantasy, or the supernatural in them.

Q: Where can people go to find out more about you and your work?

TN: Wow, after reading this much, I figured people would want a break! If you just can’t get enough, please visit www.maskilproductions.com, where you can see some more of my work. Say hi to my buddy Hamlet the mouse while you’re there!

Q: Is there anything you’d like to say about The Emerging Filmmakers Project?

TN: If I had to give EFP an arbitrary rating, it would be, “100 friends under 1 roof!” From the very first time I went to Emerging Filmmakers Project, it has always felt like a big family reunion. Okay, that may not conjure a positive image for some people. It’s a good family reunion, someplace really fun, with relatives you really like!

Fulfillment will screen December 18th at The Emerging Filmmakers Project.

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Meet the Filmmaker: Eileen Agosta, “Eggshells”

Eggshells | www.tmdfilms.com

05162013Q: Why did you become a filmmaker?

EA: I should probably have an answer for this question, right? Truth is, I don’t really know. It just kinda gradually happened. When I was younger my friends and I would play around with my dad’s old Magnavox camcorder, a huge beast of a machine that recorded right onto VHS, and shoot lots of goofy videos, scripted and improv. And I shot a Star Wars parody called CAR WARS when I was a senior in high school. But I didn’t really consider doing anything more with it, not at first. I started out as a writer… I wrote a lot in high school and college, mostly short stories and outlines and beginnings of longer pieces, and then when I was in high school I wrote a feature length film script. I went off to college – CSU in Fort Collins (I started out as a biological sciences major, of all things) – and at some point during my second year it occurred to me that perhaps I should try and make that script into a film. I don’t remember how or why, it was just a thought I had that never went away. So I did. I charged the entire thing on credit cards (I do not recommend this), and it turned out about as well as you’d expect a first time film that was written/directed/shot/edited by a first time filmmaker would, which is to say, not very well at all. And I just never stopped. (The making films part. I don’t charge them on credit cards anymore. Seriously, that was a really bad idea. Don’t do it.)

Q: What are we going to see at the EFP? Has it screened elsewhere and what are your plans for it?

EA: Eggshells is a film I wrote “based on a true story” about something I went through a few years ago. It’s something that I made as a way of “closing the door”, so to speak, on that chapter of my life.

This one is personal… more so than anything I’ve ever made before. I’m equal parts excited and terrified to share it.

Eggshells won the August 2014 Open Screen Night, and I plan to submit it to film festivals eventually, once I get through it’s EFP screening!

Q: What else are you working on?

EA: I’m still trucking away in production on Trauma. And I recently helped produce a little film you may have heard of called Jean Claude Van Damme’s Damn Van, which makes it’s damn return to The Bug Theatre in January! I’m also working on a promotional video for the fantastic Bug Theatre, which will premiere at EFPalooza 2015 in January, and I’ve got a little short that I’m thinking about making early next year.

Q: Tell us one weird thing about you or your movies.

EA: My cat appears in them – a lot. And all of my shorts have an easter egg from a previous film in them.

Q: Where can people go to find out more about you?

EA: My website – www.tmdfilms.com – has information and links to watch all of my previous short films. I’m also on Twitter and Facebook – @eileenagosta on both. And TMDFilms has it’s own Twitter and Facebook pages, too.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to say about The Emerging Filmmakers Project?

EA: Discovering The Emerging Filmmakers Project and The Bug Theatre changed my life. True story. I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of these two amazing organizations. If you’re local and you like and/or make films and you haven’t been there you’re missing out.  Seriously.

Eggshells will screen December 18th at The Emerging Filmmakers Project.

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Meet the Filmmaker: Richard Weimer, “Denver 2014”

IMG_0390Denver 2014 | RichWeimerFilms.com

Q: Why did you become a filmmaker?
RW: Well, I have no other applicable job skills.

Q: What are we going to see at the EFP? Has it screened elsewhere and what are your plans for it?
RW: It’s a time-lapse video. I shot a bunch of time-lapses around the city throughout the year. The video has not screened anywhere else but the internet. And nobody on the internet watches my videos so I don’t think that counts. I currently have no plans for the video. When I’m more satisfied with the overall edit/clips, I might submit it to some film festivals.

Q: What else are you working on?
RW: In an attempt to learn narrative film-making, I’ve been AC-ing on some films around town and taking Acting acting classes at the Film Acting Academy of Denver.

If anybody reading this needs help with a film, I am almost always available.

Q: Tell us one weird thing about you and/or your movies?
RW: Um, I think I’m pretty normal but my movies are a bit off the wall. I guess its how I express my weirdness.

Q: Where can people go to find out more about you and your work?
RW: RichWeimerFilms.com

Q: Is there anything you’d like to say about The Emerging Filmmakers Project?
RW: Yes, EFP is great. It gives you (filmmakers) a chance to get feedback from people who don’t personally care about you. For example, my Mom always loves my work. It also gives amateur filmmakers a reason to keep creating and getting better.

Denver 2014 will screen December 18th at The Emerging Filmmakers Project.