BTS - Home from Park City
I flew home to Philly on Saturday and brought a wicked cold with me so am behind on this post, but we had some great news this weekend: The New Year Parade took the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative at Slamdance 2008!! We couldn’t be more thrilled or humbled. Some terrific reviews went up this week as well:
VARIETY: “Because Quinn encourages his actors to improvise, sometimes recording hours of footage to be condensed into a short scene, the narrative style takes some getting used to at first. Grocery shopping or band practice are weighted as equally as heated arguments and sex scenes, providing an unusually well-rounded sense of character even as it makes for a rather inelegant flow. Scenes don’t have obvious in and out points, but instead seem sampled from lives that continue when the cameras stop rolling”
INDIEWIRE: “Talented director Tom Quinn (no relation to the Magnolia Pictures exec) makes a stunning debut with this sterling observation of a brother and sister pair straining under the pressures of their parents’ divorce. Quinn has a calculated, Altman-esque approach to staging conflict. Because it functions as a wise examination of universal human despair, “The New Year Parade” proves that keen observation of human behavior yields the strongest results–although budgetary requirements probably hold a close second place spot.”
FILMMAKER MAGAZINE BLOG: “New Year’s Parade brims with wonderful glimpses of spaces the cinema rarely visits. Quinn, whose deftness with performers equals his eye for authentic detail, uses real South Philly marching bands, has his characters visit Geno’s Steaks and depicts the unraveling of the family against the backdrop of the implosion of Veteran’s Stadium, incorporating into the film a series of places and cultural events that resonate in this working class milieu. (The New Year Parade) with its flat narrative, subtle sensitivity to class, gently crafted performances by non or marginal actors and its rough hewn yet entirely appropriate hand held camerawork, does many of the things American Independent films have traditionally done well.”
So obviously, we are pretty psyched! It also is a reminder that roughly a year ago I found out about the IFP Narrative Rough Cut Labs through The Workbook Project. Submissions for this year’s lab are about to open up so I would strong encourage anyone with a feature in postproduction to visit www.ifp.org/labs for more information. The Lab experience was the turning point for The New Year Parade - we wouldn’t be where we are now otherwise.
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Comments
Hi Tom,
Congrats on all of the success at Park City. Know you’re already onto your second fest in a couple of months. Sure Amy’s giving you ideas re: prepping. I’m happy to chime in as well if it’s helpful. Maybe we can help connect you with a good rep & publicist for the film prior to the next fest. And FYI to all of this year’s Lab alumni, we’re doing an industry screening of El Coyote at the end of Feb to see if we can help connect them with some finishing funds. Stay tuned. More from Amy….
Congratulations Tom! That’s wonderful!
I’m in the cast of “Boppin At The Glue Factory” and came across your interviews.
Good luck with your film!
Joan
Congrats on the Award and the great reviews!