INTERVIEW: NYITFF schedules Theresa Rebeck movie for 2019 fest
Image: Courtesy of NYITFF / Provided by DARR Publicity with permission.
The New York Indie Theatre Film Festival will return Feb. 8-11 to the New Ohio Theatre in Manhattan’s West Village. One of the 2019 highlights of this unique festival is the addition of Theresa Rebeck’s new film, Poor Behavior, based on her original play.
Rebeck will be at the special screening, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m., and take part in a Q&A with Marc Stuart Weitz, New Ohio Theatre’s producing director.
Other highlights from the fest include Hey Charlie, directed by Shaun Irons and starring screenwriter and director Charlie Kaufman; But This Is How It Will End, written and directed by Amy Epstein, and starring Steven Rattazzi; and Phoney, written and directed by Grace Palmer.
A special treat is a contest that involves shooting a film throughout the three days of the festival and entering it for a competition called Film Race. Audience members view the entries Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. and vote for a winner.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Weitz about the film festival. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
For those people who are new to NYITFF, how would you describe the festival?
Well, our title pretty much sums it up! The NY Indie Theatre Film Festival showcases New York theatre artists who are defying labels and branching out into recorded content. We started in 2017, and, including this year, we will have screened over 100 short films, features, excerpts of features, documentaries, music videos and web series episodes. There are a lot of theatre artists who are creating content!
What are you most excited about for this year’s festival?
This year we’re doing several new things that I’m really excited about. We’ve restructured the festival so it takes place over one weekend — I love the marathon feel of attending eight screenings, three panels and four parties over three-and-a-half days. The energy will be electric.
We’re also organizing industry panels for the first time. We’re still finalizing the details, but we’ve got some great speakers with a lot of industry experience. And I know our artists will enjoy hearing their perspectives and asking questions. And, lastly, we’re starting ‘Happy Hour Lounges,’ on Saturday and Sunday from 5-6:30 p.m., so artists and audiences can hang out and network. I’ve realized how important networking opportunities are for an artist at a festival, and I think this is going to be great for helping people get to know each other, learn from each other and maybe meet their next collaborators!
How does selection of the films take place?
We accept submissions through Film Freeway, and each entry is reviewed by New Ohio staff. We’re looking for content where the theatre artist is one of the primary creators. And while I personally know that acting in theatre vs. acting in film presents different challenges — and also that writing for theatre is different than writing for film — we tend to give more weight to theatre artists who are stretching themselves by trying on new hats. It’s one reason I’m really excited to screen Theresa Rebeck’s Poor Behavior as our opening night special feature. It’s her film directorial debut, and that’s a big leap for a writer to take.
What do you especially like about Theresa Rebeck’s work?
She’s just such a great writer. I mean, she knows her craft so well — her plots are so tightly woven and intricate, and her characters are unforgettable. And, in the case of Poor Behavior, I think she uses the medium of film very well both to open up the script –—which she wrote, based on her own play — and keep the tension high. It’s a surprising piece. It starts out looking familiar and then takes some really unexpected turns. It’s delightfully twisted.
How difficult is the coordination and producing of the festival? Logistics? Schedules? Ticket sales?
The film festival is produced by New Ohio Theatre — we’re located in Manhattan’s West Village, not Ohio! — and we’re busy year-round. We do a lot with minimal staff, and producing a film festival was a new skill set to learn, with new expectations and codes of behavior, etc. For example, we just had to get a step and repeat. You can’t have a film festival without one of those!
And finding an audience has been an interesting challenge as well. Theatre audiences tend to support the medium — they’re interested in live performance. And film audiences don’t necessarily care that content has been made by someone who works in theatre. What we’re doing is supporting artists, and finding audiences for that takes time. We’ve grown a lot since 2017, and word is getting out that we’re programming some new and exciting work by artists who may not yet be getting a lot of attention for their film work. These artists are going places, folks. See them now!
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The New York Indie Theatre Film Festival returns Feb. 8-11 to the New Ohio Theatre. Click here for more information and tickets.
