Chlotrudis news

Thom Fitzgerald’s films are tough to categorize. He started with a visually arresting, complex, time-jumping story of a young man returning home to his dysfunctional family after a ten year absence. The Hanging Garden scored two Chlotrudis nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Cinematography. From there he moved to tongue-in-cheek docudrama with the delightful Beefcake. Switching gears entirely, Thom’s next film, The Wild Dogs, engaged gypsies, beggars, and actors to look at poverty and the sex-trade in post-revolutionary Romania. With The Event Thom looks at the complex morality of assisted suicide in a powerful human drama. The Event has received two more Chlotrudis nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Best Cast.

We are thrilled to honor Thom with this year’s Chlotrudis Award given to a director whose creative vision and filmmaking skill consistently challenge and intrigue audiences. Thom comes to Boston in the midst of making his most ambitious film, 3 Needles. Shot in the U.S., China, and Africa, 3 Needles follows the stories of a missionary nun, a blood trafficker, and a porn star set amidst the combatative and derisive AIDS pandemic. Hear what Thom has to say about his films and the independent film scene at the 10th Annual Chlotrudis Awards, March 28 at the Brattle Theatre.

Members may vote for their choices for the 10th Annual Chlotrudis Awards using the online ballot. The ballot will be open until midnight on Friday, March 26. Members are encouraged to see as many of the nominated films as possible before voting. In order to vote in the Buried Treasure category, members are asked to have seen all the nominated films. This year, the entire membership is also invited to vote in the Best Documentary category, but again, members must see all the nominees in that category in order to vote. E-mail vote@chlotrudis.org with any questions, or to obtain the password that will grant you access to the ballot.

In addition to many new reviews from 2003 that members have been seeing in preparation for the voting for this year’s Awards, several new reviews have been posted for 2004 films. Visit the reviews page to see new reviews on the films The Agronomist, The Backyard, Blind Shaft, The Dreamers, The Fog of War, Japanese Story, Kitchen Stories, Monster, and Osama. See what Chlotrudis members think of the latest releases!

The Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film would like to thank all the filmmakers, Chlotrudis members, Coolidge Corner Staff members, and attendees who made this year’s Short Film Festival such an exciting and successful event. The sell-out crowd was abuzz with praise about the quality of the films screened, and the difficulty deciding on which films to vote for. Seven filmmakers were in attendance, one coming from as far as Los Angeles, to see their films screened on the big screen with an enthusiastic audience, and to answer questions and meet filmgoers after the screening. Warren Bass, whose film Beat Box Philly opened the festival, drove to Boston from Philadelphia and was accompanied by his two daughters, one of whom was a camera operator for the film. Jason Dunn, writer/director of Robot Rumpus, flew in from Los Angeles to attend the Festival and visit the Boston area. Two of the filmmakers in attendance, Joey Kan director of Tomato Love, and Christina Spangler, director of Unearthed, recently graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and had friends in common. Jesse Epstein, director of Wet Dreams and False Images, which recently won the Jury Prize at the Sundance Online Film Festival, returned to her hometown of Brookline to lots of support from family and friends. The biggest filmmaker party certainly came with the film Dental Farmer. Co-directors Ellen Brodsky and Dunya Alwan appeared, along with the loveable subject of their documentary, the dental farmer himself, Alex Rybeck. Their extended family and friends took great pride and pleasure in seeing the film screened at the event. Check out all of the nominated short films on our Awards page.

The ballots are in the process of being counted, and the Chlotrudis Award and Audience Award winners will be announced at the 10th Annual Chlotrudis Awards Ceremony on Sunday, March 28 at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge. Look for a Call for Entries for the 5th Annual Chlotrudis Short Film Festival to go out soon, as the festival is being moved to its new date in October 2004.

The 4th Annual Chlotrudis Short Film Festival returns to the big theatre upstairs at the Coolidge Corner Theatre! Join members of Chlotrudis Awards to screen the 13 nominees for the Best Short Film of 2003. Admission is $7.00 / $6.00 for Chlotrudis and Coolidge members.

From a boy in search of his beloved tomato, to a scientist who sends his hideous robot son to elementary school to learn to play with real kids, this year’s festival offers a varied program featuring drama, comedy, foreign-language, documentary, and animated films. A sub-committee of the Chlotrudis Awards Nominating Committee screened over 130 short films in seven different languages to present the 13 films ‘ the best two hours and forty-two minutes. Filmmakers in attendance will address the audience after the screenings, and answer questions in the lobby.

After viewing the films, vote for your choice of Best Short Film! Two awards, a Chlotrudis Award and an Audience Award will be presented at the 10th Annual Chlotrudis Awards Ceremony on March 28th at the Brattle Theatre.

The Short Films nominated this year:

Beat Box Philly by Liz Golderg & Warren Bass

Blue Snow by Zion Rubin

Bun-Bun by Katie Fleischert

Career Suicide by Dan Huber & Alex Kang

Dental Farmer by Ellen Brodsky and Dunya Alwan

in sight by Asitha Ameresekere

Robot Rumpus by Jason Dunn

The Show by Cruz Angeles

Target Audience by David Kittredge

The Show by Cruz Angeles

Tomato Love by Joey Kan

Two by Two by Emily Susanne Dodge

Unearthed by Christina Spangler

Wet Dreams and False Images by Jesse Epstein

Woman by Signe Buamane

Visit the Current Nominations page to find out more about the short films nominees, as well as all the other nominees for the 10th Annual Chlotrudis Awards!

Nominations for the 10th Annual Chlotrudis Awards were announced today. Check out the current awards page to see which films received Chlotrudis honors. The anxious chatter among Chlotrudis members is about the lack of just one outstanding film in 2003. Consequently nominations were spread among a wider selection of films.

Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation and Thomas McCarthy’s The Station Agent earned the most honors, with six nominations each. Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s innovative American Splendor appears in five categories.

Other multiple nominees are Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later’, David Gordon Green’s All the Real Girls, and Lukas Moodysson’s Lilja 4-Ever each with four nods. Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar and Wiebke von Carolsfeld’s Marion Bridge each scored three nominations. Of the 43 films nominated, 18 different countries are represented in 10 different languages.

The 2004 Buried Treasure Award highlights a diverse selection of films. Last year the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film created the Buried Treasure award to spotlight on films overlooked even by independent film fans. Two Canadian films have been selected: Wiebke von Carolsfeld’s Marion Bridge which also appears in the Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cast categories, and Guy Maddin’s Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary, a remarkable adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic tale danced by the Winnipeg Ballet Company.

Two U.S. films also nominated in the Buried Treasure category are Bob Odenkirk’s Melvin Goes to Dinner, and Jennifer Dworkin’s documentary, Love & Diane. Rounding out the Buried Treasure category is Ten, by Abbas Kiarostami, one of Iran’s most well-known directors. Buried Treasure films must have made less than $250,000 domestic box office, and are films that the Chlotrudis Society insists deserve another look. This category furthers Chlotrudis Awards’ mission to building audiences for independent film.

2003 was an outstanding year for women directors. Four of the seven nods acknowledge outstanding direction by women. While Sofia Coppola is winning raves from critics nationwide, Chlotrudis also recognizes the astounding work of Scotland’s Lynne Ramsay and her challenging Morvern Callar and past Chlotrudis nominee Claire Denis, whose Friday Night is a gorgeous ode to Paris. Also in the Best Director category is Shari Springer Berman, half of the team that combined documentary, animation and narrative to tell the story of Harvey Pekar in American Splendor.

Excitement is building as preparations are underway for the tenth anniversary Chlotrudis Awards ceremony, which promises to be bigger and better than ever. Chlotrudis Awards serves as a well-heeled tradition to area-indie film buffs in the know. This year’s Chlotrudis Awards ceremony will take place at the Brattle Theatre, Cambridge MA on Sunday, March 28, 5:00 p.m. Negotiations are currently underway for guest speakers, and tickets will soon be on sale through the website.

Coming in February: The electronic ballot, that allows members of the Society vote on line. Want to be part of the voting process, engage with a groups of individuals passionate about discussing film, and get discounts on special events? Find out how to Become a Member!

Are you an avid indie film buff? Maybe you’ve seen a couple of recent popular indie films like The Station Agent, or 21 Grams, and want to learn more about them. Do you want to learn more about watching films with a more critical eye? Maybe you love the glitz and glamour of Awards Ceremonies. Or perhaps you just like hanging out and partying with friendly people and arguing with them about movies? If any of the above phrases describes you, it’s time to join the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film. And joining just got even easier. If you have a PayPal account, visit our membership page, click on the button next to the membership level you’re interested in and you can use PayPal to pay your dues. Or you can mail the organization a check. Either way you’re supportnig a non-profit organization, so it’s tax deductible.

Experience the World through Independent Film.

As the end of the year draws near, Chlotrudis Society members start thinking about the independent films of the past year. By the end of January, the Chlotrudis Awards Nominating Committee will announce their nominees for the 10th Annual Awards Ceremony. Nominating Committee members can nominate from any of the eligible films listed on the 2003 Reviews page. If you’re wondering why a particular film is not included, there could be several reasons: 1 – it received production money from a Hollywood studio, 2 – it was not released in Boston during the 2003 calendar year, 3 – it doesn’t have a distribution deal yet. If you have any questions about why a film is not on the eligible list, please contact us and we’ll let you know. In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled to this site and the nominations grow nearer!