LOS ANGELES – February 19, 2013 – Slamdance announces March 2nd in Austin, TX as the first leg of “Slamdance On The Road” today from the HQ in Los Angeles. “On The Road” brings popular Slamdance films to audiences that otherwise would not have the opportunity to see them. The traveling showcase also supports local filmmaking and the development of independent filmmaking with live discussions known as "Coffee With..." events.
On Saturday, March 2, 2013 in downtown Austin's historic Paramount theatre, Slamdance will showcase 2013 Grand Jury award winners Bible Quiz (Best Documentary) and The Dirties (Best Feature Narrative) together with Texas made shorts, Hearts of Napalm and Winkelmann, TX. Times: 5:00pm Feature: Bible Quiz w/ Short: Winkelmann, TX (and filmmaker Q&A) 7:30pm Feature: The Dirties w/ Short: Hearts of Napalm (and filmmaker Q&A) 9:00pm Slamdance On The Road Coffee With… The Dirties
Following the screening of The Dirties, there will be a “Coffee With..” discussion with director Matt Johnson and producer Matt Miller. We will hear how the film really got made and answers to the question "can you laugh with the boy holding the gun?"
Slamdance President and Co-Founder Peter Baxter explains, “Slamdance has a proven track record of unearthing great films; yet the commercial challenges many of our alumni face post festival acclaim are harder than ever. This means we are compelled to develop a theatrical program beyond the festival as well as driven to help filmmakers find popular audiences. The standard of Slamdance films, like “The Dirties” and “Bible Quiz”, deserve this much and we believe audiences will respond.”
About the Feature Films:
Bible Quiz
Bible Quiz, directed by Nicole Teeny, is a documentary that challenges stereotypes as it tells the story of teen love set against the unusual backdrop of the religious sport of Bible Quiz. The film portrays an even-handed look at religion through the eyes of teenagers Mikayla and her crush, team captain JP, as they explore faith, identity, sexuality, and competition at one of the most unique summits in American religion today. “Nicole Teeny’s documentary about young love and the role religion can play in confusing budding romantic feelings is simple, unbiased, and ultimately quite moving” – Beth Hanna, IndieWireBuy Tickets for Bible Quiz here: http://www.austintheatre.org/site/Calendar?view=Detail&id=32281
The Dirties
The Dirties is about best friends, Matt and Owen, who live in a world of endless movie references and hijinks. It would be perfect, if not for the cruel and insane bullies at their high school who make their lives hell. While working on a movie about their revenge, the lines between fiction and reality blur together. What was once a harmless fantasy takes the form of a real-life school shooting in this comedic and horrifying look at the devastating effects of high school bullying. Directed by Matt Johnson “…the most controversial (and arguably best) film in all of Park City: “The Dirties”… the most empathetic and human portrait of bullying, and its deadly consequences, ever put on film.” – Xaque Gruber, Huffington PostBuy Tickets for The Dirties here: http://www.austintheatre.org/site/Calendar?view=Detail&id=32261
Texas Made Shorts:
Hearts of Napalm
After another anticlimactic night, a sexually frustrated girl challenges her unimaginative boyfriend to stimulate her in new ways. Directed by Andy Irving.
Winkelmann, TX
A history in rotting wood. Some people collect stamps or foreign currency as way of quantifying the places they have been or the places they have always wanted to see. It is a sort of documentation of a history either lived or longed for. In Texas, people collect property. Directed by Caleb Garcia.
Links to purchase tickets to these screenings and the “Coffee With…” event will be available on Slamdance.com as well as on AustinTheatre.org.
About Slamdance: As a year-round organization, Slamdance serves as a showcase for the discovery of the new and emerging talent and is dedicated to the nurturing and development of new independent artists and their cinematic vision. The Slamdance 2013 Film Festival ran concurrently with the Sundance Film Festival, January 18-24, in Park City, Utah. Slamdance continues to live by its mantra: “By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers.” No other festival is fully programmed by filmmakers. Slamdance is proud to count among its alumni many notable writers and directors who first gained notice at the festival, including such cinematic luminaries as Christopher Nolan, Oren Peli, Marc Forester, Jared Hess, Lena Dunham, Behn Zeitlin, Anthony and Joe Russo, Seth Gordon, and Lynn Shelton. New filmmakers and writers today realize that Slamdance is a place to launch their careers.
Supporting the filmmakers beyond the festival and improving distribution opportunities for its films has become increasingly important for Slamdance. After beginning an exclusive video on demand partnership with Microsoft in 2010, Slamdance has continued to expand its year-round platform and exhibition efforts on platforms like Xbox 360 and Cinecliq, as well as its theatrical On The Road programs in the US. On The Road programs also took place abroad in 2012 in Moscow and Krakow. The Slamdance 2013 Screenwriting Competition presented by JuntoBox Films will launch on February 25th and welcome screeplays in every genre, on any topic, from anywhere in the world. Awards are given to the top three scripts in each category, with a Grand Prize of $10,000 cash and no less than $50,000 in production funds for the best feature-length screenplay regardless of category.
Slamdance is proud to partner with sponsors who share their unique vision and support emerging artists who are pushing the boundaries of independent filmmaking. The 2013 Slamdance Film Festival’s Major Sponsors included Kodak, Carhartt and The Directors Guild of America. Official Sponsors included Blackmagic Design, Different By Design, JuntoBox Films, InkHead Promotional Products, and Variety, the Official Media Partner.
The 2014 Film Festival will run from January 17-23 and will mark Slamdance’s 20th Year. You can be sure it will continue to burn with the desire to discover and support emerging artists from all different walks of life, all over the world.
Additional information about the Slamdance Film Festival is available at slamdance.com
Connect with Slamdance:
twitter.com/slamdance and
facebook.com/SlamdanceFilmFestival
PRESS CONTACT:
Melanie Marquez
Sr. Publicist @ M4PR.com
Ph: 818.538.6477
PARK CITY – JANUARY 24, 2013, The 19th Annual Slamdance Film Festival tonight announced the feature film and short film recipients of this year’s awards in the Audience, Grand Jury, and the Sponsored Award Categories. The 2013 Slamdance Film Festival Awards are sponsored by JuntoBox Films. The award winners were announced at the annual Closing Night Awards Ceremony at the Treasure Mountain Inn. 
LOS ANGELES – January 18, 2013 – Slamdance and JuntoBox Films, a collaborative film studio for filmmakers and fans, today announced a partnership for the 2013 Screenplay Competition to discover and support emerging writing talent. This year's Grand Prize by JuntoBox Films is the largest offered by Slamdance to the winning writer in the nineteen years of the competition's history. In addition to the $10,000 cash, JuntoBox Films is committing a minimum of $50,000 towards production financing with the option to fully fund the Grand Prize winner. 
SLAMDANCE BRINGS TOGETHER A WHOS WHO OF THE FILM FESTIVAL WORLD IN 2013 JURY
Nancy Schafer is currently a consultant who works in independent film. Until July 2012 she was Executive Director of the Tribeca Film Festival and Executive Vice President of Tribeca Enterprises. Prior to joining Tribeca, she created and ran the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas for eight years. Schafer has worked on several films including John Sayles’ Sunshine State and Limbo and Robert Byington’s Olympia and Shameless. She began her film production career on The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Schafer is a graduate of the University of Virginia and currently resides in Manhattan.
Meira Blaustein is the Co-founder / Executive Director / Programmer of the Woodstock Film Festival, which was launched in 2000 and has quickly become one of the most respected and influential regional film festivals in the US. The Woodstock Film Festival will be entering its 14th year in October 2013. Blaustein has over twenty years of experience in filmmaking, writing, producing and directing numerous projects including her full-length documentary For Love of Julian, narrated by Susan Sarandon and distributed by Wellspring Media. She is currently in development on a number of full length fiction and non-fiction feature length films. Blaustein is a freelance writer and blogger and has served as juror, speaker, mentor and panelist at a variety of film festivals and special events in Norway, England, Texas and New York.
Dan Schoenbrun is the Communications & Programming Coordinator at the Independent Filmmaker Project, the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit for independent filmmakers. At IFP, Dan works year-round as part of the programming team, where he helps manage the organization’s Emerging Narrative screenplay program, Independent Filmmaker Labs (for filmmakers in post-production on their first feature), Festival Forum (a community based interest group for film festival professionals), and a new partnership with Brooklyn’s rerun Theater. Dan also oversees IFP member events and screenings, and serves as the Associate Editor of Filmmaker Magazine. In addition to his work at IFP, Dan has served on programming committees for several film festivals, included the Hamptons and Nantucket, and recently was on the jury for the 2012 Brooklyn Film Festival.
Brian Knappenberger a Director, Writer and Producer has created numerous documentaries and feature films for the Sundance Channel, PBS FRONTLINE/World, The Travel Channel, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. He is also Executive Producer of the 23 part Bloomberg Television documentary series Bloomberg Game Changers. His films have explored the changing politics and tensions in post- 9/11 southern Afghanistan in Life After War and abuses of power and freedom of speech with the killing of a journalist in Ukraine in A Murder in Kyiv.
Sheri Candler is a digital marketing strategist who assists filmmakers in building an engaged & robust online community for their work. She directs digital marketing strategy for non profit film distribution & filmmaker education organization The Film Collaborative; she co authored a book of case studies for filmmakers called Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul, and she regularly speaks about using social media on panels and workshops at industry events including AFM, DGA, NSI Canada, & Danish Film Directors Association. She can be contacted on Twitter: @shericandler, Facebook: Sheri Candler Marketing and Publicity, & Google Plus.
Daniel J. Harris produced the documentary collective feature I Want to be an American for Slamdance Film Festival 2013. He originally trained in animation and worked on shows like The Simpsons and The Ren & Stimpy Show and produced the documentary Kurt and Courtney for Nick Broomfield. He wrote and directed Slamdance/Locarno jury winner The Bible and Gun Club. He is working on The Fabulous Las Vegas, a feature documentary about a Kaapse Klopse (Cape Town Minstrel) troupe based in Lentegeur, Mitchell’s Plain, as it attempts to beat the competition in this year’s carnival season best-of-show. He’s also working on Meet Julie Wilson, about the legendary cabaret singer, currently shooting in New York. www.danieljharris.com
Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal are a filmmaking team who use actor centric methods. Their debut feature Stranger Things won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the 2011 Slamdance Film Festival and at the 2010 Woodstock Film Festival, as well as Best U.K. Feature at the 2011 Raindance Film Festival. They are currently developing their second feature, Bright As Day, which was a selection of the 2012 Sundance Creative Producing Lab.
Chris Gore, is a comedian, writer, and regular on G4TV’s “At- tack of the Show”, hosts his own groundbreaking podcast called PodCRASH. He likes Batman, zombies and long walks on my back. The founder and longtime editor-in-chief of the seminal magazine Film Threat, Gore is also a critically acclaimed film director, writer and producer. He is the author of 
Skizz Cyzyk is a filmmaker/writer/musician/ artist who has held positions at MicroCine-Fest, Maryland Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, and has served on juries at many other festivals. This is Skizz’s 17th year as a Slamdance projectionist, tenth year on the Slamdance advisory board, and sixth non-consecutive year on the Slamdance jury. He has been making films since 1983, currently in various stages of production on documentaries about Rev. Fred Lane, the Catonsville Nine, and a 1981 “music war.” He also writes for music and film magazines, is on the Board of Directors for Maryland Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, plays punk rock ukulele with Go Pills, and plays drums for indie-pop sensations The Jennifers, surf/garage band Garage Sale, and Mink Stole & Her Wonderful Band.
Paul Rachman is a founding filmmaker, programmer and east coast director for the Slamdance Film Festival. From a successful music video career he went on to direct his first feature film Four Dogs Playing Poker and in 2006 American Hardcore is his first documentary feature film premiered at the Sundance film festival and was released by Sony Pictures Classics. He is currently finishing a new feature documentary Lost Rockers.
FIRST-OF-ITS KIND SLAM COLLECTIVE BRINGS AMBITIOUS, FIVE-CONTINENT PROJECT TO GLOBAL AUDIENCES
Director: Dan Mirvish, Screenwriters: Joe Hortua & Dan
Director & Screenwriter: Chad Crawford Kinkle
Director: Philippe Caland, Screenwriter: Shintaro Shimosawa (based on “The Guru and the Gypsy” by Philippe Caland)