That’s a Wrap! Takeaways from 2022 Filmmakers Residency/Incubator
Our second annual Filmmakers Residency/Incubator with White Feather Farm Foundation and Theoria Foundation is officially coming to a close. Join us as we take a fond look back at some of the best highlights from the month-long experience, the takeaways for the filmmakers, and the brilliant moments of creative inspiration they’ll cherish as they continue their work on future films.
Photos courtesy of Adewale Olukayode
HIGHLIGHTS
The resident filmmakers bonded throughout the month of May over a variety of experiences, from movie nights, to making dinners together and the impromptu dance sessions that followed, to touring Woodstock farms and exploring the woods and encountering wildlife, to attending local musical concerts, visits to Mead Mountain's Tibetan Buddhist monastery and various other field trips.
These experiences not only pushed the group to collaborate and bond but also provided significant inspiration for their films.
“My favorite parts of the residency are the movie nights. I love the festive events where we all gather around and share notes and ideas. This creative community environment is what fosters growth in my work.”
“Thus far our visit to Mead Mountain’s Tibetan Buddhist monastery for the evening chant has been the most impactful entry into the Woodstock community. Being led into the woods by one of the resident monks, Ten, to see a black bear under the crescent moon was quite a moment, too!”
ENVIRONMENT
Theoria Foundation in collaboration with White Feather Farm graciously hosted our four filmmakers as they focused on building foundations for and completing their film projects throughout the month. The residency is located in Woodstock, New York, and became the perfect home base for the artists. When describing the experience of living in the rural backdrop of the Hudson Valley, the residents noted the calming serenity of the property, and the inspirational magic of waking up to birdsong, flowing rivers, and baby foxes roaming the yard.
Aside from the location itself, the experience of sharing a home with other filmmakers granted its own special reward. Learning from one another through daily conversations additionally influenced their own approaches to the filmmaking process and storytelling. The residency quickly offered a safe space for the filmmakers to nurture and explore their ideas together.
“Being in this environment, this space has really allowed for some stillness to birth creativity, to really get quiet and think about story and what that means to us and what our characters are trying to say to us. It’s the perfect environment to soak in the information of these mentors, some of the greats that come to dinner and lunch with us. It’s been a really life-changing and beautiful experience.”
“The house and having everything sort of attended to is one thing, because you’re not doing all these day to day things that you normally have to do, and then the acoustic environment here…it’s just been very calming and the rhythms are slower. I’ve had to do a bit of writing and thinking, problem solving, and it really is the perfect environment for that.”
THE MENTORS
Mentorship is one of the main highlights of the program, bringing working, successful filmmakers into the fold to serve as experienced guides for the budding artists, offering their wealth of knowledge. This year’s mentors and guest mentors included director Rodrigo Garcia (NINE LIVES), director Sterlin Harjo (RESERVATION DOGS), documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple (HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A.), documentary filmmaker Yoruba Richen (THE REBELLIOUS LIFE OF MRS. ROSA PARKS), producer Bill Horberg (THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT), filmmaker Larry Fessenden (DEPRAVED),producer Peter Saraf (THE FAREWELL), actor Tim Guinee (THE STAIRCASE), and distributor Elissa Federoff (NEON), to name a few. The residency’s Artistic Director, filmmaker, writer and educator Alex Smith (THE SLAUGHTER RULE) and Artistic Consultant, Sabine Hoffman (PASSING) also shared their creative guidance and insights into the industry and filmmaking. The wisdom these mentors shared was fruitful in countless ways.
Resident Adewale Olukayode credits Liz Nord from Sundance Collab for sharing her insight into festival strategy and how to properly plan for, distribute, and market a film after its completion. Barbara Kopple came to share a dinner with the residents, her energy and essence resonating with the filmmakers after imparting the wisdom of striving for and living with truth, especially when it comes to documentary filmmaking. As the Artistic Director of the program, Alex Smith alleviated some pressures of the industry by giving the residents the freedom to just be as they are with their own process; the residents cited his constant advice as being profound and encouraging.
“I had a blast spending time with these amazing filmmakers whose passion and love for the films they are creating took my breath away.”
“As a visiting mentor, I learned more from the kids in the residency than they could have learned from me. I felt privileged to drop into this warm simmering pot of artistic inspiration; the Woodstock Filmmakers Residency is an extraordinary step in the refinement of an artistic work.”
THE RESIDENTS & THEIR PROJECTS
Erica Nguyen comes to Woodstock from Nambé, New Mexico. She is a documentary filmmaker and grassroots organizer, and she moonlights as a traditional climbing instructor for Native-led therapeutic adventure programs.
PHANTOM ROOTS is the working title of Erica Nguyen’s documentary project. She is in the early stages of developing the story based on her grandmother’s life, a first-generation Vietnamese-American. The documentary is an experiential road memoir honoring the Vietnamese diaspora, connecting elements of ancestral landscape with acts of remembrance.
Natalie Zimmerman resides in the Bay Area in the small town of Lagunitas, California. Her background is in art, having done experimental, multichannel installations before making the switch to feature-length non-fiction storytelling.
The title of Natalie’s project is OCEANIA: ENCOUNTERS AT THE EDGE. For eight years, Natalie has been returning to the island nation of Kiribati to record footage for this documentary. Kiribati is predicted to be uninhabitable by the year 2030 due to rising sea levels brought by climate change.
Adewale Olukayode currently lives in Brooklyn, New York and is from Lagos, Nigeria. He is a writer, director, educator, and comedian. Adewale’s goal with the residency is to create a feature-length body of work.
JULY 3RD, EAST NEW YORK is the title of Adewale’s current project. His film is an ode to a gentrifying neighborhood, about one day within the community following three separate stories based on three stages of his life, from childhood to adolescence to adulthood.
Nirav Bhakta is originally from India, via Panama, and comes to the residency from Houston and Los Angeles. He has a Master's in Architecture and studies Indian classical dance. While Nirav never formally attended film school, he found the mentorship from Alex Smith invaluable, learning all about story structure and the key elements of screenwriting that are integral to his creative process.
NINE NIGHTS is the title of Nirav’s project, which is inspired by the true story of an undocumented widowed Indian American mother who makes the relentless journey to reunite with her separated children by smuggling herself through the US/Mexico border.
With plenty of memories and inspirational fuel to keep moving forward on their projects, the residents set to fully cherish the gift of this experience with a farewell dinner on Thursday, May 26th. We can’t wait to see the final products and what else these visionary creatives come up with in the future.
“The residents are wonderful filmmakers. They’re wonderful humans, and it’s been my pleasure to work with them for an entire month, getting to know them on a pretty deep level and understand where they’re coming from and help them try to get to where they’re going. They’re very unique individuals working on very important projects that I think will have an impact ultimately in the world.”
“This residency is truly what the Woodstock Film Festival is about; nurturing raw talents, incubating great and meaningful projects, and creating supportive communities. I can’t wait for this year’s residents to return to the 2022 film festival this fall and to eventually see the projects they have been working on so hard during the residency come to fruition. And while putting the residency together is always a lot of work, I can’t wait to do it all over again!”
Special thanks to our supporters of the program, White Feather Farm Foundation, Theoria Foundation, and Gigantic Pictures. Here’s to next year and beyond!
Written by Casey O’Connell for The Woodstock Film Festival.