FilmSchoolSF Students and Alumni Work On Feature Film In San Francisco
500 Jackson Street morphs into Cinquecento, a fake restaurant for the movie “Trattoria”“Inspired by real chefs and the writers’ real-life experiences in the family restaurant business, Trattoria is a drama/comedy set in the exciting San Francisco restaurant scene about a chef and his son that reconnect and heal their past through cooking.” More >>
“There are two ways to make it as an actor in the Bay Area,” says veteran film actor and SF School of Digital Filmmaking (FilmSchoolSF) teacher Jeffrey Weissman. One is to be willing to fly to L.A. (or Seattle, or New York) at the drop of a hat.
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California Independent Film Festival kicks off Thursday
“This movie was a labor of love for all of us involved in the project,” said writer and director Celik Cayalar of Fog City Pictures. “We are very gratified our world premier will be in Livermore.”
Cayalar said these types of showcases are absolutely key in promoting truly low-budget films.
“It’s very difficult for a film like this to get wide distribution,” he said. “Our best opportunity to build an audience and spread the word is through small festivals like this. It’s an opportunity to generate the kind of buzz that could lead to a wider release.”
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Oakland students make documentary films about their lives
OAKLAND — Filmmaker Stephen Kopels was a combat photographer in the Vietnam War who has seen ambushes and death up close.
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The Bay Area has always had a great independent film community, but has taken quite a few hits in the past two decades. From local gentrification to the SF Film Commission hiking its fees, from notorious rents to the dot-com boom-and-bust, from skyrocketing cost-of-living to often-predatory practices of visiting film companies, it has become significantly more difficult for actors and other film professionals to make ends meet in this neck of the woods (let alone fund their dream projects).More >>
The filmmaking community is all aflutter with news of the new RED Digital Camera. New camera gear comes out all the time, right? So what’s the big deal? Basically, RED is a game-changing, evolutionary leap in film camera technology. More >>
It used to be standard for San Francisco to be portrayed in movies as a magical, mythical and slightly mysterious place where transformation could take place anywhere. Writer-director James Savoca takes a stab at reviving that rep with Around June, a dreamy-gritty fable that traces the offbeat romance between a Rapunzel-like Potrero Hill girl and a sweet but broke Mexican immigrant. More >>
FilmSchoolSF’s 1st Feature Film, Presque Isle, World Premiere Oct. 4 –14 at the Mill Valley Film Festival, mvff.comThe future is the present in the V(ision)Fest – tomorrow’s technology is today’s medium for the imagination. V(ision)Fest mediamakers are the innovators and experimenters who are ready to shake, rattle and re-boot the state of cinema. Join us for the V(ision) Fest section celebrating artists who come from the glorious school of all possibilities. More >>
Admissions rep. Leah Kopels wants to talk film, so don’t wait until the curtain drops.
SF School of Digital Filmmaking
The film school was founded by industry veterans Steven Kopels and Jeremiah Birnbaum, based on the kind of school they wish they attended. Steven and Jeremiah provide hands-on training, encourage apprenticeships, and claim to be the only school offering the opportunity to crew on a professional film! Their students just finished filming the feature film “Around June,” a love offering set near the S.F. Ship-yards. Whether you’re looking into their filmmaking programs, workshops or film acting classes, you’ll cultivate your passion for film at 2565 3rd St. By Talia Salem The City Star 4/5/07
Celluloid is so 20th century — film schools are switching to cheaper high-def digital Maria Bernal-Silva, a 28-year-old film school student, awoke at 6:30 a.m. on a recent Monday to hold a boom mike above two actors in Potrero Hill Park. It’s hardly the glamour job on any set, but for Bernal-Silva, who is enrolled at the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking, the opportunity to work on the feature “Around June” amounted to progress, compared with her last stint in a film school. By Justin Berton, Chronicle Staff Writer, 2/17/07 More >>
Unique Collaboration For Film In S.F. There is another movie that is in production on the fabled streets of San Francisco. It’s a production of a San Francisco school that wants to make films digitally. By Don Sanchez, 2/6/07 More >>
Visa Will Put Digital Film School On Map
San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking has more than doubled its size and revenue since opening last year and expects to accelerate growth in 2007 by tapping aspiring filmmakers abroad. By Lizette Wilson, 12/8/06 More >>
Directing Wannabe Directors
Jeremiah Birnbaum stands in the familiar environment of the soundstage. The lights are up, the camera focused. The crew is in place. Only he is not behind the camera or in the director’s chair. Birnbaum, who has worked in film and video for nearly all of his adult life, is a teacher now. The crew is all students at the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking, less than a month into a 12-month program, feeling their way through the technology and the form. By Rick Polito 11/30/06 More >>
Page Six
Waiting for Hollywood to call is a lot like being on hold with the phone company. Life just passes you by. Grab hold of it instead by entering your screenplay into San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking’s Six in the City screenwriting contest. 11/27/06 More >>
Digital film program opens to success
The San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking (FilmSchoolSF) has only had its doors open since April 2005. Since that time the staff has been working around the clock to keep up with the demand. By Steven E.F. Brown, 10/06 More >>
Educator/Film School of the Week
The San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking is turning the idea of the traditional film school on its head. By throwing out the years of classroom lecturing, FilmSchoolSF has developed a truly cutting-edge curriculum for up-and-coming moviemakers. 9/25/06 More >>
Those Who Do, Teach
New School Gets Filmmaking Right
Stephen Kopels, a 35-year veteran of the film industry, likens the April 25th opening of his and co-founder Jeremiah Birnbaum’s San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking to that of a restaurant. “You pour everything you’ve got into making it work,” said Kopels, a senior producer/director at PBS for 12 years, “but in the end all you can do is sit and wait.” By Ben Hager 4/05 More >>
New digital film school opens in S.F.
Classes begin April 25 at the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking, where 12 students will start an 18-week intro course By Steven E.F. Brown, 10/17/05 More >>