Some Press & The Denver Film Festival

Film will be playing at the Denver Film Festival. Check back with this website or the Denver Starz Film Festival site for details - http://www.denverfilm.org/festival/

Also, some recent press, awesome review from Pamela, a Chicago film blogger: http://www.scarlettcinema.blogspot.com/

And from the Chicago Screening:
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/video?id=6840764

Man, I blabber so much. I wish I could have been as articulate as Jeremy, it was so great to have him there.

Saulsilito Film Festival - Aug 22 sat @ 7pm

Haven't checked in a while, the HP screening was amazing. I had such an awesome time and met so many great people. It was really cool to see former counselors of mine such as Daren Anixter and Adam Boehm. Both said that they thought my portrayal of me in the film (the animated dude) was completely false. They remember as a quality athlete. Impressions of ourselves are often different than reality. It was cool to hear them say that.

It was also amazing to have old timer Ojibwa guys come up to me after the screening with tears in their eyes telling me how much they loved the film. What an experience. I'll never forget it. I also met Harold Ramis in the lobby of the theatre and gave him a copy of the film. If you see him, tell him to watch it and email me.

By the way, if you live in California, come out to this screening of the film:
Aug 22 sat @ 7pm, film will be playing at the Saulsilito FIlm Festival.
http://www.sausalitofilmfestival.com/
Email me if you are coming so we can grab a beer/coffee/soda.
-Lou

Minneapolis Blogger Kathie Smith Reviews the film

Nice review, very nice person. I met Kathie while up at the Minneapolis Film Festival.

http://kathiesmith.blogspot.com/2009/05/interview-with-louis-lapat-win-or-lose.html

New Blogger Review & Student Academy Update

I didn't make it to the final round of the student academy awards. Here's how I found out. My mom called. She said she had some bad news. I knew they were announcing the awards this week and I figured she found out. Now I thought she was going to trick me into thinking I had lost but really tell me I had won. That is very like her. But that is not what happened. She really did have bad news, I didn't make it to the next round. That's totally fine although it would have been nice to go to LA for a week and feel important.

In other news, another blogger wrote a review of the film, enjoy:
http://wherethelongtailends.com/archives/independent-indies-%E2%80%93-win-or-lose-a-summer-camp-story

Student Academy Awards - I won, kind of

About two weeks ago I was told that 'Win or Lose' was selected as a student academy award semi-finalist. Out of something like over 100 films, 'Win or Lose' would be competing with 3 other films to go onto the next round. These films screened yesterday at a theater in midtown at 3 pm. So I sat through the top 4 student documentaries chosen in our region. One was my film, one was about people who dance with wheel chairs, one about sick kids waiting for organs, one about some island some where...ummmmm, to be honest, I thought they were just OK. 2 of the 3 were not character driven and were kind of boring. The one that was character driven was about sick kids and played like a medical educational video: I had trouble watching it. By the time my film went on, the judge next to me was sleeping and about 15 people had cleared the room. As you could imagine, 'Win or Lose' did not play great. There was a group of dudes behind me that laughed at every joke but besides them, the crowd was tough. I was nervous.

Then I went for a run and then sat through the narrative category. Now here there was some really solid films in the narrative category including The Lone Star State, Mochi and Without You, or was it With You.....whatever, they were good films. The Lone Star State was one of the best student films I ever saw. The other two films were by Columbia University students and were really solid.

The narrative section ends and we all go upstairs for a cocktail hour and food. This is where the announcing of the winners will take place. Besides being hors d'oeuvres & red wine there was a stage with a 9 foot plastic academy award statue. So when they finally announce the winners, the announce Win or Lose along with 3 other docs. Everyone was told they could say a speech but most people just said thanks and walked off the stage. They announced the narrative section and neither Lone Star or Mochi won, I was kind of floored but it just reinforced what I always thought about art. It is really hard to judge.

There are still 2 more rounds. 9 films competing in the doc section, 3 will be chosen to go onto to the finals. I'll keep you updated.

Minneapolis Film Festival & Student Academy Award Semi Finalist

2 Things:
1st) Film has made it to the semi-final round for the student academy awards. It will be competing against 4 other films in this region on this Thursday, April 23rd. If it wins this region, it goes to the finals in L.A.

2nd) I Just got back from the Minneapolis Film Festival. The festival was a lot of fun. Check out the facebook page for some pics:
Minneapolis Film Fest Facebook Pics

Director's Cut PBS

I'm too embarrassed to watch my self on video but here it is. Be warned, parts of the film are shown so if you don't want to be spoiled, don't watch it.

Enjoy:
http://www.wpt.org/directorscut/206lapat.cfm

Wisconsin Film Festival

Screening went well. Had a good showing of about 180 to 200 people. Won the Jury Prize. Had a great time.

Another Article

Here's another article written about the film, ahh yes, summer camp brings back memories:
http://77square.com/music/blog/dane/entry_445734

Kris Zimmerman's Critical Review

This is good, first critic's review of the film. Over all, good review and fair criticism:
http://gbwmovies.wordpress.com/2009/04/03/win-or-lose-a-summer-camp-story-2008/


Oh yeah, and this is pretty funny too, he wrote this a day before the review:
http://gbwmovies.wordpress.com/2009/04/03/first-night-at-the-wisconsin-film-festival/

77 Square Article

Another Madison Newspaper ran a story on the film, Check it out:

Minneapolis Film Festival & Wisconsin's PBS

This has not been announced on the Minneapolis Film Fest website yet but the film has been accepted to the Minneapolis film festival. I will be heading to Minneapolis for the festival.

Also, there is a good chance, if I can figure out some travel arrangements, that the film will shown on Wisconsin PBS as part of the Director's Cut Show, here is the website:
http://www.wpt.org/directorscut/

Full Interview for CU Article

http://spectacle.specblogs.com/index.php/2009/02/20/summer-camp-is-serious-business/

Wisconsin Jury Prize

Win or Lose won a Jury Prize at the Wisconsin Film Festival, it'll be announced on the WFF website this or next week - http://www.wifilmfest.org/
I will use the $500 won wisely. Zach and I are buying tickets to come down to Wisconsin soon, looking forward to it.

New York Screening

The New York screening was fun. My cousin's, boyfriend's band opened the show screaming and playing solid tunes. Prior to that, popcorn was served that we made the night before. Asher, Adam Korn, Zach and I did a QNA afterward. As far as the actual film, it played really well, granted it was friends and family. Still, there was lots of laughter and tension in the audience at the right places.

From Win or Lose: A Summer Camp Story - SCREENINGS

From Win or Lose: A Summer Camp Story - SCREENINGS

From Win or Lose: A Summer Camp Story - SCREENINGS

From Win or Lose: A Summer Camp Story - SCREENINGS

From Win or Lose: A Summer Camp Story - SCREENINGS

From Win or Lose: A Summer Camp Story - SCREENINGS

It's hard to see but check out this clip, this was right before the movie started:

Some Press

Check out the new york times announcement of the screening above.








Columbia University's newspaper ran a story on the film, check the one mentioned above here.

Wisconsin Film Festival Anyone?

Win or Lose was accepted to the Wisconsin Film Festival. Nice!

Done

Last night Mike exported his last audio file. We finished sound design. The movie is finished. I had 3 beers, went to sleep, then woke up with nothing to do. Now comes marketing and distribution. Anyone know how to do that?

Poster Brainstorming...

We've been brainstorming some poster ideas. Here is what we've come up with, we're still in the conceptual phase:

Concept 1:











Concept 2:











Concept 3:










We'll be going with concept 1 as a starting point. Adam Mirkin did the concepts. What do you guys think?