2016. Year 11.  The Tarot.

Year 11 was “Tarot”.  Each team was given a Tarot Card and a divination.

WATCH ALL OF THE 2016 ENTRIES:

Team – Title	Criteria / Divination	Skill	Rating
TheAverageSociety	Don’t lose yourself, Don’t lose your chance.	S	PG
12 Sided Entertainment	Victory with Dishonor.	S	PG-13
Carpet Wall Productions +	Celebration After Common Goal Achieved	S	PG-13
Brigand Filmworks	A Righteous Justice Attained	A	G
Demon/ Angel Productions*	A Loss that Ruptures.	A	PG
EEG Productions	Seduction by the Material World	A	PG-13
Weapons Grade Geranium	Happy Reflections of Childhood	A	PG-13
The Essential Abstraction	A Quagmire Is Imminent	S	PG
Flatdog Media	Now is the accepted time, present	A	PG
Moyst Productions	A New Wealth	S	PG-13
MoonandMarsProductions	A Hoarding of Riches	S	PG-13
Stank	A Confident Woman Will Appear.	S	PG
Skybox Productions +	Danger from Hidden Enemies	A	PG-13
Noticeable Grain	Order Through Righteousness	A	PG
KFC Productions	A Departure without Expectations	S	PG-13
SRK Video	Circumspection Then Sacrifice	S	PG-13
Bright Boy Alert +	An Impulsive Plan That May Fail.	A	PG
Twilight Jones Productions	The Power of Love	S	PG-13
Molten Llama Films	The Mastery of a Skill	S	R

Team – Title	Criteria / Divination	Skill	Rating
Shrug Productions	A Dangerous Journey	P	R
Stepdad Productions *	Serenity Through Acceptance of Faults	P	PG
Couch Money	Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t.	A	PG-13
Empty Bottle Studios	A Search for the Soul	A	PG
Unimental	Don’t Lose Your Head in the Clouds	P	PG-13
Exit Music (For a Film)	Now is the Time to be Bold	A	R
Ophiuchus Pictures	A Desertion of Felicity for Greener Pastures	A	PG
Laserstar *	A Secret Willing to be Shared	P	R
Nas-t Productions	Creation of Life and Art	A	PG-13
Moonslaves	A Messenger Arrives with a Proposition	P	PG-13
Dniym Productions +	Secrets Cloud Your Unknown Future	P	PG-13
LB Studios +	A Birth in the Family	A
Crowded Elevator Pictures	A Stubborn Approach	P	PG-13
Film.Lovables	A Loss, But Something Remains	P	PG-13
Frexit	Trials Overcome Through Love	A	R
The Comedy Pigs *	A Wish Fulfilled	P	PG-13
Pecos Bill and the Wranglers	Harmony, Prosperity, Peace be Yours	P	PG-13
Flotilla Films +	An End (Not a Mortal One)	A	PG-13
Cold Robot Studios	The Beginning of A Journey	P	R
Missing Link Cinema	A New Beginning with Unlimited Potential	P	PG
Ah Muh Face! +	A Retreat into Solitude.	A	R

MEET YOUR 2016 HOSTS

FRIDAY NIGHT HOST
STEFAN SUBOTICH

A Baltimore native, Stefan Subotich is a professional comic/actor and COO of BigTimingComedy LLC. As a comedian, he’s toured up and down the east coast and opened for names like Justin Schlegal(98 Rock) Mickey Cuchiella(98 Rock), Adam Dodd(HBO’S East Bound and Down), and Steve Hofstetter (host of Fox’s Laughs). Stefan is a story teller who loves interacting with his audience. A film buff, Stefan is thrilled and honored to be hosting the 72 film Fest.

LAUNCH HOST
MIKAEL JOHNSON

Mikael has been doing theater and film, mostly comedy, for too long; well as far as original expectations and goals were. He took the American Dream at its word— then he found out that the American Dream was coined by a guy who eventually died of a prolonged erection. And then the entire concept immediately became suspect. Please now take the time to google James Truslow Adams to verify the previously stated fact. We’ll wait…We welcome those that were able to return from Wikipedia. Mikael thought it meant that if you work hard and long enough that your dreams will eventually come true. Mikael currently lives in Northern Virginia, and each time he leaves his front door in the morning he hears the voice of Lester Burnham say, “In some ways I’m dead already.”

SATURDAY NIGHT HOST
DOUG POWELL

Doug used to act and do stand-up comedy. Now he rewires old houses, gardens and hangs out with a baby and his wife. Somehow he got really old all of a sudden. Some people say he had a spell put on him to make him old. Well, one person said that and it was this crazy person who thinks everyone has had a spell put on them because he puts spells on everyone. Doug most likely doesn’t have any spell over his head. Just a baby. But that’s like the same thing if you think about it. Who knows if Doug will ever perform or act again. Who cares really…Not trying to be a Dick but it’s not a big deal or anything. Let the guy relax for crying out loud.

MEET THE 2016 JURY

Ken Arnold has been acting professionally since 1997. Since then he has been in hundreds of productions from theater to film, television and more. He has appeared on stage as Johnny in Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune. He has been on the big screen in Men in Black 3 as famed astronaut Buzz Aldrin and has co-starred on television in shows like Revolution, VEEP, Blue Bloods, Law and Order and many more. He was recognized by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences with an honorable mention for his portrayal of German SS Officer Max Hansen in the documentary The Wereth Eleven. He is also a producer, writer and director.

Kirk Bowers

Kirk Bowers has a Bachelor’s Degree in costuming and directing from Central Washington State University. He is the current Producing Artistic Director for The Fredericktowne Players . As well as costuming numerous other local shows and films, he is also the owner of Stage and Screen Costumes here In Frederick.

Rich Bussey

Rich formally entered the world of post-production sound as an intern at Studio Unknown in 2011. After freelancing for StUn as a Sound Effects Editor and supporting several field recording expeditions, he was offered a full time position with the team in 2015. This past festival season his work could be heard at Tribeca, Maryland Film Fest, and Dances With Films.

Rich graduated with honors from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County having studied music and the recording arts. His favorite sound is Godzilla’s roar or the seismic charges from Star Wars Episode II… depending on the day.

Dan Deluca wrote/produced/ directed the award winning feature “Two-Minute Heist, and wrote/produced the 2007 theatrically released film “Crazy Eights” (Lion’s Gate) .  He co-directed/produced the 5 time festival winning feature, “On The Wing,” (2015) and wrote/produced the 2017 feature “The Night Watchmen.”   He has written 20 screenplays, produced, and directed a series of short documentaries,  commercials, corporate videos, and music videos.

As an actor, DeLuca  is best known for his role as Dr. David Parenti, in the HBO series “The Wire.”  Other roles include Veep, House of Cards and a string of independent features.  Dan is currently producing a feature as part of “ON DECK FILMs.

After more than two decades as a writer for both broadcast and cable television, Matt Edens has scripted everything from Saturday morning cartoons to indie features. Currently the story editor for Snapped, a long running true-crime series on Oxygen, his work has also aired on FOX, The USA Network, A&E, The History Channel, Investigation Discovery and Reelz.

John Grove began his freelance career as a Director of Photography in Los
Angeles after receiving a bachelors degree in Cinematography from Columbia College of Hollywood. Grove has been at the helm of features, music videos, TV shows, documentaries and commercials. His work is defined by his composition, use of color, camera movement and versatility to light and shoot all styles of genres/ projects. Now back in his hometown near Baltimore, Maryland, he has been a cinematographer on many projects including Christmas comedy feature “Elf-Man” and gaffer or camera op on shows such as “Restaurant Divided”, “Cupcake Wars”, “America’s Most Wanted”, “Stories of the ER”, “Pati’s Mexican Table”, “Master of the Mix” and many more.

Stephanie Hyder: Contracted Designer and Freelance Artist with a BA in Fashion Design and Minor in Studio Arts from Marymout University. Current film work includes Costumer Designer and Wardrobe Coordinator for Leda, a 3D black and white feature film. Past film work includes costume design for Flying Dog Brewery promotional videos. As a Maryland Ensemble Theater (MET) Company Member, currently designing for MET’s Rocky Horror Picture
Show; past shows include MET’s The Elephant Man, Materialize, Cat in the Hat, Frankenstein and Oedipus Rox; as well as Picasso at the Lapin Agile at McDaniel College. Other projects range from maintaining an Etsy Shoppe (Unicorn Nature), selling fashion merchandise and artwork at local vendor events, playing wardrobe stylist for Emily Gude Photography, and creating wedding accessories and attire.

Richard Jefferies grew up in Frederick, Maryland, where he graduated from Frederick High School in 1974. After 36 years of building a career in Hollywood, Richard returned to live in the Frederick area. During his time in Hollywood, Richard delivered 28 Feature Film writing assignments to major studios including Tron: Legacy, Cold Creek Manor and Man of the House at Disney, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer at Fox, Searchers and The Bad Place at Warner Bros as well as wrote the horror classic Scarecrows. Richard joined Wiseacre films in 2010 where he co-wrote and produced the Christmas comedy Elf-Man and the action adventure China BigFoot: Legend of the Yeren, which was shot in the remote mountains of central China.

Tim Martin is a filmmaker from Washington, DC and a graduate of The Maryland Institute College of Art in 2001. A 10 time ADDY Award Winner including Best in Show for “Support Local Creativity”, Flying Dog Brewery 2013. Winner of Best Feature “Audience Choice Award”, Micro Cinefest in 2002. Recent work includes clients such as The Washington Redskins, Carolina Herrera, Sagamore Rye, NRG, Maggie Oneil, Flying Dog Brewery, TAAPR, and Clutch (band).

Nick Midwig has filmed in over 30 countries and all 7 continents, including Paraguay, Mexico, Russia, Malaysia, China, Vanuatu, and beyond. He filmed extensively for the documentary series “Belief” for Oprah Winfrey and Harpo Productions but has also worked on several television series for The National Geographic Channel such as ‘Mars’ and “Breakthrough’. Nick acted as a cinematographer on the critically acclaimed 2013 documentary “12 O’Clock Boys” about a notorious Baltimore street bike group that premiered at SXSW and HotDocs and HBO’s new true crime documentary ‘Slenderman’ premiering this November. He has also directed and filmed branded commercial content for clients such as the New York Times, Subaru, The Weather Channel, Red Cross, Nike, Hilton Hotels, Chrysler, Sony, and more. In addition to his gifted eye for cinematography, Nick brings extensive experience in advanced filming technology to every project through the use of aerial photography, camera stabilization devices, high-speed cameras, and virtual virtual reality.

Rona Mensah detests writing bios. Here’s the boildown: She’s a Company Member at Maryland Ensemble Theatre, Frederick, MD She’s a radio personality with Today’s 97.5 in Martinsburg, WV.  Catch her mornings from 5am-9am. She loves being a part  of the 72 Film Fest and is ever impressed and amazed at the creativity and talent in the festival.

After his directorial debut, Cocaine Angel, world premiered at the 2006 International Film Festival Rotterdam, Michael Tully was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film. His follow-up, Silver Jew, world premiered at the 2007 South By Southwest Film Festival. In 2011, he wrote, directed, and acted in Septien, which world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was picked up for distribution by Sundance Selects. Ping Pong Summer world premiered at Sundance ‘14; it was picked up for theatrical distribution by Gravitas Ventures and is now available on home video through Millennium Entertainment. He is the founding editor of Hammer To Nail, a website devoted to championing ambitious cinema.

PRODUCER’S NOTES:  Year 11.

We went into this year with no idea what we would do for theme. But we put out a few seeds in case they inspired. At the end of our first announcement we had the words “A New Beginning”.  It could be read a few different ways. At the end of Year 10 we had announced that we were expanding to Chicago (more on this later). We were launching a new contest (72 Second Film Fest). And we were planning on redoing a lot of the judging as well as some of the presentation. To us it would be a new beginning even if it wasn’t to the public.  We also ran the number 1-12 on the website as a hint that we may have as many as 12 clues.  But we were still struggling with the actual theme.

Then we watched Terrence Malick’s film “Knight of Cups” and it clicked. There’s enough tarot cards to give out to teams, and most of them are enough thematically to launch a film.  “A New Beginning” is the meaning behind the first card “The Fool” (Fool Martyr), and if you add up 1 through 12 it equals 78, the number of cards in the Tarot.  Sometimes we’ve got it all planned out, a lot of times it just all clicks into place like some crazy universe thing.  Sam, Mike and Clark shot some moody clues with cups and swords, a noose for Hanged Man, and others to round out the hints at the theme.

At some point it became obvious that the person in charge of launching Chicago wasn’t going to be able to pull it off after all, so internally we debated postponing, then killed it and struggled with how to announce the disappointing death.  We threw a “clue” in where Sam visited Chicago to meet our new theater partner but ends up getting shot at and instantly cancels the Fest there.  Bad joke, but at the time it seemed no one was really talking about the violence in Chicago.

We had big big plans for the interstitials and movie between the films. A few of us were going to each take a card and do an elaborate interstitial, but…schedules again!  Luckily we were able to get Doug Powell and Mikael Johnson, and Doug’s daughter Amber for an afternoon. They played with “The Notebook” in their “host” roles discussing how their creative relationship has been affecting their real lives.  Originally intended for promos only, Clark held onto the second part to open the Fest when it looked like the interstitials weren’t going to happen. Mikael then wrote a fun take on Patton’s war speech, a rousing pro filmmaker/art speech intended to get people to help each other around here instead of operate independently in their respective corners and silos, a pet peeve of ours.  We had a couple people email asking/pleading for/against 72 commenting on the tumultuous 2016 Election (no…we never considered it).  But we did call the short “America” in case people read it in the program and would get nervous about such things. We let the teams do whatever commenting they felt necessary (and a couple did).

For the first time, partially due to the nature of the theme, the artwork became front and center with Wesley Pastorfield doing multiple posters with lino cuts, and we even created limited edition of 10 prints for each and had a gallery show and were able to hang them throughout Weinberg Center.

The Launch Party.  Tim DeFoggi really wanted a magician and we booked one for Launch (David London) and After Party (Mike Hotovy). We debated bringing in a real Tarot Reader, but felt it might make some people superstitious, so we had local actor Lisa Burl play our Tarot Reader and hand out a card and a reading for each card to be adapted into a film. Mikael and Doug presented but water had gotten into the Cafe 611 PA system shortly before, so we struggled a bit with sound issues.

Joey once again did the opening and some interstitials, driving out to the desert and flying a drone for the first time.

Mike Yamrus once again did the presentation/awards.

For the first time in a few years we took over a restaurant for the After Party – Nido’s in downtown Frederick and the owner there gave away a bunch of cool prizes.

In 2016 we also launched a new contest 72 SECOND FILM FEST, where 72 Second long films played before Downtown Frederick Partnerships Movie Night on the Creek in the Summer.  Unfortunately not many teams participated and we tried again for Year 2017 (similar participation rates).

Whether a theme/criterion is successful to us is three fold. 1) Does it excite people to participate 2) Does it create good movies 3) Does it get people in the seats.  Tarot seemed to do all three, but our crowd was lighter than previous year.