2009 has flown by, and I have gained elite frequent flier status! Though we are not done screening at festivals, it's only appropriate to take a breath at the end of this whirlwind experience and take stock. First of all, there are people to thank. Mickey Cottrell, our publicist at Inclusive PR, who helped us launch the film in Los Angeles. Leslee Scallon at Dances With Films, who has become a close friend and runs a wonderful fest. Producers Jared Parsons, Sam Mestman, and Massoumeh Emami -- who went the extra yard and travelled with me (on their own dime) to the fests. Mom and Dad, for working that St. Louis publicity! Cliff Froehlich and Chris Clark, who do an amazing job putting together one of the best festivals in the midwest -- and the other filmmakers I was lucky enough to meet in the New Filmmakers Forum. Kelly Williams at Austin Film Festival, for believing in our film. Melissa Irwin, for working with me on the design for the website and promotional materials. All of the musicians who contributed their amazing songs: Ari, Dom, Joe Stickley, and (of course) Kaki. And finally Circus Road, our sales agent -- for fighting the good fight. We hope to have good news sometime early in 2010 regarding distribution.
If you helped with this film: THANK YOU. If you helped keep me sane: THANK YOU.
AWARDS (2009):
Dances With Films - Grand Jury Award: Best Narrative Feature Honorable Mention
Oxford International Film Festival - Special Jury Award: Emerging Filmmaker for Joe Leonard
St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase - Best Narrative Feature by St. Louis Film Critics Association
Acefest NYC - Best Feature Film
FirstGlance Philadelphia Film Festival - Best Feature Film and Best Director
Big Apple Film Festival - Emerging NY Actor Award for Aaron Stanford
Big Easy Film Festival - Jury Award: Best Drama Feature, Best Screenplay
St. Louis International Film Festival - New Filmmakers Forum finalist
Red Rock Film Festival - Grand Jury Award: Best Narrative Fiction Feature
Moondance International Film Festival - Seahorse Award for Best Narrative Feature
Columbus International Film Festival - Chris Award for Best Narrative Feature
PUBLICITY:
“Writer-director Joe Leonard aspires to make a generational statement about the young Gothamites whose dreams and illusions were dashed in the wake of 9/11. As nicely enacted by Fishel and Stanford, the relationship between the two characters has a core integrity… The visually polished pic achieves the desired contrast between the hustle-and-bustle of New York and the characters’ countryside idyll.”
–Variety 7/8/09
“This movie had us at Rosemarie DeWitt.”
–Austinist 10/26/09
“The quick, 87-minute run time makes for a seamless flow from start to finish. This is a charming, buzzworthy film that’s worth all the noise.”
–Philadelphia Citypaper 10/22/09
“Leonard puts a unique, admirably understated spin on material that could easily descend into cliché or worse. How I Got Lost’s subtle sound design, surprisingly spare dialogue and game cast (Nicole Vicius and Mad Men’s Rosemarie DeWitt co-star) give Leonard’s graceful, affecting tale an intimate quality that could only spring from personal experience.”
–Cincinnati Citybeat 7/29/09
“How I Got Lost begins with hip New York 20-somethings, sexy and stubbly in their rumpled suits, awash in ennui. They are drunken and sad and look as much like hell as possible while remaining fuckably urbane. They are burnt out. You worry for a moment that you’re about to see a movie about the bullshit worries of bullshit young people of means. But How I Got Lost is better than that. This is a film about the way life tends to rip people out of their poses, and the hip young people of How I Got Lost spend the whole movie getting ripped out of theirs.”
–Palm Beach New Times 4/21/09
“How I Got Lost is a bittersweet and intimate drama about discovering happiness in the midst of turmoil…cleverly and meaningfully book-ended by two significantly traumatic dates for New Yorkers in the aughts (September 11, 2001 and August 14, 2003).”
–Smells Like Screen Spirit 10/20/09
“Though the falling Twin Towers initiate the action in Joe Leonard’s new film, How I Got Lost, it’s not quite accurate to call it a 9/11 film; it’s more of a Northeastern blackout of 2003 film, and the resolution is brilliant.”
–St. Louis Magazine
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