Actress/Producer Discusses Event’s Popularity Among Independent Filmmakers

Actress and film producer Christina Rose has lived in New York and Los Angeles, but for one week in April she makes herself at home in Phoenix. Her lure is the Phoenix Film Festival.

The annual event opens tomorrow night with The Spectacular Now – starring Shaileen Woodley, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Miles Teller – and runs through Thursday, April 11, at the Harkins Scottsdale 101 cinema in northern Phoenix.

The PFF has demonstrated remarkable consistency in the quality of its film offerings and all-around programming. No, it’s not Sundance or Toronto. But those festivals have been taken over, to a large degree, by the industry’s studio/promotional complex – crowding out small, truly independent films. In an article last week, Arizona Republic film critic Bill Goodykoontz cited the PFF’s reputation among independent filmmakers as one of its strengths. He quoted Festival Director Jason Carney saying: “We are now getting so many filmmakers eager to submit their films, and the quality of the films show that. … Our filmmaker alumni is a great asset, they are great at telling other filmmakers about our event and how they should submit to us.”

To learn more about what independent filmmakers value in a festival, I reached out to Christina, who co-produced and starred in last year’s PFF Audience Award-winning film, How Do You Write a Joe Schermann Song. The actress is returning this year for the world premiere of her latest movie, Favor. Directed by Paul Osborne, Favor takes an old maxim – “A friend helps you move. A good friend helps you move a body.” – and runs with it.

“You want to see your film paired up with other great films, compelling scripts and talented people,” Christina told me. “Filmmakers and actors want to meet new people and open up new opportunities. A good film festival will create a platform that encourages this, providing good networking events, engaging workshops and fun parties.”

Osborne is another Phoenix alumnus: Official Rejection, his documentary about the film-festival circuit, premiered at the 2009 PFF.

“I’ve made no secret of my assertion that this is the best stop on the circuit,” he blogged last year. “Sundance, SXSW and the other ‘premiere’ festivals get all that crazy attention because of the big stars and exciting movie sales, sure sure – but in terms of the audience and filmmaker experience, I promise you will not find better. And if distribution acquisition execs were truly interested in the Kevin Smiths and Quentin Tarantinos of tomorrow, they’d be here. The competition flicks at this fest are made by truly new, outside-the-system voices. … This is where the indie lives.”

Indeed, Favor isn’t the only film premiering in Phoenix this year. It is joined by director Zak Forsman’s crime drama Down and Dangerous and Music City USA, a documentary about Nashville.

Christina Rose

Christina plans to attend all three Favor screenings and take part in audience Q&As afterward, along with Osborne and fellow actors in the film. But she’s also looking forward to the festival as a fan.

“I have a few friends with films in the festival this year that I am very excited to see,” she said. “Zak Forsman’s Down and Dangerous is world premiering and my friend Troy Daniel Smith produced the film Lonely Boy, which I think sounds very intriguing.”

Connections among PFF alumni helped Rose land her latest role.

“Paul Osborne attended one of our Schermann Song test screenings back in 2011 and after watching our film he approached me with a role he thought I would be perfect for,” she said. “I read and enjoyed the script and pretty quickly jumped onboard.”

Favor tells the story of Kip Desmond, a successful man who seeks help from a childhood friend when an extramarital fling goes horribly wrong. Rose plays Desmond’s secretary, Kimber.

“Kimber’s infatuated with her boss, Kip,” Christina said. “She aspires to advance beyond her secretarial position and finds herself in a precarious balancing act between her ambitions and her loyalties.”

Christina has fond memories from last year’s Phoenix Film Festival:

“PFF was our world premiere for Schermann Song; they did such an amazing job making us feel special. There was electricity in the air the entire week, and everything we were doing seemed extraordinary. There were so many firsts: first time showing off our film in a packed theater, first time being treated like royalty and first time winning an award. I swear that all of us were in tears when they announced we had won the Audience Award.” 

Christina Rose and Joe Schermann (center, holding awards) and Director Gary King (right behind them) strike poses with colleagues and Phoenix Film Festival officials to celebrate the two honors won by “How Do You Write a Joe Schermann Song” last year.

It’s been a good year for Schermann Song.

“We’ve been touring the film theatrically and have recently played Beverly Hills, San Jose and New York,” she said, noting that Schermann Song recently launched worldwide on iTunes and other digital platforms, and also is available on Blu-ray (with special features) and DVD.

For Christina, it’s also been a busy year personally as her evolving career led her to move from New York to Los Angeles.

“I started in New York to pursue theater,” she said, having earned her bachelor’s degree in musical theater performance from Central Michigan University. “Now my focus is on film and TV, and Los Angeles is the right city for that. I am very happy with my decision to move out here. Things are going great and my career is moving forward.”

This summer, she said, she’ll be working with Schermann Song director Gary King on a new horror movie. King won the PFF’s Breakthrough Filmmaker Award last year. The two also collaborated on the 2011 horror film Death of the Dead. (“Ninja zombies!”)

Social Media

During a panel discussion at last year’s PFF, Christina discussed her approach to social media:

“I think if you’re using social media in general … connect with people. Become friends with people, because people work with who they like – who they believe in and trust in. So, using social media is about making those connections, not just saying ‘Hi, here I am.’ Because nobody cares if they don’t actually care about you.”

A year later, she still thinks social media “is an important tool for actors and filmmakers. … It keeps us connected, informed and in each other’s consciousness. I have definitely booked work through social media and so have my friends.  A substantial portion of this business is who you know, so keep building relationships in any way possible.”

Even though she has professional representation, Christina believes it’s worth putting in the time online because: “No one will ever work as hard for you as you will work for yourself.”

“My team in Los Angeles is great,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean I am not out there networking and working on my craft.”

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Stuart J. Robinson practices writing, editing, media relations and social media through his business, Phoenix-based Lightbulb Communications.

Tags: Bill Goodykoontz, Central Michigan University, Christina Rose, Death of the Dead, Down and Dangerous, Favor, Gary King, How Do You Write a Joe Schermann Song, Jason Carney, Lonely Boy, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Miles Teller, Music City USA, Official Rejection, Paul Osborne, Phoenix Film Festival, Shaileen Woodley, The Spectacular Now, Troy Daniel Smith, Zak Forsman