A founder of Los Angeles’ Filmmakers Alliance (FA), writer-director Jacques Thelemaque (The Dogwalker) discusses FA’s successful approach to cooperative independent filmmaking during a
Conversation with Jacques Thelemaque: Greenlight Yourself
, Tuesday, September 19, 7 pm, in the Lecture Room. By sharing resources and building a collaborative production community, filmmakers can give themselves the green light. Joining a conversation about strategies to increase film production in Minnesota are Robb Mitchell of ScreenLabs, Lucinda Winter from the Minnesota Film and Television Board, and Walker film curator Sheryl Mousley. Short films by FA members will also be shown.
In 1993, Thelemaque co-founded Filmmakers Alliance with his wife, Diane Gaidry, and as President, has built the grassroots collective from a loose-knit group of eight filmmakers into an important independent filmmaking resource organization with over 400 members. He has overseen the production of hundreds of films and videos, set up important vendor deals, built resource and crew databanks, and facilitated a regular series of seminars and workshops covering all aspects of filmmaking.
Recently, Thelemaque struck a deal with production financing entity Bigfoot Partners to produce two to four independent films per year under $1 million, working with emerging filmmakers under the banner FA Productions, of which he is co-president with Liam Finn. He has also recently been named partner and Chief Community Officer of the festival submission site, Withoutabox.com.
His impressive writer-director filmography includes Infidelity (in equal parts) (Sundance Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival), The Dogwalker (Los Angeles Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, Best First Feature—Cinequest Film Festival), Egg (Mill Valley Film Festival, Best Comedy Short—Cinequest Film Festival, Jury Award for Best Short—Methodfest), and Love Without Socks (AFI International Film Festival), as well as several other films which he has written, directed, and/or produced.
Thelemaque was also on the board of directors for The Los Angeles Independent Film Festival (now the FIND Los Angeles Film Festival), helping organize that prestigious event, and executive producing the 1998 seminar series. His latest short, Transaction, is just entering the festival circuit, having won a BAFTA award at its premiere at The Mill Valley Film Festival. He is also writing a new feature film, Rust, and recently completed the script for Red White And Blue as one of 10 filmmakers involved in the feature-length omnibus project. He sits on the board of both the Silver Lake Film Festival and the Santa Monica Film Festival.
Tickets to Conversation with Jacques Thelemaque: Greenlight Yourself are $8 ($6 Walker, Screenwriters’ Workshop, and IFP members) and are available at walkerart.org/tickets or by calling 612.375.7600.