Eclectic Method performed in the Starlight Ballroom at the Roger Smith Hotel on August 21, 2009. 4 projectors, 1 green screen and 6 filmmakers in house to celebrate the final evening of the Roger Smith Shorts film festival. This Eclectic Method Panman Remix marks the beginning of a new collaboration of visual artistry.  

Our first interaction with Eclectic Method was part of the Charity Water event on February 12 2009 as part of the Twestival festivities. 

Stay tuned for more developments.

Photographer Gil Garcetti presents his photographs taken in West Africa to Moll Barnes Brown Bag Lunch. He pushes for clean and available fresh water in Africa. Tune in for the next Brown Bag Lunch on September 10th and 11th, 2009 in the Penthouse of the Roger Smith Hotel. http://rogersmithlife.com/

In the week of August 17-22 2009, 6 filmmakers created 6 short films in the Roger Smith Hotel. 

Interviews with the 2009 Roger Smith Shorts Directors

On Saturday August 22 we screened the six short films and a documentary of the behind the scenes of 6 different crews to a packed house. Due to the large numbers of people who turned out for the event, we will be hosting two more screenings this week. 

The Roger Smith Shorts will be screened on Wednesday 8/26 (Time tbd) in the back of Lily’s and Thursday 8/27 at 7 30 p.m. in the Starlight Ballroom at the Roger Smith Hotel at 501 Lexington Avenue.  I hope to see you there. 

The 2009 Roger Smith Shorts Festival Workshop Short Films are;

“Suite 15″ Directed by Jacob Mendel

“On the Rocks” Directed by Sean Cunningham

“Rabid Rocky” Directed by Danny Brothers

“Honeymoon Killer” Directed by Sherng Lee Huang

“Hotel Genius” Directed by Ted Wallach

“Clean The Room” Directed by Dmitry Povolotsky

The Roger Smith Shorts Documentary Directed by Aleks Degtyarev

Congratulations to Dmitry Povolotsky for winning the Roger Smith Shorts Best Short Award. I want to congratulate all of the filmmakers and their crews for a job well done.  I look forward to seeing where this network goes. 

Stay tuned for more regarding the Roger Smith Shorts Film Festival. 

Who is Roger Smith Anyway? 

Wine Library TV NYC Week LIVE at the Roger Smith Hotel! August 24-28

Gary Vaynerchuk performs Wine Library TV live! After more than 700 episodes, Wine Library TV has taken on a life of its own, breaking down the barriers to wine appreciation for thousands. Witness the live performance as we pump the audio out to the street outside the Roger Smith Hotel while Gary swishes and spits in his trademark style.

Where: Roger Smith Hotel & Lily’s Restaurant – corner of 47th St & Lexington Ave, NYC in The Lab Gallery. The lively Gary Vaynerchuk will perform his show from inside the fishbowl style gallery as crowds gather to watch from outside the space. Wine Library TV NYC Week follows a week of live cooking shows in the gallery by Chef Daniel Mowles of Lily’s Restaurant at the Roger Smith Hotel.

When: August 24 – 28

Monday 8/24 – 5 PM

Tuesday 8/25 – 5 PM

Wednesday 8/26 – 5 PM

 
Thursday 8/27 – 5 PM 

Friday 8/28 7:30 PM

with after party to follow… for Social Good Conference.

Plus, all week long we’ll be raising money for Mashable’s Summer of Social Good

Robot and cop share a candid moment while on break from shooting Sherng-Lee Huang’s hilarious buddy cop genre film “The Honeymoon Killer”.

So…just in case you were stuck under a rock this week you know about the film festival we put on at the roger smith hotel.

6 directors, 6 premiers…all filmed in one hotel. (click here for more info)

Our winning filmmaker was Dmitry Povolotsky with his beautiful and funny film “Clean The Room”.

Congratulations Dmitry. The penthouse has never looked so good AND bad.

(Click here for one of Dmitry’s other films)

Congratulations to all of the filmmakers. Be proud. You deserve it.

Thank you to our generous sponsors, EVERYONE who made this happen, and special thanks to James Knowles for, as I say, “Letting us do this.”

Enjoy the photos and stay tuned for more highlights and content from Roger Smith Shorts Film Festival (Workshop) on Rogersmithlife.com.

Cheers.

-John Birdsong

Click here for flickr set. Photos by Morgan-Jo Teller for Panman Productions.

Clara Markowitz     – Along with her producing partner Charlie Corwin and their company Original Media, Markowitz has produced Squid and the Whale, Half Nelson, Guide for Recognizing Your Saints, as well as the TV Hit’s Miami Ink, LA Ink and The Rachel Zoe Project, among others.

Derek Evans – As an executive producer at Spyglass Entertainment in Los Angeles, Evans produced Four Christmases, Balls of Fury, Stick I

All of our filmmakers have checked in, so to speak. Some of them have even begun shooting their films. I heard one of them has a girl locked in the closet doing screenwriting.

Ted Wallach performs a card trick at the opening night dinner.

What can you expect this week? 6 directors, 6 premieres, all filmed in one hotel.

On Tuesday August 18th Milos Repicky and Lilah Gosman performed an opera set in the back of Lily’s in Midtown Manhattan. The performance of the Classical Spanish Opera was included in the documentary of the festival as well as Danny Brothers film “Rabid Rocky”, one of the short films that was shot during the week.

We screened” Un Chien Andalou” at 8:30 and rocked out to the Morning Pages at 9pm.

Friday night @ the Roger Smith Hotel with Eclectic Method was insane. 4 Screens, Break-dancing, A Green Screen, Bulldog Gin, Brooklyn Beer, Dance Party, Video Mixing, Beach Balls, MJ, Biggie, Quentin, … Great fun.

On Tuesday August 18th Milos and Lilah performed an opera set in the back of Lily’s in Midtown Manhattan. 

Refreshments provided by

Originally from Montauk, New York, soprano Lilah Gosman has been hailed as a shining star on the musical firmament. Lilah is equally at home in operatic productions, the concert stage, and in recital. Lilah has appeared with the Annapolis Symphony, One World Symphony and with the Theater Chamber Players performing at the Kennedy Center. She was a featured artist at The Whitney Museums annual Art Affair, where she performed with a full band in collaboration with singer/songwriter Moby. On the concert stage Lilah has been heard at Avery Fisher Hall, Opera North, Aspen Music Festival, International Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy, Tanglewood Music Center. Lilah most recently appeared in the Art of Song concert series in a program of jazz standards. She looks forward to joining Art of Song for more concerts in the Spring as well as collaborating with Milos Repicky in a recital of Felix Mendelssohns music. Operatic performances include Zerlina in Mozarts Don Giovanni, Susanna in Mozarts Le Nozze di Figaro, Lauretta in Puccinis Gianni Schicchi, Echo in Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos and Cleopatra in Handels Giulio Cesare. Other roles include Hansel in Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck, Rosette in Manon by Massenet and Adeleide in Lotario by Handel and Soprano in Einstein on the Beach by Phillip Glass. She maintains a passion for new music and has premiered several new works by contemporary composers. Lilah attended the Peabody Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music.

MILOS REPICKY

Born in Bratislava, Slovakia, and raised in France and Canada, pianist/conductor Miloš Repický is on the music staff of the Metropolitan Opera, where he was recently heard playing the harpsichord continuo for Le Nozze di Figaro. Mr. Repicky has been responsible for musical preparation for many other operas including Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, Macbeth, War and Peace, Hansel and Gretel, Rigoletto, La Traviata, The Magic Flute and served as Czech language coach for Jenů

fa. In addition to the Mets radio and Sirius satellite broadcasts, Mr. Repickys performances have been broadcast for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and New Yorks WQXR. He was a featured performer on a multimedia DVD release of Pierrot Lunaire by Sundailtech Pictures. As conductor for the world premiere of Tobin Stokes opera The Vinedressers, Mr. Repický was featured on a television documentary for the CBC. He has performed in recital for Regina Resnik Presents, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Montreals Jeunesses-Musicales, the Chicago Cultural Center and New Yorks Julian Autrey Song Foundation.

Kevin Iwashina is a ten-year veteran film finance agent Iwashina began his career at Creative Artists Agency.  His responsibilities ranged from packaging the Academy Awarding winning film Crash for Lionsgate to the representation of companies such as Netflix and the oversight of projects at Killer Films, Participant Productions, etc.  He now produces at Hunting Lane Films.

Scott Kasdin and Anthony Puleo

Scott and his production company, Kazmofilms, is in active development on several projects in association with Delaplaine’s Shallow Beach Films (based on Miami’s South Beach), including scripts they wrote jointly, “Johnny Guapo,” an over-the-top romantic comedy about a Latin singing sensation’s attempt to become a crossover star in the U.S., and “Midnight Mass,” a taut thriller about the Christmas Eve Robbery of Manhattan’s Historic Trinity Church.

Gotham screenwriter, Anthony Puleo, sold his first comedic feature, Going Guido, to LA Based production company, Boo Entertainment. Puleo has received top placements in various screenwriting competitions and is currently producing his second feature, Tinsley.