Not so much a launchpad for bigger things, the Producers Award -- and $25,000 prize, this year courtesy of Piaget -- often goes to those indie pic workhorses toiling away in the trenches of low-budget film. Following in the footsteps of previous winners such as Paul Mezey, Mary Jane Skalski and Neil Kopp, these are producers committed to the art of film, and the tireless, near-impossible task of making that art fiscally viable. The nominees are:
Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy
Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy have proven, festival after festival, that they're as prolific as they are committed to low-budget films of quality and vision. In the last nine months, they've unveiled five completed pics: Spencer Parsons' "I'll Come Running"; Nik Fackler's "Lovely, Still," a Toronto bow that just closed an international rights deal; So Yong Kim's "Treeless Mountain," acquired by Oscilloscope Pictures; Cruz Angeles' Sundance competition entry "Don't Let Me Drown"; and, most recently, Bradley Gray's Berlinale premiere "The Exploding Girl."
"Each filmmaker has their own personality, and our job is to adapt to their personalities, understand when there's a problem or anticipate a problem, and that's a skill we both have," Knudsen says. And what unites these eclectic films under Knudsen and Van Hoy's Parts and Labor banner? "They're inspired," Van Hoy says. "That's one way I can describe it -- inspired in storytelling, inspired in ambition."
The Gotham-based duo are hard at work on another slate of American auteur-driven projects; they're going into production soon on Aaron Katz's "Cold Weather" and Mike Mills' latest untitled feature, and trying to close financing on Julia Loktev's "The Loneliest Planet."
Jason Orans
"I've always had a passion to tell multicultural stories," says Gotham-based Jason Orans, who cites the city as a source of inspiration. "I live in Chinatown, I love to eat ethnic food, and it's something that I didn't see reflected enough in indie films."
Orans got his start on a series of multicultural literary adaptations for PBS. "Because the budgets were so low, I learned story development and line production at the same time," he says. "They're very much the same thing to me: One needs to tell a story where all the resources are put to the best use."
Orans cites British producer Stephen Woolley and Amerindie stalwarts such as Skalski and Christine Vachon as models. They have "a sensibility that you can see from picture to picture," he says.
Orans' recent work includes Adam Salky's Sundance premiere "Dare," which he produced along with Mary Jane Skalski; Ramin Bahrani's Venice bow "Goodbye Solo" and Chinatown-set "Year of the Fish." Next up, Orans is developing Alex Estes' "I Am a Detective," about a boy with a personality disorder who is investigating a classmate's murder.
Heather Rae
For six years, "Frozen River" producer Heather Rae ran the Sundance Institute's Native Program, working closely with Native American writer-directors, such as Randy Redroad and Sherman Alexie. That experience of programming and cultivating talent gave her the tools to be a strong creative producer, she says, "understanding story and being able to support a maker in their storytelling."
She's also not afraid to get her hands dirty. On Russell Friedenberg's avant-garde road movie "Ibid," Rae took on an acting role when the Canadian cast for the part couldn't get a visa.
Rae is prepping "American Tragic," starring Melissa Leo, America Ferrera and Diego Luna; finishing up a docu about the foster-care system; and developing Leah Meyerhoff's feature debut "Unicorns" as well as Redroad and Friedenberg's pot-growing comedy "Potluck."
The Idaho native says she'd like to work on bigger movies, but remains committed to the low-budget form. "You liberate the film from financial constraints and it just becomes about the art of it," she says.
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