12 Aug Guest Blog | Lioneyes Pictures
KSF Artists of Choice is open to artists across the disciplines of dance, theatre, musical theatre and film. Over the next few weeks, we will post guest blogs from some of our 2016 grant winners about how the grant has impacted their work. Applications will be open in early 2017.
Name | Lioneyes Pictures - Parker Hill and Evan Ari Kelman
Project | Folksy
Year Awarded KSF Grant | 2016
What does the KSF grant mean to you and your project?
PH: Not only is this the first time a foundation is supporting one of my films, but it’s the Kevin Spacey Foundation, no less! I feel an immense amount of confidence and boldness to push this film into new creative directions that I’ve always wanted to explore. The KSF grant allows us to shoot this project on 16mm film which I feel is the aesthetic best suited for the tone and atmosphere of this story.
EAK: Having the support of KSF allows us to quickly cut through the noise when contacting actors and industry professionals. It’s a vote of confidence, and highly esteemed validation, that hooks people’s attention and makes them want to learn more about the project. When you put Kevin Spacey’s name in the subject of an email - people respond!
What inspired your project?
PH: The inspiration for this project came from a recent photographic series I started, which explores houses at night in the suburbs. On a trip out to Levittown, NY, I was on the phone with my grandma and she told me that back in the 50’s the houses were so identical that sometimes people would come home and go inside the wrong house. I loved that idea as a premise for a short film, and from there I started developing Folksy.
Talk about your journey prior to the receiving the award. What kind of difficulties or roadblocks did you encounter along the way? How did you overcome them?
EAK: Parker and I met in film school at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and started working together freshman year. We both share an interest in exploring stories that are larger than our worlds, and have a lasting emotional impact. There’s been a lot of learning to figure out how to create stories of this scope, but together we’ve pushed each other forward and farther to reach for the best possible solution to any given challenge.
What would you say have been the most defining moments of your career thus far?
EAK: Parker and I have been working hard to tell stories that we really believe in. We were lucky enough to have both of our undergraduate thesis films selected to premiere at Tribeca Film Festival.
PH: The most recent defining moment for us has been this honor of being selected as Artists of Choice of 2016. Evan and I are very grateful and excited to be involved with KSF, and are looking forward to crafting a unique film with their support.
Do you have any advice for emerging artists?
EAK: Watch as many films as you can, good and bad, and learn why they work or why they don’t.
PH: You have to make the time to create your own work. There are always going to be a million reasons not to make something, but you have to make it anyway.
Read more about Parker and Evan’s project here.
Parker and Evan discuss there project here.