Sawed-Off Collaboratory News

2009-03-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

"The Unlikely Story of OMG/HaHaHa"

Written by Chris McCoy -"The Intruder" Blog Writer www.livefrommemphis.com

"It's the Titanic of Indie Memphis." That's what film critic Elvis Mitchell called Morgan Jon Fox'sOMG/HAHAHA as he awarded it yet another of the six prizes the film won at the 2008 edition of Indie Memphis. Since then, the film has been wowing audiencesand juries on two continents, winning the Reeling 2008 festival in Chicago and inviting comparisons to Larry Clark's groundbreaking 1995 film Kids from critics in London, where OMG/HAHAHA is currently screening at the Bradford International Film Festival. "It's funny, because when I finished it, I thought it would be a rinky-dink little project," Fox says. "I thought, 'I'm going to enjoy this, and it's going to be fun, but it's a big, experimental mess that's not going to be well received at all.'"

2008-12-23T09:22:00.000-08:00

OMG/HaHaHa wins Jury Award for Best Feature Film at Reeling 2008: The 27th Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival.

Brenda Webb, Director/Founder of Reeling Film Fest, and Morgan Jon Fox, director of OMG/HaHaHa

Full list of award winners from Reeling 2008:

Jury Awards

Feature Length Narrative: OMG/HaHaHa by Morgan Jon Fox

Feature Length Documentary: Pageant by Ron Davis

Short Narrative: Second Guessing Grandma by Wil LaFayette

Short Documentary: Get Happy by Mark Payne

Short Animation/Experimental: Tomboy by Barb Taylor

Audience Awards

Feature Length Narrative: Ruby Blue by Sarah-Leigh Treadwell

Feature Length Documentary: Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band by Michael Carmona

Short Narrative: Who I AM by Robert York

Short Documentary: Get Happy by Mark Payne

Short Animation/Experimental: Tomboy by Barb Taylor

The Reeling 2008 Festival Jury included: Robert Addis, Ron Brown, Daniel Finley, Susan Forester, Amanda Geppert, Stewart Gonshrey, David Liesse, Gretchen Lindall, Rick Simkin, Sharon Stevens, Jamie Williamson, and Israel Wright.

2008-10-24T11:24:00.000-07:00

OMG/HaHaHa opens tonight, and runs through next Thursday(Oct 30th) at Malco's Studio On The Square.

Read the article, by John Beifuss on our week-long run.

2008-10-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

2008-10-15T20:58:00.000-07:00

2008-10-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

OMG/HaHaHa gets a week-long exclusive engagement at Studio on The Square!

Dubbed the "Titanic of Indie Memphis" after it won 6 awards at the festival, has been given a week-long engagement at Studio On The Square where it will screen on a regular schedule all day for 7 days.

DATES OF EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT at STUDIO on THE SQUARE:

Friday October 24th - Thursday October 30th

We are very thankful for all of you who made it out to Indie Memphis.

***There will be some surprises screening both before OMG, and after the credits....so even if you already saw our lil film at the festival, your attendance during this run will give you a chance to see some special lil things....stay tuned for more info!

Please help spread the word....

WE LOVE YOU!!!

2008-10-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

OMG! Morgan Jon Fox’s Indie Memphis ‘Titanic’ Scoops Up Awards

OMG/HaHaHa wins 6 awards at Indie Memphis film festival, and Sawed-Off's Brett Hanover, and Kentucker Audley also took best of awards in their respective categories of Hometowner Documentary and Hometowner short films.

From John Beifuss' article on the awards ceremony:

"The movie’s title is odd, but its content resonated with jurors: “omg/HaHaHa,” the fourth fea

ture from Memphis director Morgan Jon Fox, was the big winner Sunday night at the 11th annual Indie Memphis Film FestivalThe festival, which began Friday, Oct. 11, continues through Thursday, Oct. 16. at Malco’s Studio on the Square. Awards were presented during a ceremony and party at downtown’s Ground Zero Blues Club.

Jokingly dubbed “the ‘Titanic’ of Indie Memphis” because of its awards haul, “omg/HaHaHa”

–created with assistant director John Tom Roemer, who now lives in New York — screens ag

ain at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

A tender and impressionistic film structured as a series of video blog entries and stream-of-

consciousness vignettes about families, friends, lovers and loners in Midtown Memp

his, the essentially no-budget but beautifully photographed “omg/HaHaHa“ was named best feature in the festival’s “Hometowner” category, devoted to films produced by residents of Memphis and Shelby County.

The festival jury also decided to award a “Special Jury Prize for Directing” to Fox, and a “Special Jury Prize for Acting” to two of the film’s young stars, Jake Casey and Ed Porter. The jury also gave “omg/HaHaHa” a “Special Recognition” award in the Narrative Feature category (in which it competed with fims produced outside of Memphis).

“omg/HaHaHa” also won the new “Special Achievement in Editing by a Memphis Filmmaker” award, sponsored by the technology company, Avid. The sweet prize for that victory: Avid Media Composer software, worth about $2,500.

Juror Elvis Mitchell, former film critic for The New York Times and host of the “Elvis Mitchell: Under the Influence” program on the Turner Classic Mo

vies channel, said “omg/HaHaHa” — the title is Internet slang for “oh my god,” followed by laughter — is “both playful and innovative.”

Said Mitchell: “It feels like something that really is the next step – a film that could play just as well on a laptop or a cell phone as in a theater. Moviemakers have been reaching to capture that for several years now, and this achieves that feeling...”

Read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

2008-10-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

Beifuss and Herrington on OMG/HaHaHa @ Indie Memphis

Indie Memphis 2008: The Way They See Things - ‘Hometowner’ Fiction Films from Morgan Jon Fox and Brian Pera

-John Beifuss The Bloodshot Eye

Evolution: Memphis filmmaker Morgan Jon Fox's third feature is a visual leap forward.

-Chris Herrington The Memphis Flyer

2008-09-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

SAWED-OFF FILMS TO SCREEN AT INDIE MEMPHIS

and many other festivals...

Brett Hanover's Bunny Land, and Morgan Jon Fox's OMG/HaHaHa have both been selected to screen at Indie Memphis in October.

Bunnyland is also slated to screen at several upcoming prestigious film fests, including: AUSTIN FILM FEST, SAN FRANSISCO INT DOCUMENTARY FILM FEST, and the SOUTHERN APPALACIAN DOCUMENTARY FILM FEST.

OMG/HaHaHa has been selected to screen at REELING 2008, the 27th Annual Chicago LGBT Film Fest.

2008-07-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

OMG/HaHaHa reviewed, yay!

"Easily my favorite film of the festival, OMG/HAHAHA is a clever, self-aware reflection of this generation’s MySpace/YouTube/Facebook-saturated youth...epitomizing the very nature, charm, and power of true grassroots Indie filmmaking."

2008-06-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

Just got word that OMG/HaHaHa will be screening in New York again already at the end of August at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's prestige Rose Cinema.

YAY

2008-06-16T17:54:00.001-07:00

At the OMG/HaHaHa world premiere in New York

The AMC Loews 34th Street

Director Morgan Jon Fox shields star Andy Harper from fans waiting outside the theatre.

Declan Deely, John Tom Roemer, and Morgan Jon Fox during the Q & A

2008-06-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

Omg/HaHaHa's world premiere in New York this weekend went great! Pictures, etc coming very soon. Stay tuned.

2008-06-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

Derrick, OMG/HaHaHa's video-blogging main character has started his own YouTube channel.

Check it soon for updates and extras from the movie.

2008-06-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

Benten Films has officially announced they will be releasing Kentucker Audley's TEAM PICTURE on August 26th, 2008.

Check out their spread here

2008-05-09T00:44:00.001-07:00

2008-05-03T22:45:00.000-07:00

Exert from the opening sequence of the unreleased documentary This Is What Love In Action Looks Like

2008-05-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

The final sequence of Blue Citrus Hearts, now posted on YouTube:

2008-04-27T22:59:00.000-07:00

A teaser trailer for

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT CONCRETE

Written/Directed by Alanna Stewart, and Katherine Dohan

of Sawed-off's associate

Do You Know Where Your Children Are? Productions

2008-04-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

Brett Hanover's new doc, Bunnyland, well received at Nashville Film Fest.

"Christopher Guest couldn’t make this up....Johnny Tesar, the self-described “last Indian on the Trail of Tears,” a motor-mouthed East Tennessee entrepreneur whose every move has courted controversy with hunters, neighbors and business partners. His Waterloo was Bunnyland, a Pigeon Forge miniature-golf course with the questionable novelty of bonking balls around live rabbits; his stake ended in perhaps the weirdest legal challenge of all time..."
-Jim Ridley

Check out the entire blurb in the weekly paper The Nashville Scene.

2008-04-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

Sawed-Off has recently negotiated a deal with Benten Films to distribute Kentucker Audley's first feature film, Team Picture.

Official announcement, and details on the release date, etc expected in the coming months, as Sawed-off moves into pre-production on Audley's new film, "A Novel on Holyland, VA"

2008-04-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

PIctures from a recent BRATPACK2000 photo shoot

with BRAD HARRIS

2008-04-26T22:22:00.000-07:00

Brett Hanover's new documentary

'Bunnyland'

has its WORLD PREMIERE

at the esteemed NASHVILLE FILM FEST

2008-01-18T09:08:00.000-08:00

Trailer for Tim Morton's doc, Scattered Junk

Scattered Junk Trailer

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2007-12-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

New extended preview for

This Is What Love in Action Looks Like

2007-10-31T08:19:00.001-07:00

Beifuss writes about omg/HaHaHa sneak preview

Excerpt:

As co-founder of the Memphis Digital Arts Co-operative and a do-it-yourself writer-director who has achieved some national attention for his highly personal movie projects, Morgan Jon Fox has become a youthful mentor to many in the local film making community. ...

"omg/HaHaHa" is an intimate, earnest and at times essentially documentarian peek into the lives of several troubled, confused, restless and proud Memphians, most of whom appear to be residents of Midtown in general and Cooper-Young in particular.
... the movie makes artful and honest use of digital video, exploiting the format for its strengths and embracing its limitations rather than trying to pass it off as a cheap substitute for film stock.
"omg/HaHaHa" employs a large ensemble cast...
... much of the film was improvised and shot documentary-style, leaving Fox with 20 to 30 hours of footage, which he sculpted over the course of a year into its current "multilayered" 95-minute form in the manner of a woodcarver fashioning a sequence of nesting dolls from a tree trunk.
The film is presented as a project of Fox's Sawed-Off Collaboratory Productions company and the MeDiA Co-op, with thanks to LiveFromMemphis.com, a Web site devoted to local arts, and Makeshift Music, a record label whose artists contribute several songs to the film...

READ MORE..

2007-10-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

HEART*STRINGS has been renamed omg/HAHAHA

it will preview to the public on Nov 10th.

Here's the latest trailer:

omg/HAHAHA trailer 10-2007

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Sawed-Off Collaboratory Productions and The MeDiA Co-op present

"omg/ HAHAHA"

a feature length film by Morgan Jon Fox and John Tom Roemer
(formerly titled Heart*Strings)

Special sneak preview screening/reception
Saturday Nov 10th 6-9pm
at the MeDiA Co-op
1000 S Cooper
(free free free)

sawed-off collaboratory productions present
in association with The MeDiA Co-op/LiveFromMemphis.com/MakeshiftMusic
a BRATPACK2000 film
starring ANDY HARPER, JAKE CASEY, ED PORTER, AMBER O'DANIELS, SUZY CRASHCOURSE, RITCHIE LONGORIA , and RYAN CARTER

with EILEEN TOWNSEND, MORGAN STEWART, JON SPARKS, LORIN VINCENT, HELEN BOWMAN, ROBIN TUCKER, SHALEEN CHOLERA, TIMM SCALITA, ASHLEY HOLLINGSWORTH, DANA TERLE, CARL E WALTERS, DONALD MEYERS, MARK PERGOLIZZI, BRAD BAILEY, CHRISTIAN WALKER, JOHNNY WEBSTER, SAKI NOSURNAME, BET CARR, LISA HOLMES, TIM MORTON, TRENT DAVIS, TOMMY KHA, LISA SANCHEZ, JACKIE SPARKS, JESSICA MAXEY, CHELLIE BOWMAN, HILLARY HARRISON .

written by MORGAN JON FOX and JOHN TOM ROEMER addt writing DECLAN DEELY

2007-06-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

Kentucker Audley's new film, TEAM PICTURE wins Best Hometowner Feature

at indie memphis 2007!

Beifuss writes

about TEAM PICTURE:

Audley's debut hits screen with dead-on accuracy

Excerpt from story:

"Team Picture" may represent the most promising feature debut for a Memphis filmmaker since Craig Brewer's "The Poor & Hungry" in 2000. But even Brewer's black-and-white video "digiflik" cost about $20,000; Audley estimates "Team Picture" was produced for a measly $1,500.

Brewer's accomplished, plot-thick and character-rich film suggested the writer-director had a future in Hollywood, which proved to be true. Appropriately, given the passive-aggressive indecisiveness, moral near-immobility, educational nonambition and career uncertainty of its hero, "Team Picture" makes no claim on the future, even though it could be classified as belonging to a currently fashionable school of do-it-yourself, YouTube-era filmmaking known as "mumblecore."

2006-11-15T17:12:00.000-08:00

Kentucker Audley named to

Filmmaker Magazine's "25 New Faces of independent Film"

see for yourself HERE

Here's the latest from around and about:

"3.5 stars out of 4. [Team Picture] hits the screen with dead-on accuracy...perfectly captures a young man at a moment of almost pure indecision...utterly convincing."

Commercial Appeal

"There's great, understated comedy...and there's also tenderness."

Memphis Flyer

"At times Audley’s long shots approach the painterly beauty of pastoral landscapes. I'm crushing heavily on 'Team Picture' right now."

SpoutBlog

"A pretty funny character study, a shambling ode to the fine art of hanging out" New York Sun

"There’s a sense in Team Picture of almost hyper-naturalism, a dedication to every small emotional moment and an acute and penetrating observation of how life works."

ShortEnd Magazine

"Audley's studious avoidance of rhetorical heightening reveals a complex world on the other side of the programmatic conflicts and patterned intensification of mainstream filmmaking."

Ray Carney, author of 'Cassavetes on Cassavetes'

2006-07-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

PHOTO UPDATE....
(it's been awhile...too many 10 hour days to post the photos...)

2006-07-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

It's hotttttt outside. pictures from the last few shoots.
including cameo spots from Away(A)wake co-stars Mark Pergolizzi, Saki Nosurname, and Tim Morton, who will all appear in one Heart*Strings scene together....

2006-06-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

sawed-off crew hangin tough....

suzi, morgan, amber

2006-06-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

wednesday and thursday shoots....

thanks so much to burkes bookstore....

2006-06-20T22:39:00.000-07:00

Another still from today's shoot at ck's

2006-06-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

Ed Porter, Lorin Vincent, Timm Scalita
as
Amazing actors, in todays shoot.
We are officially half-way with Heart*Strings production.
(also-Shaleen Cholera off screen)

2006-06-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

2006-06-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

Production, day 6.

2006-06-04T19:48:00.000-07:00

SHOOT!!!

DAY ONE

DAY TWO

DAY THREE

2006-05-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

John Tom and Morgan are exhausted....

432313221MORE REHEARSALSSs675466355354545443

These actors continue to blow us away. We could not be happier with everyone's dedication and hard work.

2006-05-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

$#%@#$@##REHEARSALS ARE FUN!@#$!!@^$%#$%@@!!!

2006-05-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

HEY EVERYBODY!@#@$$$$

It's great to see that our rehearsals are going so well! but we have not yet gotten a hold of a still shot camera of our own to use, we will have a camera to use by next weekend when our other rehearsals are!
SPEAKING OF REHEARSALS->
EVERYONE PLEASE CHECK YOU FOLDERS MORGAN AND I SO LOVINGLY CONSTRUCTED FOR YOU WITH ALL THE SCHEDULES IN THEM AND LOOK FOR WHEN YOUR REHEARSALS ARE. THE REHEARSAL SCHEDULE SHOULD BE BEHIND YOUR CALENDAR. IF YOU DON'T HAVE A REHEARSAL SCEHEDULE DON'T FRET, THAT JUST MEANS YOU DON'T HAVE A REHEARSAL.

thank you
have the best day every day
-John

2006-05-18T23:52:00.000-07:00

The workshopping phase of this project begins on Saturday...we are very very ready to start seeing these characters come to life...it's been a constant push for the last several months with the pre-production office oriented spreadsheet-callsheet-number list-profile-schedule report side to things...we can't wait to finally allow the pretty visions we've been dreaming up in our heads start to move and breathe and sing right in front of us. I don't think we could be happier about the cast for this project. Me and John constantly speak about this actor, or that actor...I mean, truthfully-people we've had to cast merely as extras could just as easily be lead players...that's how amazing, talented, and beautful everyone working on this is. We can't wait...filmmaking means the world to us, and everyone of you taking part in this project, as with all the projects we do...are apart of our family, and for this...we thank you.

A big thanks to Sean O'Daniels for currently putting his incredible web design skills towards redesigning the main Sawed-Off website...THANKS.

see you/talk to you SOON....

-morgan

2006-05-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!
Thank you so much for coming out to the meeting on sunday!!!
everyone involved with this film is so amazing
we love you!

Keep checking here for updates!

(click for larger image)
Beautiful images created by:
Melissa Alfonso

Hi.

2006-05-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

This is the official posting place for news, updates, press, and misc. whatnot for Sawed-Off Collaboratory Pictures latest project, Heart*Strings(now in pre-production).

More soon.
With love, from the Sawed-off family.....