BENTONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL FOCUS - American Fable
American Fable is a fairytale thriller set in the 1980s Midwest farm crisis about a courageous girl living in a dark and sometimes magical world. When 11-year-old Gitty discovers that her beloved father is hiding a wealthy man in her family's silo in order to save their struggling farm, she befriends the captive in secret and is forced to choose between saving the man's life and protecting her family from the consequences of their actions.
Watch American Fable on Prime Video and Vudu
Length: 1 hour 36 minutes
Director: Anne Hamilton
Producer: Kishori Rajan, Anne Hamilton
About the director and producer: (25 words each, if same person 50 words)
Anne Hamilton is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles. She got her start in the business as an intern on Terrence Malick's THE TREE OFLIFE. Anne was selected to be one of eight women in the class of 2014 American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women, a highly competitive program designed to mentor emerging female directors. Anne studied philosophy at Notre Dame and Stanford and law at Yale. She is proud to return to her Midwestern roots to direct her first feature film this year, AMERICAN FABLE, which she produced with Kishori Rajan.
Kishori Rajan is an independent producer. She has been on the producing and physical production teams of several narrative features, including the Spirit Award nominated FOUR AND GIMME THE LOOT (Grand Jury Winner, SXSW 2012 and official selection at Cannes 2012) among others. She associate-produced MAY IN THE SUMMER (opening night film, Sundance 2013) and was the senior producer on a number of web spots for American Express and nyc.gov.
She co-directed and produced American Dropout for PBS that aired nationally. Kishori is a contributing writer for Filmmaker Magazine, and has been the Development Executive at Durga Entertainment since 2012. Her most recent producing work includes Anne Hamilton'sfeature debut AMERICAN FABLE, Anthony Onah’s DARA JU, the pilot Random Acts of Flyness from director Terence Nance, and a slate of projects through her company, Ten on 5 Productions.
She is a two-time participating producer of IFP's No Borders Co-Production Market, and was selected as the sole US producer for the 2016 European Producer's Workshop through EAVE. She graduated from Columbia University, and was awarded the Entertainment Partner’s Festival Winner Recognition Award in 2012.
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): We are looking for buyers, distributors, journalists, and film festival directors
Funders or production company: Silo Pictures LLC
Release date: TBD
Why did you make American Fable?
I wanted to tell a gripping thriller about a young girl during the farm crisis illustrating a time period when a major shift in American politics and food production happened which affects us to this day. It’s a fictional story set against real events that people need to know about.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
It’s a thrilling story with beautiful performances and incredibly beautiful images.
Can you tell us about the clip you selected from the film? What’s at stake here?
The clip is the introduction to Gitty’s brother, Martin, in the movie. It’s a scene about how you know whether you can trust someone and sets up one of the major themes of the film.
Is this a personal or a universal story for you?
It’s both. Gitty as a character is sort of a version of myself as a child, but the story itself is universal.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Audiences and critics love it. We had 4 sold out shows at SXSW.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on this platform?
We are looking for distribution, festivals who are interested and journalists to get behind the film in a meaningful way.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We are looking for buyers, distributors and film festival directors.
What type of impact and reception would you like this film to have?
I’d like for it to play in theaters across the country.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
I’d love for people to leave questioning whether Abe and Jonathan are good people and who is right.
What are you developing or directing now?
I’m writing a psychological thriller much like the Game meets Vertigo for a strong female protagonist.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
We are playing next at the Chicago Critics Film Festival. If you can’t catch us there, we’d love to see you in the windy city!
Website: americanfable.com Facebook: facebook.com/americanfablefilmTwitter: twitter.com/american_fable
Sales Contact: Submarine Entertainment: 212-625-1410
Ben Braun & Josh Braun: Info@submarine.com