MAY/JUNE
Busy spring and early summer. Diane recently wrapped her feature CLUTTER, which stars, among others, Natasha Lyonn, Carol Kane, and Joshua Leonard. Ms. Crespo is now locked in the edit suite with longtime collaborator and editing wiz Erin Greenwell.
Meanwhile Stefan is busy in production on a documentary about poet and environmental activist W.S. Merwin, entitled EVEN THOUGH THE WHOLE WORLD IS BURNING. A recent grant from the Hawaii Community Foundation, together with our first Kickstarter campaign, will enable the production team to travel to France over the summer to shoot a key part of the story. More on the project HERE.
On other fronts, Stefan and Chris wrote a film for Network Films and ZDF that just wrapped in Hamburg and the Swiss Alps, and MY LAST DAY WITHOUT YOU continues to screen at festivals and in select territories. News on US distribution soon. We promise.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012
2012 is off to a roaring start. RESERVOIR, which Diane produced in the deserts of California in October, is now well into post-production. The film, directed by Massimillian Breeder, was supported by a grant from the Pompidou Centre. Diane is also busy prepping the feature CLUTTER, which she will direct later this spring. Deborah Harry is attached to star.
Meanwhile Stefan has been busy with distribution on MY LAST DAY WITHOUT YOU, which had a theatrical run in Germany in December, continues to play the festival circuit, and will hit the US market in the coming months. The film was recently nominated for "Outstanding Independent Film" and "Outstanding Original Song" at the 2012 Black Reel Awards. The title track single, performed by multi-talented lead Nicole Beharie just released on iTunes. The music video is available here.
Looking ahead, Stefan is directing a feature documentary on renowned poet W.S. Merwin, writing several screenplays with Chris Silber, and plotting a future collaboration with his Icelandic brother Olaf de Fleur Johannesson.
MY LAST DAY
WITHOUT YOU
On a one-day business trip to New York, a German business executive falls in love with a singer-songwriter who exposes him to her Brooklyn world and emotions he's never experienced before.
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ARRANGED
Two young women — one an Orthodox Jew, the other Muslim — meet and become friends as first-year teachers at a public school in Brooklyn.
Buy | Netflix | Blockbuster | Hulu
THE HUNGRY GHOSTS
Five New Yorkers - of different ages, races, backgrounds - hunger for sensual, emotional and spiritual fulfillment. Their intersecting and colliding paths reflect the zeitgeist of our times, in which the desperation of the West smacks up against the religious teachings of the East.
Official Site | Netflix | Hulu
CONTESTED STREETS
New York City prides itself as the world's most vibrant and dynamic metropolis. Unfortunately, it is also plagued by gridlock, noise, and exhaust-filled air. The film examines the city's past to reveal how this came to pass, and offers contrasting lessons from three European cities - Paris, London and Copenhagen.
Buy | Netflix
THE AMAZING TRUTH ABOUT QUEEN RAQUELA
Raquela, a transsexual from the Philippines, dreams of escaping the streets of Cebu City for a fairy tale life in Paris.
Buy | Netflix
THE HIGHER FORCE
Set in Reykjavik, Iceland, a low-life debt collector becomes the main man of his gang by pretending to have the inside info on a rival crime boss.
Buy | Netflix
CONFESS
A political thriller that charts the exploits of a disillusioned ex-hacker who captures compromising footage of CEOs, politicians, and members of the power elite. Soon his every action is front-page news, law enforcement has labeled him a new breed of terrorist, and the movement he spawned is spiraling out of control.
Buy | Netflix | Blockbuster
Cicala Filmworks is a full-service film, video, and new-media production company. Headquartered in New York City, the company produces content as varied as documentary programming, industrial videos, TV commercials, web content, and short and feature films.
STEFAN SCHAEFER
A founder of the New York production company Cicala Filmworks, Schaefer's films have premiered and won awards at festivals such as Berlin, the Hamptons, and South by Southwest, and been successfully released theatrically, via cable outfits such as HBO and the Sundance Channel, and on DVD.
In the past five years he has written, directed and/or produced eight feature films, among them "My Last Day Without You" (2011), "First Lady" (2011), the Maui-set comedy "Get A Job" (2010), "The Hungry Ghosts" (2009), Olaf Johannesson's "The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela" (2008), "Arranged" (2007) and "Confess" (2005). On these and other projects, he worked with Academy Award winner Melissa Leo, Ali Larter, Emmy winner Michael Imperioli, Zoe Lister-Jones, William Sadler, Nicole Beharie, Ken Duken, and many more.
In addition to his work at Cicala Filmworks, in 2009 Schaefer founded Silver Shepherd Films with writing and producing partner Christoph Silber ("North Face", "Goodbye, Lenin"). Silver Shepherd focuses on international co-productions, with their first project being the forthcoming "My Last Day Without You."
Recent awards include: Grand Prize for Best Film at the Skip City Int'l Film Festival in Japan (2008), the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the Berlin Int'l Film Festival (2008), Best Film at the Brooklyn Int'l Film Festival (2007), Best Film/Audience Awards at the Berkshire Int'l Film Festival and the Washington Jewish Film Festival (2007), Best Screenwriter at the Hamptons Film Festival (2005), Grand Prize in Digital Filmmaking from Panasonic and Apple (2004), and the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Screenwriting (2003).
Schaefer and his family split their time between Park Slope, Brooklyn and Haiku, Maui.
DIANE CRESPO
Born in Queens, New York, Diane was drawn to the dramatic arts at a young age. She received a B.A. in theatre from Roger Williams College, and later studied at the graduate level at the London School of Dramatic Arts. She met Stefan working off-Broadway, where she directed and produced a series of one-act plays he had written. The two went on to form the production company Cicala Filmworks in 1997.
In fourteen years of operation, the company has produced commercials, music videos, web content, documentaries and seven feature films. Diane has been central to each of these projects, with recent producing credits including MY LAST DAY WITHOUT YOU (2011), THE HUNGRY GHOSTS (2009) and CONTESTED STREETS (2006), and ARRANGED (2007) as a director. Her commercial and music video credits include work for clients such as Ben Folds, 1-800 Flowers, Virgin Records, 97.9 La Mega, Marriott Hotels, the New York Yankees, the New York Giants, the Guggenheim Museum, and Roundabout Theatre.