Second Season, Here We Go! AGBO + Slamdance DTLA Summer Showcase 2024
We’re thrilled to announce the second season of this exciting event, once again hosted at the stunning AGBO campus by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo. This year, we’re bringing together a diverse array of groundbreaking talent and cutting-edge stories over an action-packed weekend.
Kicking off on Saturday, July 20th, join us for the Slam Script Shop. This hands-on workshop offers an exclusive opportunity to engage with industry-leading writers and sharpen your screenwriting skills. As night falls, settle in for SHORTWAVE, an evening dedicated to showcasing an eclectic mix of standout short films from our 2024 festival lineup.
The excitement builds on Sunday, July 21st, with DIG: The Next E-poch. Dive into the forefront of digital and interactive presentations and a roundtable from visionary creators, offering a sneak peek into the future of this evolving industry.
We extend our deepest gratitude to Slam Alum Anthony Russo and Joe Russo and the entire AGBO team for their unwavering support and collaboration.
“Slamdance has been a wonderful partner and we are happy to be expanding our relationship to our Downtown LA campus. Our mission to offer our campus to help showcase emerging talent is a perfect opportunity,”
Angela Russo-Otstot, Chief Creative Office at AGBO on AGBO + Slamdance DTLA Summer Showcase
Slam Script Shop / July 20th, 2024 / 1pm – 5pm
A day of screenplay workshops dedicated to emerging screenwriters, formed and led by some of our most successful Slamdance Screenplay Competition winners.
“Last year we had people fly from all corners of the world in order to attend our special day dedicated to screenwriting, The Slamdance Script Shop. It was such a huge success! We are excited to bring the Slamdance Script Shop back another year as a part of our year-round Polytechnic educational programming initiative. This year’s Script Shop will truly be a transformative learning experience!”
Anna Lee Lawson – Slamdance Festival Manager, on AGBO + Slamdance DTLA Summer Showcase
The Slamdance Script Shop – Winner’s Circle
Welcome to the Winner’s Circle! This year’s Slamdance Script Shop will feature panels and workshops dedicated to the art of winning. Here’s what you can expect:
Be Your Own Mentor!
We will begin with a panel discussion led by our Slamdance script consultants, Anjini Azar and Irene Jiang, who head the Mentorship Award program. The session will be moderated by Film Festival and Screenwriting Competition Manager, Anna Lee Lawson. This panel will walk you through the Mentorship process, which includes:
- An in-depth coverage report
- An action plan for next draft development
- Further review of subsequent drafts
- Support in preparing a pitch deck
- Best efforts in helping get the finished work produced
What it Takes to Write a Winning Script
Next, long-time Script Consultant and USC Professor, Beverly Neufeld, will lead a workshop focused on the essential elements of writing a winning script. Learn from her extensive experience and gain valuable insights into the craft.
How I Won the Slamdance Pilot Competition
The day will conclude with a Workshop lead by Jamie King (who wrote a Slamdance Screenplay Competition 2015 placing script, Castle Rock) called How I Won the Slamdance Pilot Competition, writing the script, placing and turning that win into a career.
SHORTWAVE / July 20th, 2024 / 6pm – 10pm
Selected from the 2024 Slamdance festival lineup, a revolutionary short film program that redefines visual storytelling.
“Strap in, our opening night shorts program SHORTWAVE is even more explosive this year! When audience members and filmmakers alike step onto motion capture stage (on the AGBO campus) they’ll be in awe, watching this program on their stunning LED Wall. Last year the energy was electric from start to finish. I couldn’t be more excited to continue in that tradition and bring another phenomenal night of filmmaking back to the independent film community of Los Angeles.”
Michael Morin – Festival Producer on AGBO + Slamdance DTLA Summer Showcase
SHORTWAVE Program
Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World – 2024 Unstoppable Honorable Mention
Dir. by Julio Cesar Palacio — USA / 23 min
A Black teenage girl has spent her life grappling with a rare form of autism that rendered her essentially nonverbal.
Smash or Pass
Dir. by Cory Reeder — USA / 5 min
Dating pool or cesspool? They both stink!
The Steak – 2024 AGBO Fellowship Winner
Dir. by Kiarash Dadgar; written by Kiarash Dadgar, Ali Narimani – Iran, Canada / 8 min
Birthday party preparations get turned upside down when something horrible takes place.
Lotus-Eyed Girl
Dir. by Rajee Samarasinghe — Sri Lanka, USA / 6 min
A hauntingly evocative, experimental rumination on the effects of colonialism on human desire.
European Man…American Beach – 2024 Jury Honorable Mention for Narrative Short
Dir. by Rex Shannon — USA / 7 min
A nude European brawls with an offended American on the beach.
DOSH – 2024 Spirit of Slamdance Award Winner
Dir. by Radha Mehta – USA / 16 min
When her son’s life is put at risk at their family’s pre-wedding ritual, a hard-of-hearing mother must decide how to seek help for her husband in order to keep her family safe.
Legend of El Cucuy
Dir. by Cynthia Garcia Williams — USA / 14 min
Carlos tells his wife about El Cucuy’s origins, and that same night, El Cucuy pays the family a visit.
NOHOMO
Dir. by J. Santos — USA / 5 min
Dick’s mundane evening turns sour when his penis launches an attack on him.
This Body is a Shell
Dir. by Ashley Eakin — USA / 6 min
Disabled women wrestle with self-image and fight to uncover meaning beyond what is skin deep.
This Is a Story Without a Plan
Dir. by Cassie Shao —USA / 8
Two people, and an explosion.
DIG: The Next E-Poch / July 21st, 2024 / 1:00pm – 6pm
DIG (Digital, Interactive and Gaming) recognizes creators using new and emerging mediums, led by DIG programmer and marketing visionary Dekker Dreyer.
“At DIG (digital, interactive, and gaming) we recognize the best work from artists who push the limits of technology to share their unique visions. Narrative games, interactive installations, immersive documentaries and experiences come to life in a celebration of what’s possible when creativity and emerging media meet. This year’s lineup breaks new ground and can’t be missed!”
Dekker Dreyer – DIG Programming Captain on AGBO + Slamdance DTLA Summer Showcase
DIG Program
AI History 1890 – 2090
Future Zotrope (HASE & YAZAKI) / 12 min
Letting AI tell its own history gives the audience a sense of the fictionality and reality that AI brings to the world. This is what this work is about. Formally, we are being made to learn by AI in a museum-like space, and the structure of the experience is the opposite of what people are making AI learn.
My Name is Coraline
Forestplant Studio , Mavskegg / 4 min
In a world of enchantment and mystery, Coraline Dale uncovers supernatural phenomena within her majestic castle. Overhearing a plot to capture her oldest friend, she embarks on a quest with her faithful feline companion, Shadow, venturing through a hidden passage into a mechanical domain. As they unravel the castle’s secrets, they discover the significance of companionship, kindness, and the unwavering power of their bond in this immersive and captivating dark fantasy odyssey.
Mother, Player
Angela Washko / 1 hr
In this meticulously hand-drawn experimental narrative video game, players explore the maternal healthcare industry and parenting culture as a burnt-out pansexual artist who becomes pregnant at the onset of a global pandemic.
Mother, Player was supported in part by the Creative Capital Award and the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry’s Further Fund.
Migrant Sea
Stephane Grasso / 40 min
MIGRANT SEA is an online cross-platform multimedia documentary about the voices, stories and realities of African migrants who have survived the harrowing journeys from their home countries to reach Europe. Immersive, film, audio, and photo documentaries interweave with migrant-led essays, creative multimedia content – and more – to create an intimate, interactive exploration of the voices, histories and realities of Sub-Saharan migrants today.
Tethered
Julianna Johnston, Tom Scherlis and Cat Yochum / 2-15 min
“Tethered” is an immersive projection and sound installation that is controlled by the gameplay of a tetherball match. Wall projections and synthesized sound are generated live based on the position of the ball and the progress of gameplay. As the game nears its conclusion and the ball wraps around the central pole, the soundscape intensifies and energizes the competitive gameplay, creating a physicalized feedback loop.
Lucky Yu
Mike Yi Ren / 5 – 10 min
Lucky Yu is a meditative fishing game with a unique hand-painted Chinese black ink art style. Relax and enjoy a fishing trip set in the natural landscapes of ancient China.
My Own Private Apocalypse
Visu_AI_Poetry | Bartek Sozanski / 1 min
“My Own Private Apocalypse” delves into the concept of individual existential desolation. The artwork mirrors our personal apocalypses: the hidden fears, anxieties, and devastations we harbour within us. It’s a depiction of our shared human experience, an invitation for introspection and acknowledgment of our own destructive capabilities. It’s also a metaphor for the poetic essence of neural networks – the beautiful chaos and the unexpected patterns that emerge from the seeming randomness.
Synchronization Station
Allen Riley / 30 min
Synchronization Station is a participatory performance about mediated intimacy that uses analog video mixing as a counterpoint to everyday communications technologies. It operates in a fictional moment in which computers are being invented, or reinvented, for the intentionally humorous purpose of establishing contact between humans. The central device of the show is an oscillator-controlled video mixer that blends the hands of pairs of participants who take turns coming up to the stage. The show also incorporates analog video synthesis works that transform visual artifacts from computer history.