Sean Mannion

Tag: washington dc

  • Abel and Cain Screenings

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxEMCwSWRw4

    June was a very busy month. I went back to Alaska for the first time in 4 years to celebrate turning 30 with my two best friends; I had a temporary gig with a lot of long hours; I was an instructor at the I Was There Film Workshop at George Washington University; and Abel and Cain had two screenings in two days in New York City.

    I was excited to be selected for the NewFilmmakers Screening Series, which showed Abel and Cain on June 12th. I was even able to take off early from the temporary gig I mentioned to attend the screening, which was thrilling. I feel like we got a good response from the audience. Then, on June 13th Abel and Cain also screened at the Brooklyn Short Film Festival. Sadly, I was unable to attend due to my aforementioned gig, but I hear it went very well.

    I’m looking forward to hearing from more festivals in the next few months (and submitting to more festivals).

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  • I Was There Film Workshop

    Screen shot 2013-07-05 at 11.05.43 AM

    Under My Umbrella from the June 2013 I Was There Film Workshop

    In June I had the privilege of being an instructor for the Patton Veterans Project’s I Was There Film Workshop being held at George Washington University in Washington, DC. At the workshop we helped a group of 15 veterans to conceive, shoot, and edit a collaborative short film in just 4 days. It was a lot of fun to work with them and I’m very impressed with what they were all able to accomplish in the short time we had together. Six films came out of that week and I think they’re all fantastic.

    The purpose of the workshops is to give Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress or Traumatic Brain Injuries a creative way to express what they’re going through. Sort of art therapy with film. It’s very open-ended, which brings some very interesting results. As an instructor it was my job to just be there to lend a hand. Whether it came to help developing story, shooting, or editing, our jobs as instructors was to help them get from idea to final product in the brief time we had. Sometimes that meant we were more hands on and sometimes that meant we were just sitting back and answering questions.

    I originally heard about the workshops last fall while filming interviews for my New York Filmmakers web series with Katie Carman-Lehach and Christina Raia, both of whom participate in the workshops as instructors. I was interested in the workshops when I first heard about them from Katie and Christina and was very excited to get to participate last month. I’m looking forward to being able to participate again in the future.