Monday, April 23, 2007

Hot Docs Opening Party

The crowd in Toronto is so special--this is a community of people who really believe in films and it's been an honor sharing Billy The Kid.



A snapshot of Filmmaker Jennifer Venditti and Producer Chiemi Karasawa from the opening festivites @ Hot Docs.



Joel Heller from Docs That Inspire with Jennifer Venditti




Jennifer Vendtitti introduces Billy The Kid

Thursday, April 19, 2007

HOT DOCS BUZZ

Peep this! The Eye Weekly just wrote up a review of the film.

Four stars!

HOT DOCS HERE WE COME!!!

Hot Docs programmer Shannon Abel's interview with Jen just got posted!



Don't forget, we screen this Friday, April 20th, and again on Sunday, April 22nd.

Come show us some love, Toronto!

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Screening Comments--Tell us your Thoughts!

We would like to encourage feedback from those who have seen this film. The profound reactions we have received since our first screening have been wonderfully overwhelming and beautiful. These notes and observations should be for the public to see, not just the makers of Billy The Kid.

Please share any thoughts about the movie, feelings, or experiences that Billy has helped you reflect upon. Thanks again to everyone for your support of Billy The Kid! Post a comment!

Monday, April 16, 2007

Announcing Our Canadian Debut @ HOT DOCS 2007

Geoff Pevre of the Toronto Star reviews Billy The Kid

From the surface of the moon to a Kawasaki campaign trail, Hot Docs celebrates
reality moviemaking


Apr 13, 2007 04:30 AM
Geoff Pevere
Movie Critic

In Jennifer Venditti's Billy the Kid, there's a long sequence in which an emotionally scarred 15-year-old boy finally
works up the nerve to approach the girl he's been admiring from a painful distance. So deftly has the film aligned our
emotional attachment to Billy, the ensuing exchange has all the raw, almost unbearable suspense of anything to be
found in a contemporary Hollywood thriller. We pray that she will like Billy as much as we have come to.

Billy the Kid: Jennifer Venditti's portrait of Billy, a keenly intelligent and preternaturally sensitive 15-year-old with selfdescribed
"issues," is an extraordinarily affecting study in the life of an outsider. Following Billy as he cycles through
the quiet streets of his small town, talking about music, love and the frustrating gap between imagination and reality,
the film invites you to see the world his way. As quietly inspiring as it is genuinely heartbreaking, Billy the Kid is an act
of passionate empathy. (April 20, 9 p.m., Bloor; April 22, 4:45 p.m., ROM.)

Friday, April 6, 2007

Comments from a Cameraman

I watched some scenes again and it really is special. Really smart
shooting decisions (camera-person's instincts), really good work being
at the right places at the right times, and most distinguishable above
all is how no time is spent making anyone unnecessarily villainous.
The good people really shine and the smaller players in the town seem
generally good-natured too. I mentioned that I cried a few times
watching it. Well, I realized it was thinking about things that bug me
about when I was 15 that moved me, but it was realizing that they
really weren't all that bad that was the deeper revelation. I have
never been diagnosed with any disorder, I have never been to a doctor
in my life, but I stuck out like a sore thumb in high school,
lunchtime was a nightmare, gym was hell, I went and got a perm once,
ugly stuff.
And the timelessness of the town was really key for people our age to
relate. Wonderful.

--Sean Williams from Maysles Films.

Billy and His New Friend From SXSW

Billy may be an outsider in Maine, but at SXSW he met a lot of new friends.

Here he is with Mathew Lessner, a talented young filmmaker. Check out his work at Modern Measure.