Films: Official Rejection

Official Rejection

USA, 2008, 107 Minute Running Time
Genre/Subject: Documentary
Program: Documentary Films
Language: English

DIRECTOR: Paul Osborne
Producer: Leslie Wimmer, Scott Storm, Paul Osborne
Editor: Paul Osborne
Screenwriter: Paul Osborne
Principal Cast: Kevin Smith, Lloyd Kaufman, Bryan Singer, Jenna Fischer, Chris Gore, Andy Dick, Scott Storm, Blayne Weaver

After pulling together $750,000 to make their crime drama Ten ’Til Noon, director Scott Storm and screenwriter Paul Osborne hoped for a little success on the film festival circuit (destination: Sundance), followed maybe by a modest distribution deal. More than two years and a slew of frustrations later, what they wound up with instead is a second film – one that documents the pains, pitfalls, and absurdities of the low-budget indie world.
Salted with buoyant wit as well as grievance and a touch of bitterness, Official Rejection shows how Osborne and Storm shopped Ten 'Til Noon around from Sundance and its offshoot, Slamdance, to Cannes, Tribeca, and other major film festivals, only to be left schlepping through the minor leagues – where the swag bags for participants might contain a key chain and a drink coaster.
“Success?” Osborne, here serving as director/writer/editor/coproducer (with Storm also coproducing), laments in voiceover. “You may as well believe in Santa Claus.” Interviews with top indie directors like Kevin Smith (Clerks) and Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) as well as with Troma Films’ outspoken founder Lloyd Kaufman (who calls the cash-obsessed Sundance crowd “devil-worshippers”) shore up this revealing look at the realities of a tough game.

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