Rex Sikes' Movie Beat

Xan Aranda, director/producer, an award-winning indie filmmaker is affiliated with documentary powerhouse Kartemquin Films (Hoop Dreams.) She's a consultant, with a hand in dozens of international productions. Xan’s clients h range from national universities,  the U.S. Dept of Ed., to branding companies, advertising agencies, film festivals and emerging filmmakers. Her director debut, Andrew Bird: Fever Year World Premiered at Lincoln Center as part of the prestigious NY Film Fest. Fever Year received Jury Prize for Best Doc. at the Omaha Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Noise Pop Film Festival in SF. Xan is a Producer of the award winning 2008 Kartemquin Films release Milking the Rhino which received a four-star review from the Chicago Tribune. Xan serves as Outreach Dir.  for Prisoner of Her Past, directed by Gordon Quinn. She handled the broadcast of both films on PBS. Xan Aranda is currently directing her next project, Mormon Movie.  She is a featured speaker for students, guesting at Seattle Uni. , the Yukon HS of Fine Arts, Columbia College, Northwestern Uni., Wake Forest University, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and DePaul University. As founder and Executive Director of the Chicago Short Film Brigade, Xan curated and hosted Midwest screenings of int'l  short films from 2003 through 2010. The Sundance Institute recruited her for the 2011 ShortsLab: Chicago. She often serves on panels and competition juries as varied as the Chicago Int'l Film Festival, the Third Coast International Audio Fest, Hugo Television Awards, and the Illinois Humanities Council’s Looking For Democracy Film Contest, among others. She has worked in the film, music video, and commercial industries since 1994. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at rexsikes.com

Rick Vaicius PT 2 is director and founder of Flyway Film Festival, Wisconsin's bluff premier destination for independent film as noted by Emmy award-winning blogger Scott W. Smith “ … a festival that should be on your radar” . Founded in 2008 it evolved from the monthly film programming and semi-annual filmmaker events Vaicius proposed and curated at the Lake Pepin Art & Design Center in Pepin. Vaicius has created a standout, intimate and high-quality annual festival. Over the past four years, Flyway has brought over 80 filmmakers into the local community. In addition to screening remarkable films, it has become a unique venue for filmmakers to network and discuss projects and the "state of the industry" in the film world. Vaicius has already persuaded some top film industry talent to appear Scilla Andreen is keynote speaker and it looks like Paul Rachman from Slamdance. There is a Crowdfunding workshop and a Women in film round table. Some program highlights include Red Flag by Alex Karpovsky Caroline and Jackie by Adam Christian Clark How to Write a Joe Schermann Song by Gary King We're Not Broke by Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce Dreams of a Life by Carol Morley and Journey to Planet X by Myles Kane and Josh Koury.  Vaicius, a lifelong cinephile developed a true passion for independent cinema as a student at the University of Minnesota. His love of movies has never wavered. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at rexsikes.com

Steve Anderson is a writer/director/producer based in Santa Monica, CA. He is proud to be in the top ten of the over fifty “Steve Anderson’s” on IMDb.com. Readers of that website seem most impressed with his “Special Thanks” on the indie smash “Napoleon Dynamite” but Steve has plenty of other sweet credits. Most recently he wrote and produced the Sony released feature “The River Sorrow” starring Ray Liotta. Steve is also the producer/director of the documentary “” which was released theatrically by THINKFilm, and made audiences laugh and swear at over 100 film festivals around the world. His first theatrical feature film was the dark comedy “The Big Empty.” It starred Jon Favreau, Kelsey Grammer, Daryl Hannah, Rachael Leigh Cook and Sean Bean. Anderson’s very cool media company, Mudflap Films, is currently working on new feature projects, including “The White Orchid” and “This Last Lonely Place.” Steve is also an accomplished musician, plays regularly around L.A., and is one of the original founding members of the legendary East Coast jam band Slipton Fell.

Jamie Nieto, (PT 2) Actor, Producer and 2012 Olympic High Jumper, is no stranger to perseverance, innovation, challenges and achievement.  He made the U.S. A. Olympic Team in 2004, missed them in '08 due to a technicality and came back stronger than ever to earn a spot on the '12 Olympic High Jump Team.   At 35, Jamie is the oldest male high jumper in the history of the U.S. to make it to the team. Jamie turned his disappointment of not making the Olympic team in '08 into a victory by carefully evaluating his goals and his desires.  Through introspection, Jamie discovered his deep passion for acting and producing.  Jamie started taking acting lessons in 08 and since then has been in three films and produced a web series.  His film credits include: “Kontrast” (09), “The Encounter” (10), “Jerusalem Countdown” (2011), “Red Line” in (11) and  “Baseball’s Last Hero: The Roberto Clemente Story” (11).  He colleague Von Ware, Trilogy Medias, recently completed episodes for his new web series “Blood Brothers,”  On this project, Jamie served as the Executive Producer, Casting Director and Co-creator. Jamie’s lives his personal motto:  “your only limitations are what you believe them to be”.  The next chapter of his life will encompass acting and producing.  His post-Olympics plans include launching his web series “Blood Brothers” and filming additional episodes, if the appropriate level of investing is identified and secured.  Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at http://www.rexsikes.com

Jack Marchetti, director, is loosing his vision and has a dream to direct his feature before this happens. Jack is corwdfunding to make his dream come true. 4 of a Kind is a gritty crime drama that takes place in Chicago. Growing up in Chicago in a rough neighborhood gave Screenwriter Director Marchetti some strong insight in how to best portray and reveal his characters. Now  weeks into his Kickstarter campaign, Jack has received some nice shout-outs from Actors Matthew Lillard and Holt Boggs, and Writer Neil Gaiman. The filmmaking community has rallied behind this particular campaign because it is a solid script and has an inspiring backstory. Actress/Producer Liz Friedman (‘LA Ink’),  introduced him to Dan Distefano who will help produce 4 of a Kind when the Kickstarter campaign is successful. Distefano worked at Paramount as Assistant to the VP of Production and also with Weinstein Co. Jack and Liz Friedman worked together on the screenplay All I Want for Christmas optioned by Light House Pictures in 2011. 4 of a Kind was a Top 100 finalist in Project Greenlight season three, beating out over 4000 other screenplays. The screenplay failed to advance further, but the issue of loosing his eyesight pressures Jack to it produced. He was diagnosed with cone rod dystrophy, a genetic eye disease that causes blindness at an early age. Unpredictable, it can move slowly or take someone’s vision very rapidly. Jack's older brother has already lost his vision to the same disease. Knowing that his disease is progressing and unpredictable, Jack decided to take matters in to his own hands, is attempting to run a Kickstarter campaign and shoot his screenplay before completely losing his vision. He would like to be able to make the film and see the completed project with his own two eyes.