The Making of AU PAIR, KANSAS

Screening and case study of JT O'Neal's award-winning film for members only

August 13, 2012 - 7:00pm - 10:00pm

This is a free, members-only event. Space is limited; please call 651-644-1912 to register.

IFP is proud to welcome JT O'Neal to our next presentation of the IFP Professional Development series. Following the screening of AU PAIR, KANSAS, JT will be on hand to discuss the script, funding, all phases of production, film festivals, and marketing/distribution of his award-winning film.

Completed in 2011, AU PAIR, KANSAS is about a recently widowed woman who hires a Norwegian soccer player to come to a small town in Kansas to be a male au pair for her two sons. A romantic dramedy with shades of European magical realism, the film deals with the recent personal loss of all four main characters and how a soccer ball can change sadness into laughter and create a big—and sometimes happy—family.

JT wrote the script as his last project in the prestigious MFA screenwriting program at UCLA. The script was a semi-finalist in the Austin Film Festival screenplay comedy competition and was shot on a Red One camera by award-winning director of photography Marco Fargnoli. The rough cut of the movie was selected as one of only ten feature projects from around the country to be in the IFP Director’s Lab in New York City, and was an official selection in the Emerging Narratives section of Independent Film Week.

AU PAIR, KANSAS had its world premiere at the Kansas City Film Festival, where it won the AMC Independent Theater Heartland Feature Film Award. The movie also won the Best Low Budget Feature Film award at the Cannes Independent Film Festival in France and was the closing night feature at the Out Twin Cities Film Festival. AU PAIR, KANSAS has screened at 20 festivals around the world and has been picked up for distribution by Marvista Entertainment.

JT OʼNeal graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in History of Art. He also has an MD from the University of Kansas, an MPH (masters of public health) from Harvard, and an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA. While at UCLA, he won the prestigious UCLA Screenwriting Showcase with the script BLACK DIAMOND; the Alfred P. Sloan award with the script PANTHER LAKE, and the Carl David award with the script DIVA AND THE DUDES. While in film school, he produced the ultra-low budget film, ALIEN GAME. His award-winning short films have played at over 80 festivals around the world. Also an award-winning director, his short films have played at over 80 festivals around the world. JT’s photographs are included in major collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the library of Congress in Washington, DC. He is the producer of the feature film ALIEN GAME and the short GRANDMA AND THE RAVEN, which was shot on the Kickapoo reservation in Kansas, and is a co-executive producer of the feature film, THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN (Sundance 2009), also shot on location in Kansas.