March 28, 2009 -
PRLog -- Dailymotion, the world’s largest independent video sharing site, is to stream independent film, ‘High School Record’, this weekend. Directed by American Motionmaker Ben Wolfinsohn, the feature-length film follows four awkward American 17-year-olds as they struggle through their senior year facing a series of embarrassing situations, including low-paid after-school jobs, fumbled sex, guitar-strumming hippie teachers, and occasional brushes with the law.
Shot in a documentary style and featuring a cast made up of musicians from Los Angeles, the film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was shown at South by Southwest, is available to buy on DVD. It will have its online premiere on Dailymotion at midday on 27th March and will be available to watch at www.dailymotion.com/
gb until 10am on 2nd April. The trailer and full details about the film are available at http://www.dailymotion.com/
user/High_School_
Record/video/
x8fih4_high-
school-record-
trailer_shortfilms.
“High School Record” is Wolfinsohn’s second film. The first, music documentary, “Friends Forever”, received rave reviews and is shown regularly on the Sundance Channel in America.
Ben Wolfinsohn, the director of “High School Record” explains, “We’ve done the film festival circuit in the States and ’High School Record’ is available on DVD, but not as many people have heard about it in the UK as in the US. Screening the film on Dailymotion.com will ensure we can reach a European audience with a high quality viewing experience. If they like the film, they can buy the DVD and watch out for our next one. I made “High School Record” on a minimal budget, and I hope it encourages other Motionmakers to make their films.” Digby Lewis, Creative Director of Dailymotion UK adds, “Ben Wolfinsohn is an inspiring director. He has produced and directed two excellent independent films, borrowing money from his family and working on “High School Record” with non-professional actors and a semi-improvised script. This is a great film for Dailymotion:
our Motionmakers will recognise the creativity and determination it took to make the film, and we can all identify with the journey of adolescence told here in a unique and truthful way.’ Ben Wolfinsohn wrote, directed, co-edited and co-produced “High School Record”. Most of the cast are members of bands based in Los Angeles, including Dean Allen Spunt, who plays “Caleb” and is the lead singer for rock band No Age; Jenna Thornhill (“Sabrina”)
& Jennifer Calvin (“Erin”) who play in the LA punk band, Mika Miko; and Becky Stark (“Ms. Farewell”) who sang and acted in City Of Ember starring Bill Murray and sings with the band, The Decemberists. The film’s soundtrack features tracks from My Little Red Toe, whose members, Susan and Nick, play the documentary duo.
In addition to ‘Friends Forever’ and ‘High School Record’, Wolfinsohn has directed music videos (Greyboy, Lightning Bolt, The Chicago Underground Duo) and chronicled the underground L.A. music scene in the webseries “Heroes of the Underground”
. He works with his sister Debby Wolfinsohn, who co-edited ‘High School Record’ and is a former journalist who wrote for the Village Voice, the Austin American-Statesman, Spin and the L.A. Weekly. They have also produced a series of animated shorts set in a Milwaukee grocery store, a series of cooking segments starring underground celebrities, and a short documentary film about the life of Henry Hill (“Foodfellas”)
called “Please Don’t Kill Henry”. Wolfinsohn’
s most recent project is writing, producing and directing the US TV series, “Gigantic”
.
The streaming will be the fourth consecutive month that Dailymotion has hosted weekend film premiers under the recently launched Dailymotion Pictures marquee banner. It follows the online screening of ‘The Gingerbread Man’, the political thriller, ‘WMD’, which debuted on Dailymotion in December at the same time as it was revealed at CINECITY, The Brighton Film Festival, and the Doric film, ‘One Day Removals’. Dailymotion offers a mix of official content from partners such as ITNON, Channel 4, Viacom/MTV Networks and Universal Music, alongside user-generated content and creative content from independent film makers, ‘Motionmakers’
, which is curated by Dailymotion’
s programming team. The site receives 15,000 video uploads each day and aims to increase its content from the UK’s independent film making community. -ends-
About Dailymotion A top 50 website worldwide, Dailymotion Network attracts over 47,9 million unique monthly visitors worldwide (source: comScore, February 2009). Every day, over 15,000 new videos are uploaded into Dailymotion's global network of 18 localized video entertainment sites. In January 2009, Dailymotion delivered over 914 million videos to users including curated content from premium and Motionmaker creative contributors (source : Omniture, January 2009). Using the most advanced technology for both users and content creators, Dailymotion provides high-quality and HD video in a fast, easy-to-use website that also automatically filters infringing material notified by content owners. Dailymotion's mission is to provide the best possible entertainment experience for users and the best marketing opportunities for advertisers, while respecting content protection. For more information, please visit www.dailymotion.com.
Dailymotion.com | Room 2.13 I 81 Rivington Street I London EC2A 3AY For more information visit www.dailymotion.com or contact Joanna Burton Crescent communications Joanna.Burton@
CrescentCommunications.co.uk tel: +44 (0) 20 3170 5532 About ‘High School Record’ Synopsis HIGH SCHOOL RECORD follows four awkward 17-year-olds as they struggle through their senior year. Like most high school students, they ride a continual wave of embarrassment:
crappy after-school jobs, attempted sex in the science room, tinfoil shorts, guitar-strumming hippie teachers and brushes with the law. The only difference is that their moments of humiliation are all caught on tape -- our gang of four are the subjects of a documentary shot by fellow classmates. A journey into narrative anarchy, HIGH SCHOOL RECORD is an engaging film partially improvised by its young cast. Written by Ben Wolfinsohn and based on his own high school experiences, HIGH SCHOOL RECORD is a painfully funny exploration of the teenage mind. HIGH SCHOOL RECORD is a follow up to Wolfinsohn’s critically acclaimed music documentary FRIENDS FOREVER. About Ben & Debby Wolfinsohn Ben and Debby Wolfinsohn first gained cult status with the release of the documentary “Friends Forever,” (2002) the story of an obscure noise-metal band known for performing inside of their van. In addition to frequent play on the Sundance Channel and a distribution deal with Plexifilm, “Friends Forever” won raves from the LA Times (which called it “an embodiment of the cutting edge of the music documentary form”) and Spin Magazine. Their first narrative film, “High School Record,” premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and screened for sell-out crowds at South by Southwest and numerous other festivals. The Austin Chronicle called it “a sweet mockumentary of painful, funny high school days,” while Variety praised it as “a movie of uncommon feeling and authenticity.”
Ben has also directed music videos (Greyboy, Lightning Bolt, The Chicago Underground Duo) and chronicled the underground L.A. music scene in the web series, “Heroes of the Underground.”
Debby worked as a journalist for a number of years, writing for the Village Voice, the Austin American-Statesman, Spin and the L.A. Weekly. Recently they completed a pilot script for MTV; a series of animated shorts set in a Milwaukee grocery store; a series of cooking segments starring underground celebrities;
and a short documentary film about the life of Henry Hill (“Foodfellas”)
called “Please Don’t Kill Henry.”
