The 2012 Tallgrass Filmmaker Lab series debuts on Saturday, Feb. 11 with Making and Marketing An Independent Documentary In the Digital Age led by award-winning filmmaker James Spione. Spione’s most recent short film INCIDENT IN NEW BAGHDAD won Best Documentary Short at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, Grand Prize Documentary Short at the 2011 Rhode Island International Film Festival the Audience Award for Best Short Film at the 2011 Tallgrass Film Festival and is shortlisted for a 2012 Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Short Subject.

The class will be from 1:30 to 4 p.m., Feb. 11 at the Wichita Art Museum in the Howard Wooden Lecture Hall. Advanced registration is $20 for general admission; $15 for students, teachers, seniors, military and TFA Members. Admission is $25 at the door.

Following the extraordinary trajectory of this award-winning film, Spione reveals how the power of 21st-century social media has radically transformed the creation, marketing and distribution of independent film. By comparing his previous filmmaking experience before the emergence of today's online tools, Spione's candid presentation will offer a rare and detailed behind-the-scenes look at how the interconnected power of Facebook, Twitter and Kickstarter, in conjunction with established venues like film festivals and television, helped bring his latest film from his home editing suite to an international stage.

In celebration of TFA’s 10^th anniversary, Tallgrass Film Festival alumni filmmakers from all over the country, who possess a vast knowledge about the art and business of independent filmmaking, as well as invaluable insight and expertise on niche topics, will return to Wichita to present the majority of this year’s filmmaker labs.

About JAMES SPIONE:

Based in New York City, Spione’s first documentary feature, AMERICAN FARM, detailed the demise of his family's fifth-generation homestead in central New York State. In addition to documentary work, he has also made a number of fiction films. Perhaps his best-known work was the eerie Sundance favorite GARDEN, a suspenseful drama starring Oscar winner Melissa Leo (THE FIGHTER) and veteran character actor Matt Malloy (SIX FEET UNDER); the film screened at festivals worldwide.

Spione’s first film PRELUDE earned a Student Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was seen at numerous international film festivals.