American New Wave 25: Elgin James

If I’m Elgin James, I’m making sure that I have a good publicist for a three week stint come January 2011. With production having taken place this summer with talent on both sides of the camera and having participated in both the Institute’s Screenwriters and Directors Labs (here’s some insight in his process), James’ directorial debut is a Park City premiere shoe-in. James will come to the festival with the longest of wikipedia pages, a lot of fanfare (see him work the labs with Catherine Hardwicke) but what should be of interest is the biographical elements the are embedded within the screenplay and seeing how James background as a musician and activist helped mold him as a filmmaker.

James’ Little Birds is actually based on the 2006 short film titled Goodnight Moon – (trailer) which was actually handled by THINKFilm – so logically, having inserted bio portions and having sat on this project in multiple incarnations might make for a promising debut.