2025 FESTIVALApril 2-12, 2025Lansing, MI

The Capital City Film Festival celebrates artists from around the world by curating outstanding multimedia experiences for the community.

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Character Development & Logline Workshop: Preserving the Authentic Voice

Every story has a beginning, middle and end, rooted in the personal experiences of its creators. In this workshop, filmmakers of all experience levels will have an opportunity to work together in small groups to explore the seeds that make up great screenplays: well developed loglines and characters, and learn the tools to sharpen their storytelling skills. We will collectively analyze and discuss examples of moving and effective scenes, characters and loglines and then create our own. Jess X Snow and Shane McSauby will talk about their own process as writer/directors; delving into how their films and characters are born from deeply personal narratives. They will also address collaboration on film sets, alternate modes of funding, and the aspirations and challenges of preserving one’s authentic voice in their journey as a filmmaker.

This workshop is for filmmakers of all experience levels. Participants are encouraged to come with a story idea and character they want to further develop into a feature or short film.

Presented in partnership with the MSU Womxn of Color Initiative

DATE
Saturday, April 13, 2024
TIME
12:00 PM
VENUE
The Robin Theatre
TICKETS
FREE

Jess X. Snow

Jess X. Snow is a non-binary filmmaker, multi-disciplinary artist, and author of the JiangXi Chinese diaspora whose films center flawed Asian migrant queers rediscovering their agency, desires and dreams. Recently named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film, their short films have screened at many festivals worldwide including: Black Star, Ann Arbor, BFI Flare, Cinequest (Best Student Short), and Durban International Film Festival (Special Mention) and New Orleans Film Festival. They recently received their MFA in writing/directing from NYU’s graduate film program where they were a BAFTA scholar. Their first feature is currently in development and was supported by the 2023 Cine Qua Non Lab and the Canada Council for the Arts.

A member of the Justseeds Artist Co-operative, prior to filmmaking, they spent a decade creating artwork for migrant, climate and racial justice movements. Their large-scale murals were featured on PBS Newshour, Hyperallergic, the SF Chronicle, the LA Times and elsewhere. Along with their artistic practice, they teach screenwriting and community mural making to students of all backgrounds.

Shane McSauby

ishkwaazhe Shane McSauby is a citizen of the Kchi Wiikwedong Anishinaabek (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.) He was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan where received a Bachelor’s Degree in filmmaking at Grand Valley State University in December of 2015. He earned his MFA in writing and directing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts in September of 2023.
In 2016, Shane became the first Sundance Institute & Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellow for his script Mino Bimaadiziwin which included participating in the Sundance Institute’s Native Filmmakers Lab in Santa Fe, NM. His films have screened in tribal communities and film festivals around the world including Aspen Shortsfest, Vancouver International Film Festival, the Smithsonian Museum and Maoriland Film Festival.