American Film Market Dailies

#BlackBear is an intriguing and unexpected comedic thriller starring #AubreyPlaza, #ChristopherAbbott and #SarahGadon. At a remote lake house in the Adirondack Mountains, a couple entertains an out-of-town guest looking for inspiration in her filmmaking. The group quickly falls into a calculated game of desire, manipulation, and jealousy, unaware of how dangerously intertwined their lives will soon become.

Tandem Pictures is a leader in conceiving and implementing eco-sustainable filmmaking practices in the indie film space, with all of their productions following Environmental Media Association standards and the Producers Guild’s Green Best Practices. They’re also an advocate for how these practices – from using hybrid vehicles on set, to having the sound and camera teams use rechargeable batteries, to composting and using metal straws – can and should be adopted industry-wide.  

Female owned and operated, it is Tandem’s mission is to bring female talent and narratives to the forefront. They embrace female-centric storytelling, and pride themselves on the fact that the casts and crews of their films are composed of underserved and underrepresented minority groups, LGBTQIA, and women (in fact their films already meet the Oscars diversity mandate). Tandem is not afraid to take risks on bold projects.

Black Bear was produced sustainably.

• It earned the Gold-Green Seal from the Environmental Media Association. This award is their highest recognition for sustainable film sets. 
• Examples of green practices on set include:
  • All cast/crew had re-usable water bottles on set with their names on them.
  • Production ran a dishwasher daily instead of using disposable plastic dishware.
  • Production recycled, composted, and donated leftover food.
  • The location where most of the film was shot was powered by SOLAR and DIESEL.
  • All batteries used on set were rechargeable.
  • Lights used were mostly low energy LED lights.
  • Hybrid or electric vehicles were used to scout locations.

ABOUT TANDEM PICTURES

Since 2010, TANDEM PICTURES has elevated and given a platform to misrepresented and underrepresented ideas. We are filmmakers, driven by justice and representation for both people and the planet. We strive to not only tell stories, but to share learnings with the industry in order to grow positive filming practices across our community.  Past films include acclaimed festival films THE SURROGATE, BLOODSTRIPE, THE EYES OF MY MOTHER, THE SLEEPWALKER, WILDLIKE, GHOST TEAM and more.  

JULIE CHRISTEAS is the founder and CEO of Tandem Pictures, since 2010. Her recent films include BLACK BEAR (Sundance 2020) starring Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon which will be released later this year by eOne/Momentum and THE SURROGATE (SXSW 2020/Monument Releasing) .She also executive produced the cult horror favorite THE EYES OF MY MOTHER (Sundance 2016/Magnet Releasing), MONOGAMY (Best NY Narrative, Tribeca Film Festival 2010), the feature doc DUKALE'S DREAM starring Hugh Jackman, and GHOST TEAM starring Jon Heder, David Krumholtz, Justin Long, Amy Sedaris and Melonie Diaz. Previously she produced BLOOD STRIPE (Jury Prize for Best Narrative Film, LA Film Festival 2016), WILDLIKE starring Bruce Greenwood and Brian Geraghty (HIFF), and THE SLEEPWALKER starring Christopher Abbott and Brady Corbet (Sundance 2014/IFC).  Julie also produces original short-form content for some of the biggest brands in the world -- Amazon, Chase Bank, Ford Motors, Netflix, Cadillac and many more. Before Tandem, Julie was EVP across production and development at Renart Films.

JONATHAN BLITSTEIN is Chief Operating Officer and the co-owner of Tandem Pictures. He most recently produced the acclaimed films THE SURROGATE, and BLACK BEAR (SUNDANCE, EOne/Universal release) starring Aubrey Plaza. Prior to Tandem he worked in production and branded entertainment for Vudu, Sony and Disney, supporting Fortune 500 Brands such as Walmart, Sprint and Covergirl.  At Oracle (formerly CrowdTwist), he initiated the creation of Marvel Studios' first nationwide fan loyalty program Marvel Insider.  In his early career, he made two micro-budget feature films LET THEM CHIRP AWHILE and ANOTHER KIND which both premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival which were distributed on Netflix and VOD.  Early career roles include marketing arthouse films such as Park Chan Wook's OLD BOY, and Noah Baumbach's SQUID AND THE WHALE.  As a strategy advisor to the Strawless Oceans campaign, his work led to Starbucks and others eliminating plastic straws.  He holds a BFA from NYU TISCH in Film Production, and a Masters Degree in Theatre History and Criticism from Brooklyn College.