Director's Blog
This blog is no longer kept current.
Please visit our new blog at BLUE MOOSE BLOG.
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November 20, 2005 - 3:28PM PST I've finally updated the website with Cast, Stills, and Quotes. It's been too long! We're now in Southern Oregon working on a Mockumentary. Free Speech TV has expressed interest in Internationally Speaking, so we'll see!
September 28, 2005 - 8:33AM CST I just got word that LIBERTY BOUND is being shown at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) in Belgium! This is perfect as the official DVD of LIBERTY BOUND will be released on DVD in France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland in November!
Internationally Speaking is taking off! After an article I wrote was published on Common Dreams in late August, more interest was generated in my work. It's all about getting it in the right audience's line of vision! We're still awaiting word on a few film festivals, so keep your fingers crossed for us!
August 22, 2005 - 8:39AM CST It's officially released!! ... and I thought getting out LIBERTY BOUND was hard. Actually, this probably wasn't as challenging in some ways -- but in others it was more. Anything worth doing will be difficult, and I always love a good challenge! It keeps things interesting!
So, again, the joint distribution deal with EVN fell through as well - but I did sign with a distributor in NYC for both Internationally Speaking and LIBERTY BOUND. He's already working hard and has several distributor's interested. I guess this is what it's like to work with a real distributor! (hopefully I won't eat my words this time)
I'm off to The Playa on Wednesday or Thursday, depending how quickly the initial orders are shipping out. Someone will be filling orders for the 2 weeks I'm away, so keep ordering! I should still be available via email (sporadically).
Please send in your reviews, thoughts, comments on the new film so I can post them on the web.
July 14, 2005 - 1:44PM CST It's finally finished! I still can't believe it. The feature length is complete, and the TV version will be complete by the end of next week with any luck. We're now looking at the daunting task of distribution. I'll be working with the Educational Video Network in a joint distribution agreement. The one promising contact made at Cannes who was interested in IS and LB fell through. I walked away from the deal after speaking with several filmmakers this company had represented in the past. It became very clear to me that I would have the same trouble with them that I had with the distributor of LIBERTY BOUND. My energy is limited, and I would much prefer putting it into the promotion of the film then into fighting with a distributor.
We hope to submit it to several film festivals. Perhaps I'll be working with the IFP to come up with a festival plan so as not to waste money as I did in LB. Those submission fees add up quickly -- and so very few films are accepted via submissions into festivals. It's like anything else...it's who you know.
The most helpful thing for us right now would be to get a good publicist and/or lobbyist for the festivals. I'll have to do some reasearch on that.
July 5, 2005 - 6:16PM CST It's a shame I didn't save the blogs from Cannes that I had put on the forum before I had to take it down. I think I might still have them elsewhere on the web. I'll have to look. It's been a crazy two months! I haven't been as quiet as it looks on here. Most of my noise was made on the Community Forum which we had to delete last week for server space. We were finishing the Post Audio Mixing with our awesome sound guy in Alaska (Matt), and we needed the server space to upload and download files. The forum wasn't being used that much anyways, but there was some good information on it. :-(
We should be signing with Lifesize Entertainment any day now. I'll give a detailed account when the papers are signed. We're officially finished with the feature film as of today. We're burning copies of the feature for those who donated their time and money to help.
May 10, 2005 - 6:28AM CST Although I got word early this morning that the score was ready for upload, there (unfortunately) won't be enough time to upload it, download it, put it in the film, adjust audio levels, re-render and burn (10 copies) before I leave for France in 30 hours. So, I've long given up having a finished film by Cannes. It's close, though. :-) I already have 4 meetings set up with distributors. I'm getting nervous, but there is still too much to do for me to dwell on it very long. I hope to get to sleep this afternoon at about 5 or 6PM... hoping by getting on France Time today it will ease the jet lag when I arrive -or I'll lose an entire day at Cannes!
April 29, 2005 - 3:54AM CST The new poster is ready, courtesy of John Nichols! Awesome job, John! :-) ... we're getting close! The locked film will be uploaded to the composer tomorrow night for scoring while we work on polishing visual effects and color correction. Thanks to my college mentor, Dr. Ralph Pease, we will have a test screening next Thursday. Let's see what an audience thinks! Less than two weeks to Cannes!! I'm getting excited (and nervous!)
April 21, 2005 - 10:44PM CST I'm excited about our new International Village Forum! I hope it sparks a lot of communication between the people of different nations, as well as between the people here at home! Only 20 more days until Cannes. Where has this Spring gone?! I'm working too hard!
April 20, 2005 - 12:18AM CST Now... I'm on days and nights! My "rough cut" deadline is the only one I've met! It's getting crazy now. I'm shooting for a locked film tomorrow night. (24 hrs) -- and I'm exhausted, but I need to keep such a schedule to get it to Post Sound and to the composer in time. Next time, if there is one, I'm not doing it on such a tight schedule. I don't care what major film market or festival is coming up.
April 10, 2005 - 3:04PM CST I'm back on days now. I made my "rough cut" deadline yesterday -- so I'm on schedule, believe it or not! After a creativity meeting with my co-editor, we decided to change the entire format ... because it just wasn't working the way it was. So - I'm regrouping now and switching things around. Only 6 more days until my "fine cut" deadline. We'll see how I do with this new format. Things *should* go relatively quickly.
April 6, 2005 - 7:45AM CST Well... I've got about 2.25 hrs edited, and there's still more to go in! Obviously, a lot will be cut; but it's getting tougher to cut things. I've already gotten two songs from Fabrizio, and I'm anxiously awaiting more. This certainly has been a ride. I'm exhausted from working nights, so I'm switching to 1/2 days over the next few days. Still on schedule, believe it or not.
March 31, 2005 - 6:28PM CST I got the tapes from Turkey today!! I have about an hour of the film rough cut ... and tonight I'll be watching the Turkay tapes, the Ratner interview, and the Canada tapes ... South Africa is lost in the mail somewhere, but I hope to get it soon... and I hear the Sweden Team is sending their footage today as well! I could make a series with all the great footage I'm getting! How will I edit it down to 2 hrs?
March 29, 2005 - 4:03AM CST Just got word from the filmmaker in the Middle East! The footage is on its way! AND he added some footage from Afghanistan and Iraq. Invaluable! Wow... thanks Yasar! I'm now 30 minutes into the film, and hope to get another 5 or 6 minutes roughed up before I leave around 7 or 8AM.
March 26, 2005 - 6:33AM CST We lost our animator last night. The good news is, at EVN, they use the Matrox system with Adobe Premiere, so much of the animation I wanted can be done in house.
I have a rough cut for about the first 18 mintues of the film. Yeah me! :-)
March 24, 2005 - 10:24PM CST I'm feeling really good about what I'm doing tonight. I've realized that I NEED to edit to music. It flows so much better for me this way.
Thanks to the help of Carlo at EVN (Exec. Producer George Russell's Educational Video business), I now know what a EDL (Edit Decision List) is and how to use it. I think it's going to be a great thing, and it will make this film better. I guess film school is for learning things like that! :-)
March 23, 2005 - 8:55PM CST STRIKE ONE! Okay... tried something. It didn't work. I'll be trying a different way tonight. I'm working nights now, as there are less distractions at night. Ethan tells me I had this kind of trouble with Liberty Bound, but I don't remember it. That's why I'm going to catalog all this better this time, for me mostly -- so I can remember the next time I have to do this. :-)
March 20, 2005 - 2:38PM CST I got the tapes from Mexico on Friday! Yipee! ... but, on the other hand, after putting me off for six weeks, Renee in Thailand dropped out. She decided, as a Bush supporter, that she wanted to be no part of a project that showed what the world truly thought of Bush and the US foreign policy. This is part of dealing with, in some cases, completely unprofessional people on a no-budget feature documentary. I usually don't put the hard times/negative 'stuff' in this journal; but I figured it was only fair to my fellow filmmakers to show that it's not all cake. She's the 6th one to pull out on me, but the first one for that reason. At least she, like Angel in Spain, had the decency to tell me she was pulling out, as opposed to the others who just stopped responding to my emails for a month until I 'got it.'
On the positive side, this leaves us with a strong core of professional filmmakers in ten countries - which I think will be more than enough. I would've preferred some interviews from the East, but it's far too late now. Had she and Remton of the Philippines told me six weeks ago instead of leading me on, I could've found someone else.
That's the way it goes!
March 17, 2005 - 10:56AM CST I got the tapes in from Canada yesterday, and it seems the tapes from South Africa are lost in the mail. :-( I should be getting the tapes from Mexico today as well... and I'm heading into the editing studio for the first time today. All cataloging is done, except for the newly arrived tapes, and I've been making batch capture lists. I'll be capturing all day today, and then probably will be deep into editing by Monday.
The tapes from Thailand and Turkey will be sent this week!!!
I hired Roman Jaquez in NYC to get the Michael Ratner interview for me; and, unfortunately, Democracy Now! seems to have blown us off, but I'll try them one more time. I guess this shouldn't surprise me much since they totally shunned us with Liberty Bound.
March 10, 2005 - 10:02AM CST I'm been working virtually non-stop on cataloging video. What a chore, but I'm seeing some good things from my coalition of the willing. There are technical issues, as always, but nothing that can't be fixed. I was supposed to go to NYC next week for the Michael Ratner/Amy Goodman interview, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to make it due to budgetary constraints - especially considering the $$ I'll need in post to fix sound, etc. I will be hiring someone in NYC to get the interviews if possible.
I know I've been slow to updating the website, but I will be adding a "Special Thanks" page soon to all my supporters who've sent in contributions to my efforts. It is much appreciated. I, truly, couldn't do this without you.
March 1, 2005 - 9:27PM CST I'm very excited and proud to announce that Lorraine Evanoff is with us again for this project. She is the amazing Executive Producer from sorryeverybody.com and a brave woman from Bosnia named Fatima.
I also met with Gerard Ungerman and Audrey Brohy from Free Will Productions: the amazing filmmakers who brought the world Hidden Wars of Desert Storm.
Now, rest... at least for a day!
February 18, 2005 - 1:28PM CST Unfortunately, Howard Zinn had to cancel our appointment last minute; but we hope to reschedule sometime in March. The interview with Noam Chomsky went quite well, although it wasn't long enough! I could listen to him for hours! I also have an interview scheduled with Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a tentative one with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! for mid-March in NYC.
February 14, 2005 - 7:02PM EST I'm writing to you today from Boston, MA! Tomorrow is my interviews with both Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky. I couldn't be more excited! I also confirmed a date to interview Medea Benjamin, so it looks like I'll be out in LA 12 days from now! Busy! Busy! Busy! ...which is exactly the way I like it.
More good news... Lance Flores of Mockingbird Films and I had a great conversation today. It seems Mockingbird Films might join this project as co-producers!
Despite some really bad news this morning as well as being away from my husband on Valentine's Day, this turned out to be a really great day!
February 11, 2005 - 4:24PM CST I just received word that Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange and Code Pink will grant me an interview as well! This along with James from sorryeverybody.com will happen sometime in the next month! I'm still trying to get to Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! Keep your fingers crossed for me!
February 7, 2005 - 3:17PM CST I just returned from the Goteborg Film Festival last night where Liberty Bound was showing. There, I met some amazing people who joined my Coalition of the Willing Filmmaking Team. Welcome Eric Kabera of Rwanda and Behrooz Afkhami of Iran. This film will be even better with your input! Thanks for joining us!
January 25, 2005 - 11:11PM CST George Russell (Associate Producer for Liberty Bound) has come on board as Executive Producer for Internationally Speaking. I'm very excited because George has international contacts and a great business sense. I don't doubt this project will be successful. Thanks George!
January 24, 2005 - 2:31PM CST I just confirmed an interview with NOAM CHOMSKY! Now we've got both top minds in progressive politics and historical human rights. I couldn't be happier or more inspired! Other updates:
January 6, 2005 - 11:39AM CST I'm pleased to announce HOWARD ZINN has agreed to an interview again! I'm thrilled. Dr. Noam Chomsky is pending. I will also be approaching Medea Benjamin of Code Pink for an interview as well as syndicated columnist and journalistic icon Helen Thomas.
December 28, 2004 - 6:15PM CST We've come up with the title! Internationally Speaking I have registered the domain name internationally-speaking.com to be operational shortly. I'm seeking out a Graphic Designer for a logo/poster design as well as begin to schedule experts for interviews. I will be trying to get Howard Zinn again and Noam Chomsky for starters.
December 16, 2004 - 11:09AM CST We now have six filmmakers from around the world working on this new project (still un-named). So far, we have representatives from Russia, Turkey, France, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the UK. I've sent further outreach to fellow filmmakers via IndieClub.com. This is going to be a great film.
December 3, 2004 - 9:49PM CST I just finished my preliminary outreach for fellow indie filmmakers around the world. Again, I utilized the wonder that is Indymedia and their open publishing forum. I also posted announcements in the IndieClub Posting Board. Keep your fingers crossed for me. This is the beginning of another adventure!