Thursday saw Mark and I (and a tiny entourage) head down to the Santa Cruz Film Festival for our screening of DIF. This has been an interesting time to feel the impressions of the environment (read economy et. al). This was the first public viewing of the final version of the film. The latest updates include the indictment for al Bashir and his repercussions. This version is also being pressed to DVD shortly by DER and is available to order on our DER Page.
Mark and I cruised over and grabbed a burger at SC haunt Jacks … an experience in itself, but certainly not the burger that I was looking for. Not that it was bad, but it’s a beach burger, a slider, and I was after the thick and juicy type. Next time …
The festival staff was quite gracious and very interested in seeing our future work. It’s nice when people genuinely engage with you on that level after seeing your film. On the festival circuit, there are so many films that it is hard to make inroads. It seems you have to first make an impression (either personally or via a PR machine) before someone will schedule you in. The response after you’re afforded such an opportunity I find a good barometer for the merits of your film. You always have to weigh that in context of the viewer and situation, but it’s certainly informative.
We’re finally getting to some of the desperately needed post production items on the list. The coloring for FIONA’S SCRIPT has gotten out the door just in time for a cast & crew screening next week and it’s first fest in LA later this month.
Next up, THE APPRAISAL is in the can and Stephanie and I have gone through the first cut. I have an email in my inbox with some more refinements after some extended online viewing, but the cut is certainly on the way.
And THEY TURNED OUR DESERT INTO FIRE is being packaged up and sent off to DER for the master … yes. Tucked in there nicely is a copy of WAR AS A SECOND LANGUAGE, Mark’s previous film that I also edited. And DESERT INTO FIRE has been selected for the Santa Cruz Film Festival in May which we’ll go down and check out.
And Monday is our final shooting day for LUCIFER’S CREWCUT. Green screen elements to assemble into the death sequences where the quartet meet their gruesome demise. Nice that it’s a lock-off shot which equals an easier day for me and we can focus on performance. I’d love to get this project in the home stretch so we can fully share this irreverent little film (be careful, you might get some on you).
Oohhh … and photos in the next post!
Just heard yesterday that THEY TURNED OUR DESERT INTO FIRE is playing at the Park City Music Festival. Unfortunately, it screened this evening a couple of hours ago … I was able to get some word out via FB and an email blast, but it would have been nice to have been there to support the film.
So that’s why I’m sitting here, putting plane tickets on hold. I got a call from Ryan Harper (who directed Circulation) that there was a bed in a condo with my name on it if I wanted … cheap. And I just got off the phone with Josh Lind of the Dandy Dwarves who is en route to support their short at Sundance. And Mark Brecke is available to go out there with me. And Mark’s bud Cory McAbee will be there premiering his new work at Sundance.
It’s looking a lot like I’ll be freezing my butt off starting Sunday night.
Finally after a long road … It began with taking an idea that resulted in a short film. Stacey, Mark and I then expanded that out to be a comprehensive analysis of a complex situation. We now move deep into the last stages of a film’s existence … getting it out there. THEY TURNED OUR DESERT INTO FIRE has signed a distribution deal with Documentary Educational Resources for worldwide non-theatrical rights.
We are very excited with this partnership and hope they will help leverage us out there to reach farther with our message. They seem to be interested in continuing on the festival circuit, especially internationally, releasing on DVD for all markets, and finding us a home with some of the broadcast markets. Mark will continue to play a role of ushering through the film in the different iterations and making appearances to help complete the story.
Soon we should have the new master for the DVD release and get it out there. Plus we’ll see about cutting down a 52 minute version for Euro broadcast markets.
There will be more to come on this chapter … but this is a milestone to note.
I was finally able to join Mark and Vivek Maddala in Los Angeles on Sunday during the 5th Artivist Film Festival. It was nice that my first time at the Egyptian Theater that they were playing our film. Unfortunately I missed the screening which went quite well … packed house, a lot of great comments, and the film made a great impression on the audience. And since it was our LA premier, a lot of the people who worked on in who live down there were finally able to see the finished version on the big screen.
Mark at Artivist
Our red-carpet duo turned trio with the wonderful addition of Vivek who turned in a powerful score for the film. We were finally able to recognize him in person on camera and truly involve him in the festival process. He did a great job hammering home his involvement, touching on the important aspects of the film and handing off to the next guy. Who could ask for anything more.
Vivek and Jason on the red carpet at Artivist FF
It seems Artivist has been good to get our film in front of some of the right people. We had a couple of requests for screeners from other festivals and reps. More news on that as it develops.
The word came to us a little while ago but now we can make it official. They Turned Our Desert Into Fire won the award for Best Feature Human Rights at the Artivist Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Our screening is next Friday Oct. 3rd at 8pm at the Egyptian. The awards ceremony is Sunday evening. This will be a good introduction for the film to LA. And a great way for us to say thanks to all of those who helped contribute to the film who live down there.
Hopefully this will also help with our cause to get it on TV. Time will tell.
Mark called to say that he’s been having an amazing time at the Global Peace Film Festival in Orlando, Florida. He was on a panel today (not sure about what) and took in a few films (again, title unknown). But he spent a good amount of time in the presence of Kelly DeVine, one of the programers of the festival and a buyer for Re:Frame. I’m hoping a beautiful friendship emerges and we see some movement of the film into the hands of everyone who’s ever wanted one.
Our screenings are 7:30 pm Friday at Rollins College and 8:30 pm Saturday at the Avalon Island Theater. So far there has been decent buzz … hopefully that will equal a lot of butts in seats.
Mark Brecke (director of THEY TURNED OUR DESERT INTO FIRE) and I were interviewed last night on KPFK along with Chris Riedesel from Artivists to promote the upcoming film festival. It was a great interview that touched on the intricacies of the conflict, and the need for a venue like Artivists to be able to get our message out. We were on for about a half and hour and crammed in a lot of information. Mark and I have had the benefit of working this type of situation before … especially at the Sarasota Film Festival.
Our film will be playing at the Egyptian on Friday, October 3rd at 8pm. Mark and I are driving down the day before to settle in and play LA for a little while. We plan to catch a couple of the other films playing and mingle with our fellow filmmakers. When we bounce back to SF I’ll be going straight to another shooting day for Lucifer’s Crewcut.
I snagged the interview off the KPFK website. I’ll post it up after I clean out the front of the show.
Two years ago I went to BendFilm with our short film FILTER where it (and I) was very well received. During the festival when people ask “what are you working on?” I had told them of this documentary film we were developing into a feature. The journey was a bit longer than I had hoped, but that film THEY TURNED OUR DESERT INTO FIRE has been accepted into this year’s BendFilm. I don’t know if I’ll have the opportunity to make it up there again, but I’m insisting Mark goes and has a great time. They had a lot of nice parties and fun packed into a short three days. And the hospitality of the festival staff and attendees was just lovely.
(Side note … I did have a local who was cocked out of his mind try and start some shit one night by slinging racial slurs at me. Nonchalantly, I told him I came from a mixed neighborhood and he’d have to try a little harder than calling me ‘cracker.’ He wasn’t quite sure what to do with someone who didn’t fluster so easily and had to process it … meanwhile I moseyed on down the street.)
FILTER had two scheduled screenings and I actually got three additional screenings by a number of different factors. The last happened while I was getting on the plane and someone said they played it right before the closing film (to much applause). One of the judges confided in me that I drew quite the split at the table. But a title that gets ‘Hell Yes!’ and ‘Hell No!’ is quickly tossed in favor of another title that everyone is mostly cool with.
I hope that THEY TURNED OUR DESERT INTO FIRE gets a good showing. The Executive Director Sandy Henderson finished watching the DVD and invited us immediately. That’s the same experience with Leon Cakoff from São Paulo, titles roll and email shoots out … hopefully we’ll leave an impression that lasts. Either way, I’m sure they’ll love Mark.
I believe we just got word that They Turned Our Desert Into Fire will be a part of the Global Peace Film Festivalfrom Sept. 17 – 21 in Orlando, Florida. I always like to see it in print, but I hear we’re locked in. Mark and I had run across Bryan Belmore when we were at the Sarasota Film Festival. Looks like the rest of the team shared his enthusiasm for the film.
We’ll need to update the film to reflect that al Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court, a first for a sitting leader. But even if there is some form of justice for his actions in Darfur, the consequences of the bare earth campaign will continue to impact the region for 20 plus years. And the UN has said that no nation has responded to their pleas for assistance over the last year. All the more reason to keep a light on Sudan.
