Film Festivals Galore

Well it must be something in the wind, because where La Nina del Desierto was getting no festival response before, there's recently been a slew of acceptances.

We've got film festivals in Utah, Amsterdam, France, Fallbrook, Blue Jay, Newport Beach, Reno, Wyoming, Burbank, Canada, and Milan. Really exciting!

Screenings and Student Emmys

More people seem to like La Niña del Desierto! It's screened at a few festivals now, including Cinestud in Amsterdam, a wonderful festival (apparently the oldest student film festival in the world) that flew me out and put me up in Amsterdam for a few days.

And shortly thereafter, we received the 3rd place Student Emmy Award from the College Television Foundation - an incredibly fun night, where most of the crew was reunited, and we all celebrated in classic Hollywood fashion!

We also screened at the Newport Beach Film Festival, where I met up again with Dani-Rose, La Nina herself, and we participated in a great Q+A.


Finally, we won Best Short at the Fallbrook Film Festival, our first "Best of" from a fest! This has been an exciting month.

Boa Simon wins ASC Honorable Mention

 

Really amazing news - Boa Simon, cinematographer on La Niña del Desierto, and one of my very best friends, was one of four students who won Honorable Mention at the ASC's Student Cinematography Awards.

Considering that there were only two winners, one undergrad and one graduate student, this is a truly colossal achievement; the ASC considers Boa one of the six best student cinematographers in the country, based on his work on La Niña.

New Year, New Shenanigans

I'm not one for new year's resolutions, not because I think I can't stick to them, but because the new year is such an arbitrary day. January 1st falls on absolutely no geological, astronomical, religious, or historical day of importance whatsoever. So really - why choose that day to start changing your life? You can start any time. I like that idea better.

Recently I've been submitting to a number of contests. I submitted to the Nikon Festival with my entry Contentment, which is also available here on my site now. It's an experimental piece but it turned out really great, I think. It's personal, moody, and short.

I also submitted myself for a New Zealand contest, and you can see my entry here.

And that's about it for now - I'm going to Sundance again this year, to volunteer. Should be an awesome experience!

Santa Fe Film Festival, 901 Victory, Experimental

Best week ever.

First, the Santa Fe Film Festival. I flew down to Albuquerque, New Mexico, my home town, earlier this week, to screen La Nina del Desierto at Santa Fe. My editor, Dan McLellan, came with.

The festival was fantastic. We got all-access passes and mingled with other like-minded filmmakers and locals. We answered all manner of questions regarding feature versions of the short (currently being written), the history of the short (from high school), etc. It really was great fun.

I also got interviewed for the radio, being a local New Mexican, and that interview is up on the Press section. La Nina ended up being nominated for Best Dramatic Short.

About halfway through the week, we also received news that Dan, Dres Fischer Centeno, and myself won the contest for 901 tequila with our short spec commercial. We get $25,000, a trip to Las Vegas, and I get to put "Executive Vice President of Big Ideas" on my resume. Sweet.

And to top it off, last night I wrapped production on a very short experimental film shot on the RED with Boa Simon, starring Chris Payne and Rachelle Dimaria. I think it'll be neat - we shot downtown LA, the subway system, Long Beach industrial areas at night, and some other places that I think will really deliver, visually.

"Ragtime" and "Lincoln" Reviewed

As you may or may not know, two of my shorts, Ragtime Ballad and The Silver Lincoln, are on IMDB and available to watch, in their entirety. Well, thanks to the internet's large audience of people with apparently nothing better to do, both films have received detailed, fair, and somewhat lengthy reviews.

Ragtime is "a job well done," "surreal and funny," and "worthy of a few chuckles here and there," according to one reviewer. Another praises Jenny Putney as "ravishing," and the Dandy's "snazzy top hat and wicked handlebar mustache," as well as Boa Simon's "astute" cinematography and Brian Andrews' "infectiously jaunty and merry" score, which "hits the jolly spot."

Lincoln is "definitely funny" with an ending that is "anything but funny," leaving the reviewer "torn." The acting and direction is celebrated as "fine." The keen critic also noted that "silver-colored coins are actually made of zinc and aren't particularly valuable."

I'm just curious how these folks managed to stumble on my films, and what could possibly make them want to write a detailed review of a little student film. God bless the internet, I guess!

Boa Simon up for ASC award!

Thanks to his inspired work on La Nina del Desierto, my good friend and cinematographer Boa Simon has been nominated by Chapman University to receive an award from the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC). Very exciting!