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!

Another Sketch

Every craft requires practice. A guitarist needs time to fool around with chords and sounds. An artist usually has a sketchbook, not of complete pieces, but on-the-side musings. A writer will often keep notebooks full of stories that will never be seen.

A filmmaker isn't so lucky - between large, expensive productions, what are we supposed to do to stretch our muscles? Well, the best I can do is squeeze in a short film whenever possible.


This latest addition to my Sketchbook was created while Boa Simon, Jenny Hou and I were waiting for an interviewee to arrive for a recent industrial gig. In the ensuing downtime we pumped out this absurd piece of cinema, and while on medication recovering from strep throat, I edited and sound designed it.

So while they may not be flying us out to Cannes for it, it gave us an opportunity to use shots and sounds we've always wanted to use but never had the opportunity to. The shot above, for example, through the bottom of a bottle, was something I've been wanting to do forever. I even dug up the old schematic I drew for it probably five or six years ago:

Practice!

DGA and Santa Fe screenings!

On Wednesday La Nina del Desierto premiered at a special screening at the DGA, or Director's Guild of America, in Los Angeles.


It was a really exciting screening, and it was great to see it on the big screen again, projected off real 35mm film this time. The print wasn't actually as nice-looking as when we screened it digitally, which was kind of a bummer. Still, I attribute that to a mis-calibrated theater and not to the print itself.

In other great news, La Nina was accepted to its first festival - the Santa Fe Film Festival, which is appropriate. I'll definitely be attending that. If you want to go too, the festival is December 2nd - 6th.

"La Nina" Screens at DGA

I just received news that La Nina del Desierto will be screening at the Director's Guild of America on Wednesday, October 7th, at 7pm at the DGA's headquarters in Los Angeles, California.

La Nina will be one of the films representing Chapman University at this year's Dodge College First Cut Student Showcase. As part of this honor, I have received the Leo Freedman Award, meaning that the Leo Freedman Foundation will be paying for a 35mm print of my film! This is very exciting news!

Contact me if you'd like to attend - it's free!

New "La Nina del Desierto" Website!

After a long enough time, I've put together a dedicated website for La Nina del Desierto. Check it out by clicking on the morose Javier:

It includes all kinds of wonderful stuff, including the new trailer! And information about the new DVD which is almost complete.

I just finished the making-of doc today, and it clocks in at a staggering 35 minutes. It's the longest piece of filmmaking I've ever put together. It's a very thorough look at the making of the film. If nothing else, it's a good alternative to a scrapbook for myself.