My blog post about our upcoming free screening of The Eyes of Me for my gig with Community Cinema can be found here.
Posted in Film Review | Tagged documentary, Philadelphia, independent film, ITVS, the eyes of me, keith maitland, community cinema, disability rights, overbrook school for the blind, disabled in action, adapt, libterty resources inc. | Leave a Comment »
I finally finished hand-painting the frame by frame animation sequence I’ve been working on for almost 8 months.
This is a very crude first run with just a few of the frames on repeat. I’ve been playing with the scan quality, image duration and transitions to try to get the look I’m going for, which is to have the colors sort of swim and swirl. This is still too jumpy and rugged compared to what I’m imagining.
Posted in Creative Process, Wednesday Where's Your Film | Tagged hand-drawn animation, Rotoscoping | Leave a Comment »
For today’s Tuesday Tunes post I was looking up information about this music my sweetie introduced me to this week Populous and Short Stories which has a beautiful sort of indie-eletronica-downtempo-idm kinda sound.
In the process of reading up about them I stumbled upon this great blog Obscure Sounds that is a great (up-to-date) blog about new indie music as it comes out and features several free downloads.
Posted in Tuesday Tunes | Tagged electronic music, indie music, music, Obscure Sound, Populous and Short Stories | Leave a Comment »
Today’s mention goes to hi-beam.org, a great alternative to Withoutabox for indie and experimental filmmakers to find out about screening opportunities, many of which don’t have submission fees. Also, unlike Withoutabox, if you are curating a show you can post a call for submissions for free.
Posted in Monday Mentions | Tagged Call for Submissions, Experimental Film | Leave a Comment »
This Monday’s Mention is the Media That Matters Film Festival, which has just extended its deadline for call for entries. 
The festival is put on by Arts Engine, which is a great hub for other calls for submissions and other filmmaking resources. They also provide fiscal sponsorship for film projects that meet their guidelines, which we are applying for for the film I am producing, Topo Gigio is Dead.
Here more information:
Submit your film for the chance to work with us in creating social change through film. If selected, your film will take become a part of Media That Matters — an international, multi-platform campaign streaming and playing to thousands of people at screenings across the globe. Media That Matters creates discussion guides and screening materials to promote conversation and encourage educators, activists and organizers alike to Take Action around these films. Join us in our TENTH year and submit your film now!
CRITERIA: * Short films — the shorter the better—no longer than 12 minutes max, but 8 and under would be great!
* Social issues — Any and all issues will be considered. This year we are focusing on Media Literacy, Human Rights, LGBTQ & Sexual Identity, Youth Activism and International issues in particular.
* The film should encourage the audience to be engaged and take action around the issue.
* All genres — Documentary, animation, public service announcement, narrative, music video, drama, comedy. Creativity is encouraged — but your film must focus on a social issue.
* Open to all ages — Youth-produced projects encouraged!
Posted in Call for Submissions, Monday Mentions | Tagged arts engine, Call for Submissions, media that matters festival | Leave a Comment »
(I unofficially took a blogging vacation the past week and a half–but I’m back!)
I’ve been writing a lot recently about teachers–bits of which I’ve shared in other posts on my blog.
In the past week I’ve gotten such good guidance from two mentors–artists slightly older than me who are a further along in their process of building their artist self.
One is performance artist Robert Karimi who has agreed to act as producer on my Iranian history film. Robert is smart and whitty, and he made a performance piece called Farid Mercury about our fellow Iranian Freddy Mercury from Queen. You need to bring him to a theater near you. Please.
The other is local filmmaker Nadine Patterson, who is leading a four week screenwriting workshop in my neighborhood. It’s kind of dreamy–down the road, perfect timing for writing my narration for my film, the people are so lovely, and she is incredibly insightful and able to shake out the essence of what you are trying to communicate in a way that feels like finding treasures in your own notebook. You can watch a clip from one of her current film projects below.
She is leading the workshop again next month. If you’re interested you can read more about it here.
Posted in Wednesday Where's Your Film | Tagged Creative Process, farid mercury, independent filmmaking, mentors, Nadine Patterson, Robert Karimi | Leave a Comment »
Here’s a gem from the National Archives trip last week for my film research. The part about Mossadegh and Iran is toward the end.
Posted in Wednesday Where's Your Film | Tagged 1951, abadan, communist scare, Iran, macarthur, Mossadegh, national archives, universal pictures newsreels | Leave a Comment »
Posted in Tuesday Tunes | Tagged dj skipmode, hip hop, illvibe collective, Philadelphia, soul | Leave a Comment »
This Monday’s Mention goes to the Arts Deadline List.
The website is nothing to get excited by. In fact, it’s horrible lay out and display. I couldn’t even find a graphic to add to this blog post from its site.
But the free listserv is incredibly exciting and lists a variety of opportunities for exhibition for different mediums and upcoming deadlines for fellowships and grants. Worth the space in your inbox.
Posted in Call for Submissions, Monday Mentions | Tagged arts, arts deadline list, arts fellowships, arts funding, exhibition, galleries | Leave a Comment »
Those nice fellas over at Get Free Movement posted this Remix Project Mixtape on their blog and it’s been powering me through my morning work. Just the right balance of smoothness and motivation. Legal, and free far as I know.
22-track jazz inspired covers of popular hip hop songs.
Posted in Tuesday Tunes | Tagged free music downloads, get free movement, hip hop, okayplayer, the remix project | Leave a Comment »
