Eagan Art Block Film Festival 2024

"Waking World" showed at the Eagan Art Block Short Film Festival last weekend, and it was another fantastic night. Veronica, the star of the film, accompanied me. It was her first time watching it because she hasn't been able to bear seeing herself onscreen (and I, honestly, was more nervous about showing it to her than the rest of the sold-out movie theater). Our film is a small-scale production, but it held its own against some, admittedly, more impressive films with much larger casts and crews. We participated in the Q&A afterwards where shared our inspiration behind the film, some of the challenges we faced, and some thoughts about our use of color (that even tied into the red shirts we wore to the festival).

We were the last film of the night:

The audio and video scaled up well in the theater. I was happy with the presentation!

I submitted the film to one other festival (in addition to some others we've already been rejected by) and maybe we'll try for a few more, but getting accepted seems like a long shot. I am starting to get excited to move on and make something new, something potentially bigger.

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Waking World

I showed this new short film to an audience at our church last weekend and also put it up on Facebook. I wanted to share it here too, in case you missed it.

It is a project that came together quickly in the spring of this year (it was finished in May). The script was inspired by some real-life conversations with Veronica. At the rate she is growing up, I realized if we didn't shoot it right away, it would never get made.

It is meant to showcase V's wide range of acting ability with hopes of getting her work in commercials and/or more professional short films. It is also a document of our current ages and a glimpse at what we are going through, which, from what I have received as feedback on the film, is not totally unique.

Music is of critical importance to this short. All of it was provided by friends of mine.

I only work on something as personal and meaningful as this every few years, so don't miss this one.

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Announcing "Waking World"

If it seems like I have been giving less attention to my blog lately, it is because my creative focus has been on a new short film I am making with Veronica. It is called "Waking World", and it is almost done!

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CC2: Kix

This is a weird one. And that is saying something, if you've seen the other videos in my Cottage Cheese 2 series. The idea for it, more specifically the "whaddya whistling these days?" line, came to me in a dream, although it was in reference to a cigarette rather than a Tootsie Pop. That was a year ago, and I haven't been able to get the line out of my head since. There's poetry to that line. I recorded the soundtrack for this in 5-minute sessions at the end of two workdays. Enjoy!

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Mud Brothers

Here's something a little different. My dad shot this on 8mm film in the 1980s and we transferred it to video many years ago. (I would like to do a new transfer to HD video one day.) I cut the footage down, rearranged it a bit, and added some music that my friend Jonah recorded. I like how this little clip tells a story about me and my brother. Take a look.

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Movie premiere

Well, that was a fun experience! My new film "The Decisioneer" played in the Eagan Art House Short Film Festival at the Emagine theater in Eagan last weekend. If you remember, this is a project I've been working on--off and on--for about two and a half years. I have mentioned it here and here, as well as a bunch more on Instagram. 

I will post the final product on this blog eventually, but I want to try to get it into more festivals first. Maybe we can screen it in my basement the next time you visit?

Me in front of the multiplex (photo by R):
  

My laurels:

Here I am with two of the cast members, Rob and Angie, on the (mini) red carpet (photo by R):

Reclining seats in the theater (photo by Angie):

Splash intro produced by the organizers, announcing my film (photo by Angie):

I went on-stage for a Q&A session at the end of the event where I contributed to the discussion about the challenges of shooting during a pandemic and also answered the question "why shoot on film in 2021?"

We didn't win any awards--I'm not sure the audience knew quite what to make of it--but it was sure fun to share my work. I stand by it proudly and think it holds up well to repeat views and a closer examination. This is an art film after all.

I really enjoyed the evening and want to do it again. The deadline for the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival is approaching. That is kind of the big one around here and, I'll be honest, I really hope I can get in.

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Creating

This has probably been the most quiet the blog has been since it started. There are more posts coming, I promise! I have been busy creatively on a multitude of projects and it's been very satisfying, but in the process I've had to give up documenting my family life a bit.

These photos may be a bit of topic for the blog, but I wanted to share some shots of me directing my new short film (yeah, the same one I was directing last October). We have officially finished filming now, although there's still a lot more to do before I call this thing complete. (And before I even get back to working on it, I need to finish editing a music video by an Australian singer-songwriter.)

These were taken by the film's cinematographer, Louis:

 

And this one was taken by one of our extras, Thom:

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Busy October

Sorry for the slow week on the blog. This whole month may be a little slow on personal photo output because I am 1) working on a new short film, 2) shooting one or two family photo sessions each weekend, and 3) switching to a new team/project at work.

I'm the most excited about #1. The cast and crew are shown below. We shot the two most critical scenes last Sunday, but we're only about half way done.

Family-wise, the big upcoming event is Veronica's birthday. You can still expect full coverage of that.

I hope all is well with you!

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