CRAZY WEEK!

It's been an absurdly busy few weeks. I got back from the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this week and immediately got back down to teaching. There's so much to follow up on and emails to send - but there's just not enough time in the day. To make matters worse, I believe I'm getting a cold.

The good news is that my project Doubles With Slight Pepper won the Pitch This! competition, which came with $10,000. Amazing. 

Here's the Variety article about it http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118059159

If you've ever wanted to know what happens at a film festival, you can check out my diary for what I did and what happened during my time in Toronto. I wrote it for Filmmaker Magazine. 

Or if you're interested in the process of how my pitch was developed (and the experience of doing it in front of 200 people!), here's a cool article that I did for Indie Wire. 

Still lots to catch up on  - but I've got a mountain of assignments that I need to grade!

So Many Formats So Little Time

The life that my film Doubles with Slight Pepper has had is completely unexpected. It premiered about a year ago and is still experiencing a healthy festival run. AWESOME!!

One of the unexpected problems (it's hard to complain about such things) is actually getting the film to an audience - LITERALLY. Each festival requires varying formats in which to screen for their audience. It's been a lot of work (and expensive!) to get the film on to various formats. We've got the film on: DVD, Blu-Ray, HDCam, HDCam SR (not the same as regular HDCam!), ProRes (on the USB drive) and hard drive. In fact we have multiple versions of each to accommodate festivals that happen really close to one another. 

Usually a festival's Film Traffic department requires exhibition copies a few weeks in advance to make their technical checks and put them on drives, other master tapes etc... so it requires a lot of planning on keeping track of exhibition copies. Needless to say, larger films and studios have departments devoted to keeping track of it all.

The one glaring omission is that we don't have an actual film print! In probably a sign of the times, and the way in which distribution and festivals are going, we've never been asked to provide a 35mm print. This is lucky, because a physical film print in this day and age is REALLY expensive. 

More and more theatres are moving towards a total digital distribution method, which I think is a good thing!

We Are News That's Fit To Print!

In one of the most surreal moments of all time, the newspaper of record for us all, The New York Freakin' Times just posted their article on the film!

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/seeking-a-new-york-audience-for-a-film-rooted-in-trinidad/

Of course, this is something that means a lot and will hopefully spread the word about the film and everyone involved.

Thanks to everyone for their support!!

The Boss

OK, so everyone knows Bruce Springsteen - 'the Born in the USA', dude. We grew up on that guy. Something happened though a few weeks ago, Dancing in the Dark came on randomly and I actually listened to it. Like REALLY listened to it - lyrics and all. It pretty much leveled me. Ditto for Born in the USA. Never actually read the lyrics until that day, but holy crap, does anyone actually listen to what he's saying? How can politicians play it at their conventions? Such an incredible songwriter and lyricist - he's been on repeat for weeks now. Sounds completely corny, but he really is THE BOSS! Check this out (never mind the Carlton dancing of Ms. Cox, just listen!):

The Boss

OK, so everyone knows Bruce Springsteen - 'the Born in the USA', dude. We grew up on that guy.

Something happened though a few weeks ago, Dancing in the Dark came on randomly and I actually listened to it. Like REALLY listened to it - lyrics and all.

It pretty much leveled me. Ditto for Born in the USA. Never actually read the lyrics until that day, but holy crap, does anyone actually listen to what he's saying? How can politicians play it at their conventions?

Such an incredible songwriter and lyricist - he's been on repeat for weeks now.

Sounds completely corny, but he really is THE BOSS!

Check this out (never mind the Carlton dancing of Ms. Cox, just listen!):

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/129kuDCQtHs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

A New Face?!

Incredibly proud and humbled to be on Filmmaker Magazine's annual list of 25 New Faces of Independent Film!

This is a list that I'd always look to every year for interesting filmmakers doing amazing work. Needless to say it's prestigious and means so much to me.

I sometimes find it strange to be recognized as an individual when filmmaking is such a collaborative form - so I thank all of those people that helped me get to this point.

Jury Duty!

I had the pleasure of being a juror at the Worldwide Short Film Festival last weekend in Toronto. WSFF is one of the largest and important film festivals devoted to short films in the world!

I got to see so many amazing short films from around the world and was genuinely impressed with the quality and variety of each section. There were so many filmmakers that I wanted to talk to - but I felt it was going to be so awkward for each of us, since I was on the jury.

The jury process was something that I had never done - but I have a new respect for it. I mean, there were five us, each with different tastes, backgrounds etc. But at the end of the day, we've all seen the same films and need to come to a consensus on a winner. IT'S REALLY HARD!

Do you award the best film? Do you award a film that has already won a ton of awards, or do you try and give it to a film that hasn't, but will gain a lot from the exposure? Should you award creativity, audacity? 

Ultimately, I'm proud of the winners we chose as each film really is amazing. 

The photo is of me with my fellow Jurors (an equally incredible, kind and inspiring group) consisting of Shane Smith, This year's jury was comprised of Shane Smith, Director of Public Programmes at TIFF Bell Lightbox, filmmaker Iain Gardner, winner of the 2011 Best Animated Short award at WSFF for 

The Tannery, Susanne Folkesson, acquisition executive for UR and awardwinning filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée (Café de Flore).

Of course, a hearty thanks to everyone at WSFF. The staff, the volunteers and the filmmakers made for a terrific festival.

Screening at UNESCO

The French Academy of Cinema does something great every year:

They gather all of the Award winning films from Academy's around the world and screens them at UNESCO in Paris!

It's a great idea: promote understanding of foreign cultures via cinema!

As part of the series, we're proud to say that DOUBLES WITH SLIGHT PEPPER will screen on Wednesday June 20th at 9pm.

Check this out for more info: http://www.academie-cinema.org/les-nuits-en-or/nuits-en-or/panorama/presentation.html

Live with Culture

On a recent trip to Toronto, I met up with a reporter that works for the City of Toronto. We had a wonderful conversation about my life thus far and the film.
Read it for yourself:

http://www.livewithculture.ca/film/from-nuclear-physics-to-filmmaking/

It's a strange experience to have your "story" told, but this one really caused me to sit back and think about all that has happened to me in the past ten years. I'm so grateful for it all.

Talent Lab Homework Assignment

The Talent Lab's assignment (due way before it actually begins) is to make a film self-portrait. I've been thinking a lot about this for weeks, but I need to start working on it. It's a tantalizing question similar to the always annoying "so, tell me about yourself!". But this is different - you get to control images along with it. What do you want to say about yourself? How do you want the world to see you? Should it be funny? Entertaining? I have no clue.

I have a few ideas that will require some props - I just hope the physics department can help me out...

Talent Lab

I've been selected to take part in this year's Talent Lab at the Toronto International Film Festival. It's a program for emerging filmmakers.

Talent Lab is an intensive four-day artistic development programme that provides emerging talent with an unparalleled opportunity to learn from the world's best film artists.

Using the Festival's outstanding relationships with acclaimed filmmakers, Talent Lab leads participants in group discussions on a range of topics focused on the artistic side of filmmaking, sharpening the skills and confidence of a new generation of filmmakers.

Really excited to be taking part in this amazing opportunity.

Here's the official release:
http://www.tiff.net/industry/programmes/talentlab

TIFF Filmmaker's Bootcamp

Yesterday was TIFF's Filmmaker's Bootcamp. It's meant for filmmaker's that are new to the festival. It's about navigating the festival and how to make the most of it all. They brought in publicists, film critics, distributers, programmers and others all in the hope of having us making the most of TIFF.

This 1 day event was amazing. I feel completely ready to tackle this festival. Well I'm not ready - but I know what I have to do to get ready. Can't wait to get started working on putting butts in seats, along with my fellow short-filmmakers.

As far as I know, TIFF is the only festival that has such a program. Clearly, this is an indication of the respect and value they have for us. They care about us, our careers and our films.

On top of all that, I got to hang out and meet lots of other amazing Canadian filmmakers - some shorts and some features. I really can't wait to see them!

The End of an Era

I moved to New York 6 years ago, with "2 Suitcases and a Dream!" (that line usually makes my fiancee groan). I've accumulated more than 2 suitcases worth of stuff over these years, but one thing that has stood by me was my can of shaving cream. Well, it's finally done.

Granted, I've never shaved my entire face in over 6 years, I still think it's an enormous amount of time to have a single shaving cream can.

When I consider all of the "special occasions" and things that have happened during the past 6 years I can't help but get a little misty-eyed.

Thanks Rusted Can of Barbasol. You did good. Real good.

Check out the Trailer

So after months and months - here's the trailer for my new film, which began with a kickstarter campaign. Check it out - would love to hear what you have to say.

Spreading the Word in Queens

Yesterday before the Oscars, we went to Queens where a large West Indian community exists. We put up some flyers and spoke with a few people about supporting the film.

If even one person gets interested, it will be worth it.

Pounding the pavement, this is grass roots filmmaking.

Living The Dream Tonight at the Oscars

A while back, my friend Luke Matheny asked me to record the sound on his film called God of Love. Luke is a fantastic guy and the script was hilarious.

A lot of my friends are filmmakers and we work on each others films for reciprocity. Not money. We don't have any. However, you quickly realize that people's time is far more important than cold hard cash.

It was fun making the film, with no long days and no drama off camera. The great Bobby Webster was the DP and we shot on the RED Camera, which was a learning experience for me.

Luke and another friend, Levi Abrino spent a long time editing it. The film went on to win the Wassserman award at NYU's film festival. It made the rounds at festivals (winning a lot of prizes along the way) and eventually it won a Student Academy Award. Great news. That award qualified it for the "REAL" Oscars. Then it got shortlisted.

Then it got nominated! What the....?

No one makes a short film to win an Oscar. No one.

The meteoric rise of this film has given me so much encouragement and hope for my own work. It means that if you make a good film people will respond and recognize it.

So tune in tonight and see if God of Love wins for Best Live Action short.

This one's for all of the little guys

Help Me!

I've launched the Kickstarter page for my most recent film, "Doubles with Slight Pepper". If you have some extra cash that you're not sure what to do, please feel free to drop some coin in my cup.

I am going to be posting a lot more about the process of making this film, so check back often.

One Of the Best Videos I've Ever Seen

I've heard a lot about these Urban Explorers, the folks that go around various cities and check out the infrastructure - places that are usually off limits to the public. One day I'll really go on one of these.

Here's a video of a great visit to a lot of NYC sites:

UNDERCITY from Andrew Wonder on Vimeo.

Outlining...

After a few weeks of work, I've finished my portion for the outline of Soucouyant. My writing partner is working on his portion.

This outline is meant to be a blueprint of how the story will be told. If you've read the book you'll know that there are several jumps in time over several time periods. I think our biggest challenge is to integrate all of the time periods into a cohesive story. What we've decided to do is to figure out the story for each time period, and then we'll figure out how to best mix them up.

From our previous experiences: the finished script does resemble the outline in terms of storyline. Each scene may not be exactly how we planned it, but the content/drama is more or less the same.

Once we agree on the outline, we'll move to the actual screenwriting, where the bulk of the work is done. The outlining process is useful as it forces you to understand the story you're trying to tell and how it will unfold.

So, I think I have a good grasp of what we're trying to do now and I'm excited and motivated to get going!

Rum & Coca Cola

Ever since a cousin's wedding a few weeks ago, I've been listening to a lot of old Calypso, Soca and Chutney (the main music in Trinidad). It reminded of a part in Soucouyant where the Son is singing Lord Invader's Rum & Coca Cola. Growing up you rarely listen to lyrics and can barely make sense of them. This song is absolutely incredible.

Not sure exactly how, but I KNOW this song will feature prominently in the screenplay. It just sums up everything.