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.

Official Confirmation

From the Arsenal site:

Soucouyant film option sold (Jul. 2010)

The film option to David Chariandy's award-winning novel Soucouyant has been sold to New York-based filmmakers Ian Harnarine and Jon Malkiel. They most recently co-wrote the adaptation of physicist Ronald Mallett's memoir Time Traveler with Spike Lee, currently in development as a feature film.

Soucouyant, shortlisted for the Governor General's Award and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, is now in its third printing.

Reboot: Soucouyant

Last year some time I read Neil Bissoondath's "A Casual Brutality" and really enjoyed it. Looking up info on the author, I came across a list of West Indian-Canadian authors and read about David Chariandy's "Soucouyant". Ordered it from Amazon (since I couldn't find it at local NYC stores) and read it.

It immediately struck a chord with me as it really explored the 2nd Generation experience coupled with dealing with aging parents.

It was a quick read and couldn't stop thinking about it. I was wondering if it really was that good, or was it that I had such a personal connection to the material? I passed it on to my writing partner and was surprised that he loved it too.

If you haven't read it - you should. It's beautifully written with some extremely brutal moments that will kill you.

Anyways, we were looking for something to adapt and this story was it. We contacted the Publisher (The great folks over at Arsenal Pulp Press) and Mr. Chariandy. They were so gracious to trust us with this wonderful story.

Not sure how this blog will take form now, but I will try to update frequently as we begin the book to script to screen process. Might become a scrapbook, or random thoughts on what I'm dealing with at the time.