The Opening Night At The Rhode Island Film Festival

Chris' film, Gone Fishing, was one of the 10 films screened at the opening night of this prestigious film festival. To say we were excited was an understatement. The opportunity to see our work on a massive screen in front of an audience of 2000 people is the dream of every filmmaker.

But sadly, the festival just couldn't get its act together and despite having a fantastic venue, some superb films and the best HD projector available, 7 out of the 10 films were projected in a very small window in the centre of the screen. It was like looking at a postage stamp.

To make matters worse, they projected it in the wrong ratio (the image was stretched) and managed to chop off the first 20 seconds of our film which was really gut wrenching. I didn't feel great about it but Chris was devastated. We also discovered that last nights screening was part of the audience award and people were voting for their best film. The whole set up just wasn't fair to any of the filmmakers.

The after show party was good through and the people I spoke to were very complimentary about the film, so who knows if we will win. Either way, a level playing field would have been nice.

I was able to pitch Kaleidoscope Man to quite a few people and was interviewed by the local TV station called "Cox Cable" (no relation!) where I did a massive plug for the movie and the website.

Corporate Wonderland

It's been a busy week and I've been staying in London working on a very grand corporate video for a massive consultancy company.

Corporate work is the way I pay the mortgage these days and I could certainly have a healthy career doing this if I didn't want to make epic sci-fi movies etc...

Last year I was 2nd Unit Director on a short film called Gone Fishing for a fellow Director friend, Chris Jones, and this week this amazingly up-lifting little film won the best film at the Kodak awards in London. It was a fantastic event and I'm delighted to be a part of it. This is a picture of Chris, me and Harry Potter star, Devon Murray on the set of Gone Fishing.

Check out http://livingspirit.typepad.com/ to read Chris's blog and watch the video of the awards. It's a real inspiration.

Next week Chris and I are off to the USA to film for this corporate video and while over there we will be taking Gone Fishing to the Rhode Island Film Festival. We're hoping that it will stand a good chance of winning something hot on the success of the Kodak awards. This is the first international film festival I've ever been to so I'm very excited and will use the opportunity to make new contacts and build new relationships across the pond. I'll keep you up-dated with our progress.

On the Kaleidoscope Man front, I received the Lawyers notes back on the business plan and there are only a few minor changes to be done. I'll have these knocked out when back from the States and then out it goes into the big wide world....