Doc Challenge Finalists

Check out the list of 14 doc challenge finalists on haikugirlmovies.blogspot.com

You won't find Team haikugirl in the list but I like my friend Joe's philosophy:

Well, whoretoculture did it the first year, and haikugirl the second, but alas, neither of us made the cut in IDC's third year. Oh, well. At least your friends from Team Profluence did. I don't know them, but I'll be cheering them on for the big prize. Congrats on finishing another project, though. Can't wait to swap movies!


IDC's a wrap
14 Finalists this year
GO Team Profluence!

movies, movies, movies

I am looking forward to this weekend's release of Run, Fat Boy, Run - missed it at TIFF and after running a marathon (and making a short marathon movie) I need to see how David Schwimmer directs Simon Pegg who decides to run a marathon to win his fiancee (Thandie Newton) back. I like the message in the trailer: "Relationships are like marathons. They require dedication, discipline and determination, of which Dennis has none." They also borrow the line: "It's not how you start, it's how you finish" which I first heard by Gerard Depardieu as Chef Didier in the delightful movie Last Holiday with Queen Latifah.

Also interested in a couple of films at this year's Cinefranco - the 11th annual French film fest in Toronto. Planning to choose between Toi on Friday, Crossed Tracks on Saturday, or Conversations with my Gardener on Sunday.

Also interested in a charity event on Friday night at the Dominion pub on King East. One of the subjects in my new video has donated a work of art for auction. Will there be time for sleep and a run this weekend??? Watch for reviews early next week.

hot docs and IDC short list

The 15th Annual Hot Docs Canadadian International Documentary Film Festival just announced its schedule of films from April 17-27. The International Documentary Challenge Screening is at 9:30pm on Saturday, April 26 and I will attend even if Team haikugirl is not a finalist (but keep crossing your finger for us). I'll also be attending a few other films as part of my Doc Soup pass.

Last night we heard that 96 teams (out of the original 122) made the cut and are eligible for judging and awards. That means we have a 1 in 8 chance of being a finalist and screening on April 26. Good luck to all teams and see you at Hot Docs!

1985 Media
2012
2HourFilms
2WARDS Productions
Alacrity
Allied Media Group
Anecdote Films
Appaloosa
Asian Mainstream Productions
Becaj Productions
Billo Billo
Blake House
Borderline
Boss and Coder 34
Breakfast For Dinner
Brevity
Cactae
Castparty Productions
Cingulate (fka EG Productions)
CKA Productions
delia's gone
Digital Alchemists
Doc Doc Revolution
DocTeam Vienna
docuNATI
Elvis Cocho
Fade to Grey
Fan Club 82
FILMA
fischer
Fly on the Wall
flycycle films
GEMINCA
Ghost Mountain
Go!
haikugirl
Higher Rock & Downward Spiral Productions
Homespun
Intuitive Eye Productions
It Donned On Me
Jane O'Holly Productions
JDX Studios Inc
KelJo
KTF Films
KYU
lexfilm
Los Indios
Lucky Shot
Masked Men
Middleway
MODindie
New Circle Productions
PDXFCPUG1
PDXFCPUG2
Playin' Possum Productions
Poco Loco Productions
Profluence Productions
Puppy Fight Productions
ReadytoRoll
Red Dog Productions
Reel Grrls
Reel Hard-Workin' Dogs
Rock Creek Productions, Inc.
Rotating Planet
Sawbuck Productions
SCAN of War
Scumberland Productions
Seattle Métier
Shields Films
Shoodhoo Amee
Slim Productions
Smoke In Mirror Productions
Smokeshow
Somatic Cinema
StaringStraight
Surge Media
Team August
Team Endicott
Team Impact
Team Juicebox
Team Nexus
team sour cream
Team Tombrowski
testigo
The Prosimians
Tislet Projects
TPX Productions
TUJ Films
Vegetated Circumstance
White Noise
whoretoculture films
wideshot studios
Willamette Valley Film Collective
Wink
Xian Studios
Year of the Rooster

haikugirl.com, STITCH and Book Club

I finally had a chance to update haikugirl.com - the springboard to my media empire ;-)

I also have hundreds of photos I need to download. We need to send the IDC Producer our behind-the-scenes footage from the weekend so he can edit in Team haikugirl.

Last Thursday I was ON FIRE with ideas and energy. I was problem-solver extraordinaire at work and giving people marketing ideas in the evening when we went to Terroni for dinner and on to a play.

STITCH was an amazing opera that was more like a musical performance installation. Brilliant staging, music and lyrics. BRAVO to all the women involved! I told them to take it to the Edinburgh Fringe (or even Edmonton or Winnipeg) since it was really innovative.

PLUS we got a new title for our book club: Toronto, je t'aime. Written by Alison's neighbour Didier Leclair it won a Trillium Book Award and we'll get to read it in the original French. I thought maybe we could meet him for drinks whenever we discuss his book. On verra....

Be As You Are

Just found these wonderful capri pyjama bottoms at Winners. They're made by a cool company out of DC - Be As You Are.

I love what the tag says:
When you think of a slumber party, what do you think of? I think of a gaggle of girls chatting it up over popcorn and a movie - all wearing super cute capri pants. But maybe that's just because I am a pair of super cute capris and I want to be included in everything.

My capris say "There's plenty of fish in the sea" - like the boxers above. Can't wait to wear them. Maybe I'll buy a martini T-shirt online to go with?

Hot Docs

I am liking the selections on the early list of Special Presentations at hot docs. Films by Errol Morris, survivors of Alive (the Andes crash) and Sandrine Bonnaire's directorial debut. Very interesting stuff.

Although I idolize Dr. Seuss, I am NOT interested in seeing Horton Hears a Who until it's out on video. Why are Canadians (Jim Carrey, Mike Myers) always involved in Dr. Seuss on the big screen? Did you know Dr. Seuss was born the same year as my grandmother, AND he lived on Howard Street in Springfield, MASS (Rich & I lived on Howard Street in TO)

Lots of great videos are now available to rent so it's my chance to catch up before I see my next movie in theatres: Run, Fat Boy, Run with Simon Pegg. My next rentals are: No Country for Old Men, American Gangster, and Gone, Baby Gone. Which are your favourites?

Doc Challenge Judging Details

I checked Purolator and our package 9060053402 was received by IDC Producer Doug Whyte in St. Louis, Missouri. As films come in, they check paperwork and digitize the films to go in their on-line judges’ screening room. Round 1 Judges (30 documentary professionals from across the world) watch and rate all of the films (122 teams from 16 countries). The 12 top rated films from Round 1 will premiere at the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival in Toronto in April. Finalists will be notified by the end of march to make travel arrangements. The Round 2 Judges (3 influential international documentary professionals) will select the Grand Prize Winner from the 12 finalists and announce it at the Hot Docs screening. Each finalist will receive two free passes to Hot Docs (~$1,000 value) and the Grand Prize Winner will receive $1,000.

They're accepting late films until March 13 - they'll put them on the IDC website but not enter them in the judging. They are also accepting behind-the-scenes footage so they can make a Making Of film...

IDC 2008: WE DID IT!

Last night Erin and I finished our IDC video and got it into Purolator just under the wire to meet the competition deadline. We missed the FedEx cut-off of 7:30pm at the local depot and I called Purolator and they were open till 9:00pm. Only the woman on the phone gave me the wrong info and we drove to Yonge and Adelaide and found no location. The odyssey continued at the next nearby Staples Business Depot where Sandra at Purolator helped us complete the paperwork and get our essential store-generated timestamp. 8:45pm on March 10, 2008. HOORAY Team haikugirl! WE DID IT!!! AMAZING!!!

Videos must be less than 8 minutes long or they're disqualified. Ours is 7:06:18 including credits which is okay. And it reflects the genre and theme and includes the required time element. We think you'll like our film too, Team Profluence and friends. THANKS TO EVERYONE - friends and family - for your messages of support during an exhausting weekend. Erin and I were at for 36 hours straight (basically since my last post). I got only 45 minutes sleep Sunday night sometime between 5:00am and 6:00am. We were editing in tandem at the Ryerson Lab and using my new G RAID external hard drive with 1 TeraByte (TB) of space. That's 1,000 GigaBytes (GB) or 1,000,000 MegaBytes (MB) people. Enough to store a lifetime of photos and music (or at least a big feature film edit). It's so sleek, silver and sexy - and the perfect complement to my MacBook Pro and Final Cut Express - it makes me feel like a real filmmaker!

I am also lovin' the groovy music on the new album by Sia called some people have real problems. I am groovin' out on it right now after hearing and buying it yesterday at Starbucks. I especially like Track 10 - Soon We'll Be Found but really the whole album is great. I'm glad I didn't let Richard buy it on emusic.com because the album artwork is so playful and charming. Check it out and let me know what you think.

After we submitted our film, Erin and I went to The Rivoli to celebrate with martinis and dinner. She had yummy soba noodles and I had delicious STEAK, mashed potatoes and a delicious medley of grilled vegetables. We must plan more martinis with Team Profluence when (god willing) everyone is reunited at hotdocs in April.

IDC's a WRAP!
Thanks to Erin for her help
Watch for photos soon...

Less than 30 hours to go!

Less than 30 hours remain in our weekend filmmaking competition the International Documentary Challenge. Saturday we wrapped our 3rd successful day of shooting after 2 great interviews and 2 awesome Bacchus rotis. The SNOW was UNSTOPPABLE! At least 30cm (12 inches) overnight and all day. Every 3 hours when we moved Erin's car we had to spend 10 minutes cleaning it off the accumulation was so bad! It took me over 30 minutes to walk from the Dundas West subway in all the snow to our first interview shoot. En route I saw a crime scene on Roncesvalles and got Lost in the Barrens trying to navigate the back alleys of the neighbourhood. If I froze to death at least they'd find my footage. Back at home at night I made some delicious broccoli soup (this weekend, it's all about the food!) and a few phone calls then settled down to capture footage but was falling asleep in front of the computer. Spent a moment chatting online with my friends in Team Profluence in New York and am sending positive vibes to Team Whoretoculture in DC. GOOD LUCK EVERBODY! SEE YOU IN TORONTO!!!

Sunday morning and I'm using OneZone, the largest WiFi zone in Canada, at my old familiar Starbucks at College & Yonge before I meet Erin at Ryerson to keep capturing and start editing. It's crunch time babies and we are gonna rock the edit lab! Our genre is ART and our theme is CHANGE and our goal today is to whittle 11 hours of tape into a compulsively watchable, award-winning short doc!

Team haikugirl ROCKS
AWESOME interviews and art
shooting in the snow

STITCH!

Next Thursday I'm going to see STITCH! - a 45-minute a capella opera for 3 women and 3 sewing machines. Written by Alison's friend Juliet Palmer. Very excited to see this in an old converted factory space Lennox Contemporary at 12 Ossigton Ave. Read the Toronto Star Review and consider joining us or see it at another time during its limited run March 12-16, 2008. Tickets: $10 matinee, $20 evening performances. Advance tickets: tel. 416-973-4000 Click here for online ticket purchase and visit www.theatrecentre.org or www.urbanvessel.com for more info. GIRL POWER!

I used to drive a
sewing machine but now I'll
hear the opera

The Doc Challenge is ON!

This morning I logged into the secure IDC website and found out our genre assignments. I am taking the rest of the week off to work on this project with my new film partner Erin. Wish us luck and check back for updates!

Attention haikugirl! The 2008 International Documentary Challenge has commenced!! Following are your documentary film genre choices and your theme for the 2008 Doc Challenge:

Genre Choices: BIOGRAPHY/CHARACTER STUDY or ART

Theme: CHANGE

You must choose one of the genres listed above, Your chosen genre must be the predominate genre of your film. You can mix genres, but it should be obvious to the judges and the audience that your main genre is one of these:

BIOGRAPHY/CHARACTER STUDY
A full account of the facts of the life of a particular person, or closely related group of people (Biography) or an exploration of a single character's personality and current life situation (Chracter Study).

ART
Focuses in some way on art and/or artists.

Find all genre definitions on the IDC website.

The assigned THEME must be present at some point in your film. It can be either the entire focus of your film, or it can just be addressed briefly (as in one interview question, if you happen to have interviews.) Once again, it must be obvious to the judges that at some point your film addresses the theme of CHANGE.

Also, don't forget the required TIME ELEMENT. To ensure the films were made within the required time frame, each team must prove the date the film was made by adding a time element to the film or credits. Feel free to be creative, but make sure that it is obvious to the judges. If the judges have a hard time determining the time element, the film will be disqualified. An example of an accepted time element is having your main subject (if you have one) holding a newspaper and the date is large enough to read. This can be done in the credits of the film so as to not affect the flow of the film.

Don't forget to fill out all of your paperwork!!

Your finished film must be postmarked by Monday, March 10 with a store-generated label to be considered on time and eligible for awards. Outside of the US Fedex is your best bet.

Autism: The Musical

Another snowstorm, another Doc Soup screening. Missed last month's screening of Up the Yangtze because of the massive snowstorm but plan to see it in theatres. This month: Autism: The Musical. This delightful doc follows a group of California kids with autism and how they scripted and performed a musical in 6 months. The work that Elaine Hall is doing with The Miracle Project is truly inspiring. A revealing, all-access portrait of participating families and their challenges. The five principal kids were very endearing and the parents were very candid about their lives and issues. I especially loved Henry (who has Aspergers) a hilarious charmer with an encyclopedic knowledge of dinosaurs. The Director Tricia Regan is equally adorable. She admitted she can't help choking up when she sees the film and her biggest thrill is to watch people experience it at screenings. A surprising 1 in 150 children will be diagnosed with autism in the U.S. this year (in 1980 it was only 1 in 10,000 children). Shot and edited with love, this doc shines the light on a growing issue, one that society can no longer ignore. See this with your family and laugh and learn together when it airs on HBO March 25

Movie and Martini lovers UNITE!

Met Les Boys (Keith & Fidel) and Ivana & Antonio & baby Matteo for dinner at the Pure Spirits Oyster House (adjust your audio settings!) in the Distillery District on Sunday Night. Dinner was good but the service was uneven and the martinis were cloudy so kudos to Fidel for letting the manager know. After that, service picked up and our bill went down - hooray! It was so lovely to see everyone. Ivana looks FANTASTIC after giving birth only 12 days before. We have to start planning the festivities for this year's TIFF 2008 which marks 10 years since Ivana and I met the original Les Boys (Keith, Joe & Shawn) in line at Roy Thomson Hall at TIFF 1999. What a wonderful milestone! Such wonderful friends! Come to think of it, our friendship predates both of our weddings - here's to friendship, martinis & movies!!