| 12.20.05 Cool! Two big hits from Animation World Network today! First and foremost, a picture of The Mantis Parable on the front page which links to an in-depth REVIEW of the film which it calls "a luminous short" and a "visual stunner." Woohoo! It's a great review, but WARNING: SERIOUS SPOILERS! If you haven't seen the film and want to be surprised, don't read paragraphs 3, 4, and 5! Also, a nice AWN headline of "Mantis Parable Bites at ION Fest" in the news section with a brief article detailing TMP's big win this past weekend at the ION Film Festival. Exciting stuff! :) |
| 12.19.05 Had a wonderful time at the ION Film Festival this past weekend. I had the opportunity to meet many people and enjoyed some great films at the fest, which was held in a really cool theater on the UCLA campus...best of all, TMP won the International Animation of the Year Award! Last year's winner was the Academy Award winner Ryan. Woohoo! :) |
| 12.11.05 Saw Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe last night with my wife. Amazing job! It's a beautiful film, and a worthy adaptation of one of my favorite books from my all-time favorite author: C.S. Lewis. Congratulations to Andrew Adamson (Director), and to my friends Micheal Flaherty (Walden Media) and Steve Hoogendyk (one of the animators who worked on Aslan at Rhythm and Hues - WOW) for a magnificent job on the film. Also, wanted to remind folks in the Los Angeles area that The Mantis Parable will be screening at the ION Film Festival next weekend. TMP screens on Saturday, December 17th, at 1:30 PM (UCLA - James Bridges Theater) and I WILL be in attendance! Hope to see you there! :) |
| 12.8.05 At the last minute I've decided to attend the screening of The Mantis Parable at the ION Film Festival in Los Angeles next weekend. The festival actually takes place over the course of 3 days, the 16th - 18th (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) but TMP screens on Saturday, December 17th, at 1:30 PM (UCLA - James Bridges Theater). Hope to see you there! :) I should also mention that I've been contacted by the Spokane International Film Festival (right here in my hometown) and they've invited TMP to screen at the festival in February. It's a small sized festival with a consistently world-class film lineup. Should be fun. Hope to see you locals at The Met for that one! Lost of festival announcements coming up over the next few days and weeks, so stay tuned to find out if The Mantis Parable is going to screen at a theater near you! :) |
11.27.05 |
| 11.17.05 4 Days without email this past weekend...Oh, the Horror! :) Everything is back in order now. If you tried sending one and I haven't responded, you might wanna drop me another one just in case. In other news, this evening I just had a wonderful phone interview with a major industry magazine, so stay tuned for more information on an upcoming article on The Mantis Parable! And last but not least, today I pay a visit to Alpha Cine to view a :30 test of the film...on actual FILM! I will be having three 35mm film prints made of The Mantis Parable. Why? Well, firstly, it'll be pretty cool to be able to screen on 35mm at upcoming festivals, and secondly, The Mantis Parable has qualified for consideration for nomination for the Best Animated Short Film Academy Award and (it is currently being judged by Academy members at their branch screenings in Hollywood), and if it is selected, the Academy require two film prints for the nomination round of judging: Fingers crossed! :) |
| 11.13.05 Just in case anyone has tried to email me in the last 2 days, my email server (through readyhosting.com) is down so I haven't been receiving emails. It's driving me crazy! I'm trying very hard to be patient. :( In other news, my wife and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary this weekend. Woohoo! As part of our celebration we went to the Spokane Symphony last night where they performed the Lord of The Rings Symphony composed by Howard Shore. Accompanying the music, was a huge screen which displayed a video showcasing production art sketches and paintings by LOTR production designers Alan Lee and John Howe. It was pretty awesome. :) |
| 11.9.05 Another amazing week! I've just returned from the Chicago International Children's Film Festival. The CICFF is the only children's film festival in the world to be recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as an Academy qualifying festival, and now I can see why. FACETS, which runs the festival, has an amazing program which really gets kids thinking about the movies they're watching instead of just absorbing them. It's really a fantastic experience for the kids (and the filmmakers) and Kathleen Beckman and the rest of the staff do a phenomenal job. Thanks to all! Oh yeah, and I took home another award - 2nd Prize for Best Animated Short Film! Woohoo! In addition to an amazing festival, I had the opportunity to make many new wonderful film-community friends - Beverly, Sam, Sue, Sara, Marcella, Chris,...too many to name. I hope and expect that we will continue to keep in touch. A special mention to Beverly who has a beautiful documentary-short called Mr. Mergler's Gift which has already been shortlisted for this year's Academy Award. It's a truly moving story about a young Chinese girl who turns out to have an amazing gift for music, and her wonderful piano teacher who has one gift left to give her. If you have a soft-spot for inspirational and heartfelt stories and an affinity for classical music (or even if you don't), the film is definitely worth viewing at a festival near you, or better yet, just take my word for it and treat yourself to the DVD. :) |
| 10.29.05 Well, last weekend was indescribably surreal. First, there was the festival screening at the ArcLight Cinemas and of course, winning the discovery award for BEST ANIMATED FILM (which came with a gorgeous 20 pound trophy). Second, there were the random and bizarre brushes with celebrities - riding in an elevator with Ashlee Simpson and her friends, sitting directly behind Hugh Hefner and his "ladies" (plus entourage) at a festival screening of a documentary at the Arclight (accompanied by an over-the-top party that Hugh/Ladies/Entourage were all attending - among others - at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel)...but the most surreal was the Hollywood Film Festival Awards Gala itself which included: (1) my wife and I walking in on the red carpet while the wall of paparazzi flashed their bulbs (not at us of course) (2) mingling before the awards ceremony with stunned eyes wide open at the fellow familiarly-faced minglers (3) a wonderful dinner while taking in the ceremony itself, and and last but not least... (4) the amazing display of Hollywood professionals who presented or were awarded with trophies identical to mine just feet away from where we sat...a sampling of the list off the top of my head: actresses Halle Berry, Jodie Foster, Jennifer Aniston, Sandra Bullock, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon, Rachel McAdams, Goldie Hawn, actors Matthew Broderick, Jake Gyllenhall, Joaquin Phoenix, Peter Saarsgard, directors Quentin Tarantino, Sam Mendes, the entire ensemble cast of "Crash", visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren, production designer Grant Major, and...drumroll please...George Lucas! It was beyond surreal. I wouldn't consider myself generally prone to being star-struck, but the entire evening was simply outrageous. Of course, the highlight for me was getting to chat at some length with Dennis Muren, visual effects supervisor from ILM responsible for Jurassic Park and the Star Wars movies (all 6 of them) as well as countless other gigantic special effects-laden films. A totally unbelievable night for my wife and I both. We just kept looking at eachother in disbelief saying "Is this real? Where on EARTH are we?" :) Oh yeah, HERE is an article on CGW I stumbled upon. Enjoy! :) |
| 10.25.05 The Mantis Parable's amazing journey CONTINUES. More info to come... |
| 10.14.05 Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been swamped! A couple months ago I did a lengthy interview for CG Maagazine in China, and yesterday I received my copy. Wow, is it beautiful! If only I could read Chinese! :) Next week I'm off to the Hollywood Film Festival where TMP is screening at the ArcLight Cinemas on Sunday, October 23rd at 4pm. I've never been to the Arclight, but I've heard it's pretty much the coolest theater in Hollywood to watch a film. TMP is showing just before another short and then a feature. If you live in the area and can make the screening I would really appreciate it. Not sure how many people are going to want to come to my humble screening what with all the celebrities flocking about! Seriously, it should be a totally surreal weekend, and while I'll feel like a fish-out-of-water, I'm really looking forward to it. Oh yeah, and if I see Steven Spielberg I'll tell him you said "Hello". ;) |
| 9.28.05 Another TMP mention regarding the Sidewalk Moving PIcture Festival HERE (not to mention it includes some worthy praise for my friend John Harden's La Vie d'un Chien). :) ALSO, I've just received word that TMP will screen 4 TIMES at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival which runs from October 27th (The Mantis Parable will be one of the opening night screenings) to November 6th. The CICFF is the only children's film festival in the world to be recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as an Academy qualifying festival. Woohoo! |
| 9.27.05 Things really seem to be moving fast. Lots of great coverage on The Mantis Parable's big win already. Today, The Spokesman Review ran a SECOND article on The Mantis Parable to inform Spokanites about the 2 awards won on Sunday in Palm Springs. Here are some other links for your enjoyment: Article on IndieWire. Blog post by Spokesman Review reporter Dan Webster. Preview of the "Animation Celebration" program, specifically commenting on The Mantis Parable in the Desert Sun (Palm Springs newspaper). Award winners article in the Desert Sun (Palm Springs newspaper). HERE is page one of the Spokesman Review Article published on September 24th. HERE is page two. HERE is the Spokesman Review Article published on September 27th (today). Also, if you find any other related articles online, please let me know! Thanks! :) |
| 9.26.05 Ok, so I'm pretty much speechless...thankfully, I can still type like nobody's business. Here's the scoop: Not only did The Mantis Parable win BEST ANIMATION at the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films (WOW!), but I also won the prestigious FUTURE FILMMAKER AWARD. Check out the press-release HERE! The BEST ANIMATION award affirms The Mantis Parable's I can't say enough about the new friends I made this week at the festival. Thanks to everyone for being so nice to me this week and for all the wonderful chats. Your films are all amazing! Oh yeah, and some of you may have seen the huge article on The Mantis Parable in the Spokesman Review this past Saturday. I'll try and get a web-link to it soon for you out-of-towners. Stay tuned for that. Woohoo! :) |
| 9.17.05 Looking forward to the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films next weekend in Palm Springs, CA. This festival is widely referred to as the "Sundance of Short Film Festivals". Woohoo! Looking forward to seeing a ton of great films, hanging out with other film-makers, and presenting The Mantis Parable as part of the Animation Celebration at 11:30 at the Camelot I. If you can make it, I'd love to see you there. ALSO, for those of you who live in the area (and have alarm clocks) I will be interviewed at 6:00am on Friday on KMIR-TV NBC 6. Believe it or not, I think my interview follows one with Melissa Joan Hart from Sabrina The Teenage Witch who directed a short-film called Mute also screening at the festival. Is it just me or is my life getting more and more bizarre? :) And another thing! The Mantis Parable will compete at the Sidewalk Film Festival this week as well, screening twice: 11:45am, Saturday 9/24 and at 11:30am, Sunday 9/25, both screenings at the Rushton Theatre. I won't be there, but I would love a report if you get the chance to go! :) |
| 9.14.05 What a crazy time this is! This morning I received an acceptance email from the St. Louis International Film Festival, the 6th Academy qualifying festival to screen The Mantis Parable in competition and the 17th festival over all. Woohoo! TMP will be screening in 8 fantastic festivals over the next 8 weeks, 4 of which are Academy qualifying. I am planning on attending at least the ones in Palm Springs, Hollywood, and Chicago...if you can make it to a screening I'd love to meet you there. Stay tuned as well for an upcoming newspaper feature article on The Mantis Parable, and last but not least, this week I'm polishing up the paperwork on TMP's submission to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the 2006 Academy Awards. Yikes! :) Oh yeah, and did I mention that I'm currently unemployed? :) |
| 9.5.05 Life is full of Ups and Downs. The UPS: The Mantis Parable continues to be on a roll. Over the weekend TMP was selected to screen at 2 more incredible festivals - Starz Denver International Film Festival (alongside Sundance, Telluride, Tribeca, Seattle,...Starz Denver International Film Festival is widely considered one of the top 10 film-festivals in the United States) and Uppsala in Sweden (as a film-maker friend of mine put it: "An Academy nomination is one thing, but UPPSALA! Now THAT is the big-time!"). Amazing. Simply amazing! :) The DOWNS: This will come as a shock to many of you, but Cyan Worlds (the creators of Myst, Riven, and URU: Ages Beyond Myst) is shutting down. I've been at Cyan for going on 12 years now as CG Production Director, Lead Artist and Game Designer, and the last 7+ as Art and Visual Design Director...but now, for the first time in my life, I am unemployed. Cyan has been like a family to me. When I first came to Cyan there were just 6 of us - Rand, Robyn, Chris, Rich, Bonnie (my future wife!), and myself. It was truly a "garage startup" back then, as I lived and worked in Robyn's basement. Over the years we created some amazing stuff...arguably the most beautiful and inspiring games every created. I'm not a gamer...I consider myself an artist and storyteller. Even so, I was blessed with a job that allowed me to grow artistically and as a storyteller in an industry virtually devoid of such lofty concepts. I am truly grateful for the time I've had there. Now it's time to move on. In many ways, this is a blessing in disguise. As you may have guessed, I have felt for a long time that my future would lead me into the animated film industry and the time has come to take that step. My hope is that I can find a new "home" where I can contribute my skills to great projects while collaborating with the best. Stay tuned. :) |
| 8.23.05 Another day, another festival! :) Today, The Mantis Parable was accepted to the Sidewalk Film Festival. Since its debut in 1999, filmmakers from across the country and around the world have come to Birmingham to screen their work at Sidewalk and have been thrilled to discover fresh, enthusiastic crowds eager to devour new independent cinema In 2004, Sidewalk attracted more than 12,000 attendees during the festival weekend. With six venues located within Birmingham's historic Theatre District, spontaneity rules the schedule of Sidewalk attendees. The result is a crowd rich in diversity and united in a hunger for new film. I'm thrilled to have TMP compete in what looks like a wonderful event. Unfortunately, I will be unable to attend. :( |
| 8.21.05 Add another one to the list! The Mantis Parable will screen at the prestigious Hollywood Film Festival in late October. The festival was created to bridge the gap between Hollywood and the global creative community, while at the same time honoring established Hollywood professionals. The Awards Gala on the final evening of the festival is a star-studded event to say the least...you know, Mel Gibson, Steven Spielberg, Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford...uh, me. :) Woohoo! |
| 8.16.05 The amazing news keeps rolling in folks! Just returned from a wonderful week at the Rhode Island International Film Festival where TMP received the Grand Prize for Best Children's Film! I had such a wonderful time in Providence. Everyone made me feel special and showed their personal appreciation for the film (check out the beautiful note left by Regina in the Guestbook!). Many thanks go out to all the wonderful people working at the festival, as well as the many film-makers I got the opportunity to chat with (Stu Pollard, Rover (sorry!), Stephen Collins, Michael Showalter, Aruna and Aram, Greg...the list goes on!). ALSO, TMP has received an acceptance to the Chicago International Children's Film Festival in October. The CICFF is the only children's film festival in the world to be recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as an Academy qualifying festival. It's awesome! Palm Springs in September and Chicago in October. Woohoo! |
| 8.9.05 Off to Rhode Island tomorrow for the Rhode Island International Film Festival. The Mantis Parable is screening on Thursday and Friday at 10:00am at the Columbus Theater...a very cool old theater in downtown Providence. TMP will also screen on Saturday night at 6:30 at the Columbus Cinamatheque. If you can make it to any of the screenings, I'd love to see you there! TMP is up for an award, so fingers crossed! :) In totally unrelated news, just for fun I created a couple Color Illusions pages which may just blow your mind. Enjoy! Oh, and if you haven't read the AnimWatch feature interview on The Mantis Parable. Go THERE now! : |
| 8.5.05 AnimWatch feature interview on The Mantis Parable. Go THERE now! :) |
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7.30.05 |
| 7.21.05 What a week! Today I received notice that The Mantis Parable has been selected to screen at the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films. This is another big one folks! All first place winners in the Live Action and Animation categories will automatically become eligible for nomination consideration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the short film categories. This festival is often called "The Sundance of Short Film Festivals". Woohoo! :) |
| 7.16.05 The Mantis Parable has been invited to screen at the Rhode Island International Film Festival in Providence, Rhode Island August 9th - 14th. Woohoo! Now in its ninth year, the Rhode Island International Film Festival is widely considered one of the top 10 Short Film Festivals and Top 10 International Film Festivals in the United States. Winners of the Best Short Film category qualify for an Academy Award. This looks to be a great festival! :) Also, what a wonderful weekend I had in New York at the God On Film Festival. Awesome! TMP screened in the beatiful Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom to a huge crowd of people and got a fantastic response. Thanks again to all the GOF organizers and to all my new film-maker friends from the event, hope to see you again soon! :) Oh yeah! Don't forget to check out the photos from NY in my new PhotoBlog! |
| 7.7.05 I will be attending the God On Film Festival on July 11th at the Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom in New York, NY where The Mantis Parable is nominated for BEST Under 10 Minute Short Film in the competition. Hope to see you there! :) Of course, I'm thrilled to be bringing along my camera to fill up my new PhotoBlog with lots of shots from the Big Apple. Additionally, TMP will be screening 12 times (!) at Anima Mundi in Brazil over the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I won't be attending, but if someone sees Mantis and would like to give me the scoop on the festival, I'd love to hear! |
| 6.30.
05 I will be attending the God On Film Festival on July 11th at the Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom in New York, NY where The Mantis Parable is nominated for BEST Under 10 Minute Short Film in the competition. ALSO, I bought a camera - the first "nice-ish" camera I've ever owned - and I'm goin crazy with it (it's a Canon S2 IS). I've gotta put all these pictures somewhere, so I created a PhotoBlog which I plan on updating often. I'd love to see you over there...as always, comments are welcome and encouraged! :) |
| 6.16.
05 The Mantis Parable has been officially recognized by IMDB.com as a short-film. Cool! If you've got a second (and you've actually seen the film), head over there to vote and/or leave a comment! Thanks! Oh yeah, and if THIS doesn't put a smile on your face, I'm not sure what would. Enjoy! :) |
| 6.15.
05 What a week!!! The Mantis Parable has been invited to screen at the God On Film Festival in New York, NY on June 11th. This one-day festival takes place in the Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom. Can you imagine TMP screening in that amazing place! BTW, The Mantis Parable is nominated for BEST Under 10 Minute Short Film in the competition, and is therefore also under consideration for BEST OF SHOW. Woohoo! |
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6.12.
05 |
| 6.8.
05 Off to the Winnipeg International Film Festival this weekend where TMP will screen on both June 10th and June 11th at 1:00pm at the Ramada Theatre (screen 1). Hope to see you there! :) |
| 5.30.
05 The Winnipeg International Film Festival has announced their schedule and TMP will screen on both June 10th and June 11th at 1:00pm at the Ramada Theatre (screen 1). This looks to be a great festival! One of the films in the same program as TMP is Gopher Broke, the short-film from Blur Studios that was nominated for an Academy Award last year. Come to think of it, at the Seattle International Film Festival TMP was programmed with Blur's other highly successful short-film from last year In the Rough. Frankly, both of those films are amazing and I feel honored just to play alongside them. ;) |
| 5.26.
05 What an amazing experience! I must say, it is totally surreal watching TMP on a huge screen in a beautiful theater surrounded by hundreds of people eating popcorn and slurping soda. Everything about this past weekend's whirlwind tour was fantastic - The Mantis Parable couldn't have been better received. Woohoo! Next is the Winnipeg International Film Festival. I will be attending all 4 days of the festival. Hope to see you there! ;) Also, the first of the 4 articles on TMP has been published by 3D World Magazine and is available, although I think the magazine is released in the UK first and to the rest of the world a couple weeks later. |
| 5.20.
05 Big weekend ahead. Tomorrow I will be attending the screening of TMP at the Seattle International Film Festival, and Sunday I will be attending the screening at the Danville International Children's Film Festival. Hope to meet some of you there. Otherwise, wish me luck! ;) |
| 5.15.
05 More exciting news! The Mantis Parable has been accepted to it's 7th festival, the Boston International Film Festival. I was born in Boston, so this is one is particularly special to me. :) |
| 5.14.
05 I've removed the "MANTIS SHOP" link (unfortunately, my professional printing friend is no longer available anyway!) and replaced it with "SCREENINGS" which provides information on upcoming dates where you can see The Mantis Parable on the big-screen. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available. :) |
| 5.13.
05 Great News! The Mantis Parable has been accepted to it's 6th festival, and this looks to be a great one. ANIMA MUNDI will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from July 8th to 17th and in São Paulo, Brazil from July 20th to 24th. This dedicated animation festival is extremely large, attracting an audience of over 65,000 people. Woohoo! :) |
| 5.9.
05 Boy. It's amazing how much work there is to do once you're done with your film. Sometimes I think it's more work now that I'm done with it! The festival circuit is truly a full-time job - researching festivals, preparing submissions, burning dvd screeners, printing labels, dvd covers, getting tape transfers, buying envelopes, preparing/updating press-kits, creating promotional materials, driving back and forth to the post-office (every time I walk in there the postman behind the counter asks: "More movies?")...it's exhausting! I've been to the post-office at minimum twice a week for the past 8 weeks! ;) Still, I'm really looking forward to the World Premiere of The Mantis Parable in Seattle on the 21st. That's less than 2 weeks away! Following that I'll be traveling down to my ol' stomping grounds to attend the screening in Danville, CA on the 22nd (BTW, it's also screening in Danville on the 21st...but I'll still be in Seattle). :) |
| 5.3.
05 Big thanks to Jeff Douglas from North By Northwest for helping me get some tape transfers made for the festivals. Friday night he was willing to stay late at work to make a BetaSP, DigiBeta, and HDCam version of the film for me. Amazing! Those guys at NxNW sure know what they're doing. I have to admit, it was pretty cool to see The Mantis Parable playing in HD on a $40,000 monitor too. :) Thanks again Jeff! |
| 4.21.
05 I've been keeping this under wraps for a few weeks now, but I can't take it any longer! 3D World Magazine has asked me to write 4 articles (released in consecutive months) featuring the creation of The Mantis Parable. It will cover from start (concept) to finish (the festival circuit) the process of producing and promoting a truly independent CG Animated short-film. In typical 3D World fashion, each article will be accompanied by a CD which will include bonus clips and behind-the-scenes stuff from the film. Start saving up your pennies cuz the first article is scheduled to appear on the shelves in late-May. Woohoo! |
| 4.16.
05 Festival schedules showing Mantis are starting to be finalized. For starters, Mantis will show at the the Academy Award Qualifying Athens International Film Festival in late-April, and the Seattle International Film Festival in late-May (the most highly attended festival in the U.S. - 150,000 per year!). Mantis will also be in California (the Bay Area) in late-May and Canada in June. I will be personally attending at least the Seattle and California showings. I should learn of more acceptances (or rejections) sometime in May. As soon as I know exactly where and when I'll post the information here so stay tuned for that. Hope to see you at one of the screenings! :) In other news, it looks like I finally got the guestbook problem figured out (so sign away!), but unfortunately in the process I lost the last 3 months of guestbook signings! Ugh. |
| 4.13.
05 Just returned from a couple amazing weeks of vacation with my family. WOW! What a fantastic trip - New York, Boston, and several other wonderful cities throughout New England. In any case, if you've been wondering where in the world I've been, that's where! :) |
| 4.1.
05 Apologies to those that signed the guestbook over the last couple months. The guestbook has been the occasional target of spamming for a few months now, and I think the last time I cleaned stuff out of it I screwed something up in the database (!) I'll do my best to figure out what's wrong and get it back on track. In the meantime, if you've got something to say, just email me! I'd love to hear from you. :) |
| 3.25.
05 Great news! The Mantis Parable is being well-received on the film festival circuit, and has been accepted to the first 5 film-festivals I've received notification for. 5-for-5! I hope to actually attend a few of them, so maybe I'll see you there! Stay tuned for venues and screening times. :) I can't even put into words how much I love my (I mean, my kid's?) Incredibles DVD. The story, the visuals, the music...everything is just so awesome. Congrats to everyone at Pixar (again) at making such a wonderful film. I seriously can't get enough of it! |
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3.18.
05 |
| 3.06.05 Well, further evidence of how little I understand the whole festival scene (again, this is my first film) I've been expecting about a 2 month wait before I hear from any festival on whether or not The Mantis Parable will be accepted. Lo and behold, I received a call TODAY from the Winnipeg International Film Festival, and The Mantis Parable has been accepted! Woohoo! I can't believe it. Most surprising is that Winnipeg will still be accepting submissions for another 2 months (!). I guess I assumed that they would wait until all the submissions were in before deciding on a film's inclusion...particularly because I submitted it less than a week ago. I'm totally confused, but also very excited. So, for all of those who live in or around Winnipeg, Canada, keep the week of June 9th open because TMP will be coming to town! :) |
| 3.03.05 I've received several questions lately regarding the process of submitting The Mantis Parable into the various festivals. If you're curious, over at AnimWatch I've explained everything I've researched thus far in a forum thread titled Festival Madness. For the last few weeks (and months) I've investigated the whole festival scene to figure out how it all works. Unfortunately, while there's bits of information all over the internet, I couldn't find a single comprehensive explanation to my satisfaction. Considering this is my first film, I'm certainly no expert at the festival submission process, but I would like to share what I've learned thus far. If you're interested in what is required to enter a short-film into a festival, c'mon over! :) Speaking of AnimWatch, this month's feature article is a one-on-one interview with Chris Wedge, the director of Blue Sky Studios, creators of Ice Age and the upcoming feature film Robots which comes out next week! Woohoo! |
| 2.23.05 Now that the film is completely finished, I've updated the Intro with the new final version. Enjoy! |
| 2.21.05 Thank you so much to everybody who has sent me congratulations for finishing the film. I really appreciate hearing from all of you! Most of you are asking a very important question: When can we see the film!? As far as seeing the film on DVD or downloading it from my site, well, I've got some good news and bad news (ok, mainly bad, but it's not my fault!) As I've mentioned in previous posts, my plan has been to enter the film into a number of festivals. Unfortunately, the festivals really frown on showing films that people have already seen (their point is, why would people come to our festival if they've already seen the film?) So releasing the film on the internet (or even selling it) is strictly prohibited - at least for now. That's the bad news. The good news, is that if the film does well (if it gets accepted to a lot of festivals), chances are you'll be able to see it on a big screen at a theater near you along other quality films as part of a festival! I really have no idea how many festivals the film will be accepted to, but I'm working on the list right now, and in fact, I'm sending out DVD screening versions of the film to at least 8 festivals this week(!). Included on the list are festivals that take place in Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Toronto, etc...even Ohio! Of course, I will be updating the site with information as to where and when the film will be shown should it get into a festival. Unfortunately, I won't find out if the film has been accepted myself for a while (I think the first notifications from festivals go out in May or June!). Believe me, it's a very frustrating and confusing process (and expensive) as each festival has it's own cost of entry, format, press-kit requirements...ugh. Again, I know it may not be much consolation to you at this point, but it's the best I can do. Eventually, my plan is to make a DVD available that will include tons of Making Of materials for those who are interested in the process behind making the film, but that will take some time for me to produce, and again, it will have to wait until the film has run its course on the festival circuit. :( There is a bit of good news too though, as now that the film is done, I will have more time to actually update the site with Making Of features, and perhaps release a few more clips of the film online. Thanks again for your interest and your support! :) |
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2.19.05 |