WOAH.....WAY TOO TARDY!

It has been far too long since I have posted here so I will give you all a run down of what is new and exciting - lots!!
- Nintey-one has, as I think you all know, enjoyed a small run but a good run at 3 film festivals. And great festivals too boot - Newport Beach, Indy and Rhode Island.
- Finally finished the latest short before I headed into a 5 month job. Little Larry is now being submitted to various festivals and I eagerly await news.
Little Larry - is a 5 min. dramedy - a girl wakes up from an all-nighter to find a stranger in her bed - what happened, how did he get there?? It was written by my good friend Elliot Kotek (who will be reporting this weekend from the red carpet of the Spirit Awards). We met at the Bahamas Int. Film Festival a few years back with my first film moment and became fast friends.
- I wrapped up working on the 2nd season of Rookie Blue about a month ago. Once again fun had by all. This season is better than the first.
- I played hooky from the ole day job to take on my first paid directing gig!! I directed 3 episodes of a new Teletoon / Cookie Jar series called Mudpit. Think Hanna Montana but WAY cooler! I was really excited to be offered this amazing opportunity. The awesome producer Bruce Kalish was a huge supporter and promoter of mine and I will be forever grateful for his belief. I had a GREAT time and I am really excited to see the results! It is a half animation and half live action TV show with great music by very talented musicians and actors. So fun!
- And the final bit of good news (for now) as if this wasn't enough.....I have optioned a book called Nellcott Is My Darling and am developing the screen play with the talented author of said book Golda Fried. We will have more exciting updates soon. But in the meantime you can follow our progress on twitter: @NellcottMovie. You will find a link to the book site on twitter too. Check it out.

So that's it in a nut shell...I continue to be inspired and excited about the future.
Hope you do too!

Jillx

Rhode Island International Film Festival

Today is the first day of RIIFF and sadly I am not there. A few year back my first film 'moment' screened there and it was one of the best festivals I attended. I met some really great filmmakers that ended up becoming friends, went to some fun parties, shared conversation with the wonderful hosts and volunteers at the festival. As you can tell I am disappointed to not be going. Sigh.

However for those of you fine folks that happen to be in the area you can catch 'ninety-one' on Sunday August 15th at 12:30pm. We open the block and screen with two other films 'Micky Bader (Bathing Micky)' a short doc by Frida Kempff from Sweden/Denmark and a Feature doc called Holy Wars by Stephen Marshall from USA/Iran/Pakistan/UK. An eclectic group but one I am honored to be a part of as the two other filmmakers are very accomplished.

http://www.film-festival.org/index07A.htm

Enjoy the festival!


Other news:
I am doing my online for the new short 'Little Larry' tomorrow. We did our sound mix last Thursday. Sound mixes are curious things to me. You can literally drive yourself crazy. Every time you listen to the mix and see you film you hear something different.
In an attempt to learn more about the process I have been sitting in, when I can, on the SCORE: A Hockey Musical sound mix. It has been good to just sit, listen, learn and realize I am getting there and maybe it's not so different from what I understand. Phew. Of course SCORE has more bells and whistles to play with being a feature and all, so it is interesting to watch.
Another great part of my day tomorrow is being able to sit in a movie theater to watch SCORE and listen to the mix in a theater and hear the comments before Mike McGowan and the sound gang go back and make the final tweeks for the big screening to open TIFF.

Will report back in a few days...

PS - look at me - I finally got a link right! WooHoo

Indianapolis International Film Fest

So today was our first screening at Indy and sadly I was not there to share the film with an audience but I have heard a report back and it's all good news. Phew.

It is always hard to have your film screen and not be able to participate. There is nothing like the fear or thrill of watching an audience view your film. You hope that they react in to the right moments - laugh, cry, scream, gasp.

But alas this time I will have to be happy with hearing the reviews.

Till the next time.....and don't forget we are screening again at Indy on Thursday July 22nd at 3:15pm.

Thanks!
Jill

Part 2

http://www.nsi-canada.ca/more_lessons_from_canadian_filmmakers.aspx

Above is part 2 of the interview I did with a number of other filmmakers for Kelly Benz at NSI/Shorts Report.

Link to the right....

Check out the Facebook Fan page for fun new info about 'ninety-one'.

Hello - new post reading patient people!

Lots to update - most importantly we have been accepted into 2 not 1 but 2 new film festivals and they are good ones at that. Thank you programmers for seeing our film for it's true self.

July 20 and 22nd 'ninety-one' will screen at the 2010 Indianapolis International Film Festival. We are screening with a group of films under the shorts program 'The Kid Stays In The Picture'.

I was recently in Indianapolis for the Indy 500 (my friend Alex Tagliani qualified for the race in 6th position and finished the grueling race in 10th - congrats). While there I had the chance to meet Lisa Trifone the programmer for the festival and a very nice, film loving girl. She told me a little about the festival - we screen at a great venue, IMA - Indianapolis Museum of Art. Awesome. It's going to be fun. Those of you who know me, know I like car racing and have dabbled in that field through television. So I am hoping that some of my friends in the racing car industry might be able to come out for the screenings.

The second film festival we are screening at is the 2010 Flickers: Rhode Island International Film Festival. I don't have an exact date yet but it will be sometime in mid August. I screened at RIIFF with my first film 'moment'. It was one of the best festivals I attended during that film's festival run. It is well run, friendly, supportive and takes place in the beautiful town of Providence. I will look forward to going back.

Last week I had a fellow filmmaker Kellie Anne Benz approach me to be a part of an article she was writing for her regular column on the NSI (National Screen Institute) website and for the newsletter. Kellie writes about short filmmaking and has a blog called The Shorts Report along with her NSI column. Today she sent me the link to Part One of the article. I will post the link to this article and the festivals but you will be find them one the right side of the blog if the links don't work in this post.
(I know, I know I have to figure this linking stuff out....)

http://www.indyfilmfest.org/index.php

http://www.film-festival.org/index07A.htm

http://www.nsi-canada.ca/lessons_from_5_canadian_filmmakers.aspx

The final bit of good news.....some of you many know that I have been working on my third short film 'Little Larry'. We have been in a holding pattern going on 3 months all because I have been searching high and low for the perfect song. We, I had the perfect song but it was one that was WAY too expensive! So in lieu of that song, I and a team of great people helped me look. We either tried to compose something or searched everywhere for an already existing song that fit the bill. Well the search is over!! We now have a song that isn't going to break the bank and works wonderfully. Yippee! I am so ready and excited to be finishing this comedy film up.


Till next time - Jill

And finally.....

Here are my two last pics from NBFF.
They are from the great cocktail party that was thrown on the last day of the festival around sunset at the Mayor's house over looking the marina. In fact all the photos of the my filmmakers friends (below) were also taken at the party. One is taken from the inside looking out over the party and the other is the view we saw just out through the windows. A beautiful night and a really nice way to connect with people and end the festival.

So a couple last things....stay tuned to this spot for some exciting news very soon.

And for some great new now so you don't have to wait the women's cancer PSA music video I directed (see link on the right) reached 11,000 hits on YouTube today - Yay!

Thanks everyone!

Fellow NBFF Filmmakers

Many a good conversation was had with these fine folks as well as films shared. That is definitely one of the best perks of attending a festivals - meeting other filmmakers!


Lilli Birdsell (Once Upon a Crime) and Nicolas Simonin (Derailed (Eric))


Kelly Strodl (NBFF's social media girl) and Josh Pomer (The Westsiders)


David Orr (Refresh)