Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Life after Mexico




We went to Cristi's sisters wedding and then spent time in McCall with my fam. It was a good time for all.

Monday, August 15, 2005

Angelus Festival


This just in....

The Doc. just got accepted to the Angelus fest as a semi-finalist. They will announce the finalist in Sept. and the fest is in October. This is the premiere fest for student film makers. It's in LA which is cool because some big wigs show up to see if there is anything worth picking up for distribution. There are also some big prizes I think 8,000 for best doc. That would be awesome to send down to El Salvador and help the people in the dumps.

Here's the list of competitors and the email i got about 30 mins. ago

ANNOUNCING THE 2005 SEMI-FINALISTS – ANIMATION, COMEDY & DOCUMENTARY

Thank you everyone, for your patience and compassion! What a challenge you gave us… We appreciate your entry, your hard work and commitment to filmmaking. One thing for certain – there is a lot of passion and talent out there – and it was difficult to name but a few. (This is the part where the job is not fun!) When the dust settled, the final # of entries came in at 720 (films postmarked JULY 1st just came in from Israel and Australia…)

The Animation, Comedy & Documentary divisions are finished. The semi-finalists are listed below.

Live-Action will soon follow – either late tonight, or early tomorrow at the latest. I would rather our team be thorough and late, than rushed and on-time. This means many films are screened YET AGAIN, just to make sure.

You will also receive a letter via snail mail for your records.

Regardless if you name is listed below or not – if you are in Los Angeles during October you are invited to attend the screenings – please email Kale and request a pair of tickets. (first come, first served.)

Thank you again, on behalf of the judges, staff, sponsors and supporters – thanks for making this our landmark year. Your letters and notes have all been encouraging and appreciated.

Best,

Monika

2005 Angelus Awards – Semi Finalists, ANIMATION

Bernie & Bingo Sabine Ravn National Film School of Denmark, Denmark

Bibi Lola Kamalova New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, NY

Cold War Brian Garrigan School of Visual Arts, NY

Das Flos (The Raft) Eva Steegmayer Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

Egghunt Paul Yan Cogswell College, CA

Juxtaposer Joanna Davidovich Savannah College of Art & Design, GA

The Love Train Eva Bennett Southampton Institute, UK

Lucid Fishing Stephen Neary New York University, NY

My Body Erika Vega Loyola Marymount University, CA

Robbit Yukio Okuno Santa Monica College, CA

Painting Day Daesup Chang Savannah College of Art & Design, GA

Paper Willy Seong Joon Lee School of Visual Arts, NY

Pizzacato Jeff Mednikow School of Visual Arts, NY

Reunited Zoya Baker New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, NY

Tail of Delano Matthew Lee School of Visual Arts, NY

A Time to Speak Catherine Meier University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE

Tomorrow We Will Fly Suzana Kilic Art Institute of California, San Diego


2005 Angelus Awards Semi-Finalists – COMEDY*

5 Stages of Grief Manuel Bermudez University of Southern California, School of Cinema-TV

6 feet in 7 minutes Rafael Del Toro New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, NY

Chaos Theory Suny Behr, University of Calif, Los Angeles, CA

Color Me Blind Will Drinker Emerson College, MA

Dance Mania Fantastic Sassie Sealy New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, NY

Education of Martin Bailey Tim Wheeler Loyola Marymount University, CA

It Happened to Us George Vajna Humber College, Ontario, Canada

Live at Five Averie Storck Columbia University, NY

Nostradamus and Me Ellis Kirwan Columbia University, NY

Pedalfoot Ben Hayflick Columbia University, NY

*if you entered your film as a hybrid, (comedy-drama, for example) or you are not sure, be sure to check ALL semi-finalists categories in the event your project was placed as a drama or narrative.

2005 Angelus Awards Semi-Finalists – DOCUMENTARY

365 Boots on the Ground Casey Wayland Chapman University, CA

…and then there were four Leah Bell University of North Texas

BACA: Breaking the Chains Katrina Markel New York University

Bosnia, After Everything Gates Gooding University of Vermont

City of Mermaids Leah Wolchock Stanford University

Condition Jonathan Hayes Southern Illinois University

Dying to Get in: Undocumented Brett Tolley Elon University, NC

From There to Here Vu Tran Minneapolis College of Art & Design

In the Middle Fang Tan Southern Illinois University

In the Eye of the Beholder.. Leslie McCandless Zaki Gordon Institute, AZ

Key West Cock Tails Carnell, Roberts & Phillips University of Florida

Listen Kimby Caplan Southern Methodist University, TX

Making Choices: The Dutch Robert Prince Michigan State University

Nick’s Justin Daniels University of Oregon

Night Visions Kathy Huang Stanford University

Que Vivan Los Pepenadores Brooks Dame Thunderbird Graduate, AZ

Perspectives Jessica Fairbanks University of California, Santa Barbara

The Student, the Nun & Amaz Sam Clements Ravensbourne Broadcast School, Kent, UK

Under the Roller Coaster Lila Place Stanford University

Unhitched Erin Hudson Stanford University

Unto the Ends Michelle Rai Pacific Union College, CA

Waiting for Time: The lives of.. Jonathan Hayes Southern Illinois University

Walking the Line Jeremy Levine Ithaca College, NY



· FINALISTS WILL BE NAMED FIRST WEEK OF SEPT, 2005
· LIVE-ACTION SEMI-FINALISTS – TOMORROW, AUG 16

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Jose Cuervo tour









Here are some pictures from the jose cuervo tour w took. It was pretty fun considering that I don't drink. It was really interesting to see how the Tequila is made.

They take an agave plant and then they cook them press them and then send it to brew. It was pretty interesting to see the whol process.

Monday, August 08, 2005

New Doc. Ideas

I was thinking about 2 documentaries that I want to work on if I can find some time. I've started filming for a doc. about the whole minute man project and illegal immigration while I've been down here in Mexico. It could be interesting. In October I'm going to volunteer with the Minuteman project for a weekend. I've got to sign up still but, I think it'll be interesting to talk to the volunteers out there. I don't know if they will be crazies or what. So, that will make it interesting.

Living here in Mexico has opened my eyes a lot. I have met so many people who went to the States illegally for work and then got deported or come back on their own. It's really interesting. It is interesting to hear their stories and their reasons for going north. We'll see how it evolves.

The other documentary that I think would be interesting is about a Salvadoran soldier who was killed in Iraq. They say he was the poorest soldier to be killed in Iraq. It's a really sad story he was making about 150 a month by joining the army to support his single mom and his siblings. I read an interview recently with his mom and it was really touching. He came home a hero and now the family has been forgoten and is strugglin' They live in an area really close to an area where I served my Mission.

I think it would be interesting to get to know the situation and interview those close to him.

It would be really interesting and might raise some awareness about his famiy's situation and maybe help get some money to them.

Anyways that's what I'm thinking about.


There is a film festival in October in Scottsdale. The Scottsdale International Film Fest. I want to try and get the pepenadores doc into that one. It's just hard to do from down here in Mexico. I need to clean it up a lot. I've been thinkingn abotu re-doing it completely. We'll see. I'll let you know if any other festivals come up that are interested.

Cristi leaves on Wednesday and I leave the 18th to fly back to the states. I'll really miss Guadalajara and our roomies down here. It's been a lot o fun.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Das Tor article

I recently had an article about good old mellow yellow published in the DAS TOR. Thunderbird's newspaper.

Here's the link

http://www.dastoronline.com/media/paper330/news/2005/07/20/Guadalajara/Mechanics.In.Guadalajara.A.Vw.Bus.Debacle-965188.shtml

RUINS NEAR Patzcuaro

These are some ruins that are about 15 minutes from the town of Patzcuaro.

They were really cool to see. It wan't as impressive as a lot of the ruins I've seen but it was interesting for sure.
And since we had our student ID's we got in for free.

So, well worth the price of admission.

Brin and me


This is Brinlee and me at the overlook in Patzcuaro.

boat mariachi


On the boat ride back from the Island we got to listen to some guys play some good music it was a lot of fun, to hear some music and cruise back.

Inside the statue


This is inside the statue there are a ton of different paintings explaining the revolution in Mexico.

La Isla



This is the Island they have long boats that take you out there that hold about 60 people. THe statue on the top of the hill is really pretty cool it's a statue of a Mexican Revolutionary named Morellias. You can climb up the statue from the inside all the way up to the top.

Fishermen


These group of fishermen were fishing in a group of about 4 or 5 and were just using huge nets. While we were watching them they only caught 1 little fish between all of them.

I think it was more for the tourist than anything.

It was pretty cool all the same.

Cristi and Brin putting on Makeup


Here's a pic of the ladies putting on some makeup.

Patzcuaro


This last weekend we went to Patzcuaro. It is a beautiful pueblo and has a great Mexican feel. There were a lot of cool shops and markets. As well as Ruins, a great lake with an Island with a huge Statue in at the top of the hill.
It was a really fun weekend. This weekend we are going to a Tequila Factory Where they make Jose Cuervo.

Keep checkin' back.