As you can imagine, with only a little over a month left before our festival debuts in Duluth, I've been up to my eyeballs with all the work we still need to do. Our weekly jaunts to Duluth have me feeling like I live a double life! I'm incredibly exhausted as I type this, as we are such a small team of people trying to make this festival happen in a very short amount of time. I'm not complaining by any means -- just incredibly exhausted with trying to balance my personal and professional life. So much to do, so many people I'd like to see and trying to stay healthy and balanced while doing so. It sometimes feels like I'm riding a unicycle while juggling apples and smoking a cigarette with my feet all at the same time!
(The newly appointed Sound Unseen office in Fitger's)
Things are coming together however and I'm excited about the music and films we have currently scheduled. We held our official press conference at the Mayor's office last week and the amount of press and support we're receiving has been wonderful. Getting to be a part of the art community up there has been such a pleasure. The opportunities we've been given are astounding - particularly our partnership with UMD (University of MN Duluth). Through our meetings with the Fine Arts department, the Dean asked if we would help create some courses in an effort to save their Film Minor studies, which was about to be eliminated due to funding. Even though our goal with this festival was to make it "manageable" (since our plates are already overloaded), we obviously couldn't say no to such a great opportunity. Come May 17th, the students at UMD will have a Documentary Filmmaking and Film Festival Production course to choose from! How great is it that Rick and I were instrumental in playing this part with UMD? We also found local film industry friends to instruct the courses. It's rewarding and exciting things like this that keep me moving forward.
Last week, I drove up to Duluth with my very talented friend Philip Harder, whom is also our Featured Director/Filmmaker for Closing Night. He's doing a very special new film about the band Low, whom are Duluth's music darlings. Low fans are in for a treat as Philip is going very far back into his archives and will present never-before-seen footage in the film. He did an impromptu film shoot with the band last week to grab more footage on his 16mm camera and I played his assistant for the day. Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker were both incredibly pleasant and invited us over later that evening to their home to watch them rehearse. I can't claim I'm a die-hard Low fan, as I never really listened to their music much - but getting a little private concert by them at their home has made me a definite fan. Mimi's voice is magnetic and Alan is pure talent. I'm excited to see what Philip puts together for us - it's such a privilege to be working with this kind of creative talent.
(Low rehearsing in the basement of Alan & Mimi's home)
(Me playing Alan's kalimba that was specially made for him by a friend)
Well, the evening is drawing near and I've gotta get dinner ready. Next week I'm rewarding myself with a mini-vacation back to California! I can't wait - I've been missing San Francisco lately. I can't wait to see my lovely friends in SF and then I'm off to LA for a few days after that as well. I get to catch closing night of the SF Int'l Film Festival with the lovely Annie Wang as my date -- looking very forward to that! So stay tuned as my life gets a bit harrier as the festival is drawing very near!
Things are coming together however and I'm excited about the music and films we have currently scheduled. We held our official press conference at the Mayor's office last week and the amount of press and support we're receiving has been wonderful. Getting to be a part of the art community up there has been such a pleasure. The opportunities we've been given are astounding - particularly our partnership with UMD (University of MN Duluth). Through our meetings with the Fine Arts department, the Dean asked if we would help create some courses in an effort to save their Film Minor studies, which was about to be eliminated due to funding. Even though our goal with this festival was to make it "manageable" (since our plates are already overloaded), we obviously couldn't say no to such a great opportunity. Come May 17th, the students at UMD will have a Documentary Filmmaking and Film Festival Production course to choose from! How great is it that Rick and I were instrumental in playing this part with UMD? We also found local film industry friends to instruct the courses. It's rewarding and exciting things like this that keep me moving forward.
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