Category: Newsletter

This has been quite the pleasantly hectic month for the indie film world I’ve been cultivating and I have a bunch of exciting news to share:

Absolutely Safe had a theatrical premiere at the Museum of Fine Arts on January 27^th & January 31^st. It was also mentioned in the New York Times January 17^th in an article about breast implants. www.absolutelysafe.com

Freedom Machines will be playing at the Peak Parent Conference in Colorado tomorrow — February 15^th, and presented by a wonderful self-advocating mother and son. You can look up the conference by going to www.peakparent.org, and you can see more about the film by going to www.FreedomMachines.com.

Body & Soul is playing at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival on February 18^th. Also, Alice’s previous film, The Collector of Bedford Street was included in an article in The Jewish Week News about films that deal with disability inclusion. You can read about Alice’s films at www.welcomechange.org. The article can be found here: http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a3543/News/New_York.html

Vito After received a very positive review from Educational Media Reviews Online:

http://libweb.lib.buffalo.edu/emro/emroDetail.asp?Number=3076. You can read more about the film by going to www.vitoafter.com.

In Good Conscience will be showing at the Rainbow Center of the University of Connecticut at Storrs on February 26. Filmmaker Barbara Rick will be there for a Q&A. Her film will also be playing as part of the Blue Wave Film Festival on March 16 in Montclair , New Jersey . www.ingoodconscience.com

On a personal note, my short film Loose Ends has been programmed into 3 different film events in the month of March and I’ll be going to all of them! It will be playing at the Gasparilla Film Festival – www.gasparillafilmfestival.com in Tampa, Florida on March 1, which is very exciting as I have family down there. My grandmother gets to see my name on a real film screen! Then it shows (but they don’t have times up yet) at the Kent Film Festival – www.kentfilmfestival.org, followed by a screening with a Q&A at the Emerging Filmmakers Series at the Little Theatre in Rochester, New York on March 31.

In an exciting experiment, the filmmaker collaborative New Day Films has decided to attempt streaming their films for 14-day trials on a new website – www.newdaydigital.com. This is a test, and depending on the response, the catalog for it could grow.

Doing it for yourself!

As for an article, I’m happy to say that Peter Broderick (whom I do not know and who does not realize I am doing this but hopefully wouldn’t mind) wrote an article for Nov/Dec issue Documentary magazine that reflects how I’ve felt since beginning to work with independent filmmakers individually – that it is possible to get your film out on your own to people who care to see it. You can read his cheerleading article by going to: http://www.peterbroderick.com/writing/page19/page19.html

Thanks, folks, and be sure to spread this around to anyone of interest!

Best,

Rachel

Hello everyone and welcome to 2008!

As many of you might realize, the end of the year tends to be fairly slow, so I didn’t want to toss a newsletter into the internet universe that people would only ignore in a rush for that special gift, or drink.

I can report, however, that I am now assisting with the following new film:

www.blinddogfilms.com/twisted/index.html – Twisted, a new film (which aired on PBS) that deals with the rather difficult disability – acquired and genetic – of Dystonia, a neurological problem that results in your muscles doing something different than you thought you were telling them to do.

Alice Elliott‘s film Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy continued the festival route this month, where it played the Palm Springs Film Festival. It was also the co-recipient of this year’s TASH Image Award. You can communicate with the subjects, Diana & Kathy, by visiting http://dianaandkathy.com and learn more about Alice’s work as a whole by www.welcomechange.org.

On a personal front, my latest short film – Loose Ends – will be playing in the Emerging Filmmakers Series run at the Little Theatre of Rochester, on March 31, so that’s very exciting. There is a short Q&A afterwards, so that is always a wonderful experience. If you know anyone in that area, spread the word!

Instead of doing an article this month, as I did for my first mass email in November (which I will continue but nothing has been that serious/deep focused this year yet outside of primaries), I thought I would share 2 bits of interesting information.

The first is simply funny and a nice difference from your normal spam. One of my previous roommates, and a talented cinematographer I have worked with several times, have teamed up to “live in IKEA” for a week. Yes, you read that correctly. It’s worth a moment’s distraction. Seriously, go to www.MarkLivesinIkea.com.

The second is that I came across a notice in another listserv that I thought people might want to contribute to. I must state that I do not know this person and they have not asked me to include this. I merely read it and thought it a good cause:

In conclusion, as a wonderful, productive new year begins, please feel free to pass this on to anyone you think could find use for the information provided in these monthly emails. Also, if you ever want a previous newsletter sent to you (so far there has only been one) I also keep copies.

Thanks very much and hope you had a fantastic holiday season!

Best,

Rachel