It's, Oh, So Quiet.

'It's, Oh, So Quiet. It's, Oh, So Still. '-- Bjork

It's Thanksgiving Day. First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to any of you reading this.

I've not been blogging, though I've intended to. As I entered the last three weeks of school, I've entered a 'cocoon' so to speak, and the vast majority of my time is consumed by the editing of 'The Waterboard'.

The film is not cutting quickly. It's posing a particular challenge, in the sense that what we shot isn't necessarily what I scripted. The film is there, somewhere, and I'm re-acquainting myself with it. Also, it looks like the finishing line with this project might be farther ahead than I thought. I will have a good rough cut in time to graduate from UMBC in less than three weeks, but the work in refining the film might require a considerable extra effort. I still hope to have it finished by March.

I've done some traveling in the past 6 weeks or so(Philly,DC,NYC), seen some good flicks (REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN), and had some challenging experiences, but I've no time to tell you about them now.

I don't know what happens after December 18th, the date of my graduation. I've just now begun to think about what happens next. Of couse, work on 'Waterboard' will continue. But I'm really aching for a new job. I sincerely wish that magically I could find myself doing something else by January 1st, 2009 instead of working at Social Security. With the economy in a full, deep recession, transitioning to some sort of film production job is a very dicey proposition.

I also don't know how I will raise the money for a feature film in this recession. And, I also don't know if I want to move to either DC or NYC. But I'm putting those worries/questions aside and will deal with them once I reach the finish line of graduation. I won't worry about this uncertainty. As the Dalai Lama said: 'If there's a solution to a problem, don't worry about it. If there's no solution to a problem, don't worry about it either.'

Now, I will go out and enjoy this Thanksgiving Day. Be with my loved ones. I really should call some friends. You do the same.

Indian Summer

It's a gorgeous Indian summer weekend. I will start looking at 'The Waterboard' footage soon, and yet I've been very busy; all over the place. For starters, I headed down to Washington, DC to check out a stage production and it was a magnificent one. One of the leads of my film, Ben Cunis is currently starring in a production called 'Host And Guest', staged by Synetic Theater at the Rosslyn Auditorium in Arlington, VA. I usually don't rave about theater (as most people know me as a passionate filmmaker) but I found this to be an excellent theatrical piece.

'Host And Guest' is an epic poem from the Georgian Republic and it deals with strife between Christian and Muslim factions in a medieval era setting. Ben plays a Christian hunter who meets and befriends a Muslim hunter in the Carpathian mountains. The men form a bond, but the plot takes a tragic turn when the village where the Muslim man resides acts on a long-standing, deep-rooted blood feud and kills Ben's character. The play is an affecting tragedy that provides commentary on the vicious cycle of violence and recrimination that haunts the Georgian region even to this day; the downward-spirals of religious-based warfare that plague many places in this world, such as modern-day Iraq and the Middle East.

The Synetic Theatre's performance troupe is outstanding, and Ben Cunis is phenomenal in his role. This stage production is very physical, kinetic, with actors--starting with Ben--dancing, tumbling and skillfully moving all over the stage. The production uses common wooden sticks to represent everything from trees, winds, and guns. Here are some pictures (Iphone pics) from the perfomance and the Q&A that took place afterwards:













And here's a still of Ben on 'The Waterboard' set. (And yes, I will soon be devoting a post to just pics from the shoot.)



"Host And Guest" runs until November 9th, and I highly reccommend you check it out. It's definetely worth the drive down to DC. For more info and to buy tickets visit the Synetic Theatre site.

On Saturday, I helped my buddy Rick Smith shoot his second film. I was expecting to just do a tour of duty in the crew behind the camera, but I got commandeered for a role in front of it. So, I ended up playing Roberto, an egotistical 'competition' pot smoker in Rick's latest, Weedfest 2008. After a day's shoot on Saturday, the film screened at the Camm Slamm 2008 screening that took place last night at The Senator theater. I really don't like to act in films unless I absolutely have to, but it was all for my buddy Rick. In any case, I got many kudos for my comedic performance. The film will hit YouTube soon, and I will post a link to it when it does.

And today, Monday, I have had a lot of errands to run. I'm still returning props from the shoot. And that reminds that I really must get going to take care of urgent business. So let me go and do so and enjoy the rest of this beautiful early Fall day.

Oh, and if you're in the Baltimore area, this Friday, October 17th, do check out the premiere screening of Mark Colegrove's "Isle Of The Damned" at the Creative Alliance Patterson Theater. There will be two screenings at 8pm and 10pm. I believe the Patterson Theater is at 2124 Eastern Ave, Balto MD... or just visit direwitfilms.com or creativealliance.org for more details. 8 bucks a ticket and I will be there having a goddamn blast!

'The Waterboard' shoot

I’m sitting here in my Baltimore City apartment, chilling.. relaxing after the film shoot that took place this past weekend–The Waterboard has been shot. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I think I’ve made a good film short, one that will help us achieve the financing for the feature film. I’m full of a sense of confidence as a filmmaker like never before. We got the film in the can, but it didn’t come without having to jump over considerable obstacles.

Saturday, we started work at 7am. Typical of indie film sets, we didn’t get our first shot done until 9:30AM, as it takes time to set up equipment, figure out how we’re going to get the day’s shot list done, and get our actors to the set and ready to do their thing. But once we got that first shot out, the day started to roll out nicely. The waterboard set up looked fantastically disturbing in the classy apartment we shot in, located in the heart of Baltimore’s inner harbor. Hell, we shot right across Oriole Park Camden Yards, and we had to be careful not to get the stadium thru the apartment windows.

Also typical of indie film shoots, our shot list went out the window quickly. I’m one of those directors (like Christopher Nolan or Martin Scorcese) who has the whole film already visualized in his head. It’s perfectly, aesthetically framed in my head. The characters in my movies live inside my head and speak to me. The ideas in my films throb with urgency and drive my passion for filmmaking. But I struggle as an indie filmmaker because getting all those specific shots becomes very difficult on a low-budged film set. I think this time, though, I got the vast majority of my vision on the ‘canvas’ so to speak. The final film will reflect 90% to 92% percent of how I’ve visualized ‘The Waterboard’ all along. We had to restructure our list in order to try and make our day’s quota (4 good minutes of film in a day), and on this first day we got 3 minutes done. On the later half of the day, when we were doing the only dialogue scene in the film, we had hit good momentum, and the day ended in a good note.

And I gotta thank my actors–they were fantastic. Rob Patterson, who plays the lead (the Mystery Tramp), played his part against his usual comedic, histrionic acting style. And it worked! He was cold, stone-faced, chilling. Rob Patterson will be moving to Los Angeles right after completing this film, and you will soon be seeing him make waves in Film and TV productions there. The secondary was played by Ben Cunis, a great young actor from Washington,DC, and I must say–I pride myself in my instincts when picking actors–that this guy was good.. and I mean *Good*. Ben Cunis is going to go places, and he’s currently starring in ‘Host And Guest’ at the Synectic Theater in Washington, DC. Ben gave me his all, and he even was enthusiastic while laying down and taking that punishing water-torture play-acting for long-periods at a time. He was even psyched about it all! In any case, you heard it here first–Ben Cunis is going places.

Because of the good quality of my actors, I truly feel the film will turned out great. We did hit snags on the first day. For starters, never ever rely on Production Assistants to show up when they’re not getting paid: We had two PAs flatout quit during the two days of shooting, and they managed to give the typical lame excuses. Luckily, the few PAs we had were absolute workhorses, guys by the names of Paul Bressler and John Albrecht plus a girl named Jennifer, and they more that made up for the lameness of the two PAs that called out. An amazing guy named Malcolm came on set on the second day, after little to no notice, and kicked ass. So, if you’re serious about your films, pay your crews even down to the PAs. If they’re not your family and friends, those crewmembers aren’t going to show unless they’re dead serious about filmmaking.. and those folks are far and few in between.

I was completely ‘on fire’ during the shoot. Along with my producers, Angie and Mark, I was in control shortly after we got rolling, telling the crew what set-up to start prepping one after another. When I’m in a movie set, I get on this hyper mood that I call ‘film juice’. And on Saturday, even hours after I stopped shooting, I was still full of energy, figuring out the shot list for the next day and mixing up fake blood at 12:30am. I didn’t crash from this mood until after we finished shooting on Sunday. And considering what happened on set on Sunday, my good ‘film juice’ mood was even the more amazing.

On Sunday, we got rolling early and wasted little time. We had finished our dialogue for the most part on Saturday, but managed to squeeze out a couple more takes of dialogue on Sunday morning. My actors were very good, so it didn’t take countless takes to get a performance from them. Most of the shots in Sunday had no sound (the film relies heavily on creative sound design that will be done in Post) so we were doing two takes top of everything. I want The Waterboard to have a very realistic, shaky-cam look to it, similar to that of movies like THE BOURNE SUPREMACY and UNITED 93 (both directed by Paul Grengrass). This shaky look creates a heightened psychological sense of realism and I think it’ll work great on my film. Thanks to the excellent work of my DP, Dave Kratz, I believe we will achieve this look. But the second worst thing that could happen on a set happened on Sunday…

Thru the weekend, we had been standing on a rather nice and expensive granite kitchen island counterboard thru the weekend in order to adjust lights, since the only ladder on the set was too tall to properly setup. We figured the counterboard looked sturdy enough, and I even stood on it a couple of times. We were wrong. On Sunday afternoon, the DP went up on the counterboard to adjust the lights, when all of a sudden the whole counterboard collapsed, crashing to the floor along with the DP and breaking into several pieces. Everyone on the set went quiet for a good, long half-minute, as if a bomb had gone off. Did I forget to mention we had no production insurance?

The DP wasn’t injured (that’s the top worst thing that can go wrong on the set–someone getting injured)… but the whole counterboard was destroyed. I told everyone on set to take a good deep breath and calm down. The shit had hit the fan, but we had to keep working. We are going to finish this film, I told them. I am going to call the apartment owner and tell him what happened, I told them. I am going to take responsibility, I told them (and I will). We managed to start working again and we got back on track(Thankfully, we had gotten done with all films featuring the counter on the shot). The counterboard repair may cost up to a grand, but I will figure it out somehow.

The owner of the apartment, who is a filmmaker of his own right–Frank is his name–took the news in the coolest way I’ve seen a human take bad news. God bless him! Really, the man simply took in-stride (because he’s a filmmaker himself) and told me that we would figure it out, and I would paid for the repair. It happened, and let’s just move on.

I managed to get the vast majority of my shots that day, and we got the film in the can. Despite the mini-disaster, I truly film I’ve a great film in my hands. I went and had a much deserved beer with my DP in Hampden, Baltimore, and I then managed to come down from my ‘film juicy’ mood and realize that this film that i had labored on for over 9 moths was finally shot. I slept deep and soundly last night.

So there you have it folks–The Waterboard has been shot. And I feel like I’m ready for the feature film that will come right after it, because if you can regroup and still make your shoot day after the location falling apart, you can make movies. I certainly can!

The New Place

As I get busier, I tend to blog less and less yet I'm still here, dear blog. Let me tell you the latest.

I've moved into the new place and I'm living in Baltimore City for the first time ever. It only took, ohh, 20 years! One week in and the place is just beginning to feel like home. It was a pain to hang up the curtains; those walls didn't want to get drilled, but I got the job done. I'm in the middle of it all, in the heart of Charles Village right across from the Baltimore Museum of Art and the John Hopkins Homewood Campus. Here are some pics of my new surroundings:











(Blah. I should resize the Iphone pics but I can't be bothered right now)

The place is small but it does have a certain charm to it. I don't have a kitchen, more or less, but it's like I'm glad I don't have to upkeep a larger place. The one thing that's majorly sucking right now is that I don't have broadband access, but Comcast says they'll come on Thursday and drill a hole in the wall and get me some. Hurray!

Pre-production on 'The Waterboard' is coming along well. Actors, location, and props are falling into place. It's amazing the strange stuff you can track down thru Craigslist and Ebay--that's what I'll answer to folks when they ask where the hell they can find a dog skeleton. We're shooting in less than 3 weeks. In fact, I'm giving the script a third re-write today; just a tweak really.

School started last week, and I'm currently working only part-time. That was a good decision as the two extra days I get per week for the film and school are already coming in handy. I applied for graduation online this past Sunday: Thursday, December 17th is the big day. Man, that's in three months. And time is flying fast. But it's going to be an awesome day.

I've not been watching movies much lately, or getting into new music. I'm just in 'the zone' getting ready for the film shoot ahead. I did pickup the new PC game 'Spore' and have spent some hours 'creating life from scratch, evolving it, and raising it to the stars'. It's truly a game of very ambitious breadth; very engrossing (if somewhat simplified in gameplay). But I can't let it suck me in too much--I've got responsibilities.

And, talking about those responsibilities, time to log off and get on that script rewrite. That is all for now, little blog. Will try and keep you updated more regularly... as soon as they drill that hole in my wall and get me that darn cable connection. I'm such a 'wired' person and I miss being online at home.

35th

Today is my 35th birthday. I'm on my way to celebrate at the Monstermania con in Cherry Hill, NJ with my buddies Mark, Paul and Ian. We're going to be meeting lots of awesome fellow horror fans again, spreading the word on Horror-101.com, telling people about our upcoming films, and partying hard.

So much stuff happening--When I come back on Sunday, the real work begins. We've cast 'The Waterboard' with two excellent actors: Rob Patterson, from Baltimore (soon to be in LA) and Ben Kunis from Wash DC. We also have picked the location for our film shoot. Now ahead lies the physical pre-production that must be done before the film shoots in the first weekend of October. School starts right away next week, and my school loan just went thru a few days ago. And there's the peskyness of moving out of my current place in Towson and into a new place in Charles Village, located in the heart of Baltimore, MD.

I'm exhilarated, stressed, and very aware of how critical all the challenges ahead are. If I get lucky, by this Christmas I will have a film degree from UMBC, a pretty damn good dramatic short film from which to raise money for a feature, and I'll be acclimated to city-living.

I think I'm going to end this busy summer in style by heading to Rehoboth Beach next weekend. It seems that once you get older, time just flies, and I've become so aware of it. I want to prioritize really getting the most of my life in the years ahead. Damn, I'm halfway thru my thirties already! I've so many films to make, places to visit, friends to make, and.. will I meet the love of my life? Who knows? But one thing's for sure--I will make the most out of my 35th birthday and all the rest of my life that lies ahead for me.

Life Is Good

Oh my gawd--A second post in the month of July! I gotta meet my quota of at least 3 posts per month.

Life is actually a bit on the anxious side for me at the moment. I've started pre-production on 'The Waterboard'. I've a CLEP test to take this Thursday. I'm forging the Horror-101 LLC also on that day. And I really need to start packing for my move at the end of August. But I saw a nice pick-me up report on the Today Show this morning about two brothers who started a movement/company by imprinting T-shirts with the logo 'Life Is Good'. For them, it's about reminding people what is good in life even though things may be though. So I'm taking a cue from them and saying that life is good. Also, I'm going to be meditating a lot, since it's one of the best ways to regulate anxiety.

We've looked for several apartment locations for 'Waterboard', and thus far, all of them are good. This is going to be a tough choice, but regardless we're making one by the middle of August. We've also started to look for August, and I think I may have found the lead for the film. Still, we're going to hold a casting call at Creative Alliance on August 9th, and we're going to be making casting choices also by the middle of that month.

I did a bit of traveling lately. Visited some good friends in Durham, NC and then went to visit my best friend Shane in Pittsburgh last weekend. It's good that I got all my traveling done for the summer, as I don't think I'll be able to leave town again until the end of the year. Though I really wish I could squeeze him a quick jaunt to NYC.

Great movies: Wall-E, Hellboy 2, and The Dark Knight. Seriously, go check all three. Wall-E is yet another Pixar masterpiece. And Heath Ledger in 'The Dark Knight' is unforgettable. His perfomance as the Joker is so outstanding I'm actually saddened that the actor is dead, as he had some many other great roles in him.

Last Thursday, I sat down for an hour and a half video interview with Washington, DC filmmaker Sujewa Ekanayake. He's making a fascinating documentary on internet film bloggers. He's interviewed many other filmmakers, bloggers and even major film festival programmers. His documentary should be ready sometime this early Fall. Can't wait to have a look at it.

O right. Gotta go and do some 'mediation in action' and get some day work done. Perhaps I'll go see The Dark Knight again later tonight.

The Half-Million Dollar Wedding

A little over a week ago, I got an interesting video production gig. It was for the TV show 'Platinum Weddings', which airs on the cable WE channel. This reality TV series documents very extravagant weddings. The nuptials took place at the Omni Shoreham hotel in Washington, DC, and truly, I've not seen something so luxurious in my whole life. The wedding was of a young Jewish couple, Alexis and Noah--they couldn't have been any older than 25 years old--and the whole affair was, for the most part, very religious. All men wore black (so did everyone who was crew-ing at the wedding), complete with yamakas (little knit caps). After a 'contract ceremony', in which the men gathered to see the rabbi, groom, and several witnesses ratify an agreement for the bride, there was another ceremony to unveil the bride to the groom.

This ceremony was in turn followed by the actual, traditional wedding ceremony most are acquainted with. The exchanging of vows was like something out of a Hollywood ceremony: Held on the large backyard of the Shoreham hotel with over 200 select guests in attendance. Suffice it to say, the bride looked stunning in her long-tailed white dress. There were many camera crews--both video and photo--capturing every moment. Everything was arranged at top-notch standards. You would have thought it was Julia Roberts' wedding.

And that was just the start of the celebration. After the vows, came the first reception, held at a wide, open restaurant area in the hotel. Vegan finger food was served while a duo of Japanese musicians played mood music on string instruments. An hour later came the official wedding banquet, a separate sit-down dinner held in an adjacent room. The table and plate settings were meticulously planned and executed, and the vaulted ceiling of the room was professionally lit with leafy patterns. All tables were lit with floating candles. There was another set of musicians here, singing while the couple ate. Several friends and family members came forward to toast the couple. The bride's young brother even played some classical piano.

Then there was yet another room. This one a 'dance ballroom' where the newly-married couple was introduced yet again and danced on a custom-ordered hand-painted dance floor. Another set of musicians played up-tempo tunes while everyone danced. Succulent desserts were served by the waiting staff: little custard cakes and italian strawberry ice cream served right off carved-ice bowls. The groom and bride's parents were thoroughly celebrated. They did that dance when they lift people up in their chairs. There were even more celebratory toasts and the couple finally cut a slice of a rich, multi-layered chocolate cake. Who knew people partied like this? (Of course, I had to be on my tippy-toes through all this, as I was there working with a video crew)

You thought it be over right there, but it wasn't. This was an exceptional wedding. Those who were left standing after all this took their party to a special late-night dance club set at yet another one of the Shoreham large event rooms. Long, white drapes were stretched to the ceiling to serve as make-shift walls. A large event-lighting array, akin to that of a concert, was set at the center of the room, complete with a disco ball. Large flat-panel tv sets set around the scene displayed freshly-taken pictures of the lucky couple. There were waiters everywhere serving plenty of bubbly champagne. And specially-hired 'hip-hop dancers', all dressed in white, where there to get partygoers moving on the dance floor.

This whole event was organized to much success by a woman named Jamie Greenwald. I congratulated her at the end of the night, because she truly carried out the festivities to a level of accomplishment that impressed me. I really enjoy to see people who know what they're doing, and she was one of those people--precise, in control, and in her element.

We had started shooting the event around 11am. By the time we were done, it was 1am. I had not expected for a Sunday wedding to go that long. It was a sincere, hard day's work.

At one point, while talking to another video crew member, I took a guess that the wedding most have costed about 100 grand. I was quickly corrected--it was more like 250 grand. This crew member in turn was then corrected--it was actually over half a million dollars! The bill was footed by the bride's grandparents, who must've been loaded. The bride's father himself was a retired navy admiral. It's surreal to watch people with money carrying out like that when you are used to making do with much less.

I was left with the thought of how much in love this young couple seemed to be. They truly looked unbelievably happy, and they seemed incredibly lucky. For a moment, I envied them. God only knows if I'll ever be married. I was also left wondering if they would last, if their union, after such a grandiose start, would stand the test of time in an era where most marriages crash and burn so easily. Was such a costly celebration really worth it? Between their upraising and their tight-knit families, they seemed to have the foundation for a long, happy marriage. For their sake, I sincerely hope so. Alexis and Noah better be together until their golden years.

This particular wedding will be feature in the TV show 'Platinum Weddings' sometime late this year or next year... in case you come across the thing on cable.

Film announcement: 'The Waterboard'

Many of you have heard about this already, but for those who haven't it's time for an official announcement. My next film will be a character-driven horror short titled 'The Waterboard' to be shot this fall. It'll be my 4th film. This project leads to a feature film to be produced sometime in the fall of 2009. Running time will be approximately 8 minutes long.

'The Waterboard' deals with the disturbing real-life CIA-sanctioned torture technique used in the ongoing Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. The torture technique actually dates many hundreds of years, but it has only gained recent crucial notoriety as a result of the shadowy moral implications of it being used by the CIA to extract information from suspected terrorist subjects. Despite this background, the film isn't really politically-driven but it's instead character-driven. It introduces a character that I've been obsessed with for over 10 years and the film asks questions about man's capacity for evil thru torture, no matter how warranted torture might seen in a particular scenario (see 'the ticking time bomb scenario').

I won't give any details of the film's plot, but I will say that this film isn't 'torture-porn'. I don't give a rat's ass about 'torture porn' ('Saw','Hostel' and the like), and I'm aiming for something different here.The trend of 'torture porn' has arguably come to an end. I march at the beat of my own drummer here, and I believe this film and it's feature length companion piece have something to say. These are films about the problem of evil, about man's capacity for it, and how it feels to truly confront evil in the real world.

I held a meeting at my place back in June 1st to start forming a productorial team with some colleagues for these endeavors.Mark Colegrove (the upcoming 'Isle Of The Damned'), Angie Ennis (from the past CoLab filmmaker's collective), David Kratz (maker of the comedy short 'Nintendik', shown at MFF this past May), and local neophyte filmmaker Rick Smith were there.Shane Logue, local Baltimore actor and director of 'Hachigame', couldn't attend, but he hopes to be onboard for these efforts also. The meet went very well, and it looks like I have a solid foundation to make some films worth a damn. Not just these two films, but more.

But I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here. For now, I need to start 'kicking my own ass'. 'The Waterboard' doesn't shoot until the fall, but there's much prep-work to be done for it. I start on this work immediately, There will be a casting call at the Creative Alliance in early August (Sat, August 9th) for starters. 'Kicking my own ass' also applies to other areas of my life.Lately, I've come to realize how my personal demons are delaying my development as a filmmaker, and as a man in general. Willpower and self-discipline will be my focus this summer. I've got some serious films with a vision to make. It's about now or never.

So, what's going on?

It's been a few weeks since my last blog entry. My blog has been looking at me with big puppy eyes asking: 'So, what's going on?'

Well, I just signed the lease on a new apartment, and will be moving into it by the end of the summer. For the first time, I'll be living in Baltimore City. Charles Village to be specific.The space is small. It's just a room with a bathroom attached, but it's cheap. The space will allow me to work only part-time while I complete my degree at UMBC. The place is also within walking distance to some of my favorite city hangouts, like Video Americain and The Charles theater. I'll also be able to drive less and save gas by taking the bus to work and school.

My new lease is just for 8 months, so as soon as I get back to full-time employment I'll be looking for a bigger place early next year. Also, living at this space is a good rehearsal if I do decide to move to NYC next year.So, city living, here I come! Hurray for cramped apartment living!

Now that my search for a new place has been clinched, I can concentrate full time into the script for my short. I also will be giving Horror-101.com much love. There's that Spanish CLEP exam I need to take soon. And, there are also three pesky short video projects I really need to complete.

I've been fighting my 'lazy' and 'writer's block' demons lately, and I better kick their asses and get back into the full swing of things. Even though I'm not taking a summer class, my summer is going to be just as busy as my past spring was, and it's critical that I stay on the ball.

Does that satisfy you, my cute little blog? 'Yes', the blog says, its big puppy eyes undilating back to normal.

Stonehenge/Date Number One

Last Sunday, May 18th, I attended the first ever Baltimore Stonehenge mass casting call at the Creative Alliance Patterson theater. Stonehenge is a DC-based event which brings hundreds of actors auditioning before area filmmakers and getting people paired up with projects. Over 120 actors auditioned, and I'm glad to report that, despite the rainy weather, the event was a success. I saw plenty of potential talent at this first 'Charmhenge' that I hope to call upon for future film projects. There was a wide scope of actors there, from cute, lively child actors to charming, attractive actresses; and from interesting mature character actors to multi-ethnic leading men. I can even name some of talent that shone at the event--actors with names like Giselle Gilpin, Rob Patterson, and Kami Locklear. I'm glad to report that there were no 'stage disasters' at this Stonehenge in comparison to the DC March Stonehenge (where a couple of actors just bolted from the stage), and I was glad to see that the Baltimore acting pool held its own.

*****

Last night, I drove down to Silver Spring, MD, for a screening of DC filmmaker Sujewa Ekanayake's 'Date Number One'. The event took place at Jackie's (8081 Georgia Ave), just a few blocks from the AFI Silver Spring theater. Sujewa is working with Jackie's management to program a series of local shorts and features all thru this summer (the next screening looks to be on June 26th).'Date Number One' is a charming, DIY feature romantic-comedy presenting a refreshing, positive outlook on the trials of contemporary dating.A multi-ethnic cast, among them a seductive Indian man, a french-speaking hottie, a curvy blonde seeking a blissful three-way bi-sexual relationship, a Buddhist African-American woman, and a lonely career Ninja seek love in the modern city. The episodic film, completed through a long period by Ekanayake, exhibits a vibrant 'can do' attitude that's spreading along the world of independent cinema today. 'Date Number One' will have a one week run at Jackie's this summer, in case you missed it and want to go and check it out.

*****

Memorial Day weekend is here again. This time I opted to make it a working weekend, instead of going out of town for a vacation. At least, I'll be saving on those exhorbitant gas prices. I got projects to write, and an apartment to thoroughly clean in preparation for a big film production meeting next weekend. I will definetely make some time for 'Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull', as well as heading down to DC for some salsa dancing on Saturday night. This Puertorro needs a little play!

LIGHTSTRUCK!

I think I'm paying a bit of a price for having many drinks after the great LIGHTSTRUCK UMBC student film festival screening last night. My friend, filmmaker Shane Logue, his lovely friends, and me ended up closing up the Ottobar, then the party carried over all over locations in Charles Village.

LIGHTSTRUCK this year was really a great event and I was impressed with the work of fellow UMBC film students. In fact, I dare say this was the strongest showing of student films I've seen from any film school here in MD. Shane Logue, who's still completing his feature length debut 'Hachigame', screened his very well-made short, 'Cain And Able', a b+w silent-film-styled tale of an illusionist trying to win the love of his assistant. He won an award for the piece which he actually shot on film! Other filmmakers made equally striking efforts, such as Daphne Gardner, whose short 'Hunting Boy' had one of the greatest, freshes voices I've seen from a young filmmaker. Many filmmakers don't have a 'voice', a palpable signature and feeling that emanates from the screen, but this girl has it. Jordan Eberlein and his partner Dominic Garcia also made their marks with films such as 'Negocium', a gorgeously-shot b+w short about a lawyer feeling drawn to his assistant, and 'Over Black', an elliptical, metaphysical tale of two men whose lives collide in the realm of dreams. James Smyth also made tracks with a lyrical, experimental time-lapse piece called 'Blue Rocket'.

And to start it off, the event kicked off with a fascinating live-animation presentation from Eric Dyer and his class of animation students. Dyer has gotten wide acclaim from festivals such as Sundance, which featured his experimental animation a couple of years ago. He and his team had a setup with large turntables which spun different zoetropes, as other team members filmed closeups of those spinning zoetropes. Then, another member edited the shots on the fly, while yet another participant performed a live musical score. I've not seen anything this adventurous done with film in a long time! They did the same presentation at a Brooklyn art museum very recently, and if they do it again elsewhere I reccommend you go.

The packed screening made me proud of being again a part of UMBC, and I can't wait to make my short and get that degree in the fall.

*****

Done! I can say I'm done with my spring Biology Class. I suspected I wasn't going to ace that class without making a considerable effort and overcoming some last minute obstacle. And sure enough, I got thrown an Indiana-Jones-sized boulder my way (Doesn't the new movie look fantastic? I can't wait!), when my car got towed with just three to spare before my final exam on Monday. I would say 'Unbelievable', but in this city I pretty much expect shit like that to happen regularly. I managed to scramble, run across town, track down where my car was, take a taxi, and--thanks to the angel who was behind the taxi wheel--was able to get my car out of the impound lot in time to turn my final notebook and take the final exam. I think I'm going to do very well on the class to.

This confirms my belief that you must have confidence in Life. If you don't let it break you down, if you cultivate your spirit and optimism, it brings great things your way.

Horror-101.com booms

This past weekend I found a bit of news that has me smiling wide: Horror-101.com, the website I launched in September 2006 and that I run with my business partner Alex Divincenzo, has experience a substantial boom. We're now routinely getting over 30,000 hits per month, already over 110,000 on this year so far, and could very well end the year with a quarter of a million hits. Woot! This has given me an extra oomph and I will be working hard to continue to grow the site in the months ahead.

Horror-101.com concentrates just on the critical aspect of horror cinema. When I started the site, I knew it was a very concept, but we're finding out that there's an audience out there of dedicated horror cinephiles that do care a lot about the quality of their fright films. For them, I do the site. Although we're a long ways of from catching up with leading sites such as Bloody-Disgusting.com, Fangoria.com, CHUD, or Dread Central(we think of these sites as brothers instead of competitors, really), i believe we're slowly gaining in stature in the horror genre community and I hope this growth continues.

Most people may have me tagged as just a horror filmmaker, but in reality I care about all filmmaking in general. In the future, I intend to make a wide range of films, not just horror. But I have a certain fondness for the genre because that's how I started my lifelong love affair with cinema--thru my excitement for scary flicks when I was a teenager. I hope to communicate this fondness to a new generation thru Horror-101. We intend to be a beacon for the fans and a resource for a new generation of horror filmmakers, even as we intend to become a repository for the critical mass of the best the genre has offered.

Horror-101 should continue to grow in the near future. More reviews, more news, more opinion pieces will be forthcoming. We're still struggling with finding writers dedicated to the genre, but this comes from one of the big lessons we learned in our first year--you can expect to keep writers ,no matter how much they may love the genre, to write for free. For this reason, we will begin to explore ways to make the site commercially viable this fall(without compromising our critical approach to horror films. we don't take studio screeners nor are our reviews 'for sale' thru advertising).

So, if you're a horror fan, come pay us a visit. I'm encouraged to see that a little seed of vision I had a couple of years ago is blossoming and gaining hold. It tells me I need to continue to work toward my goals, more specifically making the short film this fall and the feature that will follow after that.

*****

I slaved over the final Biology notebook all this past weekend. The final exam is tonight. I can't wait to be done with this class. And looks like I'll be reaching that finish line with a good grade later tonight. One race ends, and another one begins--I intend to focus on my short film and Horror-101 all thru the summer. And, oh yeah, I got to find another place to live by mid-August too.

MD Film Fest '08 Wrap-Up

The 10th annual Maryland Film Festival took place this past weekend, and, boy, did I have a good time. I had such a great time that I needed a day to recover. I didn't per se get into a lot of screenings this year, but there was so much going on between screenings, workshops, networking and partying at the tent village that I got a full experience. I even went to the Closing Night party, drank, talk to many friends, danced a bit, and managed to get back home at an indecent time.

Here's what I saw at the festival:

--'Medicine For Melancholy'--I hear about this indie film from DC filmmaker/blogger Sujewa Ekanayake, and also from Indiewire.com's SXSW festival coverage. San Francisco filmmaker Barry Jenkins made this touching, sensual, and polemical film about an african-american couple hooking up, disconnecting and re-connecting again during a long Sunday day. The film looked great with a de-saturated color palette to the point it was almost black-n-white. Also, the piece gives you a lot to think about with its characters' discussions on race, cultural identity, indie culture, and gentrification of San Francisco. It sounded great with a soundtrack composed of original music as well as select indie rock tracks.

--'Waiting For Hockney'--I think this was my favorite screening of the entire weekend. A made-in-Baltimore docu, 'Hockney' traced the wondrous journey of artist Billy Pappas, a MICA (Maryland Institute and College of Art) graduate, who spent 8 years obsessively creating a pointillistic portrait of Marilyn Monroe. All that time, he's completely supported by his family, and even bank-rolled by a local architect (to the cost of $300,000.00!). Once he's done, he and his support team become convinced that the only way to properly bring this work of art into the world-at-large is by showing it exclusively to post-modernist artist David Hockney. The rest of the documentary traces their stranger-than-fiction quest to gain an audience with the re-known artist. Not only is the subject matter of this piece highly enthralling, but it was also the work of a first-time documentarian named Julie Checkoway.

I had to miss the subsequent screening of a film called 'Chop Shop', because Pappas was in attendance, along with his masterful drawing. There was a very long line waiting to view his work. I waited on it, and it was worth it. The drawing was magnificent; so realistic, you could almost touch Marilyn's face. To truly admire its detail, you need to pour over the work with a magnifying glass. I spoke to Pappas for a minute, and he was a very charming, intelligent man. I wish him the best in finding his great work a suitable home. This docu was so great that they should truly consider creating a fictionalized script from the story and get a good film made from it. Believe me, it would be a hit.

--'Spine-Tingler'. This was a documentary by Jeffrey Schwarz on the well-known horror producer William Castle, who produced such gimmicky (yet very succesful) films in the 60s such as 'The Tingler' and 'Homicidal'. This film was a labor of love that took several years to complete. Fans of horror, as well as classic Hollywood film fans, will find this film of high interest when it hits DVD later this year. I also watched Castle's 'Straight-Jacket' at the Saturday night free outdoor screening, truly a great piece of Camp cinema starring Joan Crawford at the outset of her career.

--'Bi The Way'. Yet another compelling documentary, this time about bi-sexuality. The filmmakers travelled back and forth on the United States to capture stories of both female and male bi-sexuals, and in the process they give the most honest look that this sexual orientation has ever gotten. The film wasn't so much racy nor graphic, but it was just honest, specially with interviews with many bi-sexuals, sex-researchers, college professors, and the like. The piece also had a focus on the openly accepting way in which the 'Whatever' generation (age 16 to 30) deals with bi-sexuality. Perhaps the best story in the whole film is that of 11-year Josh, son of filmmaker Jonathan Caouette (sp?, director/subject of 'Tarnation'), a precocious child who has started asking serious questions about his possible future sexuality at his young age. His comments were sincerely funny and disarming.

--'At The Death House Door'. This sobering docu comes from the same team (Steve James and Peter Gilbert) who brought us 'Hoops Dreams', perhaps the best documentary of the 1990s. Reverend Carroll Pickett counseled 95 different prisoners on their way to the lethal-injection chamber in Hunstville, TX between 1983 and 1995. During those grievous years of service, Pickett kept tapes of his experiences of each individual execution. His emotional and deeply spiritual journey from a pro-Capital punishment supporter to an anti-Death Penalty advocate is the subject of this very well made documentary. The film also details the heartbreaking case of Carlos De Luna, an innocent man who was wrongly convicted and executed in 1989. The piece will be shown on the Independent Film Channel later this month, and the filmmakers have made it available for advocate screenings across the country. It will surely be available on DVD sometime later this year. I suggest you watch it. It'll touch you very deeply.

And that's what I managed to enjoy at this year's fest. I truly wish I could have seen more. For example, I tried to get into the Comedy Shorts screening on Friday afternoon to catch my buddy Dave Kratz's short 'Nintendik' (which you can see on Youtube.com. Just do a search for the film title), but the screening was sold out. There was truly so much good stuff at this film festival that three individuals could have caught 10 different screenings a piece through the weekend and still have had a great time. Congratulations to Jed Dietz, Skizz Cyzzick and Eric Allen Hatch on a very well programmed festival.

I still think they need some midnight screenings on Saturday night, as well as a bit more genre work, but it was a fine festival nonetheless.

Lastly, the CAMM (Creative Alliance MovieMakers) Kegger on Saturday afternoon was a blast. I caught up with some many fiends, and we all made a toast to CAMM's continued success as the best resource for Baltimore filmmakers. Kristen Anchor, Scott Kecken, Lee Boot, Margaret Footner, Jed, and Megan have worked very hard to bring CAMM from its humble auspices at a Pep Boys storefront in Highlandtown to the gorgeous arts/film center that currently stands on the old site of the Patterson theatre. I'm very proud to be associated with these people and wish them continued success.

Maryland Film Festival '08 Picks

I've found a few minutes to check over the Maryland Film Festival '08 schedule, and I think I've spotted some special films to catch this weekend. The festival gets started tonight with a premiere screening of shorts at MICA Brown Center at 8pm. I won't go into the dates and times when the specific films will be screened; for that you may check the schedule at Maryland Film Festival website. The good news is that this year's festival is chockfull of fascinating choices, everything from socially-focused documentaries to etchnically-driven films. In fact, there are some many interesting films this year that I had to stop jotting down potential films to see once I got to 19! I can only catch 9 to 10 screenings at the fest each year, because I do like to eat and sleep during the weekend. This what stands out for me:

--'Black List', a docu in which many sucessful black men from all walks of life are interviewed. Their opinions and stories are apparently very revealing and thought-provoking

--'The Listening Project', a docu about, well, listening. But, more specifically it's about the lost ability of people to actually listen to one another's opinions. In the film, several interviewers ask questions of foreigners about what they think of the US. The film is an exercise on how crucial listening is to the process of communication.

--'At The Death House Door', another docu. This one is from the team behind the hit basketball docu 'Hoop Dreams'. 'Death House' deals with the real life story of a penitentiary chaplain who listened to hundreds of men on death row. He started believing on the death penalty after suffering a family tragedy, but his experiences counseling the prisoners turned him around, and now he believes that some innocent men have been put to death.

--'Medicine For Melancholy', an indie feature about a young black couple attempting to reconnect in San Francisco after an ill-advised one-night stand. The film also explores issue of racial identity in a nation that's becoming increasingly homogenized.

--'Out Late', a docu. This one is about gay and lesbian people who have waited until well into their senior years to come out to friends and family. 'Bi The Way' is yet another docu about the current 'whatever' generation and its attitude/exploration of gay, lesbian and bi lifestyles.

--'Row Hard. No Excuses' documents two middle-aged men attempt to win an extremely ardous annual rowing competition which people participate in for no particular reason other than the experience and the challenge (there are no prizes). Sounds like a inspired look at the the triumph of the human spirit.

--'Paper Covers Rock', an indie feature about a young mother's attempt to reconstruct her life after a failed suicide attempt. What makes particular interesting is how the filmmaker approached the project only for its artistic aspects irregardless of commercial considerations. His film is apparently the first one in a series.

--'Bamako', an African feature. It's being presented as an under-regarded Critic's Pick. The film is being lauded for its colorful and inspired look at African life.

--'Waiting For Hockney' is a docu which traces the journey of a local Maryland Institute College Of Art (MICA) graduate who becomes obsessed with creating a perfect large-scale engraving of Marilyn Monroe. He sacrificed much to the endeavor and it took him 8 years to complete the piece. The film deals with the issue of artistic obsession (something I know a little about).

--'Chop Shop' is an indie debut feature that's lauded by Robert Ebert as the American version of 'City Of God'. The film concerns a young empoverished boy's attempts in Queens, NY, to grow and capture the American Dream. It's getting a lot of buzz, so I think I'm gonna be there for its screening.

--'White Lies, Black Sheep' is an indie feature which details the journey of a black man who feels more attracted to white rock music culture and who turns his back on his afrocentric family and culture. This film, like 'Medicine For Melancholy', deals with issues of shifting cultural identity in the United States.

And those are just the beginning. There seems to be so much other great stuff. Like 'American Teen' (a hit at Sundance), 'Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story' (if you're a horror fan, you know who he was), 'Intimidad' (an indie feature about a young Mexican family trying to make ends meet at the border), 'Low And Behold' (an indie drama set against the backdrop of Katrina-ravaged New Orleans),'Baghead' (a comedy from the acclaimed directors of 'The Puffy Chair'), 'We Are Wizards' (which takes a look at the strong sub-culture of Harry Potter geeks) and many others.

There seems to be a lack of genre pics on the schedule this year, which is a shame. Some horror, fantasy or sci-fi should have been represented. Lastly, there's a strong representation of 'mumblecore' films this year (which I won't list). I'm not gonna mince words--I hate 'mumblecore' films. Watching films about white hipsters and their meandering unpleasant lives and dragged-out breakups isn't my cup of tea. And before anyone goes 'Oh, my, that's racist!', I'm sorry, but that's what they are--boring films by self-absorbed white hipsters. Sincerely--Skip them and watch the plethora of other good, multi-faceted films in display at this weekend's fest.