For those who are interested I will be in LA next week on the 29th and 30th of May to discuss all manner of things related to Path Of Souls for “How We Make Movies” sponsored by Assimilate, the company responsible for us to be able to generate our 4K DCP and trailer. Gary Jackemuk is the online editor and colorist on the film and he will be joining me.
Here are the details:
http://www.assimilateinc.com/media/events
The event is being shot at Red Studios, which is something I’m really jacked about since I am a tech junkie and unabashed Red supporter. Path Of Souls owes it’s look to Red. RedCine-X is an awesome (and free) program enabling you to do your one-light pass then come back to the digital neg later once the online process begins.
We shot with our two Epics and I’m convinced we could not have completed the film had we not shot in a two camera system. Just too much to shoot in too little time.
What do you think?
I must have gotten up on the proverbial wrong side of the bed the other day because I am compelled to write about an exchange I had with a White Woman who has written a script on an historical Native figure.
Our initial conversation about a month or so ago seemed to go well. I asked her to send me the script…and I got through it after making a lot of notes, and some gnashing of teeth. It was fairly typical of the non-Indian who writes something thinking they know what our culture is, how we think, how we talk, what our ideologies are, but doesn’t actually know and as a result the narrative seems fanciful.
It takes a lifetime to learn, and you have to walk several miles in our moccasins before you can speak with any authority about anything.
The other thing is this woman says she had the approval to write it…I think this is a mistake. Realistically I get it: you have someone in your tribe’s history who was an important figure and you want to share their story, so no matter who it is, as long as they make a reasonable pitch, the answer to proceed would be yes because up until now nobody cared about our stories so it’s validation.
Apparently they have a fairly significant American producer on board and are going to raise the $20 Million or so. If it gets made it will be the only opportunity in our lives to tell this story. What galls me is there’s a real intent to ‘honour’ the memory of this person but because of their own arrogance they feel they can ignore everything else as a consequence.
We need to be telling our own stories. We need to be in control of the storytelling. Yes we can bring in others who can help shape the story as a piece of art, but it has to ultimately be us who tell the stories.
On the other hand, Jim Compton and I met with a White Man awhile back who Jim had previously done a story on years ago when he was with CBC. What’s different about his manuscript is that it is legitimate and you can tell -by the writing. He has lived his life among Indian people and has participated in many of our sacred ceremonies. One such ceremony revealed he was a Lakota in a past life and his spirit wandered until he was born into the body of this White man. Sounds hard to believe but with each new detail in his life story it all makes sense…not to mention what he writes has teachings that are accurate to our culture. Needless to say Jim and I are working on this project with the hope we can bring it to audiences next year, first in the form of a documentary, and then a dramatic treatment later on.
Bottom line -an incredibly valuable asset to our communities we have yet to mine is our stories. However, it is us who needs to do the digging.
We’ve been accepted to Perspective Canada at La Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival with the objective to increase the international exploitation of Canadian feature-length films.
This will be my first time at Cannes (although I was supposed to go 2 years ago but got a nasty case of Poison Ivy a week before I was to leave) but Jim Compton is traveling with me and is an old pro having been twice before -and Adam Beach is coming along!
We hope to secure new partners in releasing the film, and will have some very cool announcements coming shortly including details on a Canadian theatrical release as well as broadcast deals.
We’ve been accepted to their festival next month in Austin, TX
No idea on date yet, but as soon as I know when it’s screening I will update this page.
Guess we’re going to have to update the poster! Oh, and add some of these wins we’ve been getting.
This flew under the radar but if anyone was paying attention: http://www.afn.ca/uploads/files/2012_sca_draft_resolutions_fe.pdf
The very last resolution is the Adam Beach Film Institute. Adam and Jim Compton are pushing the envelope folks!
I am also involved in a few inititatives, but you will start to see a whole lot more about our efforts…big news in the coming weeks.
Check out http://www.adambeachfilminstitute.com/
And: https://vimeo.com/52030164
A nifty update: I will be in Berlin Feb. 9th-14th to attend the European Film Market. This is one of the biggest film markets around and well, it’s appropriate that our two market screenings are going to be in 4K resolution.
What this means to the average person…when you watch a film in a theatre it’s generally 2K resolution, which is slightly high than your typical BluRay 1080p version at home. But with 4K you’re actually able to enjoy the film at four times the resolution of 2K. Some say it’s like watching IMAX…all I know is that even though these are market screenings in Berlin I am really excited to finally see the movie in the original intended screening format.
I will be working away trying to secure distribution and/or broadcast deals for as many territories as I can. Fingers crossed.
