stella41b
Posts: 4258
Joined: 10/16/2007
From: SW London (UK)
Status: offline
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Just stopping by as know a few people have been concerned recently by my absence from the boards but I am still alive and quite well, still working on my debut film - not so much low budget, but a 'no budget' independent film based on an adaptation of my stage play 'Death' - a film which explores spirituality, reincarnation and death touching on also karma and religion. I wrote the original text in Polish around the time of Hurricane Katrina when I was living in Poland and had planned to direct it and stage it after coming out publicly as myself in support of the Polish LGBT community. The rest is history, so they say.
Those of you who know me from these boards know of my struggles over the past couple of years and I have on countless occasions been touched by the emotional support and kind words expressed by so many of you, particularly two years ago when I failed to make it into the States in Atlanta and also of my difficulties here last year, both in fringe theatre here in London and also with the authorities. I just thought I would pass through for another 'feel good' thread and to remind so many of you how much I appreciated your support over this time.
Every few years I go through a period of intense creativity and hard work and usually disappear. The last time was in Poland, in Zywiec, and with the writing of Death and the setting up of the theatre there in Zywiec. Now it has been recently, when I disbanded the fringe theatre company some months ago, folded productions of 'Switch' and 'Death' after minimal success and decided on a major revamp. I've managed to express my own theory of modern theatre - which I refer to as universal theatre - into words in a 60 page manuscript ready for publication, I have revamped what was the theatre into a hybrid film and theatre company tied with a charity working to eliminate social stigma, and I have abandoned the stage to become an independent film maker.
Years ago I had some informal training in the Polish film industry but none of this really applies today especially when we are living in the digital age and I have neither producer nor studio nor distributor nor funding. A few months ago I put out casting calls among professional actors and actresses for 'Switch' and just as I was about to start filming and get behind the camera the actor drops out and the other actress became incommunicado. Welcome to the precarious world at the bottom end of the motion picture industry, where hundreds of film makers such as myself are hoping for funding, constantly looking for actors and actresses to appear in 'low pay/no pay' productions on a promise while hundreds of professional actors are also looking for paying roles which they get but have to wait months, even years to be paid whilst also working in day jobs.
I have never really been a fan of the funding route where you can spend literally years trying to get a production together and applying for various grants, subsidies and what not to get your movie produced. The only place I know where you once could get funding for an idea for a play or a film was in the former Soviet Bloc which explains why I started out in St Petersburg or rather Leningrad in 1990 and caught the mad crazy end of party element of what was once communism. I somehow figured that unless you can prove that you can get bums on seats consistently and make a name for yourself then nobody is even going to give you a second glance. Back in the early 1990's Poland looked interesting, and it was, and I quickly learned that festivals were an ideal way of showcasing your work and getting those bums on seats and this is how I earned my reputation, from festivals and through being myself and doing everything differently from everyone else.
I tried for two years here in London to get bums on seats with varying degrees of success but mainly not much success. Unless it's mainstream or commercial I feel that theatre is seen as a hobby, and here in London starting out is extremely difficult, challenging to get even six actors together but you need almost a miracle to find decent space. However I've always been curious about the possibilities of multimedia in theatre for getting an audience together and also using the power of the Internet. However when I sat down and really thought about it and worked out the cost of putting together footage, getting space, finding actors, coming up with multimedia CD ROMs and DVDs and then flyers and posters I kind of figured that it would be much simpler and much cheaper just to adapt the play into a movie and become an independent film maker.
So when the 'Switch' project fell apart I decided to go ahead with 'Death', which involves two actresses, and I am working with two actresses who worked with me on the stage productions. They know the concept, the play, they know how I work and I know what they are capable of. Now I'm making all this up as I go along, learning by a process of trial and error, and drawing on my experience from fringe theatre and stage directing. In fact my style of directing hasn't changed much, and despite the fact I meticulously rewrote the stage play into a movie script format with scenes and transitions and shots in my head I'm still working on the stage play broken down into 'blocks', or chunks. The leading actress Jennifer quickly noticed this and suggested I break down the movie script into 'blocks' which held up filming.
We film two days a week over a Friday and Saturday and I spend the rest of the week working on production, editing footage for feedback, and developing the new hybrid Q2 film and theatre project. Last weekend again we didn't get it together because of lighting, a faulty camera and public transport issues. I'm working off a borrowed camcorder and a standard compact digital camera, and most of the movie, which is feature length estimated to be between 75 and 85 minutes long, is shot in my bedroom cum studio painted black.
In the absence of filming I decided to investigate film festivals and to see how they worked. One of the major reasons which prevented me from being established here in London was the lack of decent fringe theatre festivals. The Edinburgh Fringe is prohibitive with an entry fee running into thousands of pounds and though I submitted an entry to the Brighton Fringe Festival I was greatly put off by the organizers demanding the entrance fee up front but expecting me to find my own venue, arrange my own dates and times and and also arrange my own publicity. In the end I gave up and pulled out.
However it's a different situation with film festivals, many of which don't require any entry fee (though some do) and there are lots of smaller independent festivals which accept submissions on DVD, video or even web or multimedia formats. I came across a directory and found over 80 different festivals worldwide, thirty of which are in the UK (most not requiring any entry fee) and also listed other festivals across Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.
I have set a new deadline for filming for November 30 (including location filming) and plan to have the final DVD ready for New Year's Day, but hope to start submitting to festivals from mid to late December. Hopefully from the Spring the movie will start appearing at festivals throughout the UK, Europe, Canada, the States, Australia and New Zealand, subject of course to acceptance by the organizers. If I'm on schedule and the movie is accepted I'm hoping the first screenings will appear from late March in Belfast, Birmingham, and Kingston Jamaica, then increase in April to take in London, Liverpool, Sheffield, Toronto, San Diego and then elsewhere throughout the year. I'm submitting to festivals in Poland, Russia, Hungary and Turkey, but the heaviest emphasis in Europe will be in the UK, taking in London (a few festivals) Manchester, Brighton, Birmingham, Leeds and Sheffield. I'm submitting to Sydney in Australia, also New Zealand, South Africa, Toronto and Montreal in Canada, and across the United States - with festivals in California, New York, Florida, Cleveland Ohio, Chicago, Nashville, Washington DC, and Boulder Colorado among those that interest me.
I have registered with the International Movie Database for preview screenings which will be prepared during the major editing phase. However on Youtube I have already uploaded a rough 'first edit' preview screening.
I have also uploaded a rough first edit of the opening scenes of the film starting with the 'final walk home' through the eyes of the woman who is about to die from untreated pneumonia. This is a 'feedback edit' for the actresses, but a draft copy of the opening of the movie.
I just thought I would share...
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