Burden of Dreams

We finally completed the design for the Canadian release of the DVD this morning. I think Jon Steinsson did a fantastic job on this one and I’m looking forward to seeing it printed. Things are moving along.

I’m blown away. The Oxford International Film Festival received around 500 submissions from 36 countries, and they chose WRATH to be their Opening Night Gala film. Not bad for a little film shot on an old MiniDV camera… the first ever MiniDV camera to be produced by Sony. When I started shooting it I had nothing but that old Sony camera, 50 tapes (at $4 each), and two batteries that lasted for less than an hour each. I’ve had people trying to stop the film, and others adding their support to make sure that it would survive (not mentioning any names, but thanks GB).

I don’t think there will ever be a better screening than the one at the NSI FilmExchange. The audience laughed throug much of the film and at least three times they started clapping and cheering. This was the first time I show the finished film to an audience. The film works. Last time I showed it to a group of audience in Canada, the DVD player exploded and burst into flames. This show went smoothly. Terry David Mulligan was funny in the Q&A session. This morning I few to Seattle (for some filming) through Vancouver. The flight was delayed by a few hours, but the good thing was that I got to hang out with some of the Vancouver filmmakers who were on their way home. Mulligan also showed and we got him to pose for a picture with us. It’s good that there is a festival for Canadian films only.

Just got a call from the Oxford International Film Festival. Oxford, Ohio, another young ambitious college town festival has invited Wrath of Gods. The festival director is a filmmaker himself and it sounds like they are going to have a great first festival.

I just received a message from the RiverRun International Film Festival. in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Wrath Of Gods has been invited, and we are in their 2007 documentary feature competition. Not a bad Valentine’s day present. I’ve read nothing but good things about this festival, and apparently Winston-Salem is one of the best places to live in the U.S. After all it is “The City of Arts”. I like their “Arto-O-Mat” project. Clever idea.

The designer (Armann Kojic) just sent me the final version of the poster. Now it’s just a question of making a deal with the right printing company. Hopefully we can start shipping the posters soon.

I just saw some preview materials for the movie 300. It looks very impressive and I would go see this film, even if GB wasn’t in it. I think this will be an amazing year for Gerry, and he deserves it. I remember back at the Toronto Festival when he was telling me about the different kind of “hardship” they had to go through for this one. This is all about to pay off for them. The film looks masculine and tough and visually compelling at the same time. Their promotion is genious as well. They seem to have taken everything that I was attempting with the internet campaign of B&G to a new level - and done a fantastic job of it. The difference is that I had $10 to do it, but Warner Brothers has realized that it is worth spending a lot of money on the web campaign.

Icelanders have been making a bit of a splash in Danish busines lately. Some people say that the Danes are a bit sensitive over the whole thing. I went drinking in downtown Reykjavik with a friend last night. The bars were packed as usual. My friend told me about his recent trip to Denmark. The Pakistani taxi driver told him that he loves Icelandic people, not for their hard work and for what they have been building up in Denmark, but because they are now so hated in Denmark that they have “taken the pressure of other immigrant groups”. Anyway, we ran into a journalist from one of the TV stations.
He asked if he could get to see Wrath Of Gods because he has heard so much about it. He is hoping that it will restore his faith in the Icelandic documentary world. It is true, we have a very poor documentary tradition over here, and a very limited knowledge and understanding of what a documentary is. We need to make more documentaries in this country.