Much to catch up on since my last post, but let’s just say that it was a flurry of catching trains, subways, and planes! We have safely arrived back in Seattle and are gearing up for the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) screening today. I will post again this weekend with a full recap of the past few days with some insightful reflections on the big lessons that we learned from the Cannes experience…
Today, however, is the “UNRESERVED: the Work of Louie Gong” screening at the Seattle International Film Festival at 4 pm the Egyptian Theater in Seattle, WA. Here is a link to the SIFF catalog with more information about the screening: http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=42476&FID=166
Also, Seattle’s KING 5 Evening Magazine did a segment on Louie Gong and the SIFF screening that you should definitely check out! http://www.king5.com/on-tv/evening-magazine/Northwest-shoe-artist-profiled-at-SIFF-94520279.html
Hope that all you Seattleites can make it! For a full list of all of the screenings for “UNRESERVED”, but sure to check out the film’s website at: http://www.unreservedfilm.com
As promised, I will share highlights from last night’s experience aboard Paul G. Allen’s yacht, “Octopussy”. In a word - WOW! I was in awe of the beauty and expanse of the yacht, the guest list, and the food and beverage spread which included a sushi bar, Japanese grill, sakitini bar, Chinese food bar, and endless champagne. A few of the guests that I met on board: Chris Tucker, Meg Ryan, Benecio del Toro, Kevin Spacey, Tim Burton, Cuba Gooding Jr., and the man, himself, Paul G. Allen. We also took a tour of inside of the yacht and were quite impressed with the film screening room, massage room, glass bottom floor 30 feet below the water’s surface, submarine, and helicopter pad. I was also very excited to see the art in the yacht, which included Andy Warhorl, Leichtenstein, Dale Chihuly, and a pair of carved coast Salish cedar paddles by BC artist Troy Bellerose. However, the biggest highlight of the evening was when we got to personally thank Paul Allen for his support of Longhouse Media’s nonprofit work with a grant from his Paul G. Allen Foundation. Tracy was also able to give Paul a copy of “UNRESERVED: The Work of Louie Gong” so that he can see it in his screening room!
Our screening today was hectic. The screening before ours ran over time and left us with barely enough time to show our film, much less have any time for Q&A. It’s a good thing that it is also in the Digital Film Library in the Short Film Corner for everyone to see over the entire course of the Festival de Cannes.
The afternoon was spent getting some much needed (and deserved) rest and relaxation on the beach in front of the American Pavilion. Next up, a screening and party to honor Women in Film…
Wow! There’s so much to recap from last night’s yacht party but today our focus is on our screening at Festival de Cannes Short Film Corner. It’s in less than an hour and we’re getting pumped up and ready to give our best pitch!
Stay tuned as I’ll update again after the screening…
Another day of promoting our screening by spending time at the lovely beachside American Pavilion. Today we pitched the film to programmers from American Film Institute and National Geographic. One of the amazing things that I’ve observed about Cannes is that it is more accessible than I ever imagined!
Some of the best contacts we’ve made have been during random encounters like waiting for the train, sharing a table, and chatting up friends of new friends. This is coincidentally how we managed to score invitations to one of the best parties here in Cannes for tonight…
Tonight, we are honored to attend a yacht party hosted by Paul G. Allen and his sister Jody Allen. We had heard about this party but it wasn’t until our new friend Brent Owens provided us with the crucial email address and the confidence to go for it that we even began to imagine we’d make our way aboard. With our triple-threat combo of being Seattle-based Native American filmmakers who are also grant recipients of the Paul G. Allen Foundation, we scored an invite.
Signing off for now because it’s almost time to board the yacht. Bon voyage!
Yesterday was extremely action-packed! We spent the afternoon at the American Pavilion networking with other filmmakers, writers, producers, and financiers. They were very interested in Longhouse Media’s angle on telling stories through film about contemporary Native people and felt that there is definitely potential for our work to be carried in Europe.
We also set the screening time for UNRESERVED at the Short Film Corner for Tuesday, May 18th at 1:15 pm in room 3 at the Palais des Festivals. Now that our 2nd screening is set we can start inviting specific programmers and distributors in the European market. We also posted our posters and promotional cards throughout the space and finished just to witness the madness known as Stella Artois happy hour. For those filmmakers looking to maximize their networking opportunities, the Short Film Corner happy hour is THE place to be everyday at 5pm.
Then we hiked back up the hill to the Cannes Independent Film Fest villa just in time for our first UNRESERVED screening. The audience was very receptive to the film and really connected to the messages in the film. They also had great questions and wanted to know about Longhouse Media’s other films.
Highlights from the rest of the evening include:
* salade nicoise with live Cuban music
* twilight walk on the beach
* Scandinavian documentary film party
* Pharrell Williams’ party with Michelle Rodriguez as dj
* VIP Room at a Cannes casino
* home by dawn
