I’m back in Indiana. Back where it all began in the summer of 2009. After hitting seventeen film festivals in the last year and winning numerous awards, Paradise Recovered is ready for it’s official public unveiling. Tomorrow, November 20th, we’re premiering Paradise at the historic Buskirk Chumley Theater in Bloomington, IN. The fact that we shot a scene in the Buskirk makes our premiere there extra special. For more information on the screening, visit our official Facebook Event page here:Â http://www.facebook.com/events/271219359583929/. To buy tickets to the show, CLICK HERE.
As part of the premiere, we’re also releasing the Official Motion Picture Soundtrack for Paradise Recovered. The soundtrack features fantastic music from Indiana artists like Cara Jean Wahlers, Jookabox, Sardina, The New Old Cavalry, Salaam, newcomer Evan Slusher and more. As part of the big event at the Buskirk, Cara, Evan, Salaam and The New Old Cavalry will be performing live before and after the screening of the film. I’m still amazed at the awesome soundtrack of Indiana artists we were able to assemble for this soundtrack (thanks in large part to the fine folks at Musical Family Tree). We’ll be selling the soundtrack at the premiere and it will be available from retailers like CD Baby , Amazon and iTunes next week!
In conjunction with all this, we’ve been busy editing a DVD extra for our upcoming DVD release. The extra is a short doc that we’re calling Beyond Paradise. The piece features interviews with world renowned thought reform experts like Steve Hassan of freedomofmind.com and counselors from Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center. If you didn’t know, Paradise Recovered has pledged 10% of our profits to Wellspring, a one of a kind facility that counsels victims of spiritual abuse and cults.
So I hope to see some of you at the premiere tomorrow. I’ll post pics and hopefully some video from the event soon. And look for our Paradise Recovered DVD to be released in early 2012!
It’s been a busy couple of months. Here are some of the highlights.
Conversations in Film (July 10th)
I sat on a Conversations In Film panel presented by The Austin Film Festival. The panel was titled Making Your First Feature and I got to participate with some fantastic fellow filmmakers. We talked about our experiences making our first feature films. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed learning from and meeting the other directors on the panel.
Filmmakers Left to Right, Stephen Belyeu, Storme Wood, Mike Dolan, and Will James Moore
Van Wert Independent Film Festival (July 8th-10th)
Paradise Recovered played the first ever Van Wert Independent Film Festival. Writer/Producer Andie Redwine had a great time at the fest and brought home some nice awards. Paradise Recovered won the Audience Award, Best Screenplay and Best Actress (Heather Wallis). So that was very cool.
Paradise Recovered Wins Big at Van Wert Independent Film Festival
Lights. Camera. Help. (July 28th-30th)
I was back in Austin representing Paradise Recovered (with Writer/Producer Andie Redwine) at the very awesome Lights. Camera. Help. Film Festival. Lights. Camera. Help. is a nonprofit “dedicated to encouraging other nonprofit and cause-driven organizations to use film and video to tell their stories.” Paradise Recovered was their first ever narrative feature and we were proud to be there championing our favorite charity, the Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center. The Lights. Camera. Help. audience was amazing and I was inspired by all of their films and filmmakers. It was a great festival experience. Here’s a link to a story the Austin CBS affiliate KEYE did on Lights. Camera. Help featuring Paradise Recovered: http://weareaustin.com/entertainment-story?nxd_id=165447&watch=1
Andie Redwine, Storme Wood and David J. Neff Celebrate at the Lights. Camera. Help. Film Festival
Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center’s 25th Anniversary Celebration! (August 5th-7th)
Speaking of Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center, on August 5th-7th Andie Redwine and I journeyed to Athens, Ohio to help Wellspring celebrate their 25th anniversary. On Friday the 5th, we screened Paradise Recovered for a packed house at the lovely Arts West Theater in Athens. Then on Saturday, we volunteered to videotape the internationally renowned cult experts that Wellspring had speaking at their Conference on Cults. Needless to say, I learned a ton (It was a fitting end to a great weekend when we heard that Warren Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes against the young girls growing up in the FLDS).
Me Shooting Video for Wellspring's Conference on Cults
Down But Not Out (August 4th)
I traveled to Ohio via Indianapolis, where I had the chance to visit with my good friend Alphonso Bailey. Bailey is a former professional boxer who runs a really cool Prison Ministry called Down But Not Out. DBNO teaches character building workshops in prisons and juvenille detention centers. Alphonso has a great life story; a former college athlete, he was arrested for some armed robberies and served two years in a Kentucky prison. On the 4th, I got to visit a prison with him and him in action. I love the way he brings hope to these guys living behind bars. He really believes in them and believes that their lives can change and get better. He is always inspiring and I hope to bring his story to the screen one day.
The Rest
And finally, while in Indiana I got to shoot a bunch of stuff with the new Canon XF100 camcorder. It’s a pretty amazing camera that shoots 50 mb/s 4:2:2 video with a full set of pro features and it’s the size of a palmcorder. We were shooting test/reel footage for a spec project that we’re keeping under wraps for now. But I highly recommend checking out the XF100 if you shoot doc style run and gun stuff. It’s brilliant.
Writer/Producer Andie Redwine, Director Storme Wood, and deadCENTER Programming Director Kevin Ely celebrate at the 2011 deadCENTER Film Festival Awards
As our Saturday night screening of Paradise Recovered came to an end at the 2011 deadCENTER Film Festival, we were a bit surprised by how insistent the volunteers were that we get over to the awards ceremony that was about to start. Could this mean we were going to win some kind of award? We tried to put it out of our minds as we hurried to get there, believing always that it’s better to keep your expectations low that you might be pleasantly surprised.
As they began to hand out awards, our hopes piqued again. Maybe we won this one? Maybe that one? No. Okay. As the number of awards dwindled, so did our hopes. Until there was only one trophy left on the podium. Surely we didn’t win the grand prize? And then they said it, “The winner of the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature sponsored by Devon Energy is… Paradise Recovered!”
Holy crap. Seriously. We were thrilled. We were more than thrilled. We were shocked.
What made it even more amazing and unbelieveable was that the jury for the 2011 deadCENTER Film Festival was made up of some filmmakers we really respect. The jury was headed up by Nick Casevettes, director of She’s So Lovely, John Q and The Notebook among other films. Also on the jury was Oklahoma filmmaker Sterlin Harjo who Directed the hit indie film, Barking Water, which played at Sundance and is now in distribution. Other jurors included Costume Designer Lynette Meyer (Lakeview Terrace, Nurse Betty), and Oklahoma documentary filmmaker Brad Beasley (Okie Noodling).  Pretty great jury, right?
All in all, the 2011 deadCENTER Film Festival was one of our favorite fests so far. And that was before we won the Grand Jury award. deadCENTER is run by a great group of people who put on a festival that is fun, accessible, organized, well attended and full of terrific films. The Comedy Shorts program was my favorite screening, but a close close second was the amazing documentary Jens Pulver: DRIVEN. And there were other great films that I didn’t have time to see like the amazingly funny S&M Lawncare by my new friends at Singletree Productions.
Congratulations to the other award winners and to all the filmmakers who took part in deadCENTER this year. And a huge thanks to deadCENTER staff members Lance McDaniel, Kim Haywood, Kevin Ely, Ian Peterson and to all the volunteers that made the 2011 deadCENTER Film Festival possible and amazing. I can’t wait for deadCENTER 2012!
The 2011 DIY Film Festival has awarded Paradise Recovered Best Feature Honorable Mention. I’m headed to LA tomorrow to attend the awards banquet on behalf of Team Paradise.
Here’s what they had to say about our film. Paradise Recovered is an “Unlikely romantic comedy about a girl raised in a traditional religious sect that runs into the adventure of her life at the hands of some free thinking friends. Excellent cast and a wonderful exploration of an unusual take on the Romeo and Juliet story.”
A huge thank you to the folks at the DIY Film Festival. And a big congratulations to the other award winners. Look for pics and updates from Hollywood in the coming days.
CHECK OUT the DIY Film Festival’s webpage for more on Paradise Recovered and the other scrappy indies that won.
First up, our World Premiere at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis Oct. 16th (additional screenings the 18th, 20th and 21st). Tickets available HERE.
Next up, the Texas Premiere at the Austin Film Festival Oct. 21st (additional screening on the 24th)
Announcing the LA premiere of Paradise Recovered! The fine folks at Film Courage have invited us to screen Paradise Recovered as part of their Film Courage Interactive series. The screening will take place on Monday, November 29th at the Downtown Independent in Los Angeles. I’m so excited I can hardly stand it.
Film Courage with David Branin and Karen Worden airs every Sunday on LA Talk Radio. The show has really caught on around the country and around the world. It is a show where true indie filmmaking and filmmakers are championed. Just this past week, the show featured an interview with indie filmmaking legend John Sayles, whose career and films have been a huge inspiration to me.
Along with their radio show, David and Karen launched the Film Courage Interactive screening series. We feel so lucky to be the thirteenth film screening in the series. Lucky number 13!
If you’re anywhere near Los Angeles at the end of November, please come see us at the screening. I’ll be there along with Writer/Producer Andie Redwine. I truly hope you can make it.
Music is such a big part of a movie. For our favorite films, a few bars of a theme song is all it takes to conjure up fond memories. And so, when making a film of your own, choosing the right music is a huge deal. Add to that the limitations of a micro-budget and we were more than a little concerned when it came time to find the music for Paradise Recovered.
One day when I was deep in it. Surfing the web for music. Listening to song after song. Trying to figure out how, when and where we were going to get great music at a price we could afford. I got an email from Writer/Producer Andie Redwine. It was a link to an unassuming website featuring the music of Cara Jean Wahlers. Andie said that Cara was an old friend. Wanted to know what I thought of her music. I clicked on one of the songs. Guitar, Cello and a beautiful voice. Rootsy and singer songwritery in the best of all possible ways. It was perfect.
I’m so glad to have met Cara and Grover (Grover Parido is the cellist that composes and plays with Cara). I’m so thrilled to have their music in Paradise Recovered. And I’m so excited to be headed to Indianapolis this weekend for the CD release party for their new album, “Goodnight Charlotte.” I can’t wait for people to see our film and hear the tunes that help to make it as good as it is.
Paradise Recovered and I will be on filmmaker Danny Lacey’s 24 Hr Live Show tonight. Danny Lacey is raising money for his latest film and raising awareness for and about indie film and filmmakers. Starting at 3PM Central time, he’ll be broadcasting a special 24 hr live show highlighting his and other filmmakers projects. Paradise Recovered sponsored an hour of the show and if you tune in between 6PM and 7PM Central time tonight you’ll see a clip featuring me and an entire scene from Paradise Recovered. A big thanks to Danny for all the hard work he’s doing on behalf of indie film. Tune in and check it out:
