The teaching run continues

We are still riding high on confidence after a successful improvised filmmaking workshop for teens at Gozo Film Festival over the weekend. So it’s a great time to share that we have been approached by the Malta Film Foundation, who run the yearly Malta Film Weekend, to teach an improvised filmmaking workshop.

Our course will be for adults this time around and take place The Valletta University Campus, Sunday 15th September 10am - noon. For more details, go directly to the Malta Film Foundation website.

The whole weekend festival is a must for any filmmaker, with both short and feature films screening, plus workshops and discussions from local filmmakers happening over the weekend of 14-15th of September.

This was a lot of fun. For those based in Malta who have not made the trip across to the sister island of Gozo for the festival, we say do it!

On Saturday 24th after a late afternoon swim at Ramla Bay, followed by cave exploring in Nadur and an alfresco seafood dinner on a clifftop, we headed off to the Cittadella, where we enjoyed watching locally produced feature film Limestone Cowboy. It was past midnight when we returned to our AirBnb to rest so that we could wake early to prep for our Sunday morning Improvised Filmmaking Workshop for Teenagers, held at the same venue.

This is our third year in attendance and each year we are very happy that we made the trip down from Malta to watch films and be welcomed by really passionate and enthusiastic people who love film as much as we do.

And to teach improvised filmmaking, the niche style we love so much, to young students intrigued by the 'no script' process we developed was an absolute blessing. We played games, filmed scenes, and went over everything from different improvisation styles to developing ideas to filming without a script and more. A big thank you to Gozo Film Festival, its volunteers, and festival director Federico Chini.

We'll be back next year. But we'll be teaching another improvised workshop very, very soon.

Talking Film with Geeks

The latest interview is up and this time we chatted to Ben and Keith from The Two Gay Geeks on their webcast about Friends, Foes & Fireworks and how we shot this film in one night, totally improvised. This is one of our more fun and laid back interviews and we thank Ben and Keith for chatting with us and ChicPR for making this happen.

Listen here now and find the link on our PRESS section.

Improvised In Berlin

While in Berlin during the most of the month of May we shot our fourth micro short under the Life Improvised banner, called Cry Me a River .

The story centres around one character who has just received some bad news and her the world goes on as she tries to process the news, shedding tears publicly, only to be ignored by strangers who she encounters.

Together with our small team made up of our friends in Berlin, we had a tight knit crew - Laura on sound, Robbert as DP, Kelsey as the main character, and Ivan and Sarah Jayne co-directing, plus two extras and a couple of on-the-spot participants we recruited on the day. Together we managed to shoot this micro short in just 3 hours at the gorgeous Treptower Park in Berlin on a perfect day.

We are very happy with the footage but It may be a while until we post it on our YouTube and Vimeo Channels as we have a backlog of projects, including the previous Life Improvised film shot in Melbourne called XChange to edit and share.

More news to follow shortly on this film and the progress.

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Ladinkino Cast & Crew Screening

When the cast and crew that had worked on the Berlin chapter of In Corpore stepped out of the Ladenkino cinema room there was one word to describe what they had just seen – intense. All round we had a wonderful night, not only catching up with everyone who attended, but also sharing all our hard work we had put into the film so far.

Although the film was still in a rough stage with more sound design and colour grading work to do, it was good to see In Corpore on the big screen with one of the four teams that made it possible.

Only two people were not in attendance due to having filming projects in other countries (so jealous) and they were greatly missed.

While it poured rain outside, inside we shared laughs and stories from on the set and it was a cosy cast and crew screening in gritty and artistic Berlin.

Hello from Berlin

Written by Director Sarah Jayne

What a fabulous time I am having in this wonderful city, Berlin. I am currently enjoying a mix of work and play and have found that it is a huge city with so much to see and do. My Airbnb is in Neukölln, which gives me easy access to not only a lot of wonderful middle-eastern foods, hipster cafes, but a very reliable train line to anywhere I need to go.

Riding through Berlin on Monday

The Grrl Haus official first meet-up took place last night and everyone is so lovely and creative, it is great to be in that space with likeminded identifying females. The other women all seem to be from America, mostly New York, which is really cool as New York is a city I also adored and felt connected with during my travels a couple of years back. I know have Grrl Haus merch that I will be parading around Berlin, a tote, some postcards, a few posters a brochure with my profile and picture in it and soon, I will receive my t-shirt.

For those in Berlin, the first screening of my work (and NPG’s) is on at the 15th May at Loophole, where we will screen the Berlin section of In Corpore. The second takes place at Il-Kino on the 21st May, where we will screen Daughter.

The Grrl Haus social media event banner for the first screening at Loophole.

There will be much to announce on our Instagram page as things progress, which is where I am uploading a video of the day as part of my 20 Days in Berlin series, which gets stored in Highlights afterwards. Plus I also post one picture a day of my Berlin adventure for that day, This is the best way to keep up-to date on the adventure.

Oblomov Kreuzkoelin Bar where the Grrl Haus first meeting took place.

Ivan joins me tomorrow, Wednesday 15th, just in time to come and show his support and work with me in Berlin for 11 days. On the 16th we also have a private cast and crew screening with our In Corpore Berlin people and on the 25th we will shoot our next Life Improvised story, reprising the complex characters of Milana and Rosalie from In Corpore Berlin section.

Skype meeting with Savo and Sarah for Malta to Berlin regarding Life Improvised

So many good things for NPG happening in Berlin. Please follow our progress on social media and if you want exclusive BTS photographs of the Life Improvised shoot, you will have to sign up to our newsletter.

Grrl Haus chosen for social media promotion of our film In Corpore (Berlin section only)

Mediterranean Love

Our director Sarah Jayne, who is of Maltese heritage made it into the Maltese press yet again, it was not the national TV station that broadcast us this year, but local online pop-culture news site Lovin’ Malta.

The press comes as the lead up to Friends, Foes & Fireworks screening at Spazju Kreattiv edges closer, and we are thrilled that our work got a mention, highlighting SJ’s roles within Nexus Production Group.

With the imminent release of In Corpore, which was partly shot on the Maltese islands, we are excited to show our work to a part Maltese audience in the hope to gauge their interest in Nexus Production Group’s work overall. Obviously being based in Malta, we would love a local fan-base who anticipate our films and that truly shows in the numbers.

Nexus Production Group look forward to the May 9th event at their favorite Art House cinema. There will be a talk on improvised filmmaking run by the directors, with an open to audience Q&A session, where the mystery of how to shoot a feature in one night will be answered, and much more. If you are in Malta, come join us by booking your tickets now!

European cinema screening

Huge news for Friends, Foes & Fireworks in Malta! The film will have a special singular event screening at Spazju Kreattiv, the premiere cultural space in Valletta, Malta, on May 9th. The screening will be followed by a discussion and Q&A with directors Sarah Jayne and Ivan Malekin.

Tickets are now on sale through the cinemas website, at regular cinema prices. Catch this award-winning, completely improvised drama exploring relationships, love, friendship, and the truths we try but fail to keep to ourselves on the big screen. Book your tickets today.

First Impressions Released

Our latest micro-short First Impressions has just been released.

Mike West stars as Adrian, a man trying to move on with love and life after a messy divorce. He has a first date with Gabriela, a free spirited student played by Natalia Krekhtiak, but what type of impression will they make on each other? 

This is our second film as part of the Life Improvised series telling small human stories, entirely improvised, capturing the moments that make up relationships, the awkwardness, the joy, love, despair and more.

Check out a small 30 second teaser for First Impressions below and watch the whole film on the Life Improvised page here.

We filmed this in the beautiful Lower Barrakka Gardens in Valletta and are very grateful to all the cast and crew who helped get this made. We are happy with the result and are enjoying filming these small stories, working with new people, exploring the moments that make up life.

Enjoy First Impressions. And stay tuned for the next micro-short in the Life Improvised series.

Life Improvised Round 3

One last shoot before we left Australia was a given!

We booked a night at one of Melbourne’s premiere five star hotels just for the Melbourne skyline views and got some of our favorite crew members together to shoot improvised micro-short XChange, as part of our Life Improvised series.

The third in this ongoing series of YouTube exclusive shoots stars resident sex-columnist at Maxim Magazine and award winning actor Vanessa de Largie as Yvette, an over worked marketing manager in need of a release, who orders a male escort, played by up and coming TV actor Frank Fazio.

Everything on the night ran smoothly and we have the latest micro-short in the can. Stay tuned for it on our YouTube Channel and also on our Vimeo on Demand platform.