Want to know how we shoot our improvised micro budget feature and short films with limited crew, budget and resources? On our Youtube Channel Micro Budget Madness we share all our experiences doing just that and more -- from festival tips, career advice, distribution, smart business practices and everything else in between!
Hit the notification bell to get a heads up when we post a new video.
ALL THE LATEST NEWS…
We just returned home from a three hour full technical rehearsal at MADC for our play Hush Little Baby, which is one of six plays taking part in this annual event. This years festival is set to be a beauty, kicking off on Thursday 5th until Sunday 8th September at the MADC Clubrooms in Santa Venera, Malta.
Get your tickets now!
Director Ivan Malekin leads the way in Valletta. Off to our technical rehearsal after collecting our prop balloons early Sunday morning.
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.
Our improvised teaching ride continues ! We were approached by Gozo Film Festival to teach an improvised filmmaking worksop for teenagers as part of this years festival.
It all kicks off at 11am until approx 2pm on the 25th of August, and best of all, it’s free!
Ivan and we will be teaching what we have learnt from directing, 'writing' and producing two feature films and a bunch of improvised micro shorts in this informative session, aimed at teenagers.
If you are in Malta or Gozo and know of teenagers who would be interested, tag them or share this around. We can't wait to get to Gozo. Big thanks goes out to Gozo Film Festival for having us.…
Check out the Facebook event were you can RSVP your seat, invite people along and share the event on social media by clicking here. Book ahead by messaging the Gozo Film Festival on FB or email them directly at: info@gozofilmfestival.com
Contract signed! Grant application successful!
Thanks to the Professional Development Grant from Arts Council Malta we will be going back to Berlin in October for five days to take part in an intensive workshop on Character Based Improvisation with Robert Marchand.
We are thrilled to have been chosen for funding and that the workshop generously held two spots for us as we awaited the results.
This year has been full of wonderful blessings and we now look forward to returning to Berlin to further refine our skills and love for improv in film.
We love this first character poster for To Hold the Moon!
This is Lucinda Lee, played by super talented Australian actress Whitney Duff.
In the film, Lucinda is a rising star actor playing the lead in a sequel to a cult hit zombie movie, which has catapulted her career into the spotlight.
However, Lucinda has to deal with the ugly side of fame and gossip and her own personal feelings of guilt about a past relationship with the director.
At the same time her relationship with her first same-sex partner Summer (Asleen Mauthoor) is stagnate, and when Summer follows her to the set in Malta to try and revitalize the relationship, the conflicting pressures of love, sexuality, fame, and career may prove too much for Lucinda to handle.
The poster was designed by Kathy Kennedy with photography by Kristian Pirotta and make-up by Mirjana Laferlita. And we couldn't be happier.
Check out more news about the film at www.toholdthemoon.com, browse the gallery, and sign up to the official newsletter to follow our progress as we develop this exciting project.
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.
Woop woop...a reason to clang those champagne glasses together... Friends, Foes & Fireworks is now on the Beamafilm library, and we are really thrilled with the news.
Our Australian distributor Bounty Films secured the deal for us and now our first improvised feature film takes a place next to our short educational film, Daughter.
Coming soon to accompany the film on the Beamafilm film resource page will a Q&A with us, the directors which will be used as an extra resource material to help sell the film. More news on that to follow.
⠀
Check out tFriends, Foes & Fireworks, a film about women's health, friendship, and a new years eve reunion that goes a little off the rails on Beamafilm now (Australia only).
Written by Sarah Jayne.
Our biggest surprise news of the month comes in the form of a new creative avenue for us as directors. Early June, The Malta Amateur Dramatic Club, or MADC as it is known locally was seeking creatives who want to move into directing a local one-act play here in Malta.
This is not a new program, the One-Act Play Festival happens each year and sees five directors working with screenplays submitted for judgement. The Festival is a collaboration with Teatru Malta, and will be held will showcased from the 5th to 8th September 2019.
Ivan Malekin and I applied for the position, asking if they would allow us to co-direct this year, but the proposal was dismissed. It was not all bad news however, as we were offered the last spot!
On accepting, we had to decide who would take on the role of director and who would take on the stage hand role. In the end it was decided between us that Ivan would direct and I would take on the role of assistant stage manager.
What will follow is allocation of plays to directors on Monday 24th May, auditions so we can cast our actors will take place in July 7th and the MADC Clubrooms will be available for rehearsals in the lead-up to the showcase in early September.
This is really exciting news for us as both Ivan and I have always dreamt of directing for the stage. We look forward to finding out which play we will assigned too and we can’t wait to get started in theatre!
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.
TO stay up-to date and get this news first, including images we have not shared here on the website, sign up to our Newsletter - Creatively Connected now.
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.
When Daughter screened in Berlin’s Il-Kino as part of Grrl Haus Cinema’s Screen your Film in Berlin Seminar’, it was a mainstream affair due to Il-Kino being a more traditional cinema setting with a single screen. The audience was a mix of the general public people who attended teh first screening at LoopHole for the same Seminar. It was a medium size crowd and the film selection was a mash up of traditional film, docos, and mix media video pieces.
On the big screen, the sound design from Mark Farrow was outstanding and really added an edge to the performances. Unfortunately the aspect ratio was incorrect, but that is something filmmakers have to deal with often. No questions came from the crowd to director Sarah Jayne, but host and curator of Grrl Haus cinema Anastasia did ask the director about her educational intent for the film.
Overall the experience was one ING and Sarah Jayne were proud to have had the opportunity of being part of. It’s always a thrill to have your work show to a neutral audience instead of your own film community and acquaintances, which was often the case at our Melbourne screenings.
Spreading the word about what you and your company do at any opportunity is something that we truly believe in.
TO stay up-to date and get this news first, including images we have not shared here on the website, sign up to our Newsletter - Creatively Connected now.
Sarah Jayne centre, with fellow filmmakers including the other program participant Adina from New York on the right.
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)
Our biggest news of the month comes in the form of a film festival selection for Daughter, our award winning educational short film starring Katherine Langford, which explores gendered violence and victim blaming. It is only fitting that Daughter is heading to Vancouver Canada to be part of the Women Deliver film festival, within the Women Deliver 2019 Conference as the event is the largest conference on gender equality and the health, rights and wellbeing of girls and women. The festival runs for three days from June 3rd - 6th.
Director and writer Sarah Jayne will not be in attendance, but instead she will work behind the scenes while in Berlin for another Daughter screening during May. In the hope of securing further screenings and opportunities, Sarah Jayne will promote the film's selection, reach out to organisations via email and social media to spread the word on the screening and the films overall educational importance.
Daughter is a short film just keeps on going. We are very grateful for the opportunities it's generated for Nexus Production Group, but more importantly we are always thrilled when it gets recognised, as the message needs to keep spreading in order for change to happen. For more about Women Deliver click here.
We were blown away when we were informed that London based high fashion and lifestyle publication The Bite Magazine not only reviewed two of our films - Friends, Foes & Fireworks and Daughter, but they also spotlighted the company. The article also discusses our move from narrative screenplays to improvised ones.
Check out our feature under the magazines The Film Review Directors Spotlight on page 128 of Issue 24 2019.
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!
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.
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.
We are strong believers in financially supporting filmmakers and artists, enabling them to generate a living from their art and continue producing work that matters. So when we heard about IndieFlix through an interview with founder Scilla Andreen on the Indie Film Hustle Podcast, we were excited to learn just how and why this US platform gives back to indie filmmakers and keen to join ourselves.
Now, we are thrilled and proud to say both Daughter and Friends, Foes & Fireworks have just been released on IndieFlix.
IndieFlix is run by filmmakers, so they get it – unlike Amazon, IndieFlix pay filmmakers for every minute their movie is watched so it is a win-win model that increases the filmmaker’s payout as the company expands.
Learn more about the IndieFlix model and browse the wide selection of film genres on their website.
NPG are happy to announce that writer / director Sarah Jayne is one of three artists selected to take part in GRRL HAUS CINEMA's 2 week intensive "Screen Your Film" seminar in Berlin with her short film Daughter.
GRRL HAUS is a space for underrepresented female voices in the arts today, with an emphasis on low budget and DIY artists, and their cinema program is celebration of women artists, showcasing works through ongoing programs, made up of short films and video art, created by women.
For GRRL HAUS’s monthly events a mix of local, national, and international artists present work from a variety of disciplines: narrative, documentary, experimental, and conceptual. And it is pretty much the same concept for the inaugural 2 week intensive "Screen Your Film" seminar in Berlin.
MONTHLY GRRL HAUS CINEMA SCREENING IN BERLIN - IMAGE GRRL HAUS CINEMA WEBSITE
Sarah Jayne will be attending in May from the 13th onwards, and during the two weeks, she has the chance to network at events set up by GRRL HAUS during the evening, explore Berlin and immerse herself in the city’s culture by day, shoot her own Life Improvised micro short and meet new people.
Two events Daughter and Sarah Jayne will be a featured part of are the main screenings - the first her own individually curated film screening (at a yet to be announced art space) where she has the chance to speak directly to the audience after the screening about the film. The second event is the main, GRRL HAUS CINEMA event, held at Il- Kino Cinema during the second week of the seminar, where all the artists take part in a Q&A after a screening of the films.
This experience is Sarah Jayne’s first major push of her work as am individual director, her first seminar and film networking event outside of Australia and an experience she, as well as NPG are looking forward to for many reasons.
Sarah Jayne hopes to document as much of her experience as possible, to create a small visual diary of sorts of her experiences. Of course, she will post regularly on her Instagram account. Let’s see if she can fit all this into her busy two week schedule.
Watch this space.
