Though this holiday period is a time for family and friends it can also be a difficult period. Sometimes, even when we are surrounded by people, we suffer alone. But the world still goes on.
Our latest Life Improvised micro-short Cry me a River captures that isolation and pain, dealing with one woman's sadness and grief in a public space. It's our shortest micro-short yet at 2 minutes. Filmed in Berlin, drafted and organised in a couple of days, and with additional extras (and dogs) approached to star in the film on the spot. Starring Kelsey Giles in a terrific performance, who you will also see in our feature film In Corpore in the near future. Watch below.
LesFlicks Love
Through our newsletters, particularly in reference to our feature In Corpore, we have harped on about the importance of finding a niche for your film and building an audience from the early stages of pre-production. We have been working on doing just this and learning 'how-to' for most of 2019.
By having In Corpore connecting with and following suitable accounts on Instagram, we piqued the interest of one account – LesFlicks. And now In Corpore is listed on LesFlicks film database.
LesFlicks is Europe's first dedicated lesbian film platform that supports and lists short and features films about lesbian and bisexual couples on their website, and they also use their online platform to distribute these films.
We have not signed In Corpore up for distribution, as we are still in the early stages of plotting our distribution map for the film, but having it listed on LesFlicks definitely puts our film in front of the right audience.
Check out LesFlicks here.
CBI Workshop in Basel
On Wednesday we will be jetting off to Basel, Switzerland to fill two director places as part of Robert Marchand's Character Based Improvisation Workshops, which take place all over the globe.
Lucky for us we were funded by the Arts Council Malta though the Professional Development Grant, which is covering a majority of the costs associated with this trip, thus allowing us to learn more improvised techniques for working with actors and developing scenes. We know this is going to be beneficial for us as the way Robert teaches is based on director Mike Leigh's method, which differ from our own process, so we excited about the possibly of utilising parts of what we learn when we direct To Hold the Moon.
Originally we were meant to be attending the workshop early this month in Berlin, but the German section of the tour never went ahead. Thus the offer to attend the Basel workshop from October 31st until November 5th was put on the table. As much as we were looking forward to returning to hip Berlin for a second time this year, we are looking even more forward to discovering a new country and meeting a new group of actors and directors committed to improvisation, plus learning from one of the top teachers of improv in the world, Robert Marchand.
You can find out more about the CBI workshops and Robert as a teacher through his website.
YouthMundus in November
Our educational film Daughter has been invited to be part of YouthMundus - A New Global Content & Music Festival Initiative for Youth, run and organised by a team of dedicated women who own and operate an international entertainment and media company, Inner Voice Artists (IVA).
Mid September, director Sarah Jayne and producer/ editor Ivan Malekin spoke with the Iva’s Founder & CEO Ina Petersen and Iva’s Head of PR Dijana Stupar, via a video chat in order for the IVA team to understand the background of the film and the final outcome we want for Daughter.
The chat was a success, with our goals for Daughter and IVA’s aligning perfectly - to use film to spread the message of how toxic violence against women and victim blaming is within our communities through the voice of today’s youth.
The first festival edition of YouthMundus runs from 14th to 17th November, 2019 at EX CASERMA GUIDO RENI in Rome, Italy, with Daughter screening in the humanity section of the festival, November 17th from 3.45pm, Short Film Screenings 6.
Tickets on sale now!
Our Lady in Netherlands
Some good news this month. Our first micro-short in the Life Improvised series has been selected into the MoziMotion Film Festival in the Netherlands, which runs from October 5th-13th. The improvised micro short stars local actor Marysia S. Peres as a woman waiting for her date at a Maltese festa, and was shot in Naxxar, right in the middle of the celebrations, marching bands, fireworks, spectacle. A lot of fun!
Summer Poster launch
Here it is, a first look at the second character poster for the feature film To Hold The Moon we are currently developing.
This is the character poster for Summer Alba, played by Australian actor Asleen Mauthoor, who is now based in London.
In the film, aspiring actor and playwright Summer is struggling in her career, with her one-woman theatre show failing to find an audience in London. So in an attempt to retreat into the arms of her lover, take her mind off work, and find herself again Summer spontaneously flies to Malta to join her partner Lucinda, an up-and-coming movie actor who is deep in pre-production for a cult-hit zombie film.
Summer, naive to the bad timing, clings to Lucinda and wants to know the future of their relationship, reaching for a way to rekindle the spark the pair once shared. Summer needs to deal with personal feelings of failure, lack of life direction, and faltering communication with Lucinda. But Summer's efforts to mend the cracked relationship prove more complicated than anticipated, and a heated new friendship in Malta confuses Summer further, leading her to new passions and heartaches, and, ultimately, new perspectives.
To learn more about To Hold the Moon visit the website here and sign up to the official film newsletter to stay updated with the behind the scenes news.
The poster was designed by Kathy Kennedy with photography by Kristian Pirotta and make-up by Mirjana Laferlita. We love it and hope you do too. If you do, share it around.
Short Film XChange Released
Shot in our beautiful home town of Melbourne and completely improvised, XChange tells the story of Yvette (Vanessa De Largie), a powerful business executive who is strung out from the demands of her high pressured position that leaves her in desperate need of sexual relief.
Yvette knows that money can buy most things, but after an exchange with a charming escort (Frank Fazio), she will discover that what she really needs cannot be bought.
WARNING - NSFW. Contains Nudity & Language.
This is our third micro short in the Life Improvised series, a collection of stories which focus on relationships, human interaction, and the small moments that make up life. All films are completely improvised.
And we were thrilled to work with actor, writer, and sex columnist Vanessa de Largie for the first time, who put on a terrific lead performance as Yvette, backed by Frank Fazio from In Corpore as the charming Escort. It was a reunion with some of our key crew from Melbourne too, including Stephen Ramplin from Friends, Foes & Fireworks as the DOP, and yet another collaboration with Gerard Mack, our go-to sound guru.
Hope you enjoy XChange. Be sure to share it around.
MADC ONE ACT PLAY FESTIVAL APPROACHES
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.
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.
GOZO FILM FESTIVAL WORKSHOP
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
FUNDED TO TAKE ON IMPROV IN BERLIN
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.
To Hold the Moon Poster
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.
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.
Beamafilm deal
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.
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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).
NPG & MADC MALTA
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!
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.
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.
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.
Daughter & Il KINO
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.
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)