MICRO BUDGET MADNESS

We absolutely understand that choosing to work with micro-budgets you have to be mad on some level - hence we named our educational YouTube channel Micro-Budget Madness! Don't get us wrong, being a micro-budget filmmaker is not a bad thing, it just means that you have to approach filmmaking with a DIY mentality.

Though this channel we break down how to produce, shoot and distribute micro-budget films with examples from our own micro-budget films, as well as mainstream films with a micro-budget element. We share all our experiences, from festival tips, career advice, distribution, smart business practices and everything else in between!

Want to know how we shoot our improvised micro budget feature and short films with limited crew, budget and resources?

Then you must check out the channel, subscribe and don’t forget to hit the notification bell to get a heads up when we post a new video.

A couple of hours ago the 13th annual Chagrin Documentary Film Festival announced it’s line up. It was so thrilling to see Cats of Malta on the list amongst a selection of global films in the International Documentary section. This will be the films US premiere.

It’s been a while since we celebrated or even participated for that matter in large film festivals, (read about why here), but we are glad that Cats of Malta is the film to bring the love for festivals back for us. The family-friendly cat film is sure to lighten the mood, as documentaries are often discussing topical real life issues and social justice events. All we have to offer is a fun cat movie.

NPG can’t wait to get to Ohio, where we plan to visit or the whole festival and network with the audience and other filmmakers. The filmmakers will also be taking part in a 20 min Q&A after the film screens at 1pm on October 8th.

Cats of Malta amongst the International Documentaries for the 13th Annual Chagrin Film Festival offical selections — What we have to look forward to.

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.