Blaming George Romero: October 2011

Last week, we had our latest festival... This week, I want to fill you in on some opportunities to see what the cast and crew of BGR are up to now. Most of the BGR cast/crew worked on Red Scare, which should see its premiere in January 2012, but that's not all!

Loarina Gonzalez & Miriam Cortez: will be ASM'ing and AD'ing "Status Quo Vadis" at NJCU's West Side Theatre October 27th-29th & November 3rd-5th at 7:30pm. Free admission!

Congratulations to Sound Maestro, Joey Mosca, upon the successful filming (and funding) of his short film, Dark Wings. Also in the cast are BGR's Dan Gregory, Aaron Visco, and myself. Look for this short film to premiere directly in front of Red Scare at the first Red Scare screening (January 2012).

2/4 of the band Nothing But Robots wrote songs for BGR, and 1/4 of the band helped to record some of that. They will be having two shows coming up. On October 29th, they will be playing at Digiorgios Bar in Bayonne at 10pm. On Thursday, November 10th, they will be playing at the Whiskey Bar. Go to their facebook page to give them a listen and to stay updated on upcoming shows: http://www.facebook.com/nothingbutrobots.

Eva Visco will be performing in "Josefina & Minerva" 12/7 and 12/10 at 9pm and 12/11 at the Mnahattan Repertory Theatre. Check out www.manhattanrep.com for more details.

John Trigonis has been quite busy since BGR. His short film, Cerise, has been making the rounds at various film festivals throughout the world. He has just completed another short film, Mating Dome, which is in Post Production now. AND he has a book deal in "The Tao of Crowd Funding," a must read for anyone looking to crowd fund their projects. You can follow his adventures at http://johntrigonis.com/.

Another festival completed! The Golden Door International Film Festival is over, and as far as I am concerned, it was very successful.

The weekend started with an Opening Night Gala at the Loews Theatre in Journal Square. What a beautiful space! I can't believe I have never been there before. It was a nice night, and well set up, and I got to meet Paul Sorvino.

BGR screened on Sunday, and I was really happy with how it went. I actually haven't seen the movie in full since the February screening (I don't count the Bergenfield Film Festival, because it didn't play all the way through.) I gotta say, I was a little nervous... Not for crowd reaction, but for my own. I am far enough removed that I think I can give a pretty honest opinion of the movie now. And I liked it. I really do. Is it perfect? Not at all. I wish we had the cameras that we used on Red Scare when we filmed BGR; I think that alone would have made a much better movie. There are places I can nitpick, moments when I thought that I really could've trimmed a bit more of the talky talky, but those are just nitpicks. BGR is very much the movie I wrote for better or worse... and I like it. What's more, our crowd liked it too... And not just family and friends, but complete strangers... So, that is pretty cool, and a nice little validation of how we spent summer 2010. BGR is not for everybody, but it does have an audience that both appreciates and enjoys it.

I have to thank everyone who made it out to see the film (some for the 3rd or 4th time). I know people are busy and life gets in the way, and some people just flat out don't want to attend events like this... But the people that do make it worthwhile. I love making movies, but if there is no one to appreciate that, it kind of dilutes the whole experience.

Also, mighty big thanks to everyone at the Golden Door International Film Festival, specifically Bill Sorvino who put the thing together and did a fantastic job of things. I hope the GDIFF lasts for years and years to come, and I will gladly submit Red Scare in the hopes of getting into the fest again.

That is two festivals down. We got rejected from some, and we have some more to hear from. Who knows what'll happen? Maybe we'll get into some more, maybe we top out at 2... I don't know. It's gonna be fun to see though.

A final thought on this and all festivals... I have met people along the way... Other film makers who are just happy to be doing what they are doing... And I have met film makers who think that an entire festival should be all about them and their movie. The latter is a bit sad to me... I know I only make films because I love it, want to share my ideas with people, entertain, and maybe (hopefully) get to the point where I can do this for a living. When I see someone who is in it just for the praise or attention? There is something profoundly wrong with that as far as I can see. Maybe that is naive of me, but that is where I am at.

Regardless, it has been a hell of a ride, and I am happy to enter this whole film festival scene without thinking that it is all about me and my movies, but rather about all film makers who are trying to do the same thing. We got in this because we love it... I did, anyway.

Th-th-that's all for now.

Peace and also Love,

Sam