The Long Haul I

Posted immediately below are details of a workshop I'm leading this coming Saturday - part of a series at Gibney Center curated by producer/cameraman/friend/performer Paul Galando.

Having followed this blog many of you are already familiar with the kinds of questions I ask.  On Saturday I hope to widen the conversation with folks who may not be so familiar - some who may even object to the strategy of my deserting dance film festivals.  So please send your friends, especially the argumentative ones! Tossing this ball around with others might enlighten me as well  - "the long haul" being something that I re-define quite regularly.

Speaking of long hauls, we officially wrapped production on my first feature-length film. Beginning in October 2015 Her Magnum Opus was shot primarily in the same location as the seasons changed from summer to golden fall, from winter wonderland to our final gorgeous rainy party last weekend.  With no real dialog but plenty of relationships expressed through movement, it features a cast of 18 extraordinary individuals from the age of six months to 84 years. 

[Aileen Passloff, Tina Vasquez & daughter Aya  screenshot: Charles Caster-Dudzick]

Over the past nine months I've collected a wealth of footage shot by several collaborators on camera: Jim Desmond, Charles Caster-Dudzick, Paul Galando, Cari Ann Shim Sham, Kal Toth, Ben Harley (with his drone) - even some of my own iPhone footage when there was a snowstorm that begged for coverage.

I've been editing it as I go, so it should be finished before the end of the year. And then it's time to market it - can you believe this is ME saying THAT? - to reach larger audiences, though I don't necessarily want to bite the screendance hand that has fed me. Maybe you can recommend a marketing/distribution genius? Or maybe I'll meet my  perfect champion at the workshop this weekend...

As for recent shorts, last month Besties screened at SENE Music, Films & Arts Festival in Rhode Island;  this month 890 Broadway showed in the First Iowa International Screendance Festival, and Honeymoon is an official selection of the Uptown Short Film Festival in Harlem, USA May 12-14 in a program of American Independent Narrative Shorts.