What a great screening!

Last night was a big success -- we had about 30 people show up at Raw Canvas (standing room only) to watch the screening, which went off without a hitch. 

We got a lot of GREAT feedback -- first in a lively discussion afterwards, and then poring over the feedback forms everyone had filled out for us. The feedback, overall, was very positive: the consensus seemed to be that the first half and the ending were working really well -- but that the film lagged at about the 2/3 mark. Laurie and I went out for beers afterwards and brainstormed a bunch of ideas on how to fix that... so now we're heading back into the edit bay to see if we can't iron out these last wrinkles over the next week.

Another thing that became clear to us during the discussion was that the audience was almost entirely Canadian; and since our intended audience (at least for the current PBS cut) is really American, we've decided to schedule another screening, for next weekend (1/31), down in Seattle. My next post will include more details for that screening... stay tuned!

DOC screens IE rough cut, day after tomorrow

I sit on the board of the Documentary Organisation of Canada, BC chapter (DOC-BC), which runs a monthly screening of local independent documentaries and works-in-progress. The "DOC-screens" committee has agreed to have their next event be a rough cut screening of The Insular Empire, at a very cool little cafe/artist space in Yaletown, called Raw Canvas. My fellow DOC-BC board member, Adelina Suvagau, has also agreed to feature the screening in her weekly show on Omni, Rompost TV.

I'm so excited! Laurie has been editing away for the past two months, and this will be the first public screening of her work on the film. We're really looking forward to getting feedback -- specifically on whether or not we should keep this longer version for festival distribution.

 

What better way to end 2008...

than with another finishing grant? This one from the Northern Mariana Islands Council for the Humanities, in the form of $10,000. News of the award came on New Year's Day -- what a great way to ring in the New Year!

The NMICH was instrumental in providing production funding, and now they are providing the last amount needed to complete the film. My heartfelt thanks go to NMICH acting Executive Director (and crack historian, AND former Peace Corps volunteer) Scott Russell, for his help in shepherding this project through to approval - twice!