Reflections on the Way to the Capitol

Sitting on an airplane, en route to DC, I have the opportunity to catch my breath for a few hours, and to reflect on just how much we've accomplished over the past month. For starters, Laurie and I have carved out a 57 minute rough cut of the film -- something I thought couldn't be done -- and the proof is on three DVDs, safely tucked into the carry-on bags at my feet.

I've also updated our website (at long last, and with late-night help from my unbelievably helpful husband Nik). If you haven't checked it out lately, please do: www.horseopera.org. It's bare-bones, and nothing fancy, but it's clean and up-to-date. I'm hoping to work on a much bigger, richer website in the months to come...

Other accomplishments from the whirlwind of the last two weeks: I've nailed down a venue in LA for a fundraising screening next Sunday (more info on that in my next post), sent in two more funding applications, upgraded my organizational and financial systems, and finally found a good bookkeeper. I got a screening time at the AFSC/IPS  conference being held in DC this weekend (hence the flight I'm on), and I even managed to get my hair cut. I'll drink a toast (ginger ale and pretzel snacks, please) to the end of February... may March be just as productive, but a little less hectic!

As for what's up next... this is my first trip to DC in many years, and only my second trip to the US since Obama's election. I am curious to see how things may have changed in my absence. And part of me, lately, is very very homesick... I have been in Canada now for over four years, and I feel like my American identity is slowly fading. Here I am, making a film about what it means to be American, and I myself no longer know. So part of this trip will be trying to figure that out.

Three important things to know about Laurie

Since the Horse Opera website is in the process of being updated and doesn't yet include our whole team, I thought I'd just post a quick note here about one of the most valuable members of the Horse Opera crew: editor Laurie MacMillan.

Things to know:

#1: Laurie is a GREAT editor. She has taken my vision, and my overly long and complicated rough cut, and made it sing. WE LOVE LAURIE!

#2: Laurie has a great attitude. Here is a picture of Laurie, editing The Insular Empire in what has come to be known as "the world's smallest editing bay." And yet look how cheerful she is! Amazing.

#3: Laurie loves Trader Joe's -- maybe even more than I do -- and has been in severe withdrawal since her arrival here in Vancouver. Our recent trip to Seattle replenished her store of Trader Joe's Tom Yum cashews... let's hope they hold out until I can buy her more next month in LA...

Post-Seattle Update

I had meant to post something here prior to the Seattle screening, but things were just too crazy for that to be feasible. I'm happy to say, though, that we got the latest cut ready in time for the screening, and made it down to Seattle without a hitch. Our host Scott Lipsky was very generous and made his beautiful home on the West Seattle waterfront available for two screenings, which went quite smoothly.

Overall, the feedback was really useful. It looks like the changes we made in response to the Vancouver screening are working (no slow spots anymore - hooray!), and we got some really good feedback on ways to improve the look of the animation sequences. Most importantly, the audience, on the whole, seemed to GET the idea of the film.

What was interesting was that the idea itself -- the inherent complexity of the relationship between the Marianas and the US -- was hard for many viewers to accept. Similarly, our decision to give equal weight to each of the film's four characters (and their often conflicting viewpoints) seemed to make many of the mainland viewers uncomfortable. But I think this just goes with the territory. The Marianas ARE complicated, and their relationship to the US is extremely conflicted. This is not something most (non-indigenous) Americans have had to think about before. All the more reason we need to develop a really amazing website, that can help answer a lot of the questions the film raises.

And speaking of amazing websites... I should mention that I've started working with a really great designer here in Vancouver, Lara Kroeker, of Randomlink Interactive. I'm about to start a new fundraising campaign, to help pay for her services in creating the Insular Empire's digital outreach campaign.

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!

At last! Finishing Funds!

With joy (and great relief), I am happy to announce that The Insular Empire: America in the Marianas has received a $50,000 completion award from Pacific Islanders in Communications. PIC has been a long-time supporter of this project, providing Horse Opera with vital production funding back in 2003. With this new award, PIC is once again enabling us to move ahead, this time bringing the film to a fine-cut stage and preparing us to – finally – launch The Insular Empire out into the world. 

We are still looking for that last piece of funding, to pay for all the technical necessities you need to put a film on national PBS, and to pay for the film's distribution and outreach. (If you want to help us get there, please visit our site at reelchanges.org to make a tax-deductible donation.) But the light is now shining brightly at the end of the tunnel, and I am 100% confident that The Insular Empire will be completed in 2009. Si Yu'us Maase and Olomwaay to PIC, and to all of you who have made this impossible dream a reality!