Tape 31

I am about halfway through digitizing, currently tape 31 is in. Looking good! I have decided to import all the footage at low res and do an online later. I just didn't have the finances for enough drive space for all my full res footage, and I like to have everything on the drive to play with.

I do not know if it is too optimistic, but I am hoping to have my trailer cut before holiday vacation!

I am also beginning to devise a festival strategy, so wish me luck! I will keep you updated.

Haku Inoa: To Weave a Name

Amazing how much happens in two months. I have been back in New York for about three weeks since the trip to Hawaii. It was great to see everyone again, cousins, Mom, brothers. The boys (as I call my brothers) and I had a wonderful time. You can see a slide show of the family on flicker

Now that I have 60 hours of footage I think I am in a pretty good position. I just bought a 500 gig drive and am excited to start digitizing.

I also have a producer now. Johanna Voutounou, she is really committed to the project and I have known her and worked with her on all types of various projects over the last seven years. She is really going to keep me motivated. I definitely couldn't do it without her!

I have thought of a better title for the film as well. Haku 'Inoa: To Weave A Name. Let me know what you think about it.

Last week I met with Kehaulani Kauanui, who is an associate professor of Anthropology at Wesleyan and the host of the of the radio show called Indigenous Politics you can listen online. She has been very generous with introductions to other Hawaiian and indigenous filmmakers. It is very exciting to begin making contacts with so many other filmmakers!

Getting ready to go

So much has happened since my last post, sadly I was not awarded any of the grants that I applied for. But that doesn't change too much other than my shooting style. I went to Seattle in July with my friend and DP Leyla www.thejumpproject.com We visited my dad and brother Will and shot him playing with his band called The Ronz. This month I when to New Jersey to visit Nat and we played paintball with his roommates. I actually didn't do half bad considering that they are all military guys, but then again they were probably going easy on me :) In a few short weeks we will all be going to Hawaii. Very exciting!!! I am excited to see how everything and everyone has changed, and I hope that I can remember everybody's name! It has been so long

link to pic's

Here is a link to some pictures from our ho'ike last month:

Mahalo nui Peter!

fundraising

I have been getting more serious about learning about fundraising. I am vacillate between confidence and disappointment. Completely sure that I will get a grant one moment and completely convinced that I have no chance the next.

I have decided that I will spend every Wednesday evening at the Foundation Center here in the city.

I went there yesterday to a Fundraising for Individual Artists class they had yesterday. I felt a little ahead of the curve since I already have a fiscal sponsor. I had to leave early though because I went down to Women Make Movies for their secrets of PBS funding.

Linda Hattendorf the Director of the Cats of Mirikitani was there, as well as Heidi Reinburg. They handed out copies of their proposals, which was great, especially since I have seen the Cats of Mirikitani. I am learning very quickly how to write a great treatment. I think I did pretty well on the NYSCA grant, but more than anything I just want to hear back soon.

I also see now how I had an ice cube's chance in hell with the proposal that I wrote to ITVS. Perseverance is the word. It seems like the average number that I have heard to get your first doc on TV is about 5 years of begging.

Anyway different subject, I am sending a snippet of my film to Hasbro today, and hopefully they will give me permission to use the Scrabble board in my work. Then I can also start on the website.

I have also found a few more grants and foundations to apply to so... onward!

midnight last night

I have spent the last month or so, especially the last four days writing and obsessively picking at my grant proposal for NYSCA. I probably did about total re-writes and spent countless hours weeding out letters, changing with to for, so I eventually I could squeeze another meaningful phrase into the 2000 character max. I feel confident my effort and can't wait to hear back. It's nice to be able to put this one to bed, but I should really keep moving writing.

I talked to Anni on Sunday about helping me make the images for the website, and she said that she could help, and that Ryan could probably help me put together the site. since I am probably not going to be able to afford someone to put it together for me. When I mentioned a budget of $600 to the last woman I spoke to her voice made kind of a squeaking sound, so I thought better of hiring her.

On Monday I went to the Foundation Center Library to learn about their database. It was the first time I had been there. I am definitely going back, but right now it is so hectic, with preparing for the ho'ike.

I started my pa'u last night and hopefully I will finish it tonight and start on the top! I also have to take pictures of the process of making the top for some of the other haumana.

NYSCA info session

Last week I attended an information session co-sponsored by DCTV and IFP about applying to the NYSCA individual media arts grant. I think it very helpful, I learned that the way I was going about my proposal, essentially trying to be very academic and convince people that they movie was going to save the world is precisely the wrong thing to do. So, back to the drawing board. At least I have a very clear understanding of what they want, and how my project actually does fit into their organizations goals. I need to concentrate more on the story I am telling and less on how earth shattering it is going to be. I had gotten this advise already from another more experienced Hawaiian filmmaker already. I am really learning a lot.

I also ran into another filmmaker who I used to do camera work with named Mary, she is applying for a grant to do a follow-up based on her graduate thesis film. She also introduced me to a friend of hers named Josh who is working on a doc about a doctor in India who does free surgeries in India for children with cleft palates.

ho'ike

So it seems that pretty much everything is in place for our Ho'ike on May 13th. I am really excited about that. I have to get to work on making my pa'u we finally got our fabric on Sunday. Can't wait to post the pics.

Fiscal Sponsorship and more

I am happy to announce that Middle Names is now officially fiscally sponsored by IFP New York, so any donation that is given toward the film is tax deductible!

I have also been in contact with Edgy Lee Director and Producer of many great Hawaiian documentary films including Hawaiians: The Reflecting Spirit. She has agreed to act as an advisor on the film.

... sadly I didn't get any pictures of me at the Boston Underground Film Fest, I guess I was too busy having fun!

BUFF

Going to the Boston Underground Film Festival this weekend to see some movies, have some fun, and make some contacts. Wish me luck I will post some pictures when I get back.

ITVS Diversity Developement Grant

Wish us luck, I sent off the application today should be there well in advance of the deadline.

'Olelo Hawai'i

Yesterday we shot at the informal 'Olelo Hawai'i(Hawai'ian language) class that Kai, one of my fellow hula students has generously organized for us, to teach as much as he can to us before he goes back to Hawai'i. Thank you everyone for your support and allowing me to shoot the class. We learned more about using pronouns and 'a'ano (stative verbs) and talked about different meanings and translations of the song Adieu Mala'o. I need to get to work on memorizing the oli Kunihi ka mauna i ka la'i e. We also practiced our kahiko choreographies which sadly we don't get to practice together enough.

Also I am lucky to have three new people on the advisory board for the documentary. Including documentary filmmakers Edgy Lee (Filmworks Pacific) and Jeff Tushman (Documania) and photographer Cal Vornberger (The Birds of Central Park)

Another satellite enters the blogosphere

...so I have a livejournal that I don't really use, but now that I am starting this documentary project I actually have something people will be interested in reading. My film is about my two younger brothers and I reconnecting with our Hawaiian heritage through the catalyst of learning the meaning behind the Hawaiian middle names our mother gave to us when we were born. Each of our names are 50+ letters a piece. It's going to be an interesting ride.