Film Focus #10

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PHOTOGRAPH FOR “The Tent” - TAKEN BY photographER: Chris Mac

ES EUROPE EDITION VALENCIA & WARSAW 2021 ISSUE: 10

BEHIND EVERY STORY LIES THE MINDS BEHIND A VISIONARY FILMMAKER THE TENT Turn To Page 4 for an interview with the director and cast of the award-winning Detroit, Michigan film

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Welcome to our combined East & South 2021 International Film Festival.

Congratulations to all that have entered their projects, once again we would have loved to have hosted this physically and to have been meeting and enjoying the company of all the filmmakers and scriptwriters who would have made the trip to join us, sadly the situation with Covid still making travel very difficult, has again forced us to hold an on-line event.

Combining two festivals has made for an even more interesting event as of course the number of entries has increased dramatically, thus making the selection process even more difficult! We are delighted to be hosting online networking events along with a wonderful selection of industry panels that includes “The Film Festival Dr Rebekah Louisa Smith” & “Filmdoo” who will be there to offer their expert advice with free panels, as well as networking and a quiz night across the week!

The last (nearly) 2 years has once again taught us so much about determination, sensitivity, adapting and the power of community and support. These are all attributes that we know creative’s have in abundance and take with them to any project. Now more than ever our wonderful industry needs to remain positive and showcase the talent of all genres to the world so we can see independent film thrive and as many people reached as possible.

We’ve made it our mission to support, encourage and to connect creative minds from across the globe and to bring them together at festivals across Europe.

Independent filmmakers and creative’s need independent film festivals and film festivals certainly need you so your support is truly appreciated.

As always, the films, scripts and creative entries that were submitted to this festival have been of the highest quality, so very well done for your official selection and the quality of work that you entered. We know how much effort and dedication goes into every aspect of making a film or script writing and this is why we recognise such a wide range of categories with our festival nominations.

We have been fortunate enough to connect with a number of industry professionals ranging from UK and international

FILM FOCUS IS PUBLISHED BY FUSION FILM & MEDIA EUROPE LIMITED Steve Grossmith Editor & Co-Director steve@fusionfilmfestivals.com Dan Hickford Festival Coordinator & Co-Director dan@fusionfilmfestivals.com Stephen Mina Graphic Designer/Illustrator & Head of Technical mina@fusionfilmfestivals.com

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the publisher and it is the sole responsibility of the supplier of this said material to ensure that they have the right to use all text and images that we use. By publishing in this magazine you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Fusion International Film Festivals and Fusion Film & Media Europe Limited and their agents, from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to all legal fees, and any and all court costs) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, defamation, slander & disputed data.

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distributors, expert marketing consultants, production houses, VOD platforms and Film Commissions who are keen to support our network of filmmakers at festivals whether physical or virtual.

Thank you to our Festival Jury for supporting us and our wonderful filmmakers, script writers and media and content creators. Their feedback and diligent work allows us to recognise our winners in an honest and transparent way.

With Fusion, our hearts and passion for what we do is immeasurable and we would like to thank Stephen Mina who has taken on such a huge role in adapting our Fusion brand for an online event. We have been producing festival interviews, podcasts, Fusion + profiles, Green Room interviews, Film Focus, online screenings and all of our online visuals. Stephen is a huge part of this that gets all of that in place, we thank you greatly.

Our small team here at Fusion have worked hard to keep positive and keep focused. The main source of that focus and energy is working as hard as we can for each and every one of you. You might not know it but you truly have been and continue to be our saviours. Without you we wouldn’t have the dreams and aspirations we have.

Colin and Laura Graham our festival ambassadors - we thank you eternally for sharing our passion and supporting us in our adventure.

We hope that you enjoy your virtual time with us and hope soon that we can finally meet again in person and share some wonderful festival memories.

Take care and all of the best for Christmas & the New Year!

Steve & Dan

Kyle Couch

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The Tent An apocalyptic event known as the Crisis has devastated David’s world leaving him to rely on survival tactics learned from childhood. Isolated and alone, David has taken refuge in a tent on the edge of the wilderness. Soon enough, another survivor emerges, Mary, who immediately begins questioning David’s tactics and ultimately putting them in the crosshairs of “Those Who Walk In Darkness”, unseen creatures that may or may not be responsible for the Crisis.

A Feature Film

By Kyle Couch

This astonishing film written and directed by Kyle Couch features two standout performances by Tim Kaiser – who also produces - and Lulu Dahl.

Here we are delighted to introduce all three for a fascinating interview.

FF: Thanks so much to all of you for taking the time to be part of this interview! Straight to you first Kyle and let’s just start by saying that the acting from Tim & Lulu is extraordinary – would it be fair to say that the pressure was on them in as much as so much of the film focuses on their two characters.

Kyle Couch: Thanks for having us and yes I definitely think that a large part of this movie rested on the shoulders of Tim and Lulu’s performances.

While I knew this would be a twohander for the most part, I never wanted them to feel pressure as much as feel the reality of their characters’ situations. I had worked with them previously on a short film and they just had such great natural chemistry. With that experience I knew that at one point I wanted to work with both of them again, in a bigger capacity. When the concept and idea for this film arose I really ES EUROPE ONLINE EDITION WARSAW & VALENCIA 2021

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wanted to make something that was personal and it really took two people of whom I feel I know personally.

To me it was pretty obvious that Tim and Lulu were perfect for the emotional weight this movie carried and when I approached both of them with this, they both signed on almost immediately. I think they both saw what I was attempting to build and they wanted to help me build it in a big way!

FF: And with your involvement Tim, did the producer side of it happen before you signed on to play the part of David?

Tim Kaiser: Kyle pitched this to me in the spring of 2017 and he told me of this idea and this dream he had and this film all kind of evolved from this dream. As I got to know Kyle more, it coincided with the situation with Kyle and his dad and originally I signed on as an actor. Then, as we got deeper into it, Kyle passed the script to me and then we started kicking around some ideas that on a low budget it was favorable but as we went through it, it was a case of who would play opposite me and hands down, I had had such a wonderful acting experience with Lulu. She is super talented and to me it was a no brainer. She is just incredible and now we’re trying to figure out what our next project will be and how can we involve her again!

FF: Hi Lulu, the film looked quite tough to make as a lot of it is shot outside, was it quite a challenging environment to work in?

Lulu Dahl: Not really, because everyone working on this film was just so professional. For instance, we had wonderful production assistants and an awesome Executive Producer in Nancy Lynette Parker that made sure everyone remained warm and fed and honestly everything went like clockwork. I just really enjoyed being outside, being in nature although we did have pretty extreme weather at times and although it was tough, it really was a lot of fun!

FF: For both Lulu and Tim – because most of the film is around both of your characters how much of a challenge was that?

Lulu Dahl: Luckily I come from a theatre background so you generally know if something is hitting or not pretty early on. So the main thing is – just be authentic – and I think 90% of it is just listening and then responding authentically. Also, and I think again this comes from working in the theatre, just try not to be too over the top because honestly, the camera can pick up the most subtle of eye movements and it’s true that “less is more”.

Kyle Couch, Tim Kaiser and Lulu Dahl

Tim Kaiser: Well straight off we have this natural chemistry between us and I’ve got three daughters and my character is this older guy where the character of Mary could be my daughter. It was a case of looking at Lulu as a composite of my family and honestly she is one of the best scene partners I have worked with over a number of years.

FF: For you Kyle as the director / writer and as I mentioned earlier where you were working in pretty tough conditions how challenging did you

find it to try and bring everything together?

Kyle Couch: I think in that kind of situation you have to plan for the best and expect the worst. A couple of times it was really tough, I remember we had some pick up shots where it rained and we were literally looking at our phones minute by minute where we were thinking well maybe we can find a window where we can go out and film a scene. Then of course you have the continuity issue where the weather changes like that and all of a sudden you have things like wet leaves vs dry leaves, which is an issue. Then that impacts the actor’s hair and make- up which

becomes time consuming in itself. One of our crew members, Erik Pedersen, who sadly passed away recently, was amazing for helping out with things like that with the actors, where they could go to his car to warm up between takes and decompress if they needed to. For the crew however, you’ve got to remember that once an actor finishes a scene and goes and warms up, they can’t stop because they’re away preparing and setting up for the next scene. So we really just had all around work horses who worked behind the scenes to constantly push the vision and the schedule forward and I couldn’t think of a more professional and lovable crew that I ever worked with.

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Tim Kaiser and Lulu Dahl

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FF: And was the finished film pretty much how you hoped it would be?

Kyle Couch: There were parts of the film that were definitely on the money and other parts of it that shifted through editing. I remember I wrote an initial script and I showed it to Tim and he is a deep thinker and he’ll look at it and say this is good or maybe you could just adjust this and then, a couple of days later, he’ll call you back and say I’ve been thinking about your script for the last two days and perhaps we should try something like this. When it comes to filmmaking I know you need a good script and story ES EUROPE ONLINE EDITION WARSAW & VALENCIA 2021

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and vision, but you also need to leave room to involve the actors and editors and cinematographers and everyone else. It has to become their film just as much as yours. Without that, no one is having fun anymore and it becomes stale, and worse, not fun. The film is no longer just yours. It becomes an entire team’s baby and that’s really what you hope for and should aim for.

In the initial writing stages, Tim had this great idea, which really changed the nature of the story’s resolution. My initial response was that I didn’t know if I liked that idea but he challenged me to write it anyway. Those last 25 to 30 minutes didn’t just change the story but became a therapy session for me because they are literally verbatim

what I went through as a child with my own father but with Lulu playing the part of me. It became such an emotional experience and I remember after writing that I showed it to Tim and we knew from that moment, OK this is the direction were heading in, this had impact and resolve that felt meaningful and earned. It changed ultimately the movie at its core to becoming something far more personal which gave us both a real sense of purpose with this film moving forward.

FF: With so many people involved putting together this feature film did it feel like an out of body

A STILL TAKEN FROM THE FILM: “THE TENT” - Tim Kaiser and Lulu Dahl

experience when you look back?

Lulu Dahl: I think so definitely, you know once the editing comes into play and the color grading and music and even down to a couple of added scenes that might not of been expected, it’s weird because even though I was there and that’s me it’s kind of like watching a movie that you’ve never seen. Of course you kind of know pretty much how everything will go because you’ve read the script but you don’t really know and then the edit plays a huge part, which adds so much more ambience, and it becomes this super heightened reality.

Tim Kaiser: As I lived through the

character and because of this Covid-19 pandemic that we have all sadly been through, Lulu has this one line that she says “where were you when the crisis began”? And it just stuck in my head. When I saw this original script I had a real hard time wrapping my head around an apocalyptic film and the whole world going into a crisis and I couldn’t see it and I thought we all lived a stable life and now with what we’ve been through with Covid, well, this movie that Kyle wrote, it could be a reality – with David hiding and so on – and that’s without giving too much away.

Kyle Couch: I think Tim is absolutely right and when it came to release this film

through festivals and distribution it was right in the middle of our world’s own kind of apocalypse. You can’t plan for that stuff, and it became relevant in its own way. I don’t personally like the word apocalypse because to me that’s like a complete meltdown, but I like the word crisis because it is a crisis where somebody has to deal with something that truly rocks their world in a sometimes devastating and profound way. It’s in these crisis-like events that we learn to grow, heal, and sometimes come alongside each other, and if anything, I hope The Tent can move someone a little closer to realizing that and maybe ask for help if they find themselves in a crisis of their own.

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Erik Pedersen

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Erik Pedersen – A tribute.

He always showed up.

Erik Pedersen was the heart of The Tent’s cast and crew. He was involved from the very beginning in the making of this film, sharing his creative thoughts and also helping figure out the logistics of shooting in the middle of nowhere at night, which often proved difficult. From electrical to data management to even comforting those who were frigid from the cold October weather by having his car heated up and their music of choice playing in the background. He was always early to set and would be one of the last ones to leave, helping as much as he could setting up and striking the set for the day. He was always there when we needed him, he always showed up. He did all of this while also having to go to his job during the day and spending time with his family on the weekends. Simply put, he was unstoppable. The plan was to build a film crew that could move from project ES EUROPE ONLINE EDITION WARSAW & VALENCIA 2021

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to project with the same, passionate, competent, film buffs on every set, from pre-production all the way to post.

As soon as Erik became involved with The Tent, it was evident that this was possible as long as they had that same love and passion Erik so amazingly exemplified.

Unfortunately on March 3, 2021, Erik passed away unexpectedly from natural causes. The film had completed post and was enjoying its PR and film festival campaign when we heard the news. Not only were we shocked but an instant sadness impacted each and every crew member in their own way. Everyone had a personal story with Erik on set to remember and look back on. Just seeing how Erik impacted our little film family, we couldn’t imagine what his true family was going through, his parents, David and Kay Pedersen, his brother Matt (Tina) Pedersen, his nephew Wyatt Pedersen, his niece Hadley Pedersen, his sister Brooke (Tom) Cummings, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Erik was a son, brother, uncle, cousin, nephew, and dear friend. As far as all of us on The Tent crew are concerned, our little idea of having the same crew move from project to project is still a go, even more so now in memory of our brother and friend. His memory will live on in everything we do and it will live on in The Tent, may every independent production have an Erik on set. So the next time you check out our little independent film, just remember, on the other side of that camera, is a man whose heart was so big, it kept us going into the nights. A man who inspired us to keep pushing even when it hurt, to always think of others and not take ourselves TOO seriously, and to ALWAYS show up.

We love you Erik forever and always, Love, The Tent Cast and Crew https://www.facebook.com/SurviveTheTent/ Feature Film Runtime 84 Minutes

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Love Is Not Love

In this Romance of fantasy, Fate, and yearning, impressive rearscreen projection and pearly black and white cinematography take you into the heart of early December, New York City.

Passing pedestrians vent domestic dissatisfactions as Joelle, the Narrator, begins the story of Frank, 60’s, an Everyman blinded by his fantasies. He walks behind two Irish Construction Workers who dissect the myth of Tristan and Isolde.

A Feature Film

By Stephen Keep Mills

In a museum line, Frank turns to face a beautiful stranger. She walks away. Frank gives chase. She is Reyna, an escort. Their love grows. Each is married. On his birthday, she asks to be a couple in the world not just in her bed. She reveals her true name and confesses her need to be desired, but their story comes to the dead-end of truth as they realize their lives cannot succeed in fantasy.

Frank’s 30-year marriage to Paula has become surreal. He takes out the garbage and becomes Sisyphus. Their marriage has become a stage play.

He’s the beggar, she’s the Queen. For morning coffee, Paula-as-Prosecutor lays out the case that he’s the last person she wants to get her naked.

Paula confronts Frank in their kitchen at night. He tells her a “true” story about a fictional “Franco” who fears death, unable to use his masculinity to survive. On Valentine’s Day, he tells her his dream where he becomes invisible.

The Irish Construction Workers compare Valentine’s Day to the Massacre. They put money in Joelle’s box. She rewards them as they meet two Irish women buying a sandwich at Mohammed’s street cart. They recite the lyrics of a childhood lullaby and are delivered from isolation. Frank walks alone in Central Park, as old as the leaves that fall behind him.

The style of the film evokes the Nouvelle Vague films of the 60’s. “I want to put the viewers in situations they recognize without dropping the breadcrumbs to tell them how they got there.”

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Since its premiere in 2020, Love is not Love has screened in 124 festivals, won 159 awards, and garnered 61 nominations across 28 countries. It is distributed by Random Media.

How do you truly get a sense of this incredible movie? Well, Film Focus was lucky enough to be able to host a group interview with a number of key people involved in this production: Stephen Keep Mills (director, writer, producer & lead actor), Tonya Cornelisse (lead actress & narrator), Karen Glienke (editor & sound design), Steven Fadellin (cinematographer), Michael Philpot (costume designer) & Louise Martin (lead actress).

FF: Hi everyone and thank you so much for organising and taking the time to chat with Film Focus about this amazing piece of work!

Stephen, I’m going to come to you first…you have a CV that’s the size of my house but where on earth did this movie come from and what’s the story behind this brilliant film?

Stephen Keep Mills: You know if you’re going write something or create something it has to have conflict in it. It’s a story of division really between the domestic and the erotic, the main character who I’ve sort of

mythologised as a modern day Tristan is a wanderer, he’s trying to find completion but he’s divided between the character of “Reyna” who is an escort and his wife Paula who is the hearth or the fireplace of home. So for my character Frank it’s an unsolvable problem and that carries right to the end because he’s by himself, he’s still questing. The character of Joelle says it so well at the beginning, he’s broken and I think if I can draw a parallel between Anais Nin and her great novel “A Spy In The House Of Love”* it’s where our wishes and needs become particularised, so we go to this person for this thing and this person for that thing and there’s no unity and you cannot get satisfaction in a unified way and so the story came from a sense of division.

FF: Was there a moment of ignition where this story or idea suddenly hit you?

Stephen Keep Mills: Actually no, it’s a gradual thing it’s an accumulation – you look at your life and you add up who you are - then you kind of

FF: Were always amazed when any filmmaker wears so many different hats: producer, director, writer, actor – did you feel the pressure (particularly as it’s a feature)?

Stephen Keep Mills: Well, it required a lot of preparation and I’m glad that I worked with people who were into that. The actors were willing to rehearse, the cinematographer Steven Fadellin was willing to come to those rehearsals and take pictures almost like a real life storyboard so it was like a complete involvement so not like a 31 day start to finish sprint and in fact we did it over the course of a year and a half. We divided into a group of scenes, the Paula scenes, the Reyna scenes, the Joelle monologues into separate time groups so when they came to it we were ready. There was

no rush on this film but there was no dawdling either, the editor Karen & I took about 18 months to edit this together and I remember turning to Karen and saying well it’s finished and I don’t know what to do now and she said well, this is where you want to be and it felt very strange as I hadn’t had that up until then!

FF: Many thanks for that Stephen and now I just wanted to move on to Tonya who plays the part of Joelle – and to give us an idea of being asked to also be the narrator – which in itself is quite unusual?

Tonya Cornelisse: You know it’s weird, every time someone said that you’re the narrator I never looked at it that way, I looked it more as kind of like this entity or guide. When you watch the film you’ll see that it’s not some kind of constant narration or that I just bookended, I just pop in where Stephen’s character Frank needs a little guidance and I think

my guidance is quite special, but I’m not sure everyone will agree with Joelle’s guidance! She’s really a strong personality with strong opinions but every time I interject myself into this world it’s when it’s necessary and each character, each iteration, each monologue is extraordinarily specific and that’s whether I’m in a cat suit or ball gown and frankly you should just watch this film for Michael Philpot’s costumes! I know that this might sound a bit crazy but I almost looked at it like “It’s A Wonderful Life!” with the angel Clarence who guided Jimmy Stewarts character George, even though Stephen and I weren’t physically in a scene together I looked at it that way almost.

TONYA CORNELISSE AS JOELLE. DIR. STEPHEN KEEP MILLS. IMAGE COURTESY OF TRISKELION ENTERTAINMENT.

go back and figure out how you got here and what do you do about it!

So I think in many ways I just found myself boxed in or in a corner and that’s usually when you have to ask questions.

FF: I just wanted to ask Louise and I know it’s probably a bit of a cliché but when you play a character like Paula how do you prepare?

Louise Martin: You know I think that there’s a lot of crossover, when Stephen casts his women he casts

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really well and I think that the essence of Paula is in there, so I always prepare and I look at what is available to me and what is not.

And what is not is what I do the work on to bring to life. For me it’s just a process that I use to prepare for a role and you just use your intuition and channel whatever is up there.

We work-shopped it in this group that Stephen, Tonya and I were part of and I actually worked on the character of Paula before the role was even offered to me which really was a blessing and I looked at it like a blank slate and there are essences of Paula that are in me already. I’ve actually been in over 60 theatre plays and always prepare in the same way and I guess that being in theatre does give you an advantage when you’re preparing for a film role and in fact we rehearsed it like it was theatre production and rehearing with the DP Steven Fadellin was a huge bonus as you never normally get that!

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FF: And a brilliant segue to chat to the cinematographer Steven Fadellin, and apologies as its kind of two questions in one….shooting in black and white and the look – which kind of looks “noirish” how did they both come about?

Steven Fadellin: So we had been doing screen tests as we had been rehearsing and a lot of things were done in stills and Stephen Keep Mills and I had a lot of references and it actually came down to one photo. There was a photo of a man walking down a dirt road and it was in black and white and there was something about it, all the environment was removed and you were just drawn to the man. And I remember after that, I just changed some of the pre-production stills

to black and white and there was a close up of Stephen and you were pulled straight into his face and when I showed Stephen the picture of the man walking down the road, he loved it. Originally of course the film was meant to be in colour and we felt it out, Stephen had sent me a lot of stuff from the 40’s and 50’s for reference and for me I come from a different generation and so, when I was doing my pre-production it kind of sprang at me, why don’t we just lean into what we’re going after. It was really interesting because a lot of those films from that era….well I hadn’t seen them and it was a style that I loved and the older techniques and with the modern touch I tried to embrace them. Also, you have to be careful, when you go for that noir look there is a fine line where if you go too heavy it becomes like this gritty detective movie so you’re kind of pushing it into that and still trying to keep it stylistic and at the same time a romantic drama.

TOP RIGHT: Yamil Eric Cruz as Arlecchino.

LOWER RIGHT: Stephen Keep Mills as Frank. Dir. Stephen Keep Mills. ALL ImageS courtesy of Triskelion Entertainment.

TOP LEFT: Alejandra Gollas as Reyna.

LOWER LEFT: Cameron Tagge as Construction Worker 2 and Russell Simpson as Construction Worker 1.

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TOP RIGHT: Carson as Mr. Mini.

LOWER RIGHT: Alejandra Gollas as Reyna. Dir. Stephen Keep Mills. ALL ImageS courtesy of Triskelion Entertainment.

TOP LEFT: Russell Simpson as Construction Worker 2, Tonya Cornelisse as Joelle, and Cameron Tagge as Construction Worker 2.

LOWER LEFT: Louise Martin as Paula.

FF: Many thanks Steven and moving onto Karen Glienke who is the editor & sound designer, if I could first ask you how do you go from scratch to thinking about the sound for a movie?

Karen Glienke: Well firstly the production sound was excellent and we really went through it scene by scene and what sounds can we bring in to amplify this moment and the whole opening of the New York city street we want it really alive. And the sounds of New York City, it can be abrasive and it’s a harsh world and in other scenes it needs to be subtle – just the sound of the door closing – and really you’re always thinking, what can add more life to this? The composer Kinny (Landrum) well his score was absolutely incredible and

we were adding just layers and layers of audio that we were just building and building and actually did the sound design after the editing was finished. But the thing is we were thinking about it all through the production, OK what do need to bring in and we used sound libraries and we were pulling sounds that Stephen had made in New York so it’s really authentic and that’s why it feels so real.

FF: I know that sometimes it can be tough working directly with the director but how was it working with Stephen on the edit for this film?

Karen Glienke: We worked very closely and honestly it was a great relationship and I’ll say that for this more than anything that I’ve ever worked on we were able to be

very faithful to the original script.

Everything was shot so well and was so well planned we didn’t have to eliminate any scene. Of course we had to play around with certain shots or sequences but it was a lot of fun to have so much good material to work with.

FF: A warm welcome to the costume designer, Michael Philpot! Michael, what’s the brief – how do you go about planning / executing for the costumes?

Michael Philpot: Working with Stephen was amazing and working with him directly is such a blessing as you get a really good feel for the look that they want. Occasionally he would talk about a particular scene and I would go off into a sort of glazed stare but actually I was seeing

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the scene in my head. Then I had to recreate what I would see in my head in conjunction with what he wanted.

What I really loved about working on this film is that all the way through – it wasn’t singular or the same look throughout the film – it had highs and lows and it had this spirituality so it was like doing this schizophrenic film! I mean I was all over the place and that’s really me and I really love jumping back and forth to different things. I’ve worked with directors and especially writers before and for them it’s all about the written word but with Stephen, he’s a visionary and you could see the different ES EUROPE ONLINE EDITION WARSAW & VALENCIA 2021

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thoughts and the different aspects and he wanted to bring things forward, he wanted to bring it to life.

I mean it goes from period pieces, to fantasy pieces to drama and with Stephen he didn’t micro manage which was such a blessing!

FF: The final question is back to you Stephen.

Imagine for a moment that I’m Mr.Spielberg and I’ve come to you remake “Love Is Not Love” but you can only be the

director, writer, producer or actor. Which would you choose and why?

Stephen Keep Mills: Instantly, I’d be the director because I would be able to give more detail. Remember if you are acting and directing on a movie you’re neglecting the other actor which is why I had to hire great actors. So I think that directing is more fulfilling and really you get to tell the whole scope of the story. https://www.triskelionent.com/ Feature Film 95 mins

TOP RIGHT: Louise Martin as Paula, Alejandra Gollas as Reyna, and Stephen Keep Mills as Frank. / MIDDLE RIGHT: Alejandra Gollas as Reyna and Stephen Keep Mills as Frank.

LOWER RIGHT: Russell Simpson as Construction Worker 1, Stephen Keep Mills as Frank, and Cameron Tagge as Construction Worker 2 Dir. Stephen Keep Mills. Image courtesy of Triskelion Entertainment.

TOP LEFT: Louise Martin as Paula. / MIDDLE LEFT: Sharon Powers as Judge and Louise Martin as Paula.

LOWER LEFT: Jeff Sable as Romanian Husband and Sharon Powers as Romanian Wife.

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Original Mural for film poster. Venice, CA. Courtesy of Wyatt Mills.

* A Spy in the House of Love is a 1954 novel by Anaïs Nin. Alongside her other novels, Ladders to Fire, Children of the Albatross, The Four-Chambered Heart and Seduction of the Minotaur, it was gathered into a collection known as Cities of the Interior. The novel follows the character of Sabina, a woman who enjoys the sexual licence typically associated with men. Sabrina wears extravagant outfits and deliberately avoids romantic commitments. She pursues sexual pleasure in isolation of any other romantic attachment. In 1950s New York, protagonist, Sabina, pursues her sexual desires. She calls a random number from a bar in the middle of the night, seeking to confess or find solace in the voice of a stranger. The stranger happens to be a lie detector who proceeds to follow Sabina in her activities throughout the novel. Her various love interests and her relationship with her husband, Alan, without whom she feels she cannot live, make her life more and more complex. The level of deceit her hedonistic lifestyle forces her to maintain leads her to regard herself as “an international spy in the house of love”.

Courtesy Wikipedia

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Eddie Torres

Film Composer | Music Producer | Musician Eddie has once again been a huge part of a nominated film at Fusion’s latest film Festival having composed the score for the outstanding feature “Life Ain’t Like the Movies” and here he looks back at his extraordinary career and the tough journey he endured to produce the music for that film.

Wow, It all began on the streets of Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood.

I was nine years old when my dad Manuel Torres (RIP), who had a passion for music, put a twenty-six dollar guitar in my hands for the first time. My dad wished to be a musician and little did I know I was going to be living out his dream. My mom Maria (Monin) loved watching me work hard to hit that very first note.

By age eleven, my love for being a musician grew as I began playing multiple instruments and getting a taste of performing on stage. By my young teens, I began lining up gigs with a variety of artists and bands, all while earning extra money parking cars for Cubs fans. Thanks to the small amount of money I did save, I was able to purchase my first set of second-hand recording equipment and finally begin to bring my music to life.

By my twenties, I got married, started a family, worked full-time, and was a music director at my church. After long days, I would dedicate my nights ES EUROPE ONLINE EDITION WARSAW & VALENCIA 2021

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to producing music from my homestudio in Chicago but the around-theclock demands took a toll on me. So, I chose my passion and began making music full-time, opening Rushing Wind Productions in 2002. After relocating to a Chicago land suburb, I continued my vision for Rushing Wind Productions and constructed a stylish 1,500-square-foot professional production studio at my home in 2007.

I have had the privilege of scoring films in the USA and internationally that have received several awards and nominations. Some of my scores include feature films like (Life Ain’t Like The Movies) with Hollywood actors such Paul Bates (Coming To America) and Cinda Williams (Mo Better Blues). I met director Robert Butler at the Fusion International Film Festival in 2019 in London and our synergy was evident. Needless to say, a year later I received a call from Robert asking if I would be the composer for his brilliantly-written, new feature film, (Life Ain’t Like The

Movies) and I excitedly accepted.

So, in May of 2021, while at the tail end of scoring this feature film, I received the hardest phone call I have ever received from Lares, Puerto Rico, my parent’s hometown.

My dad was ill and in the ICU. So I fled to Puerto Rico to tend to him not realizing I was confronting one of the hardest personal and professional career challenges ever. The doctors informed me that my dad was only operating with 20% of his heart and that I should be prepared for the worst. At the same time I was confronted with the challenge of completing the score of the film that had scheduled premier dates for LA and MI. I would spend my days tending to my dad and being a support for my mother and spend my evenings completing the score for the film that would sometimes take me into the next morning. Sadly, my dad didn’t make it, but I promised to continue the musical legacy he left behind. Despite the challenges, I finished the film score in time for the scheduled premiers. The film would

receive awards and nominations including one for Best Original Score.

My dad would have been proud of me.

My career has led me to an abundance of opportunities to compose music for documentaries like (Self Served) with OscarNominated Actress, Sally Kirkland, and for TV reality shows such as Long Lost Family, Murder For Hire, Super Nanny, License To Kill and more. I have produced the theme music for WGN Chicago TV show (Inspirational Sounds) with Host Jackie Sanders, produced TV jingles for Telemundo, and appeared as a performing musician and composer in a Modelo “Dias Do Los Muertos” commercial.

I’ve worked with incredible artists like American Idol finalist (Devin Velez), and other Grammy industry people.

It wasn’t always a smooth road and most musical creatives would agree it rarely is. But my biggest challenge early on was learning how to manage my work, my family time, and any

additional jobs. It honestly created a hardship within my home and I had to make some serious choices.

Many sacrifices were presented in the pursuit of making music a career, one of which I would never sacrifice, my family whom I love dearly. After 12 years of service at a corporate job, pension, and benefits, I chose to sacrifice this in order to balance time with my family and continue the pursuit of a musical career. It was the best decision I’ve ever made for both my family, and my career. Not living in a major musical/film location has also presented its challenges during my journey, but thanks to technology, it has offered the opportunity to connect with industry decision-makers both in the U.S. and internationally.

My passion for music can be found in a variety of projects. I’ve been recognized for years as a Music Producer ultimately being accepted in the Recording Academy (Grammys) as a voting member. But scoring films has honestly been my

love and now the bulk of my work.

I received my first opportunity as composer for an international full-feature Mollywood film in India (Nawal The Jewel). This film received several awards including Best Original Score. What an honor for me. Thereafter, I won several awards for multiple films and had the pleasure of meeting other directors, producers, and others in the film industry. These awards are a reminder and reflection of the musical journey I’ve taken.

If I wouldn’t have said yes to my very first opportunity to score a feature film or produce an Artist, who knows where my career would be today?

So have a little faith, be committed, be consistent and trust God and take a chance-it’s the only way to reach your dreams, you’ll never know if you don’t.

To Dad (RIP) & Mom, Thank you!

I Love You (Te Amo) https://www.eddietorresmusic.com/

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Nikita Hattangady

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Falafel

Nikita Hattangady’s debut, Falafel, is a Romantic Comedy set in London in which two young professionals having an awful morning suddenly meet at a cafe in London. Their lives change.

A brilliant short film

by Nikita Hattangady

The Internationally award winning film is a story about dreams coming true.

films as a child, but never really expected her aspirations to manifest. But like the film, dreams do come true.

It is an exploration of the identity struggles that immigrants experience globally through subtle, witty and honest dialogue. The film has an old-fashioned, gentle demeanor, and the characters have an innocence in them. They are not pretentious but sweet and sincere.

The film has a very diverse cast and crew, that identified with the themes. Falafel will easily resonate with people of all ages and is sure to uplift the viewers. Its principal photography was completed in Dallas with graphics to enhance the London look.

Having lived in several countries, Nikita is quite privy to the perpetual battles of the youth attempting to find their voice amidst the demands of their heritage and the pull of their deep desires. Although the film is categorized as a Romantic Comedy, the relationship of the two characters has a much more profound meaning. They become each other’s support and inspiration to live life on their own terms while fulfilling their obligations to their families. Had they not met in the café that day, perhaps they would have spent their lives emotionally lost in a chase to discover themselves. The filmmaker too secretly dreamed of making

The director’s formula for this film is a bit of humor, a little conflict and a lot of love.

Nikita’s greatest passions are storytelling, travelling and spending time with her family. She has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s in Management.

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https://nouveaujourneyfilms.wixsite.com/falafelshort2020 Short comedy Runtime 23 Minutes

22

Laurent Canches | Interview Laurent J. Canches

Laurent Canches has consistently entered thought provoking documentary films into Fusion Film Festivals and his latest work – “3 H 33 Port Des Yachts Street” - is a harrowing tale of a real life event that directly affected him. Here we had a wonderful interview regarding his life story including his multiaward winning film “Vladivostok Terminus”.

An interview by Steve Grossmith

FF: So is that correct that you were born in a bookshop, and growing up there had a profound positive influence on your life?

LC: Yes that’s right, my mother was a bookseller and the small shop was in Paris and my father worked in the print industry. So they were both connected to printing but interestingly, neither of them had any form of higher education.

My mother loved many, many novels and often I was alone in the bookshop and from there I began to read…a lot! It was literally hundreds and hundreds of books and it was a discovery of all kinds of books, English, American, Italian, and French (of course!) and always I read so, so much. In fact my next film in 2022 will be about Mary Francis Kennedy Fisher who was a very strange American food writer that died in 1992. She was an incredibly powerful writer who discovered both her life and gastronomy in Dijon.

FF: How did you transition from your love of books to your love of films?

LC: I remember I was 13 or 14 years old and was taken to see a film at the biggest cinema in Paris about the great wall of China – I can’t recall the title!

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where is this fucking wall?” and all the audience was laughing and after that well, I started to watch many, many films.

I remember clearly going to see “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid” and you had these beautiful images and music and the wonderful acting. And, when I was 16 I knew that’s what I wanted to do, I wanted to work in the film industry.

But it was so difficult to find work in Paris in this industry at that time, so I was studying sociology so I contacted a studio about studying filmmaking with them from a sociological point of view but at the same time to be 2nd assistant director. So I was very lucky as I was just an ordinary guy starting at the bottom rung and I knew very early on that I would want to direct movies but also knew that I would have to learn a lot first! And I ended up making four films as a production assistant with some great actors including Omar Shariff, he was such a great person and so very generous.

FF: For us, we know you for Documentary films, can you tell us a little more about why you decided that?

LC: Yes, that’s right. Of course I made a couple of narrative films including one that had a large budget and it was very interesting to direct actors. But I think that I decided to make documentary films because I was a sociologist and I thought well what is important in my

mind and to me it’s the scientific rules and it was the science of being precise with what I want to create. At the same time I wanted to be very passionate.

FF: With “Vladivostok Terminus” it seems (on paper) such a simple idea – to travel east on a train and the film turned out to be fascinating, where did the idea come from and why across Russia?

LC: I’m diabetic so I was always concerned about traveling very far but with the advent of insulin pumps, well that changed everything and it was around the time that I reached 60 and a friend of mine recommended this fabulous trip which I realized I could now do. Suddenly I could meet these amazing Russian people and could talk to people in Moscow about this project. For the 1st part of the film I decided to shoot pirate / guerrilla style but of course it was serious.

FF: We think you should do the same journey across India (or America our Australia)!

LC: (laughs)..possibly! There are so many journeys to imagine but I think for me, India would be worrying and difficult because of my diabetes but, Australia or America…well…

A film by Laurent Canches, With the voices of Lola Dhers & Oliver Young. Music and sound: Jean-Christophe Desnoux 26 mn, produced by Itinero Films and Crowdfunding

Storm Xynthia. 28th of February 2010.

In Paris, at the newspaper to which I belong, we discover that during the night, in La Faute-sur-Mer in the Vendée, 29 people have drowned, mainly elderly people and children.

They lived in a “death trap” that the ocean invaded.

Astonishment. As in all the other media (press, radio, TV), the reports follow one another with testimonies and questions about the reasons for such a nightmare.

But to be seen or read from afar, the disaster touches without totally penetrating the protection we wrap ourselves in the face of painful events. And that is the strength of Laurent Canches’ documentary “3:33 am Port des Yachts Street”. We feel how Xynthia ravaged a holiday home full of family memories in one night. How a woman who had come to spend a few days there alone saw the water rush in. Rise. Threaten. We shiver.

We hear her two calls to the fire brigade (the text of this exchange was kept by the rescuers who were unable to assist...) with a mobile phone that serves as a torch in the dark this is deeply moving. The fear and disempowerment that prevail resonate in an intimate way.

TOP: VIEW FROM THE TRAIN (AUBE) / LEFT: Laurent at the Baikal lake / RIGHT: LAURENT IN VLADIVOSTOK WATCHING THE CONSTRUCTION.

3:33 am Port des Yachts Street We feel cold and we tremble with this woman who is taking refuge at the top of a piece of furniture, counting the hours and measuring the incessant rise of the water which is swirling around.

We experience the nightmare from the inside, even if modesty is required: the victim is not shown in close-up; her words are spoken by an actress.

This woman made it through. But she lost people close to her.

She is still alive, but she remains wounded. Her house, like so many others, was razed to the ground. Demolished by the fangs of a machine that we watch and hear devouring an entire neighbourhood.

A whole part of life is now covered by a golf course, which moves the viewer far beyond the natural empathy we feel when faced with a disaster.

Article by Catherine MALLAVAL (Libération journalist - 27/09/2021)

https://www.facebook.com/ljcanches/ Short Documentary Runtime 26 Minutes

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Tides of Memory A Beautiful Short Film

By Luisa Mariani “Tides of Memory”, a timeless emotional and spiritual journey, is a short film written, directed and starring Luisa Mariani. This existential exercise delving into memory is inspired by the monumental murals “Triumphs and Laments” by the renowned polyhedric artist William Kentridge, which flanked the River Tiber in Rome. As Kentridge’s fading stencils focused on the impermanence of art, Mariani investigates the value of oblivion and disorientation of the loss of memory.

Through a series of encounters between colourful characters, her craft entertainingly conveys the pitfalls, the illusions and subconscious projections that are inevitably involved in gathering personal recollections.

Through captivating imagery, dialogue and real life stories, crucial themes emerge: from diversity of traditions and religions (a poignant love story between Lian, a Chinese boy, and Abir, an Egyptian girl), to exclusion (in the tribulations of Robin, a Roma King living by the Tiber), to emigration (Simon, a young Italian actor trying to build a future in London), to Art and Memory (through the eyes of two contemporary artists, ES EUROPE ONLINE EDITION WARSAW & VALENCIA 2021

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William Kentridge and Marco Angelini), and to Stendhal’s Syndrome (where three young women’s thefts in a gallery are spurred by past passions and dreams). Finally, nowhere is the key note theme of what role Art is playing in this foggy world better addressed than in the garden conversation between Luisa Mariani and Polish Actor Jan. The films of Luisa Mariani, who is searching for a “space where time has a meaning”, have won first prize at the Festival FEDIC and the Gold Award for Best Short Film at the International New York Film Festival.

“Tides of Memory” has today been selected for the South Europe International Film Festival in Valencia, Spain.

Eclectic in her tastes and interests, this talented artist’s roots can be traced to her never-ending love for theatre and dance. https://www.luisamariani.com/it/maree-della-memoria/ Short Film Runtime 27 Minutes

30

Command and I Shall Obey Director/Writer/Producer

By Neeru Khera

Greetings from India.

The Creative Gypsy is glad to be back on the festival circuit with Fusion International Film Festivals.

This year has been an extremely challenging one for all around the world. It has taken a heavy toll … physically, emotionally as well as financially. And it just doesn’t seem to end. As I am writing this we are dreading another wave of Covid. I pray to the Almighty to keep all of us safe & healthy.

All this led to the worst global economic crisis in history.

Millions of people were in lockdown & the film industry was one which was high on the worst hit list.

All aspects of film making & professionals at every level were badly affected & continue to suffer. The past few months have seen a change for the better but I wonder if it will ever be the same again.

2019 was a busy year and I made two short films, a PSA & a pilot for a web series for a well known OTT platform. I also received a prestigious award for Best Short Film Producer.

Digital space was now showing enormous possibilities & the market was booming. There was now a way of monetisation of short films. MNCs as well as local companies were happy to sponsor films as they were now being picked up for airing on biggies like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Hotstar & others. Another way for Corporates to associate with films was through their Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR activities.

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In India it is now compulsory for companies to carry out a certain percentage of CSR activities. They use films to create awareness & promote their preferred charities thus creating a win win situation for all. The companies get free promotion, the airing platforms have a plethora of films, social awareness rises & film production creates job opportunities. A lot of youngsters joined this exciting new market and brought with them fresh outlook & new ideas & film making touched a new peak. And then COVID struck. The world went into lockdown. Everyone thought that things would return to normalcy soon but it was not to be. Shootings stopped completely, studios shut down & there was massive unemployment. It was a terrible depressing situation.

The past few months saw a bit of a revival. I had to shoot for a documentary on faith healers at this time & what a challenge it was. But the market has still not opened up.

People are wary of investment. They would rather save for the uncertain future. I was fortunate to be a collaborator in a couple of international projects on mental health funded by NIHR, UK. This was the first time they were using films in their research programs. I am honoured to be a part of this initiative & proud that The Creative Gypsy is the first production company to work closely with eminent psychiatrists from all over the world & do our little bit in the greatly important field of mental health.

And now to “Command & I shall Obey”, the short film which has been selected for the acclaimed East Europe Warsaw Edition Festival.

The film’s story is based on a case study from a book written by my childhood friend & collaborator Professor Swaran Preet Singh who is Professor of Social & Community Psychiatry, University of Warwick as well as Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist;Medical Director R & I , Coventry & Warwickshire Partnership Trust.

We were at school together in Delhi & have been lifelong friends. Swaran showed me the chapter & I found the case study so powerful that I decided to make a film on it.

It is the story of Balram, who is married & has a young daughter. He starts hearing voices. The voices torment him & ask him to do the unthinkable. His family & friends do not recognise this Balram & his wife takes him to the doctor for treatment. He is diagnosed with schizophrenia & prescribed medication. He takes the medicine for a while & gets better & stops taking the medication.

The voices return in full force & torment him. Balram suffers & goes to live alone away from his family to deal with his thoughts. In a lucid moment he realises that he is unable to fight the voices & rather than harm his daughter he takes the extreme step of castrating himself. Psychosis is torment but with proper treatment most patients recover & lead normal lives.

Shooting the film was a challenge but we achieved success with a brilliant performance by Satyakam Anand a wellknown Bollywood actor who also received the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award for best actor for this film.

Information about the film is part of general knowledge books used by students appearing for government public service exams in India & was screened at Psychiatry Conference at AIIMS which is India’s premier teaching hospital & was greatly appreciated by the doctors. It is also being shown to psychiatry students in many countries.

Prof Swaran does a lot of work on raising public awareness of mental illnesses & the need for early medical care. There are very effective treatments for mental illnesses but the biggest challenge is creating awareness & helping people understand about the importance & availability of such treatments. Hopefully this is the first of a series of films we will make on this extremely important but often neglected area.

Many thanks to Steve Grossmith, Dan Hickford & Fusion Film Festivals for selecting our film. Any accolades we receive will go a long way in helping us promote the film so that it reaches more & more people.

The Creative Gypsy - http://www.thecreativegypsy.com/

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32

Your Mother Doesn’t Have to Know This

By Mihai Mihaescu

A few years ago, in 2013, I read a story in a newspaper about a young woman who had been called from the hospital to receive her mother’s amputated leg after surgery. The young woman was simply shocked, unable to believe that what was happening to her was real. Confused, she went to the hospital, asking for explanations, but the nurses there firmly told her that she had to take home her mother’s human remains, that this was the procedure, and that they do not care what will she would do with the amputated foot: burn it, bury it, keep it in the refrigerator, etc. This incident bothered me and I decided to write a screenplay, after which I intended to make a film.

At the beginning, I filmed a few moments of this story with my students from the “George Enescu” University of Arts in Iași, a strong cultural city in northeastern Romania, where I was a professor of Film Acting. Then, by chance, I met two actors from the “Victor Ion Popa” Theater of Bârlad (another important cultural city situated in Eastern Romania), where I had been invited to a public event on the occasion of the screening of “Girl With Green Eyes ”, a feature film based on the novel “ Gaudeamus ”, by Mircea Eliade. The two actors, Simon Salcă jr. and Alice Condrea (the latter also having a prodigious museographer activity), proposed me to make a film with the actors from the theater of Bârlad. It just so happened that I was just finishing the script of “Your Mother Doesn’t Have To Know This,” inspired by the young woman’s drama described in that newspaper article.

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This is how my collaboration with the actors of Bârlad was born, and they were soon joined by two actresses from Bucharest: Viorica Vodă, the lead actress, and Dina Rotary, who plays the Company Manager in the film.

Compared to the real event, in the script, a few more sequences have been added, sequences that come to augment the social issues, which the main character, Ana Ionescu, is facing. This is the case of the “lottery for the jobs restructuring” sequence. This measure proposed by the Manager, leads to the best possible solution, from her point of view, to the problem of lack of funds for salaries, a situation generated by the populist promises of some politicians, during the elections.

So, Ana Ionescu becomes the victim of a poorly organized society by drawing one of the “winning” tickets, after having had the unpleasant incident at the hospital, with her mother’s amputated leg.

The final sequence, in which Ana Ionescu “displays” her beauty in front of the mirror, after consulting several video-chat sites, does not mean in any case that she made the decision to practice this “profession”. On the contrary, it is a gesture of despair, but also a warning signal addressed to society: to be vigilant and unyielding with those people that, coming to power by our vote, to forget why they are they placed there.

Short Foreign Language Film Runtime 22 Minutes

34

Patriots

When the line between protecting the republic and being an enemy of the state is blurred, the realities of true freedom are questioned.

film: patriots - Joe Camareno as Eric Simms

Written, produced and starring Joe Camareno

Brash CIA operative Eric Simms is on a personal mission to set things straight after a mishap on an unsanctioned black ops operation in the recent past. Career long loyalties are questioned as he uncovers a sinister plot at play. Unsure of what to do, he justifies his motives and is then faced with the ultimate question of loyalty. What makes one a steadfast defender of a republic, one who goes against protocol to make those difficult choices in righting a perceived wrong, or one who toes the line and follows procedure?

This short-form spy thriller is being developed into a full-length feature film.

Biography Joe Camareno is an American actor who hails from Los Angeles.

He is also a multi-award-winning producer, writer, director, and a producing partner and co-owner of Celtino Entertainment Group (CEG). He was nominated for a 2019 Imagen Award in the Best Actor category for Tin Holiday, alongside Antonio Banderas, Andy Garcia and Anthony Ramos. ​A true New Media pioneer, Joe took Best Audio Recording honors for his comedic podcast Virgin Falls (2006 Parsec Award), one of the first podcasts of its day. Most recently, he was the series director for the web series Failing Upwards, as well as the educational web series Fixing Paco, starring Paul Rodriguez. Joe’s work on “Paco” lead to him taking Best Director honors at the 2012 Reel Rasquache Film and Art Festival, and the series went on to receive a 2013 People’s Telly Silver Award for Best Program or Webisode, in addition to several 2013 and 2014 Imagen Award nominations, Joe was also the series director and producer for the 2010 Imagen Award-winning web series Ylse.

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​ ith a solid background in theater and live show production, W Joe has produced and directed a number of original plays at theater companies across Los Angeles, including the critically acclaimed Lost Angeles at the Lillian Theater in Hollywood.

As a writer of educational children’s shows, Joe co-wrote The Environmental Defenders, produced by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (LACDPW), as a touring production for the Los Angeles County elementary schools from 1995 to 2005. Praised for its merits by educators and a fast favorite among students, The Environmental Defenders won numerous awards, including the 1999 Productivity & Quality Award of Los Angeles County; the 1999 PRSA Prism Award; a 2001 Telly Award; the 2000 National Association of Counties Achievement Award; and the 2000 Association of Visual Communicators Award of Distinction. ​ s an actor, Joe has a career spanning over 25 years in front A of the camera, having performed in more than 400 TV commercials and over 600 radio spots. He has been a campaign actor for Farmers Insurance and AT&T, as well as the campaign voice for Homeland Security, White Castle, Burger King, Taco Bell, Citre Shine Shampoo, and NutriBullet Rx. He has gueststarred on many hit television shows, including memorable recurring roles on The Shield and Unfabulous. Film roles include Expired, Tin Holiday, and Edith & Harvey. ​ Joe recently directed 184 animated episodes in Spanish for Age of Learning / ABC Mouse, and six episodes for the new series Sister President premiering spring 2020. https://www.celtinoentertainment.com/patriots Short film Runtime 7 Minutes

36

Million Loves In Me An Independent Feature Film Obtaining More Than 200 Awards, What is it about?

Million Loves in Me is a film about love, confinement and compulsion. Through the message of love between a not-so-ordinary relationship between a mother and daughter, it emanates into other important messages in life. To date, Million Loves in Me has obtained more than 200 awards in international film festivals worldwide. It participated in a number of international film festivals where commercial films participated and selected such as the Beijing International Film Festival, Bahamas International Film Festival, Asian World Film Festival in Los Angeles and has the privilege of winning awards and nominated along with Hollywood actors and actresses. This is something that the producers and the entire production crew should be proud of. A lot of filmmakers and audience would like to know the secrets behind and made enquiry with the producers who are totally newbies in film production or studied film before – both John Y and Kenny Chan were in different fields before they engaged in film production.

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Inspired by a true story and a headline case in Hong Kong, MILLION LOVES IN ME begins when the abnormal appearances and behavior of Katy, the 45-year-old daughter, and her mother arouse the attention of their neighborhood reporter. He begins to investigate into their private lives only to discover more than a hundred dogs and cats are being hoarded their 700 square foot apartment. Katy is eventually being charged with cruelty to animals.

Love is a major element and message being conveyed in the film. First of all, the love between the mother and daughter is inseparable. Katy and her mother both suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The poor woman only has the intellect of a young child and is indeed unable to live an independent life as a normal person.

Likewise, the mother is unable to cope with her compulsion to control and is unable to detach herself from her daughter. Furthermore, there is a major love story line in the film between Katy and a guy Anthony. Katy, with her gullible character,

easily falls for the guy’s warmth and care when she is offered support in taking care of the pets and a push to get away from the absolute authoritative supervision of her mother. That’s something the producers believe lots of audience can be empathetic and something they can relate to.

Theatrical distribution in 33 cinemas in Country of Production Like most independent film producers, the producers of Million Loves in Me already have the expectation that they need to face many challenges ahead, even the film has a cast of renowned and award winning actors and actresses taking major roles (Koon Lan Lo, (Hong Kong Film Awards Best Supporting Actress winner) and Hiro Hayama (who had a couple of blockbuster films made in Hong Kong), in order to secure distribution and have the film shown on the big screen.

As Million Loves in Me was originally shot in Malaysia, the producers think it would be wise to first focus their energy in securing a theatrical distribution in its country of shooting. Prior to its release, there was a series of marketing events and promotional campaign in the country. The producers and the major cast members spent weeks in the country for the marketing events. Million Loves in Me is not your typical type of film with heavy commercial blockbuster contents which can easily attract audience’s attention prior to the opening of the film. It needs to take time to generate positive and truthful reviews from audience so as to gradually increase the number of ticket buyers to the show through positive word of mouth.

of the hard work and labor of the film. On top of that, the producers would like the film to be exposed to and in particular the messages to be conveyed to the international audience and committee members of the film festivals. This is the major reason that the producers kept on the international film festivals journey to date. In the last month, the total number of awards came up to 205 which the producers’ genuine belief that the film should have garnered the most number of international awards for a Chinese speaking feature film. But still, the producers feel that it is not the total number of awards that count but the feedback and review of audiences and filmmakers is the most crucial to the success of a film. The feedback gives room for the producers to think and improve the quality of their future production and work.

To the two producers, John Y and Kenny Chan, they would like to use movies to convey the messages and true meanings behind the different faces of human beings and the complex society. With the recent pandemic, there are more and new social issues that arise and they hope that with the power of films, they can address these issues and raise public awareness towards these issues.

Why The International Film Festivals Journey Keeps Going?

When the Malaysia version of the film was released in Malaysia in 2018, the film had already garnered 93 awards at that time and the producers applied for the Malaysia Book of Records for the most number of awards of an independent feature film.

However, after the release in cinemas, the film kept on joining and screening in international film festivals worldwide. One would ask the reasons why because usually the film festivals journey will usually end after the theatrical release. The producers take the view that receiving awards is a privilege and a recognition

www.facebook.com/millionlovesinme/ Foreign Language Feature Film Runtime 82 Minutes

37

Campbell Dalglish

42

Savage Land

By Campbell Dalglish and Dr. Henrietta Mann

A feature documentary that started out as a cultural exploration of indigenous tribes in Oklahoma, suddenly and very tragically intertwines with the horrific death of 18 year old Mah-hi-vist Red Bird Goodblanket. Film Focus was very fortunate to be able to talk with four individuals who were intimately involved with the creation of this powerful and thought provoking film: Campbell Dalglish - co-director, co-writer & co-producer Dr. Henrietta Mann -co-director, co-writer & co-producer Bob Vetter - Field Producer Melissa Goodblanket - The mother of Mah-hi-vist Red Bird Goodblanket Chris Eyre and Dr. Henrietta Mann - Executive Producers

“This film is hard for me….because I too was involved in a documentary on indigenous people on police brutality here in Canada and something just grabbed my heart again when I watched this film….it was traumatizing … I felt a lot of anger…. thank you for sharing this story: a very important story that needs to be shown. And some people may not accept it BUT, this is so very important to share this.“ Tracie Louttit – The American Indian Film Festival “…a strong, poignant, powerful and yet fragile film…this film stayed with me long after I had seen it….the story that was told for me was an American horror story and it was like a gut punch…the history that you brought in and weaved into the film of Sand Creek and Washita – the connection – was very real and there were many triggers…and it did leave a haunting feeling… I’m really thankful that the film is guided through Native self-determination and that we control the narrative.”

Bridget Neconie – The American Indian Film Festival “From the opening scene – using home video footage showing a loving family on a typical Christmas day morning with Mah-hi-vist opening his presents, cutting to their kitchen where he was shot dead 9 years later at just 18 years old, this has already become a tough, troubling and deeply disturbing documentary film. As you can imagine, I am in the privileged position of having watched literally thousands of both fiction and non-fiction films and “Savage Land” is without doubt, one of the best documentaries I have ever viewed. It IS a gut punch as Bridget Neconie comments but, the research, filming, structure and editing of this film has been done in such a thoughtful, respectful and intelligent way that two stories intertwine and shine a light on the sad fact that even now, after 150 years, the horrors, injustice and brutal treatment of indigenous, Native Americans is still with us.”

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When Custer County Police kill 18 year old Cheyenne Arapaho Mah-hi-vist Red Bird Goodblanket in his family’s kitchen, descendants of the Sand Creek and Washita Massacres take us back 150 years to reveal how historical trauma and the horrors of the past are still present in America today.

You are probably aware of past injustices on our original inhabitants- the American Indians. But are you aware that those same forces of injustice are still present in their lives today?

Our film Savage Land began with a City College SEED grant back in 2012 to explore on camera how to build bridges between cultures in Oklahoma through indigenous media. Then on December 21st, 2013 Mah-hi-vist Red Bird Goodblanket was shot down in his parent’s kitchen in Clinton where we had been filming by Custer County Police who were responding to a 911 call. Instead of arriving to talk to this troubled youth who suffered from Opposition Defiant Disorder, they arrived heavily armed. After forcing the family out of their way, they barged through a broken window, and came right out. One officer claiming “He about cut off his finger.” Then three Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) joined the Custer County Deputy and went back in a second time through the same broken window. Immediately “Shots fired.

Shots fired.” Nine times, six of them to his body. Two missed him, collected later from the wall and the attic. One OHB later describes Mah-hi-vist sitting against a door jam with his head on his knees. He must not have been dead yet.

How did he end up sprawled out in the living room? It was determined that the fatal shot to the back of his head was the seventh shot. By whom or why we do not yet know, as the police dash board videos and accounting of the story are incomplete and possibly altered. And why did the

PHOTO BY MATIKA WILBUR FOR THE SPIRIT ALIGNED LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

Custer County Sheriff who was not there give his two deputies medals of valor shortly after, not allowing them to talk about what really happened?

a little more background to the making of this documentary.

The purpose of this film is to search for the truth of what happened and to ask how and why this show of force, these same forces used in the massacres of Sand Creek and Washita, are continuing today?

We aim to tour this film across America and address some of these issues. “The past is never dead; it’s not even past,” said William Faulkner.

And bridges of understanding are long overdue.

It’s our duty to our nation to acknowledge our past in order to heal all our wounds and seek a better future for all.

The mother of this slain youth Melissa Goodblanket offers her solution.

“If fear is the disease we all have, forgiveness is the cure.”

Dr. Henrietta Mann a direct descendent of two massacres over a century ago says, “The challenge today is still to forgive the unforgivable.”

Campbell Dalglish: To be honest, with a synopsis it’s often not enough to justify what’s in a film. Bob Vetter & I started out with Dr. Henrietta Mann to create a cultural exploration of indigenous peoples who were relocated to Oklahoma from all over the United States. You hear about the Trail of Tears and the five civilized tribes forced from their homes in the south east but there were actually tribes from all over the country that were also forced to make the journey in “death marches” to Oklaoma. Stripped of their language, culture and upbringing. Children were removed from their homes and sent to boarding schools. So we set out with Bob as the ethnographer* introducing us to the many people he knew that could answer our questions and with Dr. Henrietta Mann, a descendant of two massacres, guiding the narrative in search of the truth. Bob & I really need to thank Dr. Mann for being our guide on this. So after two years of filming we were about to go back - and even had an edited version – when this appalling incident happened. I had literally just returned from a Native American meeting that was held in

FF: Hi Campbell, this is quite a tough film to watch and perhaps you could start by giving us

honour of Bob in September of 2013.

Then on December 21st in the same year I got a call from one of my interns to say that Mah-hi-vist had just been shot and killed in his kitchen. It was as though the past had jumped up in our face to remind us that these monstrous humans were still with us.

That was utterly devastating and then it was what do we do, do we continue to tell the history of all of these tribes that were relocated to Oklahoma or, do we tell the terrible story of what had happened to Mah-hi-vist and both of them were overwhelmingly horrifying. Of course the Mah-hi-vist story kept coming up as most relevant to what’s happening today in America and around the world in terms of authorities using force to manipulate and control indigenous people. It’s a question of colonialism that Bob and I had talked about together with our editor Alex Lora, who did a magnificent job of carrying that thread through out our film. We didn’t want to document just another story about a police killing. We needed to weave it into the bloodstained fabric of the past to remind us that the past was not over. So we went from a documentary about historical cultural genocide to a present day police killing that has become a murder mystery, haunting and irrefutable.

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44 the Cheyenne and Arapaho. The same peoples at Washita river and Sand Creek and so it was a continuation and a story that had to be told. And so, we have to go in search of the truth and I believe that Mah-hi-vist’s parents, Melissa and Wilbur Goodblanket are still on that quest. A search for truth and justice because of the great love that all of us hold for the people.

Dr. Henrietta Mann: I don’t know if there was any soul searching at all. Your question is very good but what I looked at was the kind of tragic and historical aggression of indigenous peoples of the United States of America. The story of Sand Creek in 1864 and the story of the Washita in 1868 is certainly the background to this unfortunate and tragic situation of the Custer County police and what they did to a very young, handsome Cheyenne, Arapaho man. It was horrifying to me the amount of force used resulting in this young man’s death. The same kind of force is certainly reflected in historical massacres that occurred to

FF: Hi Melissa, thank you so much for taking the time out to be part of this interview in light of the terrible tragedy that you and your family have been subjected to.

bob vetter

FF: Dr.Henrietta, could you please tell us how much soul searching there was to incorporate the killing of Mah-hi-vist into “Savage Land” and your feelings about this dreadful incident?

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Melissa Goodblanket: Thank you for having me here. Although you know me as Melissa Goodblanket I carry many other names one of which means “the bringer of light” and of course my participation in this film….is my presence. The night that all of this happened – the Winter

Solstice – is a very sacred time of the year when the portals are open. We called for assistance and when that assistance arrived the end result was the death of my 18-year old son. The officers here they call themselves “peace officers” and they clearly do not know how to hold and honour a vow and somewhere across this earth humanity has forgotten compassion, integrity, honour and respect. All of those things – I didn’t see a glimpse of – that night my son took his journey back to his original home. We were not treated in that capacity, my husband, Mah-hi-vist’s girlfriend, my youngest son & I; none of us were treated with those basic human attributes. When they came here they consistently said that they entered out house once….they did not, they entered our house twice. We know what we said happened, happened.

Mah-hi-vist, he was bigger than life – 6ft 8 at 18 years old – and when he entered a room he wanted to embrace you and that’s the kind of human being that he was, he brought a lot of joy and happiness wherever he was.

Photograph by raymond guarnieri

FF: Hi Bob, please could you give us some idea of your professional background and how this film evolved?

Bob Vetter: So my academic background is in cultural anthropology and I went to graduate school at the University of Oklahoma and my interest was in spirituality and healing. It began with the Comanche’s and I went on to continue my field work with a number of tribes that live there. In the process of meeting all of these people something really changed in me, it was a life transforming experience being among all of the families of these tribes and everything that I’ve done since then has been about sharing that experience, both the good and bad aspects of it. The good aspects of it are the spiritual underpinnings of every individual indigenous culture in Oklahoma and the bad part is the tragedy that this movie is a reflection of. The interesting part for me is that most people in the United States have no idea what happened and

how Oklahoma came to be what it is. I travelled through Europe for four summers and found that people there knew more about the history of the United States and about how it relates to the Native Americans than the average person that I have ever met in our country. So the reason that we went to make this film initially was to look at all aspects of Native American culture and understand how it was shaped. So how do you understand overlapping identities, so Native people today, each one of them belongs to a particular tribe but when you put a number of them together, well what are they? In America they are bunch of “Indians” whatever that words means and so there was an attempt to destroy their culture, to destroy them as a people first, their culture second - an attempt to just marginalize them. So we were trying to look at all of that and the midst of it all this horrific event happened with Mah-hi-vist. So we could say that that dreadful event became a reminder of everything that we were looking at and examining, the history and the culture including the positive part of being able to come out of the shadows.

FF: Dr. Mann, if you could let us know what it was like working collaboratively with Campbell, writing, directing and producing Savage Land?

Dr. Henrietta Mann: Honestly it was easy actually! Firstly, we have this phenomenal amount of respect for one another at a human level as indigenous peoples. We embrace those that live with us that come to work among us and to share our pain. So I knew Melissa, I knew Bob and Campbell came in with his film students from City College New York and we had our students at the Cheyenne, Arapaho tribal college and it was one, huge family. We knew that each individual had certain skills and attributes, but everyone would share their skills to help us arrive at completing the documentary. And of course Campbell was vital in terms of being versed in the film world and Bob Vetter with his historical background.

Melissa & Wilbur Goodblanket who

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lived their lives as tribal people and they are well respected in the Native Church of North America and we relied on each other to take a piece of that pie as it were. Everyone’s expertise ensured that we would get this film made and help give us – unfortunately – a realistic portrait of the history of American Indians.

FF: Finally Melissa, is there possibly an uplifting message?

Melissa Goodblanket: Sometimes we lose hope but the uplifting message is that we still have hope. Hope for the truth in this case and hope that humanity can rise above itself and treat all living creatures with respect and honour and love and compassion. I think that’s what our creator intended, to remember and re-learn the instructions, that humanity. I would like to say if we use our higher self to envisage what we would like to see in this life that we can hold onto that hope and vision and hopefully life can continue in a beautiful way on this mother earth but right now, I’m not so sure.

Humanity has made a mess of it all but having said that humanity can flip the coin for all life forms.

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https://savagelandfilm.com/ Feature Documentary Runtime 90 Minutes *The branch of anthropology that deals with the description of specific human cultures, using methods such as close observation and interviews.

The Goodblanket are members of Native American Church of Oklahoma