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We’re proud to say that Striking a Chord is an official selection in the Rockport Film Festival. Texas is a natural home for the film, and we look forward to hearing how the audience received it.

Nell Bryden just received this lovely email from Jolene. They’ve generously given us permission to publish it.

“I just attended the Hamptons Film Festival and saw the film, “Striking a Chord”. I wanted to tell you that I really admire you for going over to Iraq and Afghanistan to entertain the troops. My boyfriend is in Afghanistan now, in the Marine Corps. Until I saw this film, I never realized how important music is for them, and how positive an impact it can have on their well-being. You should feel very proud of yourself for contributing to that! Also, I think you have a fabulous voice and I intend to definitely purchase some of your music on iTunes!”

Thanks, Jolene. And may your boyfriend come home safely.

Allison in the T-shirt she re-designed

Had to shoot Allison Harwell in her re-designed T-shirt. This is genius, as far as we’re concerned.

And, no: she’s not trained in fashion design. Just a natural!

The back was actually cooler than the front. Love it!

Well, we’ll be copying this, big time. Thanks, Allison, for showing us we don’t have to look like an elephant in the jumbo T-shirts we’re acquiring at festivals: we can look like goddesses!

Headquarters of SWFF (but they can't screen films there, ask Charlotte for the story!)

Now that we have a bit more time–we spent the early part of this week catching up with our email–we wanted to write a little more about our recent experience in Shawnee.

Outreach co-director Angela Alston & husband Hugh Resnick at SWFF 2010

Southern Winds (SWFF) is a young festival. It’s just four years old, the brain child of James Bridges, a filmmaker himself, and Charlotte Patterson. Charlotte was a terrific hostess: welcoming and energetic. Even though when we met she’d had limited sleep–the meet-n-greet SWFF threw Sept. 9 had kept her up til at least 2am (yup, filmmakers like to party)–she was all smiles at 4 pm Friday as she welcomed us.

And James is a live wire: he seemed to be everywhere at once. We did get a chance to ask him a little about the festival. (You’ll find an excerpt of our interview at the end of this blog.)

One of the festival’s strong suits is clearly its commitment to Native American programming. We managed to catch a couple of these. On Sacred Ground explores what happens when you mix one of the most sacred Native American sites with 600,00 bikers. Yes, you heard us, 600,000. And Behind the Door of a Secret Girl is a fictional feature, written and directed by a teenager, about meth labs on the rez, a girl who cuts herself, and Mexican drug cartels. Moving performances and important subject, because this is actually happening on Indian reservations. Some are so vast that drug cartels can move in, set up shop, and go unnoticed by tribal police. Writer/director Janessa Starkey won the award for emerging filmmaker for this ambitious effort.

We were honored to be invited to participate in the Saturday morning panel. We were in good company, with filmmakers Claudia Adams (who received Best Documentary Short for A Far-Off Cry), and Chris Hansen (Best Narrative Feature, Endings). It turns out there are still far too many filmmakers who don’t have the basic tools they need to let their audiences know about their work. (No, it’s not enough to make a great film. How will your audience find out about it?)

From L to R: Claudia Adams, Chris Hansen, Angela Alston

We mentioned in an earlier blog that the screening for Striking a Chord went well. One of the contacts we made was Lori Zwermann with emPower Music and Arts. She’s very interested in a possible partnership with the film. It’s a clear, shared mission, and we’re looking forward to exploring the synergies.

We also enjoyed the heck out of sitting next to her and her kids for the screening which followed ours, the Australian film I Am Bish. We screamed with laughter, except when Lori was instructing her younger son to put his hands over his eyes. It’s a zombie flick, among other things, with zombies painted green, and plenty of red-tinted Karo syrup or its equivalent splashing the screen. But Lori was protecting her son from the protoganist’s (Bish’s) sexts with various foreign sweethearts. Yup, Bish likes the ladies. A lot. It’s an end-of-the-world movie, a film about making a movie, and a mockumentary. Just what we needed to finish off our SWFF viewing.

Paulann & friend at the historic Ritz, headquarters of SWFF

SWFF is still seeking its audience. Crowds were enthusiastic, but small. James admits he’s not sure what else he can do to reach the community. He’s already got strong contacts in the media. And a growing, tenacious volunteer base.

Paulann with her friend, two of the tireless SWFF volunteers

So we think it’s partly a matter of time. And partly it’s the fact that he has an uphill battle to bring Shawnee folks to the historic downtown. The life of the town is going on in strip malls surrounding what feels like a nearly lifeless heart. Many storefronts sit vacant. Main Street is scented by a large grain mill.

We’ve just found a new resource to support fundraising, the Grantmakers in Film & Electronic Media Database. We have no idea how effective it will prove, but we can say that the database is well set up. After you input the data, the result is a beautifully laid-out page, a mini-proposal, in fact. You can include media of all kinds: video, audio, and image.

We’ve input data for Striking a Chord, and it’s just been approved by the GFEM staff. We’re seeking to raise about $80,000 to support screenings for the troops.

Now it’s our job to publicize the info.

Just wanted to say a quick thanks to the folks at the Woods Hole Film Festival for screening Striking a Chord.

Perfect poster placement at Woods Hole Film Festival

Judy and Bronwen, your support really means a lot! Jean-Paul, great meeting you!

We were competing with a gorgeous summer afternoon, so we’re especially grateful to the audience.

The perfect poster placement beforehand. And excellent questions and feedback after.

Just found out our schedule at Southern Winds Film Festival: Sat., Sept. 11, 7:45 pm.

Sept. 11 is a tough date, but we’re glad Striking a Chord will be screening then. Watching the film and talking about our troops will be a very good way to recognize the date positively.

If you’ll be near Shawnee, OK, please come. Or let your friends know!

For more about our screening, visit the festival blog.

Thrilled to be less than a week away from our premiere at Woods Hole Film Festival. It’ll be awesome to watch Striking a Chord on digibeta with a brand-new audience.

Nearly all the preparations are complete: poster and post cards sent, info sent to Cape Cod Music, posted in local calendars, plane and bus tickets bought, motel reserved. We just need to do laundry and pack (better check the weather report for the Cape!).

Re travel to Woods Hole: it turns out the best thing to do if you don’t want to rent a car–which evidently there’s no place to park once you’ve reached town–is to take the bus from Logan Airport. It drops you right at the ferry terminal, in the heart of town. A two-hour ride–hoping they have wi fi!

We’re staying at the Sleepy Hollow Motor Inn, 1/3 of a mile from the terminal, and we’re traveling light, so the walk should be a pleasure. And it’s close to everywhere we’ll want to be during the festival, namely, at the movies! (We haven’t even had time to check the schedule to see what else is playing. We’re hoping to squeeze that in over the weekend.)

We’re thrilled to announce that Striking a Chord has just been accepted in the 19th Annual Woods Hole Film Festival. Look for the film in the Shorts category. Outreach co-director Angela Alston will be in attendance.

The festival takes place from July 31 to Aug. 7. We don’t have a programming date yet–you can bet you’ll be the first to know when we do.

Joyce Boaz of Gift from Within pointed out this website to us, and we’re definitely going to spend some time exploring. It’s evidently supporting a film about working with vets dealing with PTSD.

“Working with a team of experienced practitioners and a group of volunteer PTSD-diagnosed vets from Vietnam to the present Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, this historic film records the therapy and follow-up of those individuals who were documented undergoing treatment as well as the hundreds of other volunteer veterans who participated in a national research and testing study – The Iraq Vets Stress Project.”

The project has received glowing endorsements. For example, Carol Look, Ph.D., writes: “People seeing this film will be shocked, and then they’ll want to use these techniques immediately.”

The Operation Emotional Freedom website goes on to say:

“Where there was little or no hope for significant recovery from the effects of complex PTSD, the techniques demonstrated in this pilot project and follow-up provide an irrefutable document of the options and the impact of complimentary therapies at a time when the costs, effectiveness and the ultimate future of hundreds of thousands of returning service people are being compromised.”