Contemplating Emily

Maggie and fish

2007-08-25T00:12:00.000-07:00

Maggie with fish at traditional Chinese restaurant in Taichung.

Temple in Taipei

2007-08-25T00:06:00.000-07:00

G Yao took me to pray

Writing from Taipei

2007-08-24T20:20:00.001-07:00

I leave tomorrow to return to New York. After a week in Taipei I traveled south to Taichung for a couple of days – there I was able to spend time with Maggie! What an exciting and interesting experience that was. She was very gracious with me – took time to take me around Taichung. Not surprisingly, she is a published author of two books and just completed a master’s degree in philosophy, and is working on writing a children’s book. I was actually able to talk shop with her about story design and character – something I rarely do given that I know few people who can go there with me. But she seemed interested enough, and I am hoping will help me, especially with the Chinese poetry for the story that I can’t possibly write myself.

Additionally in Taichung, I met with a couple of professors at Tunghai University and we talked about issues with teaching English to Taiwanese adults over coffee on the campus of the university. I really enjoyed meeting them – one is an American working on a dissertation and the other is a Taiwanese professor who received her PhD from the University of Iowa – we had things in common to share with one another. What a small world it is.

In Kaohsiung, I was well hosted by one of my former students from Hunter College. Steve is a securities trader and was very gracious to be my everything while I was there. He accommodated my stay at 85 Skytower – the second largest building in Taiwan and a very lovely place to stay. I was also hosted by an American, JB, who is in the process of preparing to return to the US after seven years in Kaohsiung. She and I had many things in common and I enjoyed getting to know her. We will be able to continue to get to know one another in New York when she finally lands in a few weeks.

The only damper on my travels has been that I did fall ill while in Kaohsiung and had to scale back all of my sightseeing as well as business networking push. I’m feeling a bit better now.

Amazing things in Taiwan – the people – really gracious and kind; The High Speed Rail – fast, clean, super cool; the architecture – rapid growth, beautiful modern buildings with Taipei 101 being a crowning jewel; the mountains and how they inform the life here; the art – Taiwan has amazing artists that connect ancient Chinese, Buddhist, Taoist, literature and nature into fabulous paintings and sculptures.

This has been only my introduction, but it has been a wonderful one. I am off to do my last-minute gift shopping before I leave tomorrow!

Best Sarah

with a student

2007-08-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

Out with one of my Hunter College students. Mission: keep me awake a few more hours. Adjusting from the jet-leg has been difficult

So many bikes!

2007-08-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

I am impressed by the number of bicycles and scooters all over the city. These bikes are parked at National Taiwan University

A warm welcome to me and hello to all our UNC connections

2007-08-18T19:32:00.000-07:00

G Yao sends her best to all of you back in the States!

First meal in Taipei

2007-08-18T19:23:00.000-07:00

GY and I went out to dinner my first night in Taipei

Greetings from Taipei

2007-08-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Taipei!

I have survived the raging wind and pelting rain of Typhoon Sepat! Actually, being sequestered in a luxury hotel in Taipei meant that I was completely safe, could not even hear the howling wind and suffered no power outage. Unable to leave the hotel, I slept through the worst of the storm. The only thing I have had to suffer was a change to my travel plans. All and all, things are going very well. I have been exceedingly well cared for by friends, friends-of-friends, former students and complete strangers. People speak English surprisingly well and if they don’t, they will still do the best they can to help.

I took two Chinese classes via one of my English students before coming, but I’m hopeless. I can only manage HELLO and THANK YOU. I do seem to recognize some words like, basic numbers, ENGLISH, TNU and names of streets. I can even read two words – the symbol for the Taiwan dollar and the symbol for EXIT. Thankfully, the language issue is not really a probably, in fact, I speak no Chinese and have been getting along better here than I did in France in May and actually, I do speak some French. The Taiwanese are universally impressive with their language skills and their willingness to accommodate English-speaking foreigners. (Although I am aware that things are different when one gets outside the major cities.)

My key contact here is GY – a colleague of mine from graduate school. G has been very helpful in getting me connected with people in the film and theatre community. She has a very formidable position here as a professor of acting at Taiwan National University and she is widely known and well respected in the theatre world of Taipei. Via other channels including my networking from Cannes, I have been able to meet with people who are working in film and have begun to share my film project with them. This is leading to a lot of further networking and excellent advise regarding things I can do to make this short-to-feature international co-production a real possibility.

I had one very helpful and lovely meeting with a very powerful woman in the Taiwanese film world. She works with several organizations and companies (APFF, FPA and MPD among others), JJ came to my hotel late on Friday evening wanting to meet with me before the typhoon hit. She had many great ideas for me, knows just about everyone there is to know in the community and was exceedingly hospitable. The topic of Thornton Wilder’s play, OUR TOWN, came up. This play is highly respected and admired in Taiwan and I was pleased to be able to share with her the fact that I drafted CONTEMPLATING EMILY in the very same room/cottage where Wilder first drafted OUR TOWN at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, NH. This connection with one of America’s greats was very moving for her and I think helped endear my passionate journey with this project to her.

I have not done much sightseeing yet, but will go to the National Palace Museum this afternoon. I did however visit a small paper-making museum/factory across the street from my hotel. I took the video camera and had a lovely time filming kindergarteners making paper. I also took a yoga class at Space Yoga Center in the An-Ho district. That was a fun adventure. The class was an astanga class taught in English by a Brit.

For those of you who have followed the adventures of my film project, you may know that the protagonist is loosely based on a Taiwanese student I had many years ago at Baurch College in New York. ML and I spoke on the phone yesterday for the first time in eight years. She lives in Taichung and we will see one another on Monday. She knows very little about the project and it will be exciting for me to share with her the journey I have had so far with this story. I am really looking forward to seeing her.

I leave on Monday for Taichung. I will be there for a couple of days and then will continue south to Kaohsiung. Another student of mine from Hunter College has graciously made arrangements for me to stay at a beautiful hotel while there. I am planning to then return to Taipei on Friday and will fly back to New York on Sunday.

More in a few days, Sarah

Greetings from Taipei

2007-08-18T17:24:00.000-07:00

I have survived the raging wind and pelting rain of Typhoon Sepat! Actually, being sequestered in a luxury hotel in Taipei meant that I was completely safe, could not even hear the howling wind and suffered no power outage. Unable to leave the hotel, I slept through the worst of the storm. The only thing I have had to suffer was a change to my travel plans. All and all, things are going very well. I have been exceedingly well cared for by friends, friends-of-friends, former students and complete strangers. People speak English surprisingly well and if they don’t, they will still do the best they can to help.

I took two Chinese classes via one of my English students before coming, but I’m hopeless. I can only manage HELLO and THANK YOU. I do seem to recognize some words like, basic numbers, ENGLISH, TNU and names of streets. I can even read two words – the symbol for the Taiwan dollar and the symbol for EXIT. Thankfully, the language issue is not really a probably, in fact, I speak no Chinese and have been getting along better here than I did in France in May and actually, I do speak some French. The Taiwanese are universally impressive with their language skills and their willingness to accommodate English-speaking foreigners. (Although I am aware that things are different when one gets outside the major cities.)

My key contact here is GY – a colleague of mine from graduate school. G has been very helpful in getting me connected with people in the film and theatre community. She has a very formidable position here as a professor of acting at Taiwan National University and she is widely known and well respected in the theatre world of Taipei. Via other channels including my networking from Cannes, I have been able to meet with people who are working in film and have begun to share my film project with them. This is leading to a lot of further networking and excellent advise regarding things I can do to make this short-to-feature international co-production a real possibility.

I had one very helpful and lovely meeting with a very powerful woman in the Taiwanese film world. She works with several organizations and companies (APFF, FPA and MPD among others), JJ came to my hotel late on Friday evening wanting to meet with me before the typhoon hit. She had many great ideas for me, knows just about everyone there is to know in the community and was exceedingly hospitable. The topic of Thornton Wilder’s play, OUR TOWN, came up. This play is highly respected and admired in Taiwan and I was pleased to be able to share with her the fact that I drafted CONTEMPLATING EMILY in the very same room/cottage where Wilder first drafted OUR TOWN at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, NH. This connection with one of America’s greats was very moving for her and I think helped endear my passionate journey with this project to her.

I have not done much sightseeing yet, but will go to the National Palace Museum this afternoon. I did however visit a small paper-making museum/factory across the street from my hotel. I took the video camera and had a lovely time filming kindergarteners making paper. I also took a yoga class at Space Yoga Center in the An-Ho district. That was a fun adventure. The class was an astanga class taught in English by a Brit.

For those of you who have followed the adventures of my film project, you may know that the protagonist is loosely based on a Taiwanese student I had many years ago at Baurch College in New York. ML and I spoke on the phone yesterday for the first time in eight years. She lives in Taichung and we will see one another on Monday. She knows very little about the project and it will be exciting for me to share with her the journey I have had so far with this story. I am really looking forward to seeing her.

I leave on Monday for Taichung. I will be there for a couple of days and then will continue south to Kaohsiung. Another student of mine from Hunter College has graciously made arrangements for me to stay at a beautiful hotel while there. I am planning to then return to Taipei on Friday and will fly back to New York on Sunday.

More in a few days, Sarah

Going to Taiwan!

2007-08-10T04:48:00.000-07:00

I leave for Taipei, Taiwan in just a few days. I’ll be flying from New York on August 12 and arriving in Taiwan on August 14th early in the morning. This trip has come together very quickly and is in large part thanks to an educator’s grant I received via the PSC (Professional Staff Congress), which is the teachers’ union for employees of CUNY.

My purpose for the trip is two-fold. First, in order for this to relate to the proposal for which I received the grant, I am going to visit with teachers of English at a few universities and talk with them about issues regarding writing proficiency in English and how Chinese-to-English concerns are addressed in Taiwan.

Secondly, I hope to meet with people in the film community and begin to get an idea of what production in Taiwan might entail. I would like to softly pitch the project and see if I might be able to meet with and perhaps audition some actresses for the lead role. There is still a lot of work ahead of me regarding the re-write and I hope to bring better authenticity to what is becoming more and more a Taiwanese screenplay.

If you have a great connection in Taiwan – someone in the film industry that might be willing to share some of his/her knowledge with me, or even someone that would be interested in hosting a New Yorker for a night, please let me know. I will be in Taipei for the first five days 14-18 and then will travel to Taichung for two days and then on to Kaohsiung and back to Taipei for the last two days. I return to New York on the 26th.

Since returning from Cannes, CONTEMPLATING EMILY has screened twice on Staten Island, first as part of a small monthly series of screenings hosted by film dude, Bill Woods and then again for the Staten Island Film Festival. We were pleased that our fans came from Manhattan to be there - including cast member Asta Hanson. We were not, however, so impressed by the festival itself. CE was grouped with the short horror films. A lesbian love story coupled with slasher films - now, that was a choice. It was also disheartening to note that a couple of the films were using music for which they had not acquired the rights. This reflects poorly on the festival organizers as they were charging admission to the screening.

On a brighter note, A big thanks to musician/filmmaker/lesbian activist Sandra Grace who gave away a couple copies of CE at the New York City Pride Parade in her role as MC for the parade in the heart of the Village. It was thrilling to see lesbian and gay couples run – yes literally RUN to Sandra’s side to receive their DVD copy of the film. I was even thanked by a young man who didn’t get a copy, but was just grateful to know that as a filmmaker I was there and that films by for and about gay people are (there.)

Folks, we have an audience, there is a need and my research suggests there is a market for this story. Say a prayer, wish me luck, I’m traveling farther from home then I ever have before in the hopes of bringing this film project closer to the homes of all the thousands of people who lined the parade route on June 24, 2007 and the many others who eagerly await films that tell the stories they relate to best.
Sarah E. Shively

Wrapping Up, Heading Home

2007-05-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

We are still in Cannes. The Festival and the Marche are winding down. We are going to aim for one more screening this evening by attending the awards for the Un Certain Regard category. The awards ceremony will be followed by a screening of the winning film.

We are fortunate to have had some conversations with several Asian production company representatives and others in that market. The next step will be to do more script work and business planning so that we might be able to revisit a few of these companies and hopefully take the next step forward. We also need to knock on some doors in New York to see if we can generate some interest there.

At least the word is out that we have this project in hand and now is the right time for this film; two of the companies we spoke with, one from Taiwan and one from Japan had as many as twenty titles at the market and both of them only sold their singular and first lesbian themed films. I think that says a lot about the viability of the market for this sort of story. It may be taboo in Asia, but apparently taboo is cool and selling – at least in the western market. (They both sold to the North American market and in France.) That should be good news for us.

Homeward bound, Sarah

news from Cannes

2007-05-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

News from Cannes
Wednesday May 23, 2007

Wow! There really isn’t anything quite like this festival. It is enormous and negotiating all the sections, people and opportunities is a feat. This year is the 60th Anniversary – all the more cause for additional celebration.

We are staying outside of Cannes in a hotel in the countryside. It is a pretty place near a very charming old village called Saint Paul. Tomorrow morning we plan to return there for a few hours and do some filming – why not make a short film on the fly while at the most prestigious film festival in the world?

We are beginning to meet with people and starting to find some connections – especially important to us are connections with people in the Taiwanese film industry.

Last night, however, we schmoozed at the Turkish Pavilion. Most notable among the few people I chatted with was a charming woman from Germany who is in Cannes for the first time, as are we, but she comes as the agent to one of the starring actresses in THE EDGE of HEAVEN, which is one of the feature films in competition. (And, may I note, a cross-cultural lesbian love story.) It makes its premiere this evening. How exciting. Unfortunately, we have not been able to get tickets to the main events, but with our super cool badges, we can get into second runs (if there are enough seats) and a number of other programs and screenings in the Market.

Things in our general favor: one of the feature films in Competition in the festival has a lesbian story-line. There are two Asian lesbian films in the Market. One is Japanese and the other is the Taiwanese lesbian film that we saw Monday night, SPIDER LILIES that got North American distribution yesterday (Congratulations Three Dots Entertainment and Wolfe).

I feel confident there is a market for CONTEMPLATING EMILY. It is a question of establishing interest in the project and developing the right relationships. There is no better place for us to be this week than right here at the Marché du Film as part of the Festival de Cannes, France.

Short Film Corner Cannes Film Festival and CineWomenNY Screening

2007-05-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

Marilys and Sarah will be taking “Contemplating Emily” to the Short Film Corner 2007 as part of the Cannes Film Festival. This division is the marketing division for short films. It is the international crossroads for filmmakers and producers. The festival begins on May 16, 2007. We will be arriving on the 18th and will stay for 10 days. We are looking forward to meeting with others from the film community and pitching the feature film project.

Please wish us Bon Chance as we take another important step with our project.

Although we will be out of town on May 22, 2007, the show must go on. There is going to be a screening of “Contemplating Emily” via CineWomenNY. Please come if you can – especially if you haven’t seen the short. Contemplating Emily will be among a number of short films screened – the line up looks fantastic. All the films were selected because they share the following theme:

Poetic interpretations of how love and longing animate our relationships.

TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2007 7:00PM TWO BOOTS PIONEER THEATER
155 E. 3rd Street, near corner of Avenue A
http://www.cinewomenny.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=38501

I wrote the following poem to share our exciting news about going to Cannes and to encourage our 500 plus fans to continue their unwavering support of this artistic endeavor. You too can become a patron of independent film and do so as a tax deduction by giving via our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas. Now would be the perfect time.

Best Always,
Sarah E. Shively

To market to market to push Contemplate
Home again home again welcomes our fate.

Perhaps we will sell or network or meet.
All will be steps in our challenging feat,
To turn our young pig into ham, pork or bacon
Takes all of our care, lovin’ and makin’.

In one week we leave for the French Riviera,
At Cannes they await us, Marilys and Sarah.

This is a big step, I’m sure you can guess,
Marché du Cannes is the best of the best
Where young auteurs with high aspirations
Gather together from all of the nations.

And there we will be as the East meets the West
To seek our good future in this glamorous fest.

Now is your time to lend us a hand,
With bon voyage we safely will land.
The future looks bright; let’s keep it that way
The Festival de Cannes is soon - this May.

By visiting our site, you can donate.
Click on the page Participate.

Via Fractured Atlas, our fiscal friend
Your dollars become Euros as we send
Our wee little piggy to market in France
Where jiggity jig we hope she will dance
And find a good fit to go from short to feature
Involved though it is, this is the procedure.

Thanks now and forever for all you still do
To help make our dreams and hopes come true
This is exciting for us and for you
I will keep you posted as I always do.

Sarah E Shively

Staten Island Film Festival

2007-04-03T19:05:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to the festival that takes place from June 20 - 24 http://www.sifilmfestival.org

We are proud to announce that “Contemplating Emily” has been accepted to The Staten Island Film Festival. This local festival with an exploding reputation is only in its second year, yet is making quite a hit. We are pleased to be among those selected during this exciting season. As you may know, many scenes from “Contemplating Emily” were shot on Staten Island, and it is fitting that we will be able to share this work with the community in which the project began.

As a buzz-maker for the festival, the CE trailer was among 45 trailers looped during an all-day event in the Staten Island Mall on March 21st. On April 24th we will be attending a press conference to announce all selected films for 2007 via the SI Economic Development Corp. The event will be televised on NY1.

In other news, a high resolution, Flash version of our short film is available for your viewing on-line! In order to monitor the preliminary hits, we are asking that interested viewers email ContemplatingEmily@verizon.net and request the link.

Eventually we will allow for easier access, but at this point in time, while still submitting to festivals, we want to have an awareness of who is seeing the film. Ideally we would prefer that you view “Contemplating Emily” in its intended projected form. However for those who cannot, we don’t wish to leave you in the dark, so please email and we’ll send you the link. Furthermore, if you would like a DVD copy, that can also be arranged. Email us your request.

Also, note that Marilys has upgraded the trailer on the CE site into a Flash version, making it universally viewable. Additionally, do you podcast? Guess what? You will soon be able to download the v-cast of “Contemplating Emily”, the 15-minute short film via the website. This will go into effect by the end of April.

The feature script is undergoing renovation. The more I learn about story and screenwriting, the more I feel confident that I have a great story worth telling but need to hone my craft and restructure to better serve this story idea. The long-awaited trip to Taiwan is now dawning for August 2007. The first grant for the trip is in process. More details will be forthcoming…

Best, Sarah E. Shively

Ben Affleck and Red Doors

2006-12-09T19:47:00.000-08:00

Invitation to a SAG screening of “Hollywoodland” on December fifth gave me the opportunity to personally hand Mr. Affleck a DVD copy of “Contemplating Emily” (in which his name is mentioned in Chinese.) He was on-hand for a Q&A following the film. Amid the rush, I was able to briefly let him know of the project. Who knows if he’ll ever take a look at it, but I did my little part to initiate a relationship. The feature script has a cameo role for him playing a fantasy incarnate of himself, and wouldn’t it be lovely if he’d agree to an afternoon of filming – in Taiwan.

In “Hollywoodland” he plays the real life George Reeves, the original TV Superman, and is commendable in the part. He poignantly captures the lifelong struggle of the under-appreciated actor – a sentiment that echoed chillingly through the audience of SAG background actors and the like with whom Marilys and I shared the screening.

In other news, our friends at Red Doors are in great shape with their DVD, PPV and POD deals. Here is a listing from today’s Shooting People email:

We have a new interview up on SHOOTER FILMS - read all about how Georgia Lee made her debut feature "Red Doors"

'Originally we thought we’d make the film for $70,000 on mini-DVD—but the project took on a life of its own. We were getting real actors and a very talented cinematographer who encouraged us to shoot on film. And when Jane did the budget calculation — at the end of the day, if you want to finish on 35-mm it wasn’t that big a budget difference. And Kodak was really helpful about giving us a great deal on super-16 film and it ended up working out for us to shoot on film.' Georgia Lee
- Debut Director, Red Doors

When Shooting People caught up to Georgia Lee, she said she had been very busy with family affairs: her sister, Kathy Shao-Lin Lee had just had her first baby, a boy. Kathy plays the youngest of three sisters in Georgia’s debut feature film, “Red Doors.” Not only was there the usual excitement about the first child in the family, but Georgia was especially happy about the effect the new baby had on her father. Georgia’s mother died while she was finishing her film and she said the new baby had been a welcome change for her father and the whole family. As a celebration of families and how they work, and don’t, Red Doors, a decidedly independent film with a star cast, has been winning film festival awards and moving its director closer to her movie-making goals.

Find out how Georgia went from biochemistry and business school at Harvard to a filmmaking career. Read on here:
http://www.shootingpeople.org/shooterfilms

We are thrilled by the news of Kathy’s baby (Kathy plays Lulu/Maggie in “Contemplating Emily”), and greatly inspired by the continuing success of the Red Doors film project.

Rehoboth Beach Film Festival

2006-11-19T18:11:00.000-08:00

“Contemplating Emily” screened at the Rehoboth Beach Film Festival in Rehoboth Beach, DE on November 10th and 11th.

I was able to attend the sold-out Saturday night screening at 7:45 PM. As we did at Outfest, we opened for feature film, “Loving Annabelle” – an excellent film also about a lesbian student/teacher relationship. I spoke before to introduce CE and hung around after to visit with people and field questions.

This link will take you to the festival where you can view the entire program on line. We are listed on page 26. http://www.rehobothfilm.com/Festival.html

Although I wasn’t able to take advantage of this festival as it came at a difficult time in relation to our move from Staten Island to Harlem, I must note that it was a great festival with an amazing line up of films. It was clearly a well attended and much anticipated event for the Delaware/DC/Virginia/Maryland film festival goers.

September 8, 2006 The Center

2006-10-08T19:48:00.000-07:00

Kathy Shao-Lin Lee, Sarah E Shively, Sandra Grace
Photo by Jicky

October Notes

2006-10-08T18:29:00.000-07:00

We had a great turnout of over 100 people for the September 8th screening of "Contemplating Emily" at the Gay and Lesbian Center. Our thanks go out to Sandra Grace for coordinating the evening. In addition to seeing a number of cast and crew, we were thrilled by the attendance of our personal friends. All told there were 25 people that came specifically to see our short.

Congratulations to the filmmakers of "Red Doors", the film that also stars Kathy Shao-Lin Lee. They not only enjoyed a thumbs-up review in the "New York Times" on September 8th, but they were also the number one grossing film in the nation per-screen for their opening weekend! (Okay, so they only had two screens, but still $17,500 per screen beat out “Snakes on a Plane” among other box office draws that weekend). I see this as true testament to the power of grass-roots efforts in the independent filmmaking community. Through relentless emailing and personal drive, the team of Red Doors filled the seats at the Angelika and Imagin Asian. Check out their website to follow their latest adventures including having nailed down a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Home Video. www.reddoorsthemovie.com

Our congratulations too to Sarah Cawley, our attached DP for the feature. Sarah is the Cinematographer for the new ABC television series “Ugly Betty” which also boasted a number one viewed pilot last week. Obviously getting top reviews, “Ugly Betty” is the English version of the very popular “Betty la Fea” series. The English version stars the talented America Ferrera as Betty Suarez.

We are still awaiting specific information regarding the Rehoboth Beach Film Festival where we will be screening next. The dates of the festival are November 8-12.

I have begun work on the latest redraft and am actively scouting for Taiwanese casting and for our potential director. There was a Film Festival at the Donnell Library Center in September that presented a Taiwanese Women’s Film Series. I attended one of the screenings.

At long last Marilys and I were able to send out DVD screeners to our cast and crew – many of whom had never seen the film. It was really a delight to get such positive feedback from the people who gave their time and talents to be apart of this project.

Screening at The Center September 8th

2006-09-02T16:35:00.000-07:00

Please come join us! Friday September 8th will be a New York screening of Contemplating Emily at the Gay and Lesbian Center on 13th Street.

Friday September 8th
Reception 6:15-7pm, screening at 7 pm
Best Lesbian & Alternative Short Films
The Center, 208 W. 13th St between 7/8 Aves
(212-620-7310). Subway: A, C, E, 1, 2, 3 to 14th St;
L to Eighth Ave; $10 minimum donation.

September 8th is also the theatrical premiere of ‘Red Doors’ the feature film staring Kathy Shao-Lin Lee at the Angelika Film Center! The last screening of the evening will be at 10:00 PM and Marilys and I are heading up a caravan of people to go from one Kathy Lee premiere to another.

To purchase tickets for the Red Doors opening weekend, please visit their website: www.reddoorsthemovie.com

In other news: I took advantage of a half grant given to me by the International Film and Television Workshops to spend a week in August attending a Screenwriters’ Master Class. I got some excellent feedback on my script and am looking forward to working on it this next month. The workshop was taught by Janet Roach (Prizzi’s Honor, Mr. North). She teaches screenwriting at Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts. In addition to benefiting from Janet’s expertise, I further enjoyed meeting follow writers and spending time on the Maine Coast.

Our premiere at Outfest has spawned a number of requests from festival programmers to see screeners for consideration to their festivals. The latest bite comes from the Rehoboth Beach Film Festival in Delaware that is interested in pairing us again with ‘Loving Annabelle’. This festival will be in November. We’ll get more information out to you on this as we know more. Additionally, we are under consideration at the moment for two Gay and Lesbian festivals in Spain – one in Barcelona and the other in Madrid, the GLBT festival in Melbourne Australia and the GLBT festival in Atlanta, GA. Additionally there are a number of festivals up-coming that we will submit to for the 2007 season.

2006-08-04T16:23:00.000-07:00

Sarah admires the gardening wall in the home of the couple hosting the pool party

2006-08-04T16:14:00.000-07:00

A LGBT youth featured in a documentary made waves at the pool party

2006-08-04T16:07:00.000-07:00

Marilys at the editing board for ET at Paramount Studios

2006-08-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

From Mulholland Drive overlooking the San Fernando Valley

2006-07-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

Chano, our director of photography

2006-07-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

Director and Cast of Loving Annabelle at Q&A

Back in New York

2006-07-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

We are finally catching our breath after a busy trip and an even busier return. We were flung directly back into our not-so-fun workaday lives, but so it must be at this stage in the game.

To summarize our trip to Los Angeles for the premiere of Contemplating Emily at Outfest: if we were virgins going in, we didn’t return as such. The festival and all the various activities surrounding it quickly ushered us into the world of Independent Film with no holds. We met with all sorts of people from within the film industry as well as many, many filmmakers doing their work completely outside of the system.

We gained some wind under our sails as we gear up for the next phase of our quest, and we strongly sensed that there is hope. Some people were determined to let us know that it couldn’t be done, that we didn’t know what we were doing, that we would need big name actresses in all the key roles, that we should misrepresent our project in order to seem more appealing etc…But certainly by far, there were many more people that shared with us their stories of success and their journeys along the way, no matter how bumpy. They liked what we were doing and they believed that we have every reason to sally forth – as do we.

Highlights from the last few days:

We screened again on Sunday July 16 at the Barnsdall Art Park, a Frank Lloyd Wright complex used for many various arts events. This was a smaller screening room holding about 400 people. Over 100 people were turned away at the door, which was unfortunate, but a sign that the film they were coming to see (not us – we screened in front of Loving Annabelle) was a major draw. The projector was not as good as the one at the DGA, but hey, it all went over well and I think people were pleased – they laughed, they cried, they applauded loudly – what more could I want? Well, our DP was there, CC, as were some personal friends - DB from my teaching days at Baruch College and BR and his partner from my graduate school days at UNC-CH.

The awards ceremony was a good old gay event hosted by comedian, Bruce Vilanch. My Oberlin friend, Rex Lee gave an award (Rex is on HBO’s Entourage http://www.hbo.com/entourage/interviews/rex_lee.html ) Loving Annabelle, the feature film we opened for won two awards, one for HBO’s Outstanding Narrative Feature and Diane Gaidry, one of the lead actresses, was recipient of the Outfest award for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film. One of the judges for the awards was Mia Riverton who was an actress and producer for Red Doors, the feature film that did so well last year at Outfest and with which we share actress Kathy Shao-Lin Lee.

The awards: http://www.altfg.com/awards/2006/outfest.htm

Grease Lighting!

2006-07-10T17:54:00.000-07:00

Our premiere was triumphant! We played to a soldout audience of over 600 people in the glamorous Theatre One of the Directors’ Guild of America on Saturday night. I spoke before, which was a bit nerve wracking, but went over well. Here is what I said:

"Every filmmaker has exactly one opportunity to premiere her first film. I am thrilled to do so this evening with all of you.

I would like to thank Kim Yutani and the members of Outfest for so aptly pairing “Contemplating Emily” with “Loving Annabelle” and not just because of the present participle/name title which puts us in company with “Educating Rita”, “Chasing Amy” and, of course, “Kissing Jessica Stein”, but more importantly because these two films address a similar theme albeit in different light.

“Contemplating Emily” is a poetic treatment of a feature film project. My success at this juncture lies in leaving you, the audience, wanting more, for indeed, it is more that I hope to one day create with this story. Thank you."

She looked gorgeous fully projected and the sound was magnificent. Marilys’ music and film score was a hit. We will have our second screening on Sunday the 16th at noon. That evening will be the awards ceremony and then we will return to New York on Monday the 17th.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at a pool party on Mulholland Drive. The really wonderful thing about Outfest is that the festival is championed by the gay heavy hitters of Hollywood’s film industry. This means that we benefit from private invitations to their lovely homes. This one was spectacular and the experience unlike any I have ever had. The garden was beautiful, the views magnificent and the home very charming. I played in the pool which was complete with a waterfall and we made our rounds and talked with as many people as we could.

This morning Marilys and I attended an HBO sponsored breakfast panel about documentary filmmaking and this afternoon I attended a directors’ lunch sponsored by the DGA. I sat next to Randal Kleiser, who is mostly known for having directed “Grease”. I wish I could say I asked him intelligent questions and got him to impart critical industry wisdom on my behalf, but mostly we talked about the weather and the food. I gabbed much more comfortably with some of the other filmmakers in my league, however, and feel that I am starting to cultivate some camaraderie among them.

Marilys and I will try to get tickets for a dinner and a movie series for this evening. Tomorrow we have a VIP tour at Paramount in the afternoon.

Slowly the buzz is building about who we are and what we are on track to do. That is what I hope to continue to cultivate over the course of this next week.

I wish to extend a heartfelt thank you to all those who have visited the website and made contributions to our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas, over the course of the past few days. Your patronage sincerely helps us at this point in our process.

Neverlost in La La Land

2006-07-08T16:59:00.000-07:00

We are here! Thanks to Wendy – the name we gave to our trusted GPS navigator, we have been managing to get around town for the various events without getting lost. Not used to being a VIP, the special treatment has been almost shocking. No waiting in lines, free food, always people there to help, no paying for parking, valet services, complementary tickets – LA’s not such a bad place after all (Or rather, great kudos to the organizers of Outfest for sponsoring such an extraordinary event.)

I actually skipped out on the first VIP event last night because Marilys and I are still jet-legged and were absolutely exhausted. (It was a big see-and-be-seen party for “Project Runway” at Ivar – not exactly my scene anyway.)

Today, however, is our BIG DAY and we wanted to be rested and ready. (Marilys is napping as I write.) "Contemplating Emily" premieres this evening. There will be a pre-party arranged by Power Up, a women in film organization. We chatted it up yesterday with one of the lead actresses from "Loving Annabelle" at a meet-and-greet for the filmmakers. (We saw it already in New York at New Fest.)

To briefly chronicle the events thus far: We flew in on Thursday to Long Beach (Jet Blue) and drove to West Hollywood in our rented Taurus. We are staying at the Ramada Plaza, a very queer looking complex in California pink and green.

Thursday night was the opening Gala at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown LA. A special award was given to Kenneth Anger for his 60 plus years in queer filmmaking. He was there to accept which was apparently a rare treat. (All communication between the festival coordinators and him had been done via fax and snail mail. No one was certain he would show up.)

A brief on KA – born in 1927, he began making films at the age of 9, as a child he appeared in the 1935 Hollywood production of "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" (the one with Mickey Rooney as Puck). Most of his films were experimental and too risqué for US audiences; consequently, many of them were made in France. Among his most notable are "Scorpio Rising" and "Lucifer Rising". He is perhaps best known, however for authoring the landmark "Hollywood Babylon" books, which detailed a seamier side of the Hollywood film industry than most were aware of.

The film of the evening was "Puccini for Beginners" written and directed by Maria Maggenti. We were especially interested in seeing this piece since it has received such high acclaim. Additionally it was produced by Eden Wurmfeld, someone I have been trying to cross paths with for sometime as she was also a producer on "Kissing Jessica Stein". She was at the Oberlin reunion when I was there a few weeks ago, but we didn’t get introduced. She wasn’t at the Gala because she is in production, but hopefully we’ll catch up with one another back in New York. In short, I think she might be interested in our project.

We did meet up with other Oberlin folk, notably the lovely Linda Santiman who is helping with Outfest and has been giving us a good talking up among those she knows. Also a chance encounter with RL on the dance floor made my night. 16 years is just too long to go without seeing one of your favorite gay boy sweethearts who was coming out with you during the troubling early years of the AIDS epidemic.

Two other Obies will be joining in this evening’s events: TR who lives here and is a doc filmmaker and ESC who lived with me in Spanish House. But roots go even deeper as we will also be joined by junior high and high school classmate from Burlington, IA, fellow runner and now quite accomplished athlete, TE.

The good omens of the evening were: one, the mention and quoting of Emily Dickinson at the end of "Puccini for Beginners". And two, the magical incantation of ‘Open Sesame’ by a lady in the hotel elevator. (It worked.) For those of you who don’t know, Open Sesame is the name of the fledgling production company that Sarah E Shively SES and Marilys Ernst ME are creating for the purposes of moving "Contemplating Emily" forward toward feature film production.

Then, good omen number three came from an unlikely place. I received an email yesterday from the MacDowell Colony because they are asking all of their filmmaking fellows to submit material they have done that highlights MacDowell to be part of a centennial celebration of the Colony next year at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Given that the opening and closing of "Contemplating Emily", the short film, was shot at MacDowell, I think they may be interested in including it in their showing. Additionally, I am going to have Marilys help me edit together some of the other material that I shot while there last year. I was working with an old super 8mm camera and have quite a bit of film from which I could create a nice tribute.

The next festival film we saw was "The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros" at DGA Theatre One. Let me first note that this was the first time we had seen the venue where CE will open tonight. It is a truly lovely and superb space: arched screen with full red stage curtains that glide open at the top of the show, plush seats with plenty of room for legs and people passing by to interior seating and a state of the art sound system. Mom would be proud. No shitty downtown, rat-infested hole-in-the-wall this.

Maxi was a touching a wonderful portrait of an openly gay 12 year old from the slums of Manila who lives with his family of thieves and develops a crush on an upright and uptight new cop in the hood. Directed by Auraeus Solito and written by Michiko Yamamoto, this film had me in tears and aching from the sheer beauty of remarkable cinematography that brought everything of the Philippines (except the smell) to life.

This morning we saw the Boys’ Shorts. They were all very well done. My Spanish exchange brother, HAD will be pleased to know that the Spanish short, "K" screened here and was very well received. Additionally, my brother in Madison, WI, PS will be interested to know that "Straight Boys", shot on the campus of the University of WI, was also screened and was a critical success.

Aside from the exciting events of this evening, we have on the horizon a filmmakers’ pool party tomorrow afternoon, many films to screen, the HBO Breakfast Series (this will be our ‘school’ of the week.), and after speaking with an Executive Director of Feature Production Finance at Paramount Pictures yesterday, Marilys and I have a private invitation for a VIP tour of the studios whenever we’d like this next week. I’m looking forward to it.

I feel pretty! Everybody Sing!

2006-07-02T20:03:00.000-07:00

Marilys and I leave in a few days for Outfest.

There has been a lot of work done, and yet a lot remains to be done. In addition to all the preparation that we need to do to present ourselves as producers of this film project, we also have many things to attend to right here in New York. I will be missing the classes I teach and have to prepare lessons for eight other people that will be covering me while away. Marilys has her many clients to juggle in order to create some space for her to leave for ten days.

There has been little time for things like clothes shopping, haircuts etc. But these too are important as we need to look and feel our best. At the moment, we are both a bit scrappy after weeks and weeks with no time off. Trust me, you don’t want to be a guest in our home right now. Who knows when the vacuum cleaner last saw the light of day.

For those of you just tuning in: Contemplating Emily, the short film, is about to make her premiere at the Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles. In addition to all the festivities of a festival, this one is also a major market for the film industry. In other words, we are going to be shopping our feature film project and hope to begin to dialogue with potentially interested producing parties that are themselves shopping for a film project.

Pulling resources together to enable this trip has been a challenge to date, so if you are in a position to help up off-set some of our expenses, we would be grateful. You can do so as a tax write-off by giving to our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas and designating it for Contemplating Emily. Here is the link: https://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/contribute/donate/161

Our expenses between the trip itself and all the marketing preparation are shaping up to be around $4,500. To date, we have about $1,500 covered from donations, but we are still seeking the other $3,000. So, help us along if you can. Thanks, Sarah

Outward Bound!

2006-05-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

We're going to Outfest in LA!!!!!

Sarah E Shively and Marilys Ernst are thrilled to be able to share with you the news that our short film, Contemplating Emily, is an official selection to the 2006 Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles and will make its world premiere there this July.

For more information about our film, go here: http://www.contemplatingemily.com/

MISSION & OBJECTIVE

OUTFEST is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to build bridges among audiences, filmmakers and the entertainment industry through the exhibition of high-quality gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender themed films and videos, highlighted by an annual festival, that enlighten, educate and entertain the diverse communities of Southern California.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

More than 200 feature and short films, nine venues and attendance of more than 42,000 people make Outfest the largest film festival of any kind in Los Angeles. Since our founding in 1982, Outfest has screened more than 4,200 international films and videos for audiences of well over half a million people. Great opportunities await filmmakers at Outfest.

Outfest is the only gay and lesbian film festival in the heart of the entertainment industry, and more industry executives attend Outfest than any other gay and lesbian film festival. Our Access LA program offers comprehensive services for emerging filmmakers to forge connections in Hollywood. These services include:

One-on-one industry meetings with an agent, manager, production company executive, entertainment lawyer or distribution company executive for every director in the festival.

A five-part HBO Breakfast Series hosted by members of the Outfest Board of Directors, with topics like How to Find Distribution, How to Get Work in Television, How to Get Representation, etc.

Three dozen panels, parties and receptions where filmmakers meet other filmmakers as well as representatives from the industry, other festivals and international LGBT media outlets.

Outfest has the most extensive awards program of any gay and lesbian film festival, bestowing 16 awards for film and video excellence, including the $5,000 HBO Outstanding First Narrative Feature Award.

Our state-of-the-art venues include the festival headquarters at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and screenings at the vast outdoor John Anson Ford Amphitheater, the historic Orpheum movie palace the LA Gay and Lesbian Center¹s Village at Ed Gould Plaza and REDCAT: Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater.

Outfest receives media coverage from national outlets such as Vanity Fair, CNN, USA Today, E! Entertainment Television, Access Hollywood, Variety, Entertainment Tonight, The Advocate, OUT, MTV, Hollywood Reporter, Genre and the Independent Film Channel < as well as key local outlets such as the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Lesbian News, Frontiers, Edge, XY Magazine, Nightlife, local network news and many others.