NEWSFLASH:
Hip Hip Hooray! SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS has been officially selected to screen at the 22nd annual Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival, scheduled for November 6-8, 2009. We are extremely excited about screening our documentary on Up With People at the longest running women's film festival in the world. Up With People is headquartered in Denver, Colorado so we hope many UWP alumni will have the opportunity to come to this festival. Stay tuned and we'll announce screening times as soon as possible. In the meantime you can check out general information at the RMWFF website at www.rmwfilmfest.org.
I can't wait to travel to the high county again!
Smile!
Aug 21, 2009
FirstGlance Film Festival, Philadelphia--Oct 24 @ 5pm
NEWSFLASH:
Our screening at the FirstGlance Film Festival will be held on:
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24 @ 6pm
FRANKLIN THEATER at the FRANKLIN INSTITUTE
222 NORTH 20th STREET
PHILADELPHIA, PA
If you are in the area, please join the fun and participate in the captivating dialogue.
It will be a night to remember. Come learn about youthful idealism and what images and ideals we sell to the rest of the world. You'll never think of the "melting pot" in the same way....or, maybe you will!
"Up, up with people, you meet 'em wherever they go!
Up Up With People, there the best kind of folk we know!
If more people were for people, all people everywhere,
There'd be a lot less people to worry about
And a lot more people who care!"
Our screening at the FirstGlance Film Festival will be held on:
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24 @ 6pm
FRANKLIN THEATER at the FRANKLIN INSTITUTE
222 NORTH 20th STREET
PHILADELPHIA, PA
If you are in the area, please join the fun and participate in the captivating dialogue.
It will be a night to remember. Come learn about youthful idealism and what images and ideals we sell to the rest of the world. You'll never think of the "melting pot" in the same way....or, maybe you will!
"Up, up with people, you meet 'em wherever they go!
Up Up With People, there the best kind of folk we know!
If more people were for people, all people everywhere,
There'd be a lot less people to worry about
And a lot more people who care!"
News, press and praise during our Oscar qualifying run!
What a couple of amazing weeks in LA and NYC screening SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS for our Oscar qualifying run at DocuWeeks. The ArcLight Hollywood is a stunning movie experience, and we had sold out shows at the IFP Center in NYC. The Q&As and continued discussion in the hallways of both venues after each screening were vibrant and thought-provoking! The energetic dialogue would not let up among the handful of Up With People alumni who attended, as well as numerous non-UWP viewers.
I hope you check out the clips and news at documentary.org/docuweeks09. A big thank you goes out to everyone at DocuWeeks for making these screenings possible. It was a privilege and honor to be counted among such great films screening at DocuWeeks and to meet the dedicated staff at IDA.
We've gotten amazing press in the process. You can check out all the new press and praise, and click on all the links posted on the blog. Please tell your friends!!
And don't forget to Google search the film title in quotes: "Smile 'Til It Hurts". The last time I did it logged 358,000 results!!!! How cool is that?!
Now that we've finished our Oscar qualifying run at DocuWeeks, I have to complete an application for the Little Golden Man. It's due next week. If you've gone through the process and have a thought, or if you just want to send big hugs and greetings, please post a comment!
We are also thrilled to announce that the IFP has recommended SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS for a Gotham Award!!! Let's hope we get nominated! Please send your well-wishes and good karma in that direction too!
I hope to post news from additional film festivals we hope to attend before the year's end. Our next confirmed award-winning film festival is FirstGlance in Philadelphia, PA on October 22-25, 2009. You can check out the announcement at: http://www.firstglancefilms.com/phillyofficialselections.php
We start our foreign launch in October too.
Thanks to all and stay tuned!
I hope you check out the clips and news at documentary.org/docuweeks09. A big thank you goes out to everyone at DocuWeeks for making these screenings possible. It was a privilege and honor to be counted among such great films screening at DocuWeeks and to meet the dedicated staff at IDA.
We've gotten amazing press in the process. You can check out all the new press and praise, and click on all the links posted on the blog. Please tell your friends!!
And don't forget to Google search the film title in quotes: "Smile 'Til It Hurts". The last time I did it logged 358,000 results!!!! How cool is that?!
Now that we've finished our Oscar qualifying run at DocuWeeks, I have to complete an application for the Little Golden Man. It's due next week. If you've gone through the process and have a thought, or if you just want to send big hugs and greetings, please post a comment!
We are also thrilled to announce that the IFP has recommended SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS for a Gotham Award!!! Let's hope we get nominated! Please send your well-wishes and good karma in that direction too!
I hope to post news from additional film festivals we hope to attend before the year's end. Our next confirmed award-winning film festival is FirstGlance in Philadelphia, PA on October 22-25, 2009. You can check out the announcement at: http://www.firstglancefilms.com/phillyofficialselections.php
We start our foreign launch in October too.
Thanks to all and stay tuned!
Aug 13, 2009
Interview on Leonard Lopate Show!
Hi friends,
There is a lot of news to report! I've posted recent press and praise coming off our fabulous screenings in LA and NYC as our qualifying Oscar run ends at the IFC Center in NYC tonight. You can find those on the blog. Also, here is an interview from the Leonard Lopate show:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2009/08/12
Next week we should have some of our Q&A's posted too!
Stay tuned!
Lee
There is a lot of news to report! I've posted recent press and praise coming off our fabulous screenings in LA and NYC as our qualifying Oscar run ends at the IFC Center in NYC tonight. You can find those on the blog. Also, here is an interview from the Leonard Lopate show:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2009/08/12
Next week we should have some of our Q&A's posted too!
Stay tuned!
Lee
Jul 11, 2009
DOCUWEEKS!!! Are we really qualifying for an Oscar???
Pinch me! I am so excited to tell you that SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS was accepted as 1 of 18 feature films by the International Documentary Association for its annual DOCUWEEKS Theatrical Showcase. By participating in DOCUWEEKS, our film will qualify for the Oscars!!!! press release
There have been so many details that I don't know where to start. We had a major snafu with our post house in NYC. First, they were too busy to help me convert my project to an HDCAM so I had to hunt for an AVID in Arizona. Turns out that no one in Phoenix had the right kind of editing machine that was compatible to what we used in NYC. So I had to find a post facility in Los Angeles. When the project was finally opened, it was apparent that my NYC post house didn't even copy all the files properly!!! .....so in the end I had to rebuild our project. Can you believe it???? I knew I had to redo the sound to make SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS acceptable to Academy standards, but I didn't anticipate having to re-cut the sound simply because original files were missing on the hard drive. It was a nightmare last week, running from Phoenix to LA but thank goodness LA post houses are open 24 hours and there are so many of them in LA that they were also very competitively priced. It all turned out well in the end and we are preparing the DCP process this coming week. (I've no idea what DCP exactly is or does to the picture, but the Academy requires it so it's getting done.) I'm omitting a 1000 details on the 24 hour/7 day process to get this done because I will bore you to tears and I'm wiped out from dealing with it myself. Thinking about it again makes me want to grab another beer. Anyone have an aspirin for this big headache of mine? :)
So what's next? The hard work is done and the IDA will now do their magic and screen SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS in both Los Angeles and New York City. After that I have forms to fill with the Academy and DVD screeners to send by September 1. There will be press and publicity details also. If you are in Los Angeles between July 31 and August 6, or in New York between August 7-13, come see SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS on the big screen!!! It's a great popcorn movie!
Here are the show times and theater details for SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS at DocuWeeks:
LOS ANGELES, July 31 - August 6:
ArcLight Hollywood
6360 W Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA
Show times:
Fri 31-Jul 12:00 PM 5:40 PM
Sat 1-Aug 2:00 PM 7:50 PM
Sun 2-Aug 3:55 PM 9:45 PM
Mon 3-Aug 12:00 PM 5:40 PM
Tue 4-Aug 2:00 PM 7:50 PM
Wed 5-Aug 3:55 PM 9:45 PM
Thu 6-Aug 3:55 PM 9:45 PM
NEW YORK CITY, August 7-13:
IFC Center
323 Sixth Avenue at West Third Street, New York NY
Show times:
Fri 7-Aug 2:55 PM 9:50 PM
Sat 8-Aug 12:00 PM 4:30 PM
Sun 9-Aug 1:30 PM 6:10 PM
Mon 10-Aug 2:55 PM 7:55 PM
Tue 11-Aug 12:00 PM 4:30 PM
Wed 12-Aug 1:30 PM 6:10 PM
Thu 13-Aug 2:55 PM 7:55 PM
Hope to see you at the movies!
Lee
There have been so many details that I don't know where to start. We had a major snafu with our post house in NYC. First, they were too busy to help me convert my project to an HDCAM so I had to hunt for an AVID in Arizona. Turns out that no one in Phoenix had the right kind of editing machine that was compatible to what we used in NYC. So I had to find a post facility in Los Angeles. When the project was finally opened, it was apparent that my NYC post house didn't even copy all the files properly!!! .....so in the end I had to rebuild our project. Can you believe it???? I knew I had to redo the sound to make SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS acceptable to Academy standards, but I didn't anticipate having to re-cut the sound simply because original files were missing on the hard drive. It was a nightmare last week, running from Phoenix to LA but thank goodness LA post houses are open 24 hours and there are so many of them in LA that they were also very competitively priced. It all turned out well in the end and we are preparing the DCP process this coming week. (I've no idea what DCP exactly is or does to the picture, but the Academy requires it so it's getting done.) I'm omitting a 1000 details on the 24 hour/7 day process to get this done because I will bore you to tears and I'm wiped out from dealing with it myself. Thinking about it again makes me want to grab another beer. Anyone have an aspirin for this big headache of mine? :)
So what's next? The hard work is done and the IDA will now do their magic and screen SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS in both Los Angeles and New York City. After that I have forms to fill with the Academy and DVD screeners to send by September 1. There will be press and publicity details also. If you are in Los Angeles between July 31 and August 6, or in New York between August 7-13, come see SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS on the big screen!!! It's a great popcorn movie!
Here are the show times and theater details for SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS at DocuWeeks:
LOS ANGELES, July 31 - August 6:
ArcLight Hollywood
6360 W Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA
Show times:
Fri 31-Jul 12:00 PM 5:40 PM
Sat 1-Aug 2:00 PM 7:50 PM
Sun 2-Aug 3:55 PM 9:45 PM
Mon 3-Aug 12:00 PM 5:40 PM
Tue 4-Aug 2:00 PM 7:50 PM
Wed 5-Aug 3:55 PM 9:45 PM
Thu 6-Aug 3:55 PM 9:45 PM
NEW YORK CITY, August 7-13:
IFC Center
323 Sixth Avenue at West Third Street, New York NY
Show times:
Fri 7-Aug 2:55 PM 9:50 PM
Sat 8-Aug 12:00 PM 4:30 PM
Sun 9-Aug 1:30 PM 6:10 PM
Mon 10-Aug 2:55 PM 7:55 PM
Tue 11-Aug 12:00 PM 4:30 PM
Wed 12-Aug 1:30 PM 6:10 PM
Thu 13-Aug 2:55 PM 7:55 PM
Hope to see you at the movies!
Lee
Jun 12, 2009
Pulling Quotes from pullquote reviewing our doc!
Dear fans,
In case you didn't see this comment from a viewer of SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, I pulled a few quotes from pullquote for your reading pleasure. You can read the entire blog at http://pullquote.typepad.com/pullquote/2009/06/cant-stop-the-music-part-2.html.
"A confession: I went into this doc with only the vaguest notion of what Up With People (www.upwithpeople.org) was, aside from shorthand for clean-scrubbed, conservative, and insipid, and the hope it might shed some insight on a very popular organization that appeals to clean-scrubbed do-gooder youths where I teach, FCA [ask your Christian friends]. Smile 'Til It Hurts, with its mix of talking-head interviews and epically cheesy archival performance footage [the 1986 Super Bowl halftime show!], did much more than deliver the goods. What I discovered about the history of these singing and dancing "radical moderates" was equal parts fascinating and fuuuuucked up."
"Cynical capitalism may have supplanted ideology, but despite it all, the members really believed in the Up mission. And they were like missionaries at first, impressively integrated from the get-go with African-, Asian-, and Native-American members singing and dancing with gusto everywhere from Watts to Washington D.C. alongside bright-eyed white go-getters [like a very young Glenn Close]. Over time, Up With People moved from a missionary to a tuition-based model, and escalating costs resulted in less racial and economic diversity."
"By the early 80s, reports a queeny former cast member, Up With People was a preserve for closet cases. His account drips with scorn, but it's balanced by passionate testimonies from other members, including one African-American woman who tells an amazing story of a Southern tour stop during the Freedom Riders summer. Ultimately, what's remarkable and endless engrossing about Smile is how many of the participants who appear in the doc still cite their time in the troupe as not simply life-changing but positive."
"A final word of warning if you manage to see Smile [and you should]: Good luck getting those earnest, catchy, campy songs--"Which Way, America?" "What Color Is God's Skin?"-- out of your head."
If you see any blogs on Up With People, please let us know. Also, please be sure to let others know about SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS and follow our tweets: www.twitter.com/storeyvision.
Enjoy the weekend!
In case you didn't see this comment from a viewer of SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, I pulled a few quotes from pullquote for your reading pleasure. You can read the entire blog at http://pullquote.typepad.com/pullquote/2009/06/cant-stop-the-music-part-2.html.
"A confession: I went into this doc with only the vaguest notion of what Up With People (www.upwithpeople.org) was, aside from shorthand for clean-scrubbed, conservative, and insipid, and the hope it might shed some insight on a very popular organization that appeals to clean-scrubbed do-gooder youths where I teach, FCA [ask your Christian friends]. Smile 'Til It Hurts, with its mix of talking-head interviews and epically cheesy archival performance footage [the 1986 Super Bowl halftime show!], did much more than deliver the goods. What I discovered about the history of these singing and dancing "radical moderates" was equal parts fascinating and fuuuuucked up."
"Cynical capitalism may have supplanted ideology, but despite it all, the members really believed in the Up mission. And they were like missionaries at first, impressively integrated from the get-go with African-, Asian-, and Native-American members singing and dancing with gusto everywhere from Watts to Washington D.C. alongside bright-eyed white go-getters [like a very young Glenn Close]. Over time, Up With People moved from a missionary to a tuition-based model, and escalating costs resulted in less racial and economic diversity."
"By the early 80s, reports a queeny former cast member, Up With People was a preserve for closet cases. His account drips with scorn, but it's balanced by passionate testimonies from other members, including one African-American woman who tells an amazing story of a Southern tour stop during the Freedom Riders summer. Ultimately, what's remarkable and endless engrossing about Smile is how many of the participants who appear in the doc still cite their time in the troupe as not simply life-changing but positive."
"A final word of warning if you manage to see Smile [and you should]: Good luck getting those earnest, catchy, campy songs--"Which Way, America?" "What Color Is God's Skin?"-- out of your head."
If you see any blogs on Up With People, please let us know. Also, please be sure to let others know about SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS and follow our tweets: www.twitter.com/storeyvision.
Enjoy the weekend!
Jun 11, 2009
Been tweeting...
It's a shame that I haven't blogged in awhile. I've been busy tweeting---or figuring out how to tweet facts about Up With People and the making of SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS. Right now I have about 300 followers---which is great! If you are one of them, thank you! If not, you can sign up to follow from the blog page. The thing about tweeting is sending short messages and sending them more often. I think I've tweeted over 200 times by now. But I'm not sure how to get the word out about the film, either in Twitterland or here on the blog. We are still getting 1000s of hits per week on the website and I need to be more diligent in putting up content. For example, I've been promising to put up the Q&A from Slamdance, Florida and now NewFest but haven't done it yet (bad girl!). The trick is cutting the clips down to YouTube length while keeping the visual interest. It just takes time.....anyone got a few minutes to spare?? :)
The other activity has been working with our sales agent, Films Transit, on the next steps toward distribution. We've been focusing on film festivals. I get requests to apply to various festivals every week. Most I haven't heard of before, not because they aren't important festivals, but because I simply don't know the festival circuit. It takes time to coordinate the festival application and materials and "Without A Box" is a big help. I've no idea how to approach the requests made in foreign languages though. :) I'm really enjoying the festivals we've had the priviledge to attend and I hope that we get to participate in many more. The audiences love the SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS and seems to learn a great deal by it. I always get a kick out of being there and expieriencing the laughter, joy, heartbreak and intellectual reactions first hand.
My next blog.....on NewFest!
The other activity has been working with our sales agent, Films Transit, on the next steps toward distribution. We've been focusing on film festivals. I get requests to apply to various festivals every week. Most I haven't heard of before, not because they aren't important festivals, but because I simply don't know the festival circuit. It takes time to coordinate the festival application and materials and "Without A Box" is a big help. I've no idea how to approach the requests made in foreign languages though. :) I'm really enjoying the festivals we've had the priviledge to attend and I hope that we get to participate in many more. The audiences love the SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS and seems to learn a great deal by it. I always get a kick out of being there and expieriencing the laughter, joy, heartbreak and intellectual reactions first hand.
My next blog.....on NewFest!
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