Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Radio Days

TWISTED was recently featured on WFMU radio’s “Seven Second Delay” , hosted by Andy Breckman and Ken Freedman. As per usual, our segment followed a live on-air nipple-piercing of a 56-year-old man and preceded the music stylings of a folk guitarist. The interview with Sara begins about 36 minutes in.

Balloon twisting, like mime and ventriloquism, is perfect fare for the radio. Sara made a balloon version of the recently pierced host. For at-home listeners, this balloon could have looked like anything. But because we love you, dear readers, we’re including some photos.


All photos by John Dalton.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Strawberries and Sunflowers


We presume you're picking out a gift for us on this, the fourth anniversary of TWISTED's world premiere at South By Southwest. Fruit and flowers are apparently the gift of choice for year number four (d'uh - as if you didn't know). To celebrate the day, we are unveiling our new facebook page.

In 2007, at this moment, we were leaving a few pre-screening interviews, reveling in the offer of free hair and make-up experts to spruce up our tired selves. We'd been on the go non-stop for too long to remember and after starting the film in 2003, four years later we were beyond excited to finally share our work. Balloon twisters flew in to build us amazing sculptures and our supportive families learned to make balloon dogs and spread the word to people of Austin.

As we drove to The Dobie Theatre (RIP), our nerves filled the car. We remembered a nice moment, a few years earlier, when we filmed Vera in Arizona. We stayed on her couch, the bearers of much good will to us as indie filmmakers, and felt the excitement as we got up, started filming, and saw her family begin to arrive for her college graduation. After years of hoping her goal was achievable, Vera's sense of pride was very moving. While dancing around the living room, someone put on a song from "The Little Mermaid". Suddenly, the whole room was singing "Part Of That World". The silly, pretty song we all knew the words to - about a longing to have something you'd admired for so long. For Vera, it was a chance to learn about medicine. For us, it was a chance to actually call ourselves filmmakers, after years of wondering if we'd ever finish. As we sat in the car four years ago, remembering that moment (which we couldn't include in the film... damn you music rights!) we needed something to calm us down. So, we rolled down the windows, and sang that song at the top of our lungs.

Now, TWISTED has been out in the world for as long as it took us to make it. As many people who have taken on creative projects know, it is a constant learning curve. Though the film itself was done in '07, we spent the next few years learning about distribution, marketing, theatrical runs, DVD releases and international sales. Just last week, someone from Israel told us he'd seen TWISTED on TV - we're big in other countries... the David Hasselhoff of balloon docs. Even now, we are still learning about online opportunities and hope to one day make it to TV in the U.S.

Thank you all for all of your support over the years! We know so many smart, supportive, creative friends - and it was our honor to teach many of you your first balloon dog.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Don't Screw This Up!


If you want the love of your family and friends to continue, you MUST remember to buy all of them copies of TWISTED: A Balloonamentary this holiday season. You're welcome. And by that we mean, thank you.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

City Island!


Lauren Versel, an Executive Producer on TWISTED: A Balloonamentary, has another movie coming to a theater near you. City Island, which stars Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies and Alan Arkin, won the Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival and is now in limited theatrical release. Lauren produced City Island, and it's a fantastic, hilarious film!

Small films really need support during their opening weekends, to convince distributors to expand the release to more theaters in more cities. City Island is now playing in NY and LA, and it opens soon in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, Toronto, Miami, Philadelphia, Atlanta and San Francisco. So, if you live in one of these cities, join us in showing Lauren appreciation for helping to make TWISTED a reality... grab a bunch of friends and head out to see City Island.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

If Tyne Daly and Mr. Show Had A Baby, It Would Be Called...

Daily Show!




TheDailyShow.com is now featuring TWISTED in a list of staff projects. Check out the link and support the great creative endeavors.



Thanks to The Daily Show for the balloony love!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Boatloads of Fun

Back in 1968, one year before The Gap even existed, Sara's dad started a business called New Steamship Consultants. Now the world's largest dealer of ocean liner memorabilia, perhaps the company will one day sell an entertainment guide for Royal Caribbean, mentioning TWISTED.

It seems the cruise line, now our favorite, is playing TWISTED on board. Let us know if you see it!

Monday, July 6, 2009

It's a pony!


Sara recently had a significant birthday. Let's just say she entered a new decade. 10? Sure, we'll go with that.

Due to swine flu, the parade was canceled, but a big birthday celebration was still underway. Good friends made for a great weekend of eating, coney-islanding, and dancing (MJ - though you make us feel conflicted, we will never challenge your command to move our feet).

The birthday presents included a wonderful jar of memories from friends. Each person wrote down tons of memories on little sheets of paper, rolled 'em up, and placed them in the bottle. Some of Naomi's memories are movie-related, some are not (hard to remember - but there was a time we were friends and didn't even know that balloon twisting conventions existed), but we're the only one's who'd get all the inside jokes and stories on the pieces of paper. That's the thing about an experience like this - the only two people who can appreciate all of the up's and downs are the two of us.

This year, the ladies of TWISTED went 9 months without seeing each other. While our film spent several long years in the womb, a less sophisticated, human baby could have been born in this small amount of time. After many weekends schlepping between NY and Boston, and a long stretch on the road for festivals and the theatrical run, this less busy year just kinda passed us by and gave us each the opportunity to have more time at home. In March, it was reunion time. We've had a few nice visits since, and - as much as we love the movie - it's fun to remember how to have balance and be friends outside of the movie.