We just got accepted to two more festivals!! Newport Beach Film Festival in Newport Beach, CA invited us to screen and we will be making our East Coast Premiere at the Independent Film Festival in Boston!! If you can make either screening, please come! We promise you will NOT be disappointed.
Newport Beach Film Festival--Screening on Sunday, April 22nd at 2:30PM
Independent Film Festival in Boston--Screening on Sunday, April 29th at 12:00PM
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Thursday, March 15, 2007
It Was the Talk of the Shiva!
It's amazing how much you can do in a week. We are back after an amazing adventure! In the course of the week - we probably each slept about 14 hours - so, it's all kind of a blur. But it's a really, really good blur. We did about 10 interviews, had a fantastic second screening, and got lots of great feedback. Everyone in Austin was covered in balloons and our T-shirts became a hot commodity. We also met a lot of cool filmmakers from "The Job", "Frownland", "Confessions of A Superhero", "Big Rig", "Crazy Sexy Cancer" and many others. It was nice to meet other people in similar situations. And (name dropping alert) - we even chatted a little with Morgan Spurlock and Paul Rudd.
At the closing night party we talked to a couple from NY who came to our Saturday screening. When we asked how they heard about the film, they informed us, “It was the talk of the shiva!” For those of you who do not know, a shiva is a period of mourning following the death of a Jewish person. Makes perfect sense, eh? Seems, these nice folks were at a shiva in North Carolina when they met a friend of Naomi’s. They said they were going to SXSW and she told them about our film. Within minutes, everyone at the shiva was discussing a movie about balloon twisting conventions. Perhaps, the best shiva ever. We can only hope there comes a day when our movie is discussed at inappropriate venues everywhere!
We spent a good portion of the day on Thursday packing up boxes. We seemed to have over-ordered a bit. We made a $290 donation to the U.S. Postal service to send all of our marketing goods back home. More for next time.
And just to be consistent - Naomi's flight got cancelled again. This time she got as far as lovely Newark, and was able to spend some extra time to take in the sites (it's common knowledge that Newark is at its most beautiful in March, when the factories begin to bloom). Readers are hereby advised not to book the same flights as Naomi when traveling in winter.
All in all - a really wonderful week. We both feel a huge relief to have screened and to have had such a positive reaction from the crowds. We've been putting off sleep for oh - I don't know - about 3 1/2 years. So, now seems like a good time to catch up on that. We'd love to chat more - but we're actually already sleeping.
Hint: The real Sara and Naomi are the one's wearing the black T-shirts.
One of our first interviews, with G4 TV.
Vera signs an autograph.
In our hotel room: All of the boxes of marketing goodies we brought with us.
At the post office: A cart full of marketing goodies to ship home.
All in a day's work.
At the closing night party we talked to a couple from NY who came to our Saturday screening. When we asked how they heard about the film, they informed us, “It was the talk of the shiva!” For those of you who do not know, a shiva is a period of mourning following the death of a Jewish person. Makes perfect sense, eh? Seems, these nice folks were at a shiva in North Carolina when they met a friend of Naomi’s. They said they were going to SXSW and she told them about our film. Within minutes, everyone at the shiva was discussing a movie about balloon twisting conventions. Perhaps, the best shiva ever. We can only hope there comes a day when our movie is discussed at inappropriate venues everywhere!
We spent a good portion of the day on Thursday packing up boxes. We seemed to have over-ordered a bit. We made a $290 donation to the U.S. Postal service to send all of our marketing goods back home. More for next time.
And just to be consistent - Naomi's flight got cancelled again. This time she got as far as lovely Newark, and was able to spend some extra time to take in the sites (it's common knowledge that Newark is at its most beautiful in March, when the factories begin to bloom). Readers are hereby advised not to book the same flights as Naomi when traveling in winter.
All in all - a really wonderful week. We both feel a huge relief to have screened and to have had such a positive reaction from the crowds. We've been putting off sleep for oh - I don't know - about 3 1/2 years. So, now seems like a good time to catch up on that. We'd love to chat more - but we're actually already sleeping.
Hint: The real Sara and Naomi are the one's wearing the black T-shirts.
One of our first interviews, with G4 TV.
Vera signs an autograph.
In our hotel room: All of the boxes of marketing goodies we brought with us.
At the post office: A cart full of marketing goodies to ship home.
All in a day's work.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Time to Make the Popcorn
Yesterday was the WORLD PREMIERE of our film. YAY! People, who are not related us, watched our movie! How about that?! It was perfect. We had a 2:30PM screening and sold out, which we were told was unprecedented for a SXSW daytime screening at The Dobie. Don't know if that's true - but it made us feel pretty frickin' good. We were a bit nervous before the screening - but mostly just excited. That morning, we did an interview for the local NBC affiliate (left the hotel at 7AM, or as Sara affectionately calls it, "the middle of the night") and another interview for a cable access show called Austin Movie Show. As luck would have it, Austin Movie Show offered hair and make-up experts - so we had nice little makeovers right before the screening. While we are relieved that the movie screening went well - truth be told - if it had not - we are just vain enough to have found some solace in knowing that, at the very least - we looked our hottest.
Before the film, Matt Dentler, head of SXSW, gave a very nice intro to the film! He spoke about how the selection panel immediately "got" the film and wanted to have us there. It couldn't have been a warmer welcome. We spoke for a minute - thanking our families for coming. As we walked to the back of the theater, a film came on... it was not ours! The speakers weren't working properly before the screening - so they put in another film to test the sound and we figured they'd forgotten to put our movie back in. We panicked and ran to the projectionist waving our hands, "This isn't our film!" Matt Dentler ran over to us and tapped us on the shoulders, "This is a trailer! Guess you haven't been to any other movies here yet." It was a funny and perfect way to initiate the newbies. We were so green!
We stood at the back and watched and, for 79 minutes, everyone laughed and cried in all of the right places. At the end - we got a round of applause and Vera joined us for the Q and A. It was really special to have her there with us! She also helped us teach everyone in the audience to twist their first balloon dogs. After the screening, we got so many nice compliments and even signed our first autographs!
Afterwards - we went and celebrated with our families and friends who have been INCREDIBLY supportive. They have worn balloon dog t-shirts all over town, handing out postcards, hanging flyers, and covering the entire town with balloons. For a small independent film like ours, marketing is extremely important - and we couldn't be prouder of how fast word has spread about the film here in Austin. The absolute highlight of our marketing has been...
A gigantic balloon sculpture in the atrium of the Omni Hotel. On Friday, from 8 AM until 6 PM, we had a team of twisters build a 15 ft x 15 ft sculpture of a movie theater with an audience, and a camera person and sound person (as played by Balloon Naomi and Balloon Sara). It was truly incredible. Everyone in the hotel stopped to take pictures from their windows and we have received so many comments from people who are completely amazed by the sculpture. Thanks to the Omni for hosting us and HUGE thanks to Johnna and John Perry for flying out from Kansas City to manage the project. We want to thank our twisters: Gerry Whittemore, Darren Peterson, Jack Byrd, Brook Savage, Rex Voland, Nate Culpepper, Vera Stalker, Sara Krakauer, Brenda Shelton, and Beverly/ Apples the Clown - you all did an amazing job twisting for us! We also would like to thank Betallic for donating balloons, Qualatex for donating balloons and pumps, and T Meyers, who not only started the first balloon twisting convention ever - but also supported us with lots of great balloon supplies.
Team Twisted at the premiere.
Happy Birthday Vera!
A shot of the audience as it filled before the screening.
Q and A after the screening.
The sculpture at the Omni completely blew our minds.
Our twisters look up...
As everyone in the offices above the atrium took photos.
Before the film, Matt Dentler, head of SXSW, gave a very nice intro to the film! He spoke about how the selection panel immediately "got" the film and wanted to have us there. It couldn't have been a warmer welcome. We spoke for a minute - thanking our families for coming. As we walked to the back of the theater, a film came on... it was not ours! The speakers weren't working properly before the screening - so they put in another film to test the sound and we figured they'd forgotten to put our movie back in. We panicked and ran to the projectionist waving our hands, "This isn't our film!" Matt Dentler ran over to us and tapped us on the shoulders, "This is a trailer! Guess you haven't been to any other movies here yet." It was a funny and perfect way to initiate the newbies. We were so green!
We stood at the back and watched and, for 79 minutes, everyone laughed and cried in all of the right places. At the end - we got a round of applause and Vera joined us for the Q and A. It was really special to have her there with us! She also helped us teach everyone in the audience to twist their first balloon dogs. After the screening, we got so many nice compliments and even signed our first autographs!
Afterwards - we went and celebrated with our families and friends who have been INCREDIBLY supportive. They have worn balloon dog t-shirts all over town, handing out postcards, hanging flyers, and covering the entire town with balloons. For a small independent film like ours, marketing is extremely important - and we couldn't be prouder of how fast word has spread about the film here in Austin. The absolute highlight of our marketing has been...
A gigantic balloon sculpture in the atrium of the Omni Hotel. On Friday, from 8 AM until 6 PM, we had a team of twisters build a 15 ft x 15 ft sculpture of a movie theater with an audience, and a camera person and sound person (as played by Balloon Naomi and Balloon Sara). It was truly incredible. Everyone in the hotel stopped to take pictures from their windows and we have received so many comments from people who are completely amazed by the sculpture. Thanks to the Omni for hosting us and HUGE thanks to Johnna and John Perry for flying out from Kansas City to manage the project. We want to thank our twisters: Gerry Whittemore, Darren Peterson, Jack Byrd, Brook Savage, Rex Voland, Nate Culpepper, Vera Stalker, Sara Krakauer, Brenda Shelton, and Beverly/ Apples the Clown - you all did an amazing job twisting for us! We also would like to thank Betallic for donating balloons, Qualatex for donating balloons and pumps, and T Meyers, who not only started the first balloon twisting convention ever - but also supported us with lots of great balloon supplies.
Team Twisted at the premiere.
Happy Birthday Vera!
A shot of the audience as it filled before the screening.
Q and A after the screening.
The sculpture at the Omni completely blew our minds.
Our twisters look up...
As everyone in the offices above the atrium took photos.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Off to SXSW We Go
Tomorrow, to celebrate Naomi's birthday, we fly to SXSW! Not a bad way to ring in a new year, eh? We've done a few interviews - one for e-film critic and one for The Daily Texan. Both articles were great. The Daily Texan article included quotes from someone named Sara Taskler. We don't know who she is - but Sara Taksler found her to be very well-spoken (and she sounded quite good looking). Lesson learned - between early press and the SXSW film directory, we have been everything from Namoi Greenfield to TWISTED: A Balonamentary (seems to be a surprisingly common one - our next doc will be about "balons" - whatever they may be). From now on - we're speling evurything out fore the jernulists.
More to come!
More to come!
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