3 Years Ago...

It has been a few months since I have written, that is true. Progress continues slow but definite but there are only so many times I can write "Alan is still working on the edit" and "I didnt get such and such grant".

Anyway, three years ago my mother was kidnapped. I cant believe how much life has changed in these three years. We have all moved around so much and life seemed tossed up in the air for so long. Even a year ago my whole family was still resting on uncertainty.

In the past three years:

My parents fled to Miami where my dad searched for a job for a year before getting one that took him to Bradenton, Florida. My mother, meanwhile, pingponged between Guatemala (depressing after you've lost your roots there and you have to spend your time tying the loose ends of your traumatic experience) and Florida. After they settled in Bradenton, my parents seemed to be set until my dad got laid off. It seemed another long search would be ahead but, once again proving that you never know where life will take you, my dad got hired by a chain of hotels in St Lucia, a small island country in the British west indies. Pretty much paradise. However, in order to keep one foot in the USA, my parents bought a house in Bradenton. Now my parents split their time between a mangrove-lined property on Walker's Island in Bradenton and Emerald Manor, the name of their 100 year old home in St. Lucia. Oh, and my parents are now re-married. :)

My sister... sigh my sister has also been all over the place. She got pulled out of med school when the kidnapping happened and floated around wherever she could stay for a few months after, going to Illinois with my grandparents, NYC with me and Florida with my parents. Ultimately, she opted to go back to Guate where she lived in an apartment on her own since we could not live in our home. That year treated her like hell (her and everyone else in that med school) and the situation in Guatemala got worse and worse. Plus, we felt we had abandoned her and I am sure she felt abandoned. So we pulled her out again, pulled every string we could think of, tried to turn the world upside down to make it possible for her to go to med school here in the US and get out of Guate. Alas, after MCATs and letters and frustrations and studying and consoling and frustrations, it was impossible. While our attempt to get her out of guate again caused her to have to repeat a year of university, at least it gave her a good few months with family, knowing that we were always thinking about her.

My brother, who only got to really comprehend the extent of our situation a year after my mom was kidnapped and we all went back to the trial, moved away from Virgina after a break up and took up a Masters degree in the Miami Art Academy or Academy of Art or something, which he will be finishing off in a couple of months. He is close to my parents and hopes to be a professor.

What can I say? We have all gone all over the place in these past three years. I am just happy that, unlike Aug 17 2009, I can say that everyone in my family is on a path to something positive. For the first time in three years we can make plans that extend past a couple of weeks because we are no longer standing on such unsettled ground.

Three days from now I will celebrate- my mom and my family survived something awful and here we are three years later with a bright looking future ahead.

I love you Mom, Dad, Jess and Jonathan :) cannot wait to see you again!

Some More Comments on the Trailer

Thanks you so much for everyone's support. It means a lot and I am glad to have so many people watching and waiting

Email Title

Sigh, so after making and tweaking this month's email, I sent it out to a newly enlarged email list with last month's title. Well shit. I re-sent it with the right one. Arg, that is really frustrating.


Oh well. Nothing I can do now. I have gotten offers from several folks to help proofread, which is very generous. Don't know if anyone could have helped me catch that though. It is not the first time I send things out with the wrong title.

Have You Seen Our Trailer!?

Click on the trailer and check it out! This is the 8 minute promo piece we uploaded. Its views have steadily increased and we want as many people to see it as possible.

The Word Is Out- Now Give Us A Hand!!

five thousand to go!

Indie GoGo Widget

Ok, see that widget on the upper right hand corner of this page? That is the Indie GoGo widget. You can use that to help change that statistic that shows up there from "$0 raised of a $5000 goal" to "Oh my God We Go So Much Support!!!"


Thanks to all!!!

Let's Go! Indie Go Go

For those of you who do not know what Indie GoGo is, it is a fundraising website where I post a project and an intended goal to be reached, and all of my avid fans and supporters put in their two cents, or five bucks or one hundred as a pledge. If the pledges get to add up to my goal or more, you are charged the amount you promised and I get the money! If I do not reach my goal, you are charged nothing and I get nothing.


This is Step One of a short term, grassroots fundraising effort on my part to get $5000 dollars!

Why do I need $5000? No, I am not going on a vacation to Tahiti or buying a whole new wardrobe. I actually find myself in a crucial moment in my documentary!

After meeting a good number of broadcasters, sales agents, distributors and commissioning editors at the HotDocs Film Festival 2010 in Toronto, I have lots of request to see a rough cut of The View From Bellas Luces! This is fantastic news!!! There was so much interest and the concept was so well received!

The only problem is that I do not yet have a rough cut. I hardly have an assembly.

This much interest though, really lit a fire under my editor Alan's and my butt to get this show back on the road. Alan is great and is loyal and has agreed to work or some time on deferred payment, but unfortunately he also has to pay rent and feed himself and cannot put in a bunch of time for free. And I cannot wait for grants to pour in, as I will lose momentum.

$5000 will get Alan through to a rough cut without me having to worry about another paying job coming his way. I need this quick so that all these big shot industry peeps get the material while it is still hot on their mind. Six months from now they will not even remember who I am.


Every little bit helps. It does, really!

$5? That's five bucks for Alan I didn't have before.

So please please please wake up the philanthropist inside of you and go to http://www.indiegogo.com/TheViewFromBellasLuces

Help me pay Alan and help me not miss this huge opportunity!!!!!

Your's Truly Blogs for IFP

I got an email yesterday from one of the directors of IFP asking if any members who are at Hot Docs would be intersted in blogging about it for the IFP Blog. Since I am writing about the festival here, and writing blogs for Down & Dirty DV, I volunteered and my first entry is up on their blog now!

I am cutting and pasting the entry here, but please also check out the IFP Blog if you are a filmmaker!

IFP Member and U.S. Delegate Christa Boarini Blogs Hot Docs

I guess depending on your level of experience in film festivals and your degree of success within the film industry, you view festivals quite differently. I, Christa Boarini, am a New York based filmmaker, working on my first feature length doc. Needless to say I am more of a buzz-following festival goer than one who is buzzed about. At least for now.

It is day 3 at Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival, here in Toronto. True, the real heavy industry stuff begins tomorrow, Monday, but even in these past three days there has been a lot of mingling, theatre-going, crying, laughing and badge-reading. Things may have been a bit slow here in the Filmmaker Internet Lounge/Sales Desk (the first couple of days offered only complementary water, while now there are tables decked out with coffee and gourmet local teas).

But now fellow Industry Pass holders wander in an out, having meetings, checking their email, having some coffee or trying to sort through the three or four thick textbooks of information that came in the goodie bags they give us at registration. We get a Program Guide, an Industry Guide, a guide of attending commissioning editors, etc etc etc. All great and useful information, but it takes a while to sort it all out.

Oh, and if you are coming to Hot Docs later next week, be sure to ask for a flexible badge holder. The others break.

In any case the festival so far is has proven to have nicely balanced programing, combining the heavier humanity-is-awful features with equally as compelling docs that leave you feeling happy to be human. For example, yesterday I watched Talhotblond, a cautionary film where a cyber love triangle of people who have never met ends in a 23 year old man's death. The young man's parents were there, they cried, we cried, it was wonderfully heartbreaking. I then walked over to the screening of Wasteland and my broken heart mended and soared to see a mixture of art and opportunity and good things happening for good people. You simply must see Wasteland and you will instantly understand why it has won the Audience Awards of basically all the film festivals it has been at.

Another great thing to take advantage of is a new program added to Hot Docs this year called "Ripping Reality: Essentials from Documentary's New Wave". This compilation of great documentaries made in recent years gives us the opportunity to see these wonderful films on the big screen. Whether you've seen the film a million times and it is the reason you decided to quit your job and go into documentary filmmaking, or if it is a movie you've heard of but never got around to seeing, Ripping Reality has so far been a great success.

So, between the regular film screenings, the Industry Only events, the parties, the Rendezvous meetings, the Documentary Forum, the International Co-Production day etc, I have had to make out meticulous schedules for every day, reminding me of what I am going to see, what meetings I have and what are the must-attend events of the day. So far it has been a great experience and I plan to take full advantage of it. By the time I get back to New York on May 10th I plan to be absolutely exhausted.

Comments on the promo

CHECK OUT THE PROMO!

Ok, the time has come for the promo to be up online for the world to see. This 8 minute trailer is what I use to give people a taste of the doc and an idea of the style, the access, the footage etc.

Come one come all and take a peek!

The View from Bellas Luces Promo from Alan Jeffries on Vimeo.

HOTDOCS2010: Opening Gala

I have not written, it has been crazy. However, I am right now at the Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Right now I am in the Sales Lounge where there are computers and wifi and tables. Unlike the lonely lounge at the ShowBiz Expo, this one is quite full. And, I am told by the festival volunteer behind the main desk, this one is also quite frequented by commissioning editors; ie. folks looking for docs to aquire.

THE OPENING GALA:

Last night was the opening of the festival. The opening film was Babies, an utterly amazing film made with zero dialogue, no narration and no text except to point out the locations. It is a sidesplitting exploration of how babies (ie people) are the same everywhere, even if their environment may be different. It gives you a chance to truly laugh at yourself as a human being and appreciate cultural differences.

Before, the film, though, there was a small cocktail party to which I was sure I had bought a ticket to. (I have an Industry Pass and can basically go into anything) However my name was not on the list and I was confused and after some back and forth I was let it. I was surely the younguest one in the room. This proved to be quite a good thing, as most of them were older better established induistry folk with whom I got to schmooz. I met some good people and, after following up in the Post Screening Gala, I had a couple of requests for my promo.

Today I have only seen one film so far, Darwin's Nightmare. Did not like it at all! Ok, documentaries are often about the less cheery things in life, but this one seemed to be a sob story for sob stories' sake. If you WANT to find a sad story you can find one anywhere. Just my opinion.

Creative problem-solving with STICKERS!

I get emails every once in a while from Vistaprint offering me the same offers over and over again as if it was news that they have free business cards and return address stickers. However, at this point in time I was looking forward to them re-posting their free stickers as I need them to do some patch up work.

Of the thousands of post cards I ordered for last week's Expo, I still have quite a few left. Maybe 200 of them? I dont know, its hard to calculate. Let's say I have 7lbs left, whatever that means.

I am going to take them to Toronto when I go to the Hot Docs film festival at the end of the month as part of the US Industry Delegation- a title that sounds loftier than it is but whatever. So I am taking all of the postcards with me. The only problem is that they all say:

"Look For Us At The SHOWBIZ EXPO NYC!"





And the Expo is over. So I am going to cover part of it with a sticker that has the logos of Facebook, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon and Blogger on it. So it will say:

"Look for Us At

Unfortunately my trials for photoshop and Dreamweaver are over so I had to make the jpg by cutting and pasting all the logos onto Word and then doing a screenshot of them. Not the best resolution so I will have to find another way. For now, though, at least I have a plan. Muhuhahahah

Oh to appear less broke than I am...

If you are an indie filmmaker, more than likely you are struggling financially. It happens. But, you still have to put your best and most professional foot forward and not look like a disheveled mess when meeting people who might be able to help you along the way. Unless, of course they are trusted mentors or something but thats not what I mean.

After the Expo there was the VIP party in some chic Soho club. I had already bought my ticket to go. But then as I was wrapping up I heard rumors that there was a dress code at the party and freaked out. Id been working all day, I was in jeans and a buttons shirt and to make matters worse, I was wearing my Mary Jane MBT's with the girliest socks. Not so chic.

So, while wheeling my little suitcase full of left over display items, I pass a Body Shop store. And I realize they sell make up. Aha!
I go in and I want to at least freshen up my face, as that mornings makeup was gone or smeared. So i go in pretending to be interested in an item I already own (shimmery green eyeshadow) and ask if I can test it out. Got a whole make-over out of it! I even used their hair products to tame my messy unbrushed hair. I left in great terms with the girl who works there, claiming to be more interested in the purple than the green eyeshadow, but they were out of it, so I would try again another day.
I took off my girlie socks and went to the party. party was great and I doubt anyone would have really noticed if I was wearing socks or not but you never know. And better yet, I felt better and more confident knowing that I had freshend up a little before arriving.

The ShowBiz Expo NYC

I had though of some witty title to call this entry, since it is going to be about the ShowBiz Expo that I was at yesterday, but I forgot it. No matter.

So basically the ShowBiz Expo was a big room/hall at the Hilton with fair-style booths that were rented out to companies and organizations that offered services for the entertainment industry. There were also rooms which had seminars you could (pay to) go to, round table discussions where you could (pay to) meet others in your profession, a "film festival" of constant screenings and a cyber lounge which no one went to because even the girl at the door looked bored and warned those curious about the lounge that it was nothing but a bunch of empty tables and two computers.
What I had was an LCD screen on a clothed- table which was looping my promo. I decked out the table with my giganto post cards and my business cards and had a box for people to drop their business cards and join my mailing list.


I give the event in general a C+. It was like a film festival without the best parts of a film festival. It was flat and lacked the excitement and buzz of other events. It was mostly would-be actors trying to get noticed by casting directors and big shot producers that dont go to events like that. But whatever, I suppose. I got something out of it.

I met some good people, I had some good conversations, I got great advice, I traded business cards and I spread the word about my doc to many many more people. So I call the event in general a success.

Indie Film Boot Camp

Exhaleeeeee....

phew what a weekend! After a week of working hard to make sure everything went smoothly for the events, the weekend started of on Saturday with Indie Film Bootcamp.

Sure, I was working and therefore getting paid for being there and helping, but it was quite the valuable seminar and I would have gladly paid to see it!

I think most valuable for me was to see Pete Chatmon's business plan and fund raising strategies for his movie Premium. Pete also put out some flyers advertising his services as a consultant for production and charges like $150 an hour. I am hoping to be able to take him out for coffee and pick his brain for free.

I really do want to start putting together that business plan. I started researching the success of similar documentaries, such as Manda Bala, but I stopped first of all because I need to watch more documentaries that are similar, and also because it was depressing how little money they made.

I was looking for documentaries that also dealt with Latin American topics but are not pro activism. For example Crude is a great documentary that got a lot of praise, but it also is all about "oil is bad" and people want to watch that.

Independent Film Labs 2010- this is my year!!!

Relief and Inspiration at IFpS2s

Today is the second and last day of the IFp's Script to Screen Conferences.

I came here with Joey, despite the fact that I am working on a documentary and this Conference is geared towards writer/directors. However, panelists and industry people still deal with more than one part of the industry so I still figured I could get something out of it.


AND I DID

First day here, guess who I of course ended up running into but Mr. Milton Tabbot, programmer of IFp. At first I was a little hesitant to go up to him. For some reason it has been awkward in the past because I seem to always see him at film events.

Anyway, we passed eachother in the hall and he actually stopped to talk to me. After a cordial hey-hows-it-going he said "You know what happened with the labs is that you only submitted the trailer!"

Indeed I had. The date to mail in the trailers came when I was away from New York and asked my editor Alan to send them in for me. There was a misunderstanding and he sent in only the 8-minute promo trailer and not the 40-minute assembled scene of the kidnapping. My application was incomplete!

I did not know how to feel when I found out my application was incomplete- better than I was not rejected because of lack of quality or stupid that I got rejected over my own mistake.

However Milton asked about the missing scenes. Said that the trailer looked good but he needed to see the scenes. Expressed interest in seeing them!

I felt a lot better. He had seen my cut, he had recognized it as mine and come to talk to me about it. They are just now starting to announce that submissions are being accepted for the Independent Film Labs in Sept. Deadline for early submission is May 7th. I am catching it at a great time to be totally prepared and they know who I am, that I am submitting, that I am committed and I might be able to get some notes beforehand.

Keep on truckin...

70lbs worth of postcards

There was panic on Friday. panic!

I was expecting all of my postcards from Overnight prints which I had to get to the Mariot on Sunday (today) in order for them to be included in the little gift bags. I find out at 730pm, after a pretty leisurely afternoon, that the boxes were delivered but for some reason, despite there being people home, no one went to get the door and the little notice they left said that they would re-deliver on Monday

Monday? No, i couldnt do Monday! I needed them NOW! So i call and get frustrated at the stupid automated voice of 1800-Ups or whatever, and finally talk to an "agent" who ultimately tells me that it cannot be re-delivered before Monday. But they would call me back.
they call me back and tell me that if I can get to their office in the Bronx before 9pm I could pick them up. SIGH

So we did, Joey and I, and got lost and only found the office in this hidden alley hidden by the High Way in the Bronx thank to his Iphone's gps. Aaand then we had to carry 70lbs worth of post cards to some corner where a Car might find us.


Then today I realized that they do not have to be in until NEXT weekend....

Ok, So, what else can I apply to?

Ok, I didnt get into Tribeca All Access.
*breath in... breath out*

Thats ok. It was the first year I applied and everyone is poor this year so more people are applying for grants instead of looking for investors.


But there are other things to apply to and other funds to seek:

Latino public Broadcasting Open Call: deadline is June 1st- perfect!

Cinergia- I didnt apply at the end of '08 because my family was going to trial and life was too hectic. Applications for this opened three days ago and go through July 16.

McArthur Foundation?


Sundance Documentary Grant is unfortuanatly closed for the Spring. :( deadline was Feb 9, which I could have made but lamenting wont help. They will open up applications again in June or July and I will apply then.

From The Heart (question mark?)



more later

Tribeca All Access

Dear Christa,

Thank you for applying to the Tribeca All Access program. Over the past seven years, we have seen a positive increase in submissions and industry participation, making it more competitive each year. As a result, we’ve had a tremendous response from filmmakers this year, which made the selection process harder. After careful consideration, we regret to inform you that your project, The View From Bellas Luces, was not chosen for the program this year.

We recognize that it is not an easy task to make a film and especially in today’s world. We’ve selected 20 U.S. based filmmakers out of 450+ submissions resulting in rejecting several projects and filmmakers we genuinely see the need to support. We are working towards creating new initiatives and innovative opportunities at the Tribeca Film Institiute to address the needs and concerns of today’s filmmakers. We strongly urge you to continue to develop your career and check back with us throughout the year on upcoming events and opportunity. Also, submissions for the 2011 Tribeca All Access program will be open again in September 2010.

Please note that unfortunately we are not able to give feedback to every project.

We wish you the best of luck and we hope to hear from you again soon.

Kind Regards,

Tamir Muhammad

Director|Tribeca All Access

CC: Dhwani Patel, Filmmaker Coordinator

Ekwa Msangi Omari, Industry Coordinator

Chloe Walters-Wallace, Program Assistant

New applications- Moving On

FIRST OF ALL- I almost posted this up on the wrong blog! Ah! since I have access to both this and the Down & Dirty DV blog and they are both under my gmail/blogger account I clicked "new post" on the wrong one and didnt notice until i TRIED TO pUBLISH IT but some random error and stroke of luck didnt let me. Good god that would;ve been bad!


Ok ok, so I didnt get into ifp. i wrote a couple of letters to Mr. Tabbot and Ms Vincelli but Joey intervened and pointed out that it wasnt the best idea to send them. Sigh. so i didnt. BUT

big things coming up.

I just finished my application to Fledgeling Fund. It is a foundation that gives money to projects that are socially relevant and have some sort of message. My only concern is that they also give a lot of money to other foundations including Chicken & Egg. And they ask what other programs am I applying to? Well, for better or worse I listed Chicken & Egg. I hope they are not mutually exclusive!


But still coming up soon is the ShowBiz Expo. I got an email that the postcards are printed and on their way in two separate packages weighing 52 and 14 lbs. yey.

I also bought some things at Staples to jazz up my little area at the Expo. I got a little desk businescard holder, a pamphlet/postcard holder, a little box like the ones where you put change in at mc donalds to support child diabeties or whatever that has a slot on top and a space for a sign and has a lock so that what goes into the slot can only be opened with the key. I will use that for a "join my mailing list" box for people to drop business cards in. And a postcard holder that swirls to display my cards

someone recommended i have candies at my stand. So i might do that. Mints or something.

Oi, this expo is costing me.
While the event is free to go to it cost me $99 to get my postcards put into all of the gift bags and another $60 for my screening booth area thing.
the things at staples were like $30
The postcaards cost me like $350 with shipping. I should have done it here in manhattan so as not to have to pay shipping... wait, as i type that i remember that i looked up some places and it srelaly came out to be about the same.

And now i am going to buy candy.. oh and i still need posters.
I really really hope something good comes of this...

For every 9 rejections....

For every 9 rejections you get 1 positive result.. Sayings like this go around a lot in film school and in independent film because, guess what, you get rejected a lot. Their loss, right? Twenty-third one's a charm? Next time you'll get 'em!
None of them make it easier to swallow.

March 12, 2010

RE: The View From Bellas Luces

Dear Christa Boarini,

Thank you for your submission to IFP’s Documentary Independent Filmmaker Lab. We regret to inform you that your project, The View From Bellas Luces, has not been one selected.

Please be assured that all submitted projects were reviewed by the IFP Lab Screening Committee. This year we had more submissions than ever, and it was a very competitive application process, with numerous strong projects not selected. Final decisions were based on a range of criteria, including the project’s stage of completion at this time and the perceived ability for each project to benefit from the Lab.

Thank you again for your application and interest. We wish you the best of luck on your project and look forward to seeing your work in the future.

Sincerely,

Milton Tabbot, Sr. Director, Programming, IFP

Rose Vincelli, Program Manager, IFP

Just to add to my disappointment is the fact that Mr. Milton Tabbot has known about this documentary since the first time I ever publicly announced that I was taking my short film, A Return on their Sacrifice, and making it a feature that told the story of my mom's kidnapping and Maximon's involvement.
I have seen Mr. Tabbot in event after event after event during the last two years, I have emailed him about my doc, I have asked for advice. Sigh. This is third time I get turned down by an IFp program. Better luck next time, I guess....

My Presentation at NYU¡¡

¡¡¡
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Those are upside down... I am on a friends computer and she apparently has the spanish keyboard settings.

Anyway I just finished my talk for the NYU PostProduction Colloquium Class. It went over very very succesfully¡ I was very nervous at first, I couldnt get my hands on a camera, I didnt feel that prepared.

But it went over quite smoothly, they asked questions, they seemed interested, they liked the material. I was able to answer all of their questions.

I will be editing together some of the appearance and posting in on the blog. Stay tuned for updates¡

New Postcards On Their Way

I just ordered 2,500 Postcards from OvernightPrints.com. Turns out theyre cheaper than VistaPrint.

Check them out:

Front:
Back:

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

One of my best friends and my voice of reason answered my "WTF do I do with Twitter" dilema. (Id love it if all the comments I get showed up on the blog for others to read and realize that there are readers of the blog that have comments, but I write something on blogger and it shows up everywhere and so I get an email response, or a comment on the Google Buzz thing, or a facebook wall post or a tweet or one of so many different mediums I am now following that it is dizzying!)


In any case, I thought I would share her comment:

"you can connect twitter to facebook, and reach people both on twitter and facebook. Find people in film and stuff and follow them, learn about what they do, and get a few of these people to friend you and then overwhelm them with pertinent messages."

Will do!

I have a twitter... Now what?

Yey, so I now have a twitter. @BellasLuces
Hurray.

I am following Alan my editor, my aunt, the IFC and a few others. But I am not entirely sure how I am supposed to use it for my own devices.
It has been hard enough getting the blog running.. how do I make the blog appear on Twitter? Is that wise?

i was asking some people at NYU about it and pete Chapmon recommended I read this article in the NYTimes:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/technology/personaltech/12pogue.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1


It didnt really help. So, if anyone has suggestions of how to use Twitter or Tweets to follow, let me know!

Christa will be at the NYC ShowBizExpo!

The ShowBix Expo is an event that happens in both LA and NY to bring everyone in the business together in a sort of "fair" that has booths and seminars and parties and mingling.

ENTRANCE IS FREE!

Yes free, so if you are in NYC on March 28th and are interested in film at all, REGISTER TO ATTEND HERE!


Amongst the booths featuring new technologies and production companies, there will be a section of screening booths for filmmakers. And among them will be The View From Bellas Luces!

Also, if you are attending and get a little gift bag, LOOK INSIDE and you will see an oversized TVFBL postcard in there! Hurray for publicity.

So come one come all, and you will be able to see the screening of the 8-minute promo for The View From Bellas Luces that was made for investors and fundraising purposes only and will never be released to the general public or online.

Here are some thumbnails of previous Expo's:

I am watching you...

I love looking at this graph. This is the graph that one of my traffic tracking websites gives me to show me the traffic for my blog. I mean, it is modest traffic and considering most people get their updates on facebook, I am not surprised the numbers there are low and the numbers for my website show traffic is higher too.

But these are they ways I see how many of you out there see all this stuff. In the past few weeks that I have really been making a push on Facebook and in person there has been a lot of activity. It is amazing to me to see the whole social networking thing really take off!

I use www.StatCounter.com but I also recently discovered Google Analytics and thats very good and intuative. And of course, Constant Contact for the email newslblast that tells me who opened it when and how many times and who opted out etc.

So while it is creepy in a way that I can see who opened my emails and how many people went to my site, it is always flattering to see the numbers increase and it warms my heart to see people spreading the word.

It really is a pretty view...

I have been so psyched about my new site that I look at it all the time. I cut my knuckles a few times figuring out how to do that on Dreamweaver and upload it and get the damn favicon to appear.

And just now, while talking about something else I saw the header with that amazing shot of the view on it and had to stop and think just how breathtaking that view really is. And how much I miss seeing it for real.

BRAND NEW WEBSITE!!! Read all about it!

Did you see? Did you hear? Did you notice!?

The new website is up!

This time it actually has crew bios, pictures of the people involved, pretty new buttons that I made myself in photoshop (hey, for someone who didn't know photoshop before, I did a pretty good job!).

Now also you can sign up to the mailing list directly from the website (so if you have not signed up already, do so now. It's only one email a month).

And now any Facebook followers of my Blog through Networked Blogs will appear straight on the website too! So FOLLOW THIS BLOG to see a thumbnail sized photo of you on my main site that proudly makes you my fan √


GO TO WWW.THEVIEWFROMBELLASLUCES.COM

Making Changes, Making Progress!

As you may have noticed, the look of this blog has changed yet again. That is for the greater good!
Now it looks integrated into the new official website!

Ha! You can't see it yet because I have not yet uploaded it. But trust me, it is pretty cool. It actually has content in all pages except for the "Media" page but I will fix that soon.

I was in a rush to finish the website, not just because my Dreamweaver and photoshop trials end within a few weeks, but because I am about to finish my application or "Letter of Inquiry" to Chicken & Egg productions Finishing Funds! Woohoo I actually have things to say in most of their boxes! Anyway, I wanted them to see the new website after I submit.


Anyway, I have a good feeling. I wanted to go watch Judith Helfand's doc at the IFC's Stranger Than Fiction series, since she is one of the spearheads of Chicken & Egg pics, and she was going to be there speaking. But I was so pooped after putting out postcards for the Indie Film Bootcamp that I didn't make it.

Ill post some snippets of the Letter of Inquiry here since it asks you to describe some interesting aspects of your film.

On The Brighter Side...

I mentioned on my newsletter that I have been invited to speak at NYU! Yes, it is to freshmen but still. I can record it and add bits here. It will also help with the whole, your blog is boring issue. 

Then, once my new website is up, I am hoping to be showcased on Down & Dirty DV, Double 7 World, hey maybe NYWIFT? I am really starting to work on just getting people to know about my film.

So again,

SPREAD THE WORD!

A little story about that:

Once upon a time my sister was sitting on a bench in the campus of Universidad Francisco Marroquin when some girl she wen

t to high school with and never spoke to anymore comes up to her and asks her if she has a little sister in NYC because she had heard of a certain Christa Boarini who was making

 movies and doing great in the Big Apple. THAT is the kind of recognition I need. :)

My blog is Ugly and other reasons to cry...

I was Facebook chatting with one of my best friends, asking her if she got the notifiction of my latest Facebook blast about my blog.

 She asked me:

why did I want people to go to my blog?

Well, I want to get word out about my film of course. 

But why?

Well, so that when it is finished  I have a fanbase waiting for me.

Hmmm. But there is nothing appealing about your blog....

What? Nothing appealing about my blog!?

Nope, she says. It has a boring lay out. Nothing is eye catching. She gives me examples of cool sleek blogs with flash animations.  Why dont you make it more like that?

Well, I say, because because.. Because I cant with blogger and i have to work on my website and i am re designing my website all by myself because my brother was busy and i have to format emails every month and stay ontop of my facebook feed and advertise my doc and it is hard enough to keep posting new things on the blog and i am not a webdesigner.

Yes but, why dont you add backstage pictures and videos?

Because it is a doc: there are no continuous photos and there is no backstage. And I wish I had had the funds to have someone come to Guatemala with me to make a "Making Of" doc about my doc. 

Eventually I break down. She hit a nerve. She was pointing out the fact that I am not superman and couldnt be a director, producer, narrator, subject, publicist, accountant, writer, lawyer and web designer all at the same time without things slipping though my fingers. 

It is hard as hell. The upkeep of websites and fan bases and email newsletters and grant writing and appearances and networking and prospectus writing and and and and and the never ending list of things to do for a film is more than a full time job. And I am doing this while trying to maintain myself in New York City. So I cried, then tried to make my blog nicer. I made it have a black background and the same  header my website currently has. I hope it looks a little flashier... but  sigh. 

The Convo:

Christa

perdon, esq siento que me estas reganando y ya se que no es tu intencion pero estas diceindome cosas que ya se y tenes toda la razon pero me estresa pq no soy superman 

6:41pmAnaluisa

lo se

6:41pmChrista

:,(

6:41pmAnaluisa

solo te pido que antes que sigas con el blog analises la imagen que estas dando

te lo digo como amiga

y porque te quiero

6:42pmChrista

ya se analu... sigh

6:42pmAnaluisa

take a few steps back and analize what you want to say to ppl

vos sus una cineasta en new yourk

ahorita sos tu propia micro empresa

tenes que explotar las habilidades que si tenes que son muchas y yo lo se

subi fotos al blog sobre como estas haciendo la pelicula

your sets

diagramas, etc

ppl get interested when they see you work

get them inspired

6:45pmChrista

mano eso estoy tratando de hacer

6:45pmAnaluisa

i know you are good at that

6:45pmChrista

ok, youre right

6:46pmAnaluisa

vos las personas son como los tiburones... once you bleed you are dead

6:46pmChrista

i know you are, solo que le estas dando al clavo a una de las cosas que mas estres me causa que es mantenerme al tanto de mil cosas al mismo tiempo sin que ni una ni la otra se desmorone

6:46pmAnaluisa

entonces encargate de menos

talvez comunicate a las personas por medio de otro medio que no tengas que estar tan estresada y al tanto

6:47pmChrista

 no pueeeedo. Ya esoy ignorando un monton de cosas que deberia de tener hechas.

Es que no es tan faaacil

es un full time job

6:47pmAnaluisa

ok don´t cry

6:47pmChrista

y no tengo el tiempo si me quiero mantener viva

6:47pmAnaluisa

hug*

6:47pmChrista

:')

ok

6:47pmAnaluisa

entonces el blog en este momento no sea la mejor opción

que tla si pones un fan page en facebook?

subis tus peliculas

subis fotos de la documental

you update ppl on how you are going

explain ppl what you are up to

masto tiene un fan page y le va re bien ... y le iba bien mucho antes de sacar canciones

http://www.facebook.com/pages/DuoSway/111746164496?ref=ts

no es tan complicado de mantener

podes poner caciones, fotos, video, links

y escribir en el wall

http://catcm.blogspot.com/2010/02/el-enojo.html

mira este es otro blog de una cuata

que hace como poesia y reflexiones

6:51pmChrista

mano pero el blog se trata de el "making of" de mi doc

no de mis gustos

ok, anda a verlo ahora

que pensas

?

6:52pmAnaluisa

your blog en este momento no tiene nada que sea eye catcher

6:52pmChrista

ya lo viste ahorita?\

esta negro

hahaha

pues, al menos le puse un header

6:52pmAnaluisa

esta mejor de cuando lo vi hace dos días

6:53pmChrista

ademas es limitado lo que puedo hacer con Blogger

6:53pmAnaluisa

i know

chriss es diseñador

ahroita me recorde

i hate facebook chat

6:54pmChrista

ya se

es un popo

6:54pmAnaluisa

i have a love/ hate relationship with it

6:55pmAnaluisa

right know i will have to say instead a simpson pq no pones fotos como backstage of your film

6:55pmChrista

pq es una documental!

no hay un backstage

6:56pmAnaluisa

nombre pero fotos del lugar y cosas aasi

6:56pmChrista

si pero tiene que ir con un articulop\

para eso esta el webstie

6:58pmAnaluisa

ok

6:58pmChrista

pero gracias. I appreciate it

de veras

no quiero sonar enojada

6:59pmAnaluisa

i know you have lots of things on/in your mind

nunca he logrado master the in on

jajaja

6:59pmChrista

jeje

on your mind

in your head

7:00pmAnaluisa

thank you

7:00pmChrista

pues ya en un par de semanas saldra el nuevo look de mi website

slowly but surely

7:00pmAnaluisa

ok thats good

7:00pmChrista

y habra un link mas obvio desde mi blog a mi website

y vice versa

7:00pmAnaluisa

me parece