Fantasia 2013

My newest film, "New Neighbor," is set to play at Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal this month. People in the greater Canada area will be able to catch it on 22 July and 25 July.

Here is the link to their site where information on where to go, etc can be found. 

http://www.fantasiafestival.com/2013/en/films-schedule/298/new-neighbor

Oddly, "New Neighbor" is paired with a romantic anime. First, I hate anime. Second, mine is an anti-romance film. In any case, be sure to mark your calendars. 

I still haven't set up a Japanese screening yet, although I'm in talks with a well-known art theater in Tokyo that wishes to show it. I've almost given up on Japanese film festivals as I'm sick to death of their "we want to support new filmmakers" yet all they really want is to feel "prestigious" or something boring like that. ("Prestigious" is the word self-important film fests use to describe themselves, right?) And the list of "rules" and "requirements" for the material I find annoying. My priority is to make an interesting film. To hell with everything else. :-)

I had a screening for the staff and cast recently. That went well. Everyone seemed genuinely pleased with the film. This was a relief. Honestly, I was nervous as shit showing it to them. The funniest response I got was from lead actress Ayano. 

"Norman...are you a woman?" She asked.

"Huh?" I responded surprised. "What do you mean?"

"The way you show the inner-workings of my character and the sympathy you give her seems to me to come from a female perspective."

"Can you hold on a second while I go get a shot of tequila?" 

After this we all went out and had a freakin' good time.

In any case, Fantasia is coming up and that's a big deal as far as films like mine are concerned. Wish I could make the screenings but I have a film shoot coming up from the 25th.

Oh, and I want to add that "Ain't It Cool News" can jump in a lake for leaving my movie off their "we have the entire lineup for the 2013 Fantasia Film Festival" list. They did manage to include the romance anime my film is playing with though. :-/

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/63179

In other awesome news, I gave a two hour talk following a screening of "Dawn of the Dead" at UPLINK theater in Shibuya last month. Covering the whole shebang, I treated my audience to a history of horror film movements, how Romero birthed the zombie genre, and what it was like growing up in the age of cinematic zombies. The theater was packed, which made it all the more fun. It was a very special night for me as "Dawn" is without a doubt my favorite thing. Ever. In this photo you can see me showing off my neat-o "Bach's Arco Pitcairn" t-shirt I picked up at the Theater N screenings in 2010 of "Dawn of the Dead," which I also hosted. 

Until next update...