Dear Readers,
“Pipe Dream” has a chance to win a vote for the Audience Award but it’s up to you!
Please click the links below to register with doc challenge and watch the film I directed “Pipe Dream”. Make sure to register your name on the Doc Challenge website so your vote counts.
LOG IN HERE TO REGISTER:
AND THEN WATCH THE FILM HERE:
Please let me know if any of those links do not work for you.
We’re counting on our readers and our fans!
Cheers,
Lindsie
Ez and I woke up extremely early today to catch our flight at 11:50a, so we had to be at the airport by 9:50a so we had to leave the hostel by 9a. The reason 9a is so early is because we didn’t get to bed until 4am last night. The Doc party went until 2a and then we got back to our room around 3a – we took showers to get ready as much as possible for the next day and finally got to bed around 4am. whew. 5 hours of sleep and we’re off to the airport!
First of all, I want to thank my dear friend Eztrella Armijo for joining me in this journey. As much as I would have loved to have my team members from Team Mirror join, nobody could confirm this commitment because of many different factors, but Ez pulled through. Because of her knowledge from going to Hot Docs the previous year it really made us efficient in planning our travels for the day. We had some laughs, some cries, some arguments, some of the best memories I’ll never forget, and it’s all over. It’s all over. It’s over. It’s done. wow.
And now I want to thank of all you for reading the daily blogs and supporting my dream. From the beginning of this film’s conception, to the showcase at the Hollywood Theater in Portland, hosting a few benefit parties to raise money, traveling to Bend with Kev Rucier, going to Toronto with my dear friend Ez, and then returning home. This is just the beginning of my future, and because of you, I keep realizing I am on the right track. So thank you, to everyone involved, I am so honored and excited for the next chapter in my life.
Keep on checkin’ in on the blog as there will be many more stories to share….
Until then,
Lindsie
So today is the big day in Toronto and we’ve got a lot on our plate before my film “Pipe Dream” showcases tonight at the INNIS TOWN HALL. Below is a list of the films that Ez and I are going to screen today.
ROM THEATER : DOC IT! SHOWCASE : 11:30a
This was a showcase of 15 different doc shorts made from students between the age of 14-18 years old. It is really eye opening to screen films from the younger generation because it teaches you about the things that they are learning, the things they are thinking about, and the things that they worry about. Before the screening started we had the opportunity to listen to a speech from Alanis Obomsawin, she is the woman that won the “outstanding achievement” award at Hot Docs.
Some of the things she spoke about to the younger generation are very valuable lessons and some of the most important things that I have learned from Courtney Hermann’s Documentary class. When we have these opportunities in life to learn from people that not only know their craft so well, but they also have a passion in teaching and mentoring because they genuinely want people to succeed the best way they possibly can is so important. Take a minute to think about that, and think about the teachers and mentors in your life that have made a solid impact on helping you become a better you. You go to these teachers/mentors with a craft that you are interested in perfecting, and when you are given the opportunity to learn from very best, then it’s up to you whether or not you are going to use those tools. I choose to use them.
A few of the things Obomsawin mentioned about Documentary filmmaking were some of the tools I learned from Courtney and these lessons are:
- Before you do a bigger production interview, try doing one without the camera and crew. Just you and your subject, alone, in a comfortable space, with a broadcast safe tape recorder so you can get good sound. You will get amazing soundbites that you can use later, and you will also get the subject more comfortable with you as the director.
- Place your subject in a good position, know your composition and lighting.
- Listen and hear your subject speak. It’s BS when you go to fast with a question and you don’t listen to what people are saying to you.
- You must have patience, respect, and a love for what you do. What is your intent? Do you know what story you are trying to make? If you are rushing through your questions, you are not allowing the person to really connect to what they are being asked = Bad direction.
- The director has to be a good storyteller. You never know the end and the start and that is what is so exciting about Documentary film making.
- Try to have a small amount of people in the story if possible.
Those are just a few of the many topics she touched on and I found important to share with all of you. It relates to life in so many different ways, not just with film making. Think about some of the relationships you have with your friends/family/pets – for one day try to work on your patience and practice listening, really listening, to what they are saying to you. Sometimes we all are so used to going through the motions of our own daily life that we seem to forget to stop and pay attention to the things that are surrounding us. It is so rewarding when you realize that you are capable of understanding patience and respect for all the things that surround and support you.
ALLIANCE THEATER : TINAR : 4:00p
IRAN / 2008 / 72 MIN / 35mm
This film about the life of a young boy named Tinar, a hired cowherd. Tinar works alone; his father lives elsewhere on the mountain with his new wife and family, and Tinar’s mother is not in the picture. Tinar’s job is to keep careful watch over a fairly large herd of milking cows. He eats, sleeps, and even plays with them; they are his only companions. As the seasons change, a pastoral portrait of Tinar and his life gradually turns into a harrowing and lonely account of a boy longing for escape and to feel loved.
This is my thought on this film : Whenever you think your life is hard take a minute and think about a young boy that is alone in the mountains, usually freezing in the winter, and herding over 50 cows so he can deliver milk to the more wealthy people in the city. This kid has a harder life than most people I know will ever experience.
After this film Ez and I walked over to the Duke of York where we had our first drink of the day. Me : Vodka/Grapefruit. Her : Stella Artois. We got to hang out with everyone except for one team that didn’t get to make it out from Vancouver. We ate some dinner, drank a few, and then heading out to Innis Town Hall where we screened the top 13 winning films. After the screening we had a brief Q + A and then Doug announced all of the winners.
Before the screening started, I handed Ez half of my stack of “Pipe Dream” mini post cards with info about the film and LNG information along with my business cards so people can contact me at suite. We dropped our bags off at our chairs, and then headed to the front door. As people walked into the Theater, Ez and I were on both sides of the doors handing them mini post cards and business cards! Marketing at it’s finest!! It’s all about spreading the word and one of the other teams actually made a comment to me about how they wish they had thought about that!
“Pipe Dream” won best use of genre “Nature”. YEAY! This was a great feeling for me, as much as we all always want to win best film, I mean who wouldn’t, I felt so good just being able to be a part of the 13 films that were chosen out of 142 films worldwide. Another reason I felt really good is because this was the first time I had ever Directed a Documentary, so to make it in the top felt really incredible! “Pipe Dream” was really well received and after the showcase we all went back to the Duke of York to keep the conversation going. I met some really incredible film makers that I plan on continuing working relationships with and then we ended the night by walking back to the hostel at 2am along side some friends we made while taking hilarious photos that will be posted soon.
One more day and we return to Portland – this really has been such an incredible journey.
Lindsie
WILD ART : OLLY & SUZI
This film was very captivating and wildly interesting. To feel like you were there with the artists while they were painting some of the worlds fiercest predators is an experience I will never forget.
This film opened my eyes to painting in a very non-traditional way and I was really fascinated by the friendship + bond that Olly + Suzi have while working together on all of these different exotic locations. They’ve been friends since they went to art school in the 70’s. Olly is 6 feet tall, an ex-marine, very bulky man, and Suzi is a very petite and fashionable artsy lady.
Rupert Murray the Director of this film did a Q + A afterward and it was nice to learn more about these two individuals. One of the things I remember talking about is how we look at outside artists vs. contemporary markets when it comes to buying/selling art. Olly + Suzi do well with the people that have been following them from the beginning, however, they are not widely accepted in the market because of the non-traditional way that they work. Does that matter anyway? I don’t believe it does, in fact, I would rather sell art the way Olly + Suzi do. It’s more of a connection and bonding experience that you have with the people relating to your work and that is something I cherish more than gaining no connection with your collectors and making massive amounts of money.
Rumenatomija Brandas Addiction
This film was not at all what I was expecting, in fact, I could barely watch the entire thing. The film was an up close and personal journey of watching a Cow that has an addiction to eating plastic bags get stomach surgery. When I say up close, I mean up close! You were right there with the Vet while she made the incision, cut out the stomach, and then began to pull out very large amounts of gooey saturated clumps of plastic bags. ew!
But, it was so great to meet the director after the showcase and talk to him a little bit more about his cow. He shot this in one day on a Bolex and he wanted to show the connection between the Icelandic people with their animals. Farming is free-range and they have a very natural way of life and they are very connected to their animals. They put out money to get the cow some help, she lived a happy life, kicked her addiction to plastic bags, gave birth to a calf, and then they killed her and ate her. “The circle of Life” is the last thing he said.
After watching those two films I was feeling really good about the beginning of this experience. We then ventured over to the Cumberland theater where we got to screen the film “Hunting Down Memory”.
HUNTING DOWN MEMORY : CUMBERLAND THEATER : 4:45P
This film really blew me away. To go through the emotional struggles that a man experienced from losing the last 27 years of his memory and going on a journey with him to find out where in China did he lose his memory while searching for the horse nomads was very emotional.
When the film was over the director was there along with the subject of the film Oyvid Aamot (aka Wind). I was completely shocked to see him at the screening and thrilled at the same time. To watch an 80 minute film about one person, and to feel so much for them, and then to be able to meet them face to face, and tell them how wonderful and inspirational they are is probably one of the most exhilarating experiences I have had because of this trip. Wind talked about how after he lost his memory he had issues with remembering his sexuality, did he like men? did he like women? He eventually found out again that he was attracted to women. To steal or not to steal? Who his mother was when he was looking at her face to face? As an adult at 27, he could never imagine that he would lose all of his prior memory of family, friends, relationships, everything. He even mentioned how great it felt to brush his teeth again and how fresh it made him feel.
We take our memory for granted – I’m not preaching to you – I’m just making a statement about how the little things that we have access to are sometimes taken for granted. Love your memory, and the things you have shared with others because you never know when you could lose it forever.
After that wonderful film, we walked over to the Hot Doc Awards Ceremony. It was a huge event and it felt very “Hollywood”. Shining lights, award presenters, comedic host that told jokes all the time, and then afterward we went to the awards reception where they had a huge red carpet, open bar, and small bites.
Here are some of the winning films :
BEST MIDLENGTH
rabits a la berlin
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
alanis obomsawin
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
one man village
CANADIAN JURY PRIZE
water life
BEST CANADIAN FEATURE
invisible city
If you want to see any of these films online – you can go to http://www.hotdocs.ca/
Day 3 of the blog will be posted tomorrow! With details on how the Doc Challenge awards go!
Can’t wait. Cheerio-
Lindsie
Ez and I woke up today at 10:00a – went and got coffee and snacks at this outdoor cafe – sat in the sunshine and searched through our program guides to plan out our next 2 days. We are going to see some of the most AMAZING films and I cannot wait to get started! Most of the films start later in the day today, which is good, because Ez and I really needed to catch up on our Jet lag.
It’s incredibly beautiful here in Toronto today – and here is a list of the films we’re going to check out:
INNIS TOWN HALL : 2:30p
Wild Art : Olly & Suzi /// also showing /// Rumenatomija Brandas Addiction
Wild art offers a rare glimpse inside nature’s wild beauty and two equally creative spirits. Olly and Suzi are artist that work really close to their subjects, they paint nose to nose, brush to claw with the worlds fiercest predators from African wild dogs, great white sharks, and leopards seals.
Rumenatomija : Brandas Addiction
This film is about a cow that has an addiction to eating plastic bags and medical help can no longer be an option so she has to go to some kind of rehab to kick the habit.
ALLIANCE CUMBERLAND THEATER 2 : Hunting Down Memory : 4:45pm
Filmed in China, Wind has forgotten the first 27 years of his life while searching for the horse nomads in the mountains of Northern China. What triggered his memory loss?
ISABEL BADER THEATER : Hot Docs Awards Presentaion /// Hot Docs Awards Reception : 6:30 – 9pm
This is not to be confused with the International Doc Challenge presentation. This showcase is a different set of Doc films that are a part of the Hot Docs Awards and I don’t have a list on it yet.
ISABLE BADER THEATER : Professor Norman Cornett /// Christmas at Moose Factory /// 9:30p
His teaching methodology to banish fear and awaken the joy of learning. Fuelled by a love of teaching, he trains his students to find their own intellectual and moral compasses using dialogue, mandatory field trips, and stream of consciousness journals. The university abruptly terminates his contract after 15 years, he is devastated. This is a fascinatindg exploration of pedagogy, morality, and the price of freedom of thought.
Christmas at Moose Factory
For her first film, Alanis Obomsawin let the Cree Childrem of Moose Factory tell their own stories – a radical act at a time when Aboriginal people were spoken for.
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So there you have it, by the end of the day we will have tales of these films.
I did make a video blog from yesterday – it’s importing to youtube now so you will have a video by tonight from yesterday!
Write soon ..
Lindsie + Ez
It is I, Eztrella Armijo. No, I have not come to save your veeellage – i am just reporting for Canada…
Haha, it has been a great day, but very long.
I have successfully navigated us through multiple forms of public transit to our destinations! Hooray! I have to say i don’t think i have ever taken so many forms of transportation all in one day before: car, plane, bus, train, taxi… then we walked a million miles…
Everything was going smooth and perfect… until….
BUM bum BUMMMMMM!!!!
TIME WARP!
(watch out now)
…
I think our last episode ended with the idea that we were going to go get some foods because we were getting hungry and crabby. So we did, there is a delightful “very modern” lil sushi place just a few blocks from the hostel- mm mm goodness it was. I highly recommend the “black dragon roll” to everyone who likes sushi (it is a dragon roll covered with seared unagi (eel).
After we had our amazing dinner we went back to the hostel to figure out if we were going to go to a party or a movie.
We came to the conclusion that we didn’t want to go to the party due to the distance factor. I mean it would have been nice, and maybe if this were a festival for fiction we could have magic carpeted it there. But we all know that this is a Non-fiction vacation, and that my gimpy ankle can’t really handle that kind of actuality… 
So we decided on a neat sounding doc about some scandals behind the people who train dolphins called The Cove. fascinating right? well, we wouldn’t really know – because we got stuck
IN A TIME WARP
on the way to the movie. I am telling you it was quite strange. Now, granted we were pretty tired and jet lagged -but it ONLY took us half an hour to walk to the theatre from our hostel.. when we left it was about 9ish (or so we thought).
BAM!
TIME WARP!
As we walked up to the door, some ‘official’ looking guy with an unnecessarily large badge and a walkie talkie, and a beard, opens the door with a very gently spoken “can i help you?”. We just smiled and told him we wanted to see “The Cove”. He replied with a disappointed look and said something about how he didn’t think there were any more seats. We were totally shocked. (like this: “Wha!?!? REEALLLY???” exclaimed the tired-looking young lady(?) with the glasses…)
He then looked at his watch and said “Well… The movie DID start 45 minutes ago…” Then Lindsie was like “NO WAY! we are 15 minutes early!”
…
Well when we looked at our clocks, it was indeed 10:30 and NOT 9:30.
Oh bitter defeat.
Fail!
After the slow acceptance of our minor temporal miscalculation, we first decided to blame it on a disturbance in the space-time continuum and then we decided to take the subway back. It only took about seven minutes.
Weird.
The rest of the story SHORT-
we stopped at the “firkin pub” and drowned our misconceptions with fancy martinis.
Immediately after- we went home, took showers, and now we are sleeping.
right now, yes, sleeping.
.
tomorrow we will avenge yesterday! (actually tomorrow is today right now in canada).
Stay tuned to find out what kind of adventures lie in store for Ez and Lindsie in Episode : Friday.
~Ez
So we made it, wow what a day! The flight from Denver to Toronto was quite a trip. It was a United Express flight – so it was a smaller plane – very small – and at first I began to feel claustrophobic because the guy sitting in front of me had his chair practically in my lap because it was reclined so far back. Thankfully we found out that the chair was broken and he had to move – and then I was happy!
Before taking off, I glanced over at Ez and giggled because she was reading a technical book about photography and I was reading a book about Chelsea Handler’s one night stands – “Ez if we were in a relationship you would so be the man!” ….we laughed and then we were off!
After reading over 60 pages in my favorite new book I ended up falling asleep in my chair. I had the craziest dream. Tobias, Ryan Biornstad, Ez, some other girl I don’t know , and I were all in this room – we were having a party – it was a strangely small party. Ryan was a vampire and him and I were doing choreographed dance moves. I kept looking at his vampire teeth and wondering if he was going to kill me – I thought to myself and said – “Nah, he wouldn’t do that – we’re friends” and we continued dancing. Then I looked over at Ez and she was taking photos of everyone – there were only 5 of us hanging out. Suddenly she started shouting “Hey! LNG guy! Hey! Over here!” as she was trying to take photos of him I noticed him yelling at her “I’m not the LNG guy, I’m the Ham!”…..then I woke up. Ez and I got orange juice and tomato juice from the lovely flight attendant and then I began to read the short story “Desperado” from my book.
We have arrived in Toronto! We’re safe, jet lagged, hungry, and the room in our hostel has bunk beds! I feel like a kid again. My sister Lisa and I had bunk beds in our room while growing up and I used to love sticking my feet in the holes and poking her back through the mattress. She hated that! One night Lisa actually fell out of the top bunk in her sleep and my dad came rushing in our room in a panic because he didn’t know what the loud bang was from. Followed by a scream and a cry, Lisa was okay, and then got back into bed. Hopefully Ez doesn’t fall out of bed tonight.
We are getting ready to go to dinner, see our first film, and then hit up a Doc party at 9:30p tonight.
I hope you’re enjoying this blog as much as I’m enjoying sharing these stories.
Stay tuned.
Lindsie
We made it to Denver Airport, the flight was really quick. Ez and I tried to sleep on the plane, but sleeping on a plane is … well you know .. like sleeping on a plane. Not so good! We’re surprisingly not that tired and Ez is in good spirits even though she hasn’t been able to have her first cig of the day yet! I think it’s because we got white chocolate mousse frozen yogurt at TCBY! That was our breakfast, and it ruled! I don’t have time to post up pictures from the plane, but I am taking video and we’ll be able to share them with you soon!
Janet I am absolutely loving the book you bought me, the very first story has me laughing every 2 seconds… i mean could you imagine taking a photo of your parents doing those things! hahahha!
OH Ez just bought snap pea crisps! naughty!! haha.
L + E
So last night was just insane, after taking our evening Art History midterm we rushed over to Ez’s house to grab her bags, kiss the baby kitties, say goodbye to Mason, and head out. These things always take longer than you expect, of course, but we managed to get out of her house before 9pm (our art history teacher let us leave at 7:30pm- yeay!). We stopped over at Walgreen’s because we wanted to get mini stuff to travel with and Ez wanted all the mini things – like a mini pinata??? wtf! hahaha. We looked for a mini Courtney Hermann but they were out! dang! So after walgreens we went to my house where we were greeted by Tobias, Rene’, Will, and Ryan and Rene’ had made an incredible meal for us. Giant fresh salad, pasta (vegetarian and meat option), wine, and then chocolate! We printed all of our materials, made our maps for the trip, I packed my clothes, calmed my anxiety and excitement, and then we tried to go to bed at 12:15am but neither of us slept all that well, we had to wake up at 3:45a to get to the airport!
So here we are at the airport, it’s now 5:14am – we are thinking of all of you guys – and excited to get to our destination!
Love,
Lindsie + Ez
“Pipe Dream” Directed by Lindsie Reitz is a short documentary that was made in 5 days for the International Doc Challenge. A credible panel of judges chose the top 13 to go to Toronto Canada for the Hot Docs Film Festival held in May 2009. Before the Toronto film festival “Pipe Dream” showcased at the Hollywood Theater in Portland, Oregon and then again at Sister’s Movie House in Sister’s Oregon.
This is the first suite video blog about Lindsie’s journey to Sister’s, Oregon on April 30th, 2009.
Very low-fi video and a quick edit made for the viewers that want to watch the travels.
Please check back for video blogs from the Toronto Hot Docs Film Festival that will launch next week.
Hope you enjoy.
The Suite Team
www.thisissuite.com
www.suiteblog.wordpress.com
