BLINDSIDE will have its world premiere in Cannes Short Film Corner 2012.
I managed to organize a screening in a Cannes screening room for BLINDSIDE and I will try to organize multiple screenings. The screenings are available only to people with passes and access to the festival beyond the security.
The Premiere screening is 4pm on the 18th of May in the Short Film Corner Screening Room.
Only a few spaces are available, so anyone that wants to be present must contact me and has to have access to the Cannes festival and be wearing his/her badge ID.
I cant believe it’s actually happening. This is my first international flight since 2002 when I arrived in New Zealand with my family.
Last time I was on airplane was in 2009 when I was on my way back from the South Island in New Zealand after we just finished filming Malcolm Law’s successful adventurous and phenomenal fundraiser 7in7 Challenge, where he ran the seven great walks of New Zealand in 7 consecutive days, 361km altogether. So I am about to board the aircraft and I forgot that I have survival tools in my hand luggage. Again the last time I traveled before 2009 was in 2002 as I mentioned above. So I completely forgot about the whole security thing and I got stopped by the security search team while my back is passing the X-Ray and they started pulling out items/tools I had from my hand luggage and I counted 12 of them so it was a bit embarrassing and funny to the rest of the queue seeing a little eastern european looking guy getting his bag presenting quite a few tools. Since we were going to the bushes and all great walks are quite remote I thought I will get all tools I need to get by just like Bear Grills from Man VS Wild only way worse prepared version of that. haha
So this time no problems and only laptop and some usb sticks and cables in my hand luggage with my passport and boarding pass.
Auckland Airport 14th May 2012
Checking in at AKL 14th of May 2012
I am now at Singapore Airport waiting for my next flight to Paris.Here is 20:07pm Local time which is quite late in New Zealand.My next flight is in 23:00pm Local Singapore time so i have few hours to kill.I am quite tired after 10.5 hour flight and sleepless night before from excitement.
I have free internet here at the singapore airport for 4 hours so thats awesome.Also it was handy to have international power adapter so i can charge my laptop.
I have cut 90% of my 45sec showreel while flying from Auckland to Singapore which i will present as part of my pitch for Le Pitch workshop on my schedule while i am at Cannes.So on the next flight or even before then i will try to finish off the 45sec showreel and have some sleep if possible.
Tracks: Deep Blue Ocean, Bulgaro, Open Your Heart, My Shadow in The Night, Run in Fields, Higher Than The Sun, Changes
Do you need to be mad to run up & down a very big hill 148 times in just 24 hours? No, you just need to be passionate about a cause – in this case Mental Health. This inspirational film follows the ups & downs of Mal Law as he knocks off a personal Everest.
Everest in a Day was conceived as a training run for Mal’s even bigger challenge – CoastPathRun – a 1,014 km running odyssey along the length of the UK’s longest trail, the South West Coast Path, that Mal will attempt with Englishman Tom Bland June 17th – July 1st 2012.
It’s been an intense few months since we found out that our short film BLINDSIDE would be part of the Cannes Short film Corner as part of Cannes Film Festival 2012.
First came the initial joy and happiness after reading the email of accreditation for the Short Film Corner and then came the question of possibly getting to Cannes. The first thing I had on my mind was “How do I get there? I can’t afford it. How much would the trip cost?”
Then I checked the prices of airfare and accommodation at Cannes. To get to Cannes and have accommodation I would need around NZ$6,000. The airfare was around the NZ$3,200 from Auckland to Cannes and Accommodation was around $2,200 for the whole 12 days that I would stay there. Usually everyone who visits Cannes for the festival books tickets and accommodation 4-6months in advance to get the best prices. It was a pleasant surprise for all of us that we managed to make it happen.
Thanks to Kay Rayner, Jonathon Rayner-Burt, Phil Greeves and Chantal Rayner-Burt an IndieGoGo fundraising campaign was created at the beginning of April, and with the help of friends, family and fans of BlindSide, we managed to collect half of the amount by 2nd of May just 12 days before I was to take off for Cannes. I worked very hard to collect the other half of the funds I needed and I managed to do so just in time.
My parents helped me with deposits and expenses for the promo materials I am taking to Cannes to promote future projects we have worked on.
I am so grateful to my parents and family for helping me over the years to follow my dreams and become a filmmaker. Right next to them are all my friends, who I love to bits as well, and I am so thankful for their help every day on set and off set, and for their continuous support and encouragement.
THANK YOU EVERYONE.
Now my bags are packed and I hope I haven’t forgotten anything I need for my trip. I thought I would be able to relax a bit before I set off but all the excitement and butterflies in the stomach and happy but nervous feeling are keeping me hyped up and not giving me the chance to relax as much as I’d hoped.
Well, I will have a 10 hour flight from Auckland to Singapore from 12pm tomorrow midday. Then follows a 13 hour flight from Singapore to Paris and then a short flight from Paris to Nice. From Nice I catch a train, or a bus, or any kind of transport, to Cannes. I will be looking forward to a nice sleep I guess after 23-24hour flights.
I will be in Cannes around 9am on the 15th of May. Just the day before opening of the 65th Cannes Film Festival 2012. I will have a nice sleep I hope and then who knows? The next day I go to reception, collect my pass and get to work.
THANK YOU SO MUCH.
This is my first time ever going to Cannes, or to any festival at all. Also, this is my first time out of New Zealand after me and my family arrived in Auckland on 23rd of November 2002 at 14:30pm. I remember that day like it was yesterday. My parents worked for years very, very, hard to get our family to New Zealand to start a new life and give us opportunities in life. It was very hard on my parents to achieve this and I am so grateful for what they did for me, my brother and my sister. Now it’s our turn to make them proud of what they did for us all those years. Mom and Dad, thank you so much. You are the best.
So now back to the topic I started;
I have registered for a few workshops at Cannes. As an accredited filmmaker I received quite a few emails with workshops and events which I had to register for and I had to be approved for me to be able to attend. So far all workshops I applied for I will be able to attend and my schedule is getting quite busy. Since this is my first time I am trying to do as much as I can while I am there.
No time to waste.. haha
I will do my best to keep everyone posted with what’s happening each day and share some photos every day I am there.
A local film-maker who self-funded his latest project by working as a camera operator and runner will see his hard work pay off when it screens at a prestigious short film festival.
BlindSide, a self-funded independent short film, will be screened at the Cannes Short Film Corner as part of the Cannes Film Festival 2012 in May.
Dimi Nakov, the film’s director, said he was “reluctant” to enter the film into the prestigious festival.
“Cannes is very prestigious and I wasn’t sure how a low-budget film like this could afford the submission fee. But in the end, we submitted it and were really surprised that it got in.” he said.
BlindSide, which was shot over nine weekends, focuses on a white middle-class family embroiled in domestic violence.
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