CANNES DAY TWO 2012

CANNES DAY 2

17th of May 2012

I saw some celebs taking shots in front of this back drop and i decided why not get mine as well.Done.

I want to describe this adventure more as a working holiday.What i mean by that is that every day i wake up have a brakfast which some times when i work it doesn't happen.In this case i have the time to have a breakfast.Thats a very important difference.I also dont have a start time so i can sleep in a bit.Not too long because if i want to be able to do more i need to use the whole day.

Red Carpet behind me where the celebs are going in for their movies.

Also being here in this awesome and glamorous environment you dont feel tired until the end of the day.The adrenaline and excitement keeps you going all day.

Maybe if i have time i can have a few hours on the beach.The weather in Cannes can change just like in Auckland at this time of the year.Its not full summer season yet but the weather is hot and so awesome.So Fingers Crossed for summer weather all the time while we are here.

This is the beach side of the Village International - Reviera.All those gazebos/Pavilions are pavilions for Countries from all over the world.I went and visited quite a few and in the next week or so will try to visit all of them.

There is so much to do and see that if you are not well organized then you miss a lot.

About me i am not sure how much i am missing but i am trying to do the most of it.To have good organization and to be able to handle the amount of info thrown at you then you need a PA and your PA needs a PA.So I am kind of trying to relax and do things one by one and i hope there always will be a next year for us here in Cannes.

Cannes Marina

Paparazzi,Camera Light Action and lots of people waiting for their favorite celebs to show up and they can try to wrestle for the best shot they can get.

So back to me saying whats happening today.

I went to check out BLINDSIDE at the digital Library and took a few shots there.Also cant wait for the screening tomorrow 18th of May at 4pm.Also i met a person cinema owner from Germany at the hotel where i am staying who said that he will come to BLINDSIDE screening.

BLINDSIDE at Cannes Short Film Corner Digital Library

BLINDSIDE at Cannes Short Film Corner Digital Library

Also gave him Journey of a Story Post card and business card of Earthwire Productions.Fingers crossed he come and maybe he can requests JOAS to be screened in Germany.Fingers crossed.I really want this trip to work out for everyone i know and i am doing my best to do so.

BLINDSIDE at Cannes Short Film Corner Digital Library

BLINDSIDE at Cannes Short Film Corner Digital Library

Thank you everyone for helping me to get here.I will do everything possible to make the most of this trip in a long run.Nothing is guaranteed but we have to try and keep trying every day.

Today the morning is the same as any other.After me getting to NZFC Office at La Croisette and did my emailing and online work i headed off to the Cannes Village International -Riviera,Palais Des Festival and Riviera for look around and to check where exactly are my next workshops in the coming days and do some networking with sales agents,Distribution companies and production companies.

This is the Front side of the Village International - Riviera.You can see all the flags of all countries representing and promoting their films and productions.

Also went down to the warf where all the boats are and it was mind blowing as you can see.Lost of big-huge boats and all look awesome.I wish i can spend a day on one of those and maybe if i ask that could happen.So i dare myself to ask and once i have the courage i will ask.Whats the worse that can happen? I just wont end up on one of those,which is fine.So will try anyway.

Cannes Marina with super yachts and boats from All over the world.

Cannes Marina with super yachts and boats from All over the world.

Cannes Marina with super yachts and boats from All over the world.

Cannes Marina with super yachts and boats from All over the world.

After few chats with distributors,sales agents and few production companies and studios i managed to grab few contact details and also give away few business cards as well.

Cannes Marina with super yachts and boats from All over the world.

On my way out i saw a promo posters and material for a movie with Ray Liotta and another one with Danny Trejo so i went to the sales agent and asked if they are showing any of those movies during the festival.The agnet said that Bad Karma(Ray Liotta) is showing tomorrow 18th of May so i said: " I would love to see it when it comes out." and the Agent said: " Well would you like to see it tomorrow?" I said: " Are you kidding?I would love to see it tomorrow.." The Agent said: Well sir here is an Invite to the film's premiere." 

My ticket invitation for Ray Liotta's new movie Bad Karma.I will see it tomorrow 18th of May.Also to the right is Danny Trejo's new movie BRO.So Kiwi right?haha
Hope i can see BRO as well.

Those are todays Cards and Brochures i collected while doing some networking here and there.And i still have another half of the day to go.

"I said: Wow..Thank you so much."

My ticket invitation for Ray Liotta's new movie Bad Karma.

There is the whole 9 yards of Light Camera Action Happening everywhere outside,inside and behind close doors.Its awesome.And its worth it just being here.

Busy every day for everyone.

LIGHTS,CAMERA ACTION.The whole nine yards here.You can see this happening at every corner most of the time.Especially after lunch and more so late afternoon.

After this i grabbed few business cards from the company just in case and left mine and continued with my walk back to the office with big smile on my face.

Tomorrow is very busy day for me.Workshops all day and screening of BLINDSIDE at 4pm and then i am going to Ray Liotta's film Bad Karma at 17:30pm and then is another conference after 8pm.

So I will have lots to talk about tomorrow as well.

At the moment its 4pm and i have another 3-4 hours of work before i can call the quits for today so i will try update this post later today,but just in case i dont have a chance to do it later i will do it tomorrowSo keep an eye even on posts u have read already.

The internet reception in the hotel is very slow and uploading photos will take a week to upload so i am happy i can do it here from the NZFC Office.

Stay tuned and will have more later in the day or tomorrow.

Cheers

D

CANNES DAY ONE 2012

CANNES DAY 1

16th May 2012

After a very very long day yesterday i managed to have some sleep.Well few hours the least.With the changes of the time zones and my excitement I managed to wake up at 4am then 6am and both times i couldn't fall to sleep so i just finished editing my 45sec Show-Reeel which i couldn't finish the day before,because my eyes just couldn't stay open.

So had a really early start today. Prepared all promo material i needed for the day and headed off to the festival.My plan for today is to go to the Short Film Corner and book a screening room for BLINDSIDE so we can officially say the the film Premiered at Cannes Short Film Corner as Part of the 65th Festival de Cannes 2012.

BLINDSIDE World Premiere at Cannes Short Film Corner.

The Screening of BLINDSIDE at Cannes Short Film Corner is on 18th of May 2012 at 4pm.

Contact Dimi if you want to book a seat here at Cannes Short Film Corner for BLINDSIDE World Premiere.

If anyone present here at Cannes wants to see the short film leave a message or comment here bellow the post or message me on facebook or email me if u know my email.I will check all of those sites to see if anyone is happy to come to BLINDSIDE screening.

Then i can get myself settled at New Zealand Film Commission Office right outside the festival.Lisa Chatfield and NZFC were so kind to help me and offer me a space for my to work from right  next to their office.The space i am at the moment  will be shared by another 21 New Zealand Film Makers including Zia Mandviwalla.Zia is the Director of Short Film Called "NIGHT SHIFT" which is competing at the Short Film corner as part of the competition section.

This the look from the NZFC Office where i am at the moment.

I am trying not to be distracted by the view i have from the NZFC Office here.

So now is around 1pm here local time and i managed to put few of the promo material prints around the place for others to have a look.

I am quite happy how much work i have done so far and i have another half a day to go so i will see what else i can manage.

For now i have to re-organize/update my schedule because few other things came up.

Also i caught a few shots of few Renault Cars.Renault is a official sponsor of the festival so it was awesome to see their new 100% electrical mini car..Its so small.haha

Lovely.

So cute and small and 100% Electrical.So cute.

Will update this post later today.

Stay tuned.

New Zealand Represent

All shots of me will be this angle.Thats the downside of not having another pair of hands to help u with full body shots.haha

I wish i had time to go to the beach.Plus i dont have my beach gear.Well if i have time i can try to think of something.

This is just a small tiny section of the festival right next to the short film corner

Managed to stop for half an hour and have some delicious French Pizza at New York Restaurant right next to the Festival Entry.Well 100m from it.

I got a shot at Sacha Baron Cohen with his two bodyguards and the photographer taking shots of him while going to Festival Entry

I so want to watch this film.The original with Arnold Schwarzenegger was awesome.

Cheers
D

Cannes Pre-Opening Day

I really feel for the people who travel a lot.Its not something i would enjoy doing unless i am business class or first class all the time.Those buggers have it very comfy there.haha

Well we made it team!!! Now we are in Cannes.So whats the latest update?

After 23 and a half hours flying and another 5-6 hours running around the airports i arrived in Cannes this morning 15th of May 2012 around 9:08am. 

From Nice i took a bus which dropped us off right in the middle of Cannes.That was good.It cost me 26 Euro from Nice and return,so two way 26 Euro for the bus.

Then i took a cab from Cannes to the hotel i booked accommodation.The hotel is only 4km from the festival,but i was buggered and couldn't be bothered to walk to the hotel with the luggage.

Well i did a walk later and its worth walking along the beach and stopping at all shops and if i had money would spend a bit on souvenirs..haha

Earlier that day i had some funny feeling and something always goes wrong and i dont know if jinxed it or not when i arrived at the hotel and handed my conformation of the booking for the room,the receptionist went at the back and took her few minutes to come out.

I waited and waited and then i though please let me be wrong and nothing is wrong with the booking.The lady came out and said.Well when we tried to charge ur account the transaction didn't went through and thats why the booking was cancelled,but since you are here and if u can pay the full amount then we have a free room and u will be ok.

I knew my account is fine and must be some error when they tried to charge my account so it was like huge huge weight came down off my shoulders and i felt so thankful that things worked out anyway.

So i paid the full amount which was close to 1,200 Euros for the whole duration of the festival.

To be honest that made me so happy.Now its around 10:30am and i just almost had an heart attack with the accommodation which got solved and now i am starving,but decided to unpack and have a shower and then hit some french place and have a feed.
Then i would go and get my badge and a bag full with info for the festival and etc.

By 5pm i managed to get it all sorted and now i can get into editing the final bits of my 45sec showreel for Le Pitch on Wed 23rd of May 9:45am.I will prepare 3 projects i am happy to pitch and will decide in the morning which one will be the lucky one.

Also have to do final prep for all promo material for the few projects we want to get some attention from film professionals.

It was a busy pre-opening arrival day in Cannes and i can feel the eyes are closing slowly.I must be running on adrenaline the last few hours.A good dinner and early departure to bed is in order today.

Tonight i will try to get some invites to more workshops and events so i can mingle with more people and see what we can can work on in the future with some of them.

Will be back soon.

Cheers
D

D

On My Way!!!

 I cant believe its 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 successful adventurous and phenomenal fundraiser 7in7 Challenge where he ran the seven great walks of New Zealand in 7 consecutive days 361km all together.

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 cue 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 Auckland Airport 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.

I am off to Cannes

Will keep you posted.

Thank you

D

Ready To Go!!!

Its been an intense few months since we found out that our Short Film BLINDSIDE will be part of the Cannes Short film Corner as part of Cannes Film Festival 2012.

First was the initial joy and happiness after reading the email of accreditation for the Short Film Corner and then was questioning the possibility of getting to Cannes.First thing i had in my mind was "How do i get there? I can't afford it.How much the trip would 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 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 but we managed to make it happen.

Thanks to Kay Rayner,Jonathon Rayner-Burt,Phil Greeves and Chantal Rayner-Burt a IndieGoGo Fundraising Campaign was created by 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 suppose to take off for Cannes. I worked very hard to collect the other half of the funds i needed and i managed to do that just in time. 

My parents helped me with deposits and expenses for promo materials i would take to Cannes to promote future projects we have prepared.

ZODIAC ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION

I am so grateful to my parents and family for helping me over the years to follow my dreams and become 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 encouragements. 

THANK YOU EVERYONE.

Now my bags are packed and i hope i havent forgotten anything i need for my trip.I thought i will be able to relax a bit before i take 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 hoped.

Well i will have 10 hour flight from Auckland to Singapore from 12pm tomorrow midday.Then follows a 13hour flight from Singapore to Paris and then a short flight from Paris to Nice.From Nice i can catch a train or a bus or any kind of transport to Cannes and i would be looking forward towards 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. Will have a nice sleep i hope and then who knows.The next day i can go to reception and collect my pass and get to work.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

This is my first time ever going to Cannes and ever to a festival at all.Aslo this is my first time of of New Zealand after me and my family arrived in Auckland on 23rd of November 2002 at 14:30pm.I remember this 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 its 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 have started.

I have registered with few workshops while i am at Cannes.As accredited filmmaker i received quite a few emails with workshops and events which i had to register and i had to be approved for me to be able to attend.So far all workshops i have applied 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 whats happening each day and share some photos while i am there each day.

Keep an eye on BLINDSIDE Facebook Page 

as well as on ZODIAC ENTERTAINMENT Website

and you can follow us for more updates on BLINDSIDE Twitter Page

THANK YOU.

To top up the good news BLINDSIDE and PLAYMATES both have been accepted to the 7th Cyprus International Film Festival later this year in October 2012.

HUGE Congrats to Cast and Crew.
THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS...

PLAYMATES Facebook Page

Getting Ready for Cannes 2012 Trip

The time is near.My first trip ever since the moment i touch NZ soil in 2002.I always dreamed to be able to go to Cannes and just be there and feel the atmosphere surrounding this amazing event.I never even remotely thought i will be there promoting not one but few projects quite a few of us are involved with. I have enrolled in quite a few workshops and events so i can meet and have a chance to chat with other filmmakers and share ideas and what we are up to in the future.It will be busy 12 days in Cannes and i will keep everyone posted as much as i can with what i am up to each day. My luggage is almost completely sorted and i hope i wont forget anything i need for the trip.Huge thanks to my family and all friends and friends of friends who are supporting us and giving us film makers the opportunity to do what we love doing.Without you we wouldn't be so lucky to be who we are today.

Reynald Castaneda's Article about BLINDSIDE's Journey to Cannes Short Film Corner 2012.
/http://www.tewahanui.info/twn/index.php/happy-and-humbled-director-of-dark-film-heads-for-bright-lights-of-cannes/

PLAYMATES - EXTENDED TRAILER