Hello my fellow Steemer's! I just wanted to bring you up to speed on my latest adventures during tiff last week.
"Sam Pollard might not be a household name outside of film industry circles, however, if you’ve ever watched Style Wars, Juice or When the Levees Broke, you know his work. For the last four decades, Pollard has edited, directed and/or produced some of the most important films about the Black experience. Also known as Spike Lee’s go-to editor—on movies such as Jungle Fever and Bamboozled as well as documentaries like the Oscar-nominated 4 Little Girls—he has now grabbed the reins of his own project."
Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me is his latest film. I got to hang out with a true innovator for African American films. Check out the latest work of art from one of my favorite editors/producers.
http://www.tiff.net/tiff/sammy-davis-jr-ive-gotta-be-me/
I recently signed this little GEM to the Diligent Productions Label. She has a heart of gold and a voice like and angel. She's already won the hearts of my industry movers and shakers. We are working with some heavy weights for a future single that I'm confident will work it's way into the hearts of the world round.
I was honoured to share the room with a fellow countryman and World Champion Lennox Lewis on a few nights during tiff. If you are not aware of this man please feel free to check him out: http://lennoxlewis.com/about/ I'm looking forward to working with him in the very near future.
Now, a tiff party is not a party without lovey graceful women of all statures and me in the middle. LOL!
Up and coming Ballywood Actress on the left and my favorite intellectual spokesmodel and activist Ashley Hassard on the right. A woman who can work a room and have a stimulating conversation with your most accomplished scholars http://www.ashleyhassard.com/experiences/ also see
I'm a total sucker for hot ballywood actresses :-)
The party was in full swing!
I'm so blessed to have wonderful talented people around me. Olenka above and my business administrator with me below.
The ladies that keep my business in check and keep me motivated. Love my girls!
Hi Walter just upvoted, followed and Resteemed.
What a great lineup of talent! thank you for sharing this - it's great to see pics from the night and to be able to follow the links. I'm in Australia so I don't know if Sam Pollard's Sammy Davis Jr film will be shown here. I'd love to see it in a cinema if it is.
I just shared Olenka's video on Facebook, well done for helping young artists get noticed. I hope she makes it!
It seems to me that Canada's film industry alongside India's are probably the most interesting in the world right now because there's such a strong sense of pride in your film industry. All of the the best Sci Fi shows and independent films seem to coming out of Canada. Canada has always been cheap location filming for Hollywood but you managed to also retain a big creative industry and the ability to generate your own projects without it all being controlled by Hollywood.
I wish Australia's film industry had taken some different turns over the years. It had so much potential in the late 70s and 80s to be one of the world leading Independant film Industries but nowadays Australia is mainly being used as a location service without our own indigenous industry being built up.
Most of our film-makers are employed in Aussie TV sitcoms and in the TV commercials industry or they just head to LA as soon as they get noticed. We had a couple of really big studios built (Warner Bros in the Gold Coast) on the back of massive Government (taxpayer) subsidies and they turned out to be just satellites of Hollywood studios with very little meaningful interaction happening with the Australian film community.
There was an interesting article in the Sydney Morning Herald a couple of years ago talking about our lack of passion in film-making and about our film-makers losing the will to take a chance and it was really accurate to what is happening here today.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Opinion/The-passion-lacking-in-the-film-industry/2004/11/24/1101219615000.html
Most of it comes down to financing. Distributors see the Australian market as too small and won't fund the majority of projects.
We are capable of making the best Indie films too (The Year My Voice Broke, Lantana, The Castle, Rabbit Proof Fence, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Wolf Creek, Razorback, Mad Max etc) but it's just not currently as vibrant as it should be because most of our best talent disappears to Hollywood. I think Australia is desperately overdue a resurgence. There are hardly any Australian Sci Fi, Horror, Family Films, Road Trip movies being made which is crazy because we have talent and some of the best locations.
It's great to see Canada getting it right. It means we still can too.
Hello Angusg,
I’m glad you could appreciate my post. I agree, Australia has tons of potential and is a beautiful country, it is long over due for another block busting feature length film. I’m looking at doing some work out there early next year. Maybe we could meet up. It will be my first time there. I’ve always wanted to go to Australia ever since I could remember. As a child, Australia seemed to me as the land of beauty and magical creatures lol.
I’m currently working with a friend out there to produce an episode of our mini series. I can’t say much about it as of now but as we get closer to finalizing some dates and places I’ll let you know. If you are on facebook connect with me.
Cheers,
I'd love to meetup that'd be so cool! I've got the same thing about Canada, I've always wanted to go yet somehow haven't quite got there yet. Been to the States a lot of time.
I'll definitely connect on Facebook.!
:) (smiley facy)
That looks like a pretty sweet party! I missed tiff this year but it's always a blast! 😎
Hey Dan-Atstarlte, next year come role with me. I hope to have a project in tiff next year. It will be lot's of fun.
For sure! That would be a blast!
Alright! It's great to see that you're working on a new music project!
I'm really looking forward to seeing what you have in store for us in the near future!
Thank you JayBird. We should try to meet up and maybe do something together.
Definitely !