La Quinceañera family update

Throughout the past few weeks I have been in touch, by phone and e-mail, with the family who appears in "La Quinceañera"documentary that I produced. It was great to talk to Ana Maria, Lili, and Teresa on the phone. the latest correspondence started a few weeks ago when Ana Maria sent me an e-mail saying that she had found a very nice van in good condition and was wanting to purchase it. During my last visit in August I had told the family that a portion of all festival prize money and DVD sales was going into an account for Ana Maria and the family. Ana Maria asked if she could use some of this money to help buy the van. Well the family now has a van that holds them all which I hope will make life more convenient and help them save money on daily taxis and such. Ana Maria is really the only one of the girls that drives so we joked that her job will now be Chauffeur to the family.

For More information on "La Quinceañera" Visit www.laquinceaneradocumentary.com

Santa Fe Film Festival

I spent 5 days at the Santa Fe Film Festival last week and had a great time. La Quinceañera screened twice at the Museum of Indian Art and Culture and was partnered with the film "Lost and Found in Mexico. The theater held around 100 people and it was sold out both shows. One of the highlights of the festival for me was meeting filmmakers and staff from the National Geographic All Roads Film Project. I met some wonderful people and saw some very good films because of that program. The All Roads Film Project helps indigenous filmmakers tell their stories.

"All Roads is a National Geographic initiative created to provide an international platform for indigenous and underrepresented minority-culture artists to share their cultures, stories, and perspectives through the power of film and photography. All Roads is an exciting, groundbreaking film festival, photography program, and film grant program rolled into one."

A few of the films that I saw that I recommend are-

"Daf" A documentary set in Kurdistan about a family that makes a type of Iranian Tamporine called the Daf.
"Enemies of Happiness" Documentary about a women in Afghanistan running for parliment.
"Horse you See" Film by Mellisa Henry about a Navajo horse that talks and sings
"The Bands Visit" Israeli film that follows an Eygptian Orchaestras visit to Israel

Hope you have a chance to check these films out!

La Quinceanera video Finalist in Angelus Student Film Fest

I recently found out that La Quinceañera is a finalist in the Angleus Student Film Festival and will be screened in LA in late october as part of the festival. 5 other documentarys will also be screened as part of the festival, 3 of them coming from grad students from the Stanford documentary program and the others from NYU and City College of New York. The following is taken from the Angelus website and describes what kind of films they look for.

"The Angelus Student Film Festival cultivates and honors future filmmakers as they explore and create works that respect the dignity of the human person. Angelus Award winning films reflect values such as REDEMPTION, SPIRTUALITY, DIGNITY, TOLERANCE, EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, HOPE and TRIUMPH OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT."

http://www.angelus.org/about-introduction.html

www.laquinceaneradocumentary.com

Film Fest News

I recently found out that La Quinceañera is a finalist in the Angleus Student Film Festival and will be screened in LA in late october as part of the festival. 5 other documentarys will also be screened as part of the festival, 3 of them coming from grad students from the Stanford documentary program and the others from NYU and City College of New York. The following is taken from the Angelus website and describes what kind of films they look for.

"The Angelus Student Film Festival cultivates and honors future filmmakers as they explore and create works that respect the dignity of the human person. Angelus Award winning films reflect values such as REDEMPTION, SPIRTUALITY, DIGNITY, TOLERANCE, EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, HOPE and TRIUMPH OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT."

http://www.angelus.org/about-introduction.html

www.laquinceaneradocumentary.com

La Quinceanera invited to the Cinesol film festival

La Quinceanera was invited to be shown at the Cinesol film fest in South Padre Island in Texas. The festival runs over Labor day weekend. It looks like a great fit for the documentary as I saw they had Mexican conjunto music for entertainment on one of the nights. I will make another post when I find out more details about the festival, times etc.