Tuesday 30 September 2008

Reasons to be cheerful

Well, well, well! I have some very good news...

My DDR T-Shirt has been accepted onto the programme of Salford Film Festival! The film will be screened at Salford Arts Theatre on Tuesday 18 November. This will only be the second public screening of My DDR T-Shirt and hopefully will lead to a bit of interest and other screenings elsewhere. So, huge thanks to the festival organisers for accepting the film.

After a quiet summer, this festival acceptance and very encouraging eBay sales make the oncoming winter feel quite positive. I can also report some very early discussions to arrange a screening in Leipzig - maybe some time in the first quarter of next year. These plans are still very much on the drawing board and far from confirmed. Of course, I'll keep this blog up to date with any developments.

See our eBay seller page to buy the DVD.

Tuesday 16 September 2008

Rejection and acceptance...

Do you want the good news or the bad news?

Okay, bad news first:
Shortly after being rejected by Sheffield DocFest, I also received notification that My DDR T-Shirt had not been accepted by Leipzig Festival. This was always a long shot, but you always hope a little.

Now the good news:
I've just sold the first DVD of My DDR T-Shirt on eBay! I'd had difficulties with eBay de-listing the item because they thought I was trying to sell a bootlegged DVD. I could never get through to an eBay human so instead, I tinkered with the listing text and made it clear that the DVD was made, produced, written, directed, manufactured and sold by me.

I've just re-listed the DVD for a second auction so if you're interested, go to the eBay My DDR T-Shirt auction page now.

Thursday 11 September 2008

Hope springs a leak

Well, I'm just back from a holiday in Italy and finding it difficult to get into the swing of the old routine again. I thought I'd offer a quick update of the only little bit of news I have. Unfortunately, My DDR T-Shirt has not been accepted by Sheffield Documentary Film Festival (DocFest).

Although you never expect a film to be accepted anywhere, this rejection came as a bit of a disappointment. The theme of DocFest 2008 was regime change - this made all staff at Hawkinsian Productions hopeful that My DDR T-Shirt's obvious fit would come up trumps. But it wasn't to be so.

There are still three other film festival irons in the fire and we hope something will come of these.

In the meantime, I've had some nice feedback from independent filmmaker/writer/author, Micheal W. Dean. He "loved the flick" and offered his support. Micheal's book, $30 Film School, really helped me make a start with film making, and is essentially the model I used to make My DDR T-Shirt. Now (after being rejected by DocFest), maybe it's a good time to re-read sections and get some ideas.