Tag Archives: Ashland Independent Film Festival

Ashland Independent Film Festival Ends and Photo 365 of 365 Baby!!

13 Apr

AIFF 2011 Banner

I left you yesterday with our busy Saturday of screenings at AIFF, which ended late Saturday night with our second screening of Hello Lonesome.  Just twelve hours later, we headed over to the Varsity Theater for our third Hello Lonesome screening early Sunday morning, which left us basking in the glow of Ashland love.  I’m telling you, Sunday morning was probably our favorite festival screening yet.  The theater was packed, the audience showed HUGE support for both the film and for Adam as a filmmaker and it just felt so freaking good!

I was never involved in the film business until I met Adam and shared with him the experience of making Hello Lonesome. And I gotta tell you… being an independent filmmaker is HARD!  It is a never-ending uphill battle.  One minute you get crushed, the next minute you get celebrated and every step along the way you have to generate support, ask for favors and work your butt off as your own greatest cheerleader.  That is why I found this festival to be so inspiring.  Now that I am familiar with the extreme hard work and dedication that goes along with making a film – not to mention a really GOOD film, I have so much respect for all the filmmakers and supporters I met in Ashland and I can’t wait to have a bigger role in the next movie we make! Having screenings like the ones we had in Ashland makes it all feel really worthwhile.

So for my photo #365 (which I thought was #364 at the time), I’ve chosen a photo of the Varsity Theater – because every time I look at it, I will feel all warm and fuzzy – and that’s a good note to end on right?

Photo 365 out of 365 – “The Varsity Theater”

"The Varsity Theater" - Settings: ISO 500, f/2.5, 1/50 sec, 50mm lens

After our Sunday screening we said our goodbyes to all the folks at the festival.  Unfortunately we had to get back to NYC for Monday so we were going to miss the awards ceremony that was happening Sunday night.  We went back to our B&B to pack and then we met up with Christopf and Anna from Hood to Coast for one last quickie meal in Ashland at Agave – a super yummy taco spot.  I had a carnitas taco and a duck confit taco.  Both were delicious but the carnitas won – carnitas always wins in my book.

Then boo hoo… we drove off to the airport to catch our redeye back to NYC (via a two-hour layover in San Francisco).  I stopped to take pictures along the way.  This looks just like the drive to JFK!

Drive to airport

And then – goodbye Oregon.  We will miss you greatly.

Goodbye Oregon

The awards ceremony started at seven-thirty and we landed at SFO for our two-hour layover at around quarter to ten.  The second the plane landed, we checked our phones to see if there were any texts or messages about which films won awards.  And… NOTHING.  Not a peep.  We searched online to see if anything had been announced and nothing.  We figured that meant we didn’t win anything because we were sure we would have heard something by that point – so we shlepped to our gate at SFO and plopped down to wait for our flight to NYC.  And then at around eleven o’clock a barrage of texts and Facebook messages came flooding in to let us know that:

Hello Lonesome won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature!!!

Yee haw!  We were thrilled!!  I think Adam might have shed a little tear.  The audience award was what we were secretly hoping for.  Out of fourteen narrative feature films (all with sold-out screenings), the audience chose Hello Lonesome as their favorite.  Man that felt good.  Thank you Ashlandians!!!  It was the perfect sendoff and the perfect end to our amazing week in Oregon.  And then… a redeye. Yuck!!  But we tossed and turned with smiles on our faces. :)

And finally yes, that is the 365th photo of my 365 day photo project.  I can’t believe it’s finished!  It sort of blows my mind.   Just to drag things out a bit, I’ll post my 366th photo tomorrow (the one I intended to be #365).  I think I’ll make it the cover of my 365 photo book, which is a new project I’ll be starting now that this one’s over.  For everyone that has joined in to follow me along on this crazy adventure… thanks.  Having an audience to write and take pictures for certainly gave me that kick in the butt I needed and pushed me to rise up to this challenge!  I couldn’t have done it without you.

See you tomorrow!

The Ashland Independent Film Festival – Part 2

12 Apr

So… where did I leave off?  Oh yes, Friday.  Friday and Saturday we saw lots of movies!  We started out with a beautiful narrative feature called Stranger Things, made by Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal.  Those two are NYC’ers also and we got to know them a bit at the Woodstock Film Festival back in October.  I thought the performances in their film were excellent – very restrained and honest.  I found it especially interesting to learn how the film was made.  Ron and Eleanor basically worked closely with the actors to develop the characters and their stories and then they only revealed the script to the actors piece by piece  as they were shooting, so the actors didn’t know what was going to happen.

After Stranger Things we shot over to another theater to catch the documentary film Hot Coffee, directed by a trial Lawyer from Ashland, OR named Susan Saladoff.  This movie really got me fired up and I think everyone should see it – just to become informed about our own rights in this country and how they’re being diminished.  It is an entertaining and rather disturbing film focused on the US justice system and how normal people like you and me rarely have the ability to get a fair trial in this country anymore.  Big corporations have pretty much taken over the justice system in the US (as well as everything else) – and some of the stories of how regular people have been affected were heartbreaking and infuriating.  I left the theater on a rampage (and needing a stiff drink).

After that film, we saw another documentary called The Big Uneasy, directed by Harry Shearer, which was about the flooding of New Orleans after Katrina, and how it wasn’t really a result of the force of the storm.  Instead, it was more about the faulty construction of the levies, politics and the ineptitude of the Army Corps of Engineers.   I wasn’t personally as crazy about this film. I was interested in the subject matter, but the way the story was told was not as compelling to me – especially after seeing Hot Coffee just before it, which had me completely engaged.

With all these movies – I didn’t have time to take many photos – but downtown Ashland is so beautiful, I was able to snatch a few in between screenings:

Photo 364 out of 365 – “Spring Has Sprung in Ashland”

"Spring Has Sprung in Ashland" - Settings: ISO 100, f/2.5, 1/6400 sec, 50mm lens

And here our view walking from the parking lot to the theater – not too shabby right?

Amazingly beautiful downtown Ashland, OR

We were supposed to see a fourth film that night but we were maxed out – so instead we just met up with the other filmmakers at the local hangout Black Sheep and had a couple drinks before turning in for the night.  Saturday was another day full of amazing screenings!

The Black Sheep - AIFF Hangout

On Saturday we we jumped right into screenings again after a most delicious breakfast (huevos rancheros!) at a local restaurant called Breadboard near our Bed & Breakfast.  Our first film of the day was another documentary called Hood to Coast.  This movie totally rocked!  And instead of a documentary that leaves me hating our country and feeling hopeless, this one was super inspiring and positive!  It’s about the largest relay race in the world called Hood to Coast, which takes place in Oregon.  Teams of twelve runners cover one hundred and ninety-seven miles from Mount Hood all the way to the Oregon Coast – overnight.  It’s insane and totally awesome!   We got quite friendly with the filmmakers (Christopf Baaden – Director and Anna Campbell – Producer) as well as one of the women featured in the film who completed the race – Rachel (she was completely hilarious).  In the film, she made one comment that totally stuck with me and made me love her.  The gist was… why not partake in a crazy event like that?  If it’s terrible, it’s only a weekend wasted… what really do you lose?  On the other hand – an experience like that has the potential to change your life – so why does it ever make sense to say no to experiences? I like that mode of thinking!

After Hood to Coast, we hit up ANOTHER documentary called Connected – An Autoblogography about Love, Death and Technology. Again, this movie really blew us away.  And again, this was an optimistic, inspiring film that left me feeling energized and uplifted instead of defeated and angry.  I like that type of documentary!  The movie is about shifting our thinking from looking at the world as full of independent things and people to looking at everything as interdependent.  Our environment, our resources, plants, animals, people – we are all connected in ways that we don’t realize – and we’ve been finding that out gradually as our actions turn out having negative effects that were initially unforeseen.  But the overall tone of this film was a faith in the human spirit and a belief that the technology, which now connects us all can be used to save our world and our species (yes, humans… scary stuff).

Whew… and now that I’ve written a book, I have to run out to a photography workshop!  So I’ll post this now and then return tomorrow with the outcome of the festival and…

drumroll please

the final photo of my 365 photo project!!

Actually, I sort of miscounted while I was away – so I have a photo 365 and then I have a photo 366 (for good luck), which I actually intended to be 365 until I realized my mistake!  Ha!

So come back tomorrow. :)

Leg Three – Ashland and Opening Day of the Ashland Independent Film Festival

11 Apr

So, here I am… back at my desk, in our apartment in NYC.  I’m still in a slight haze though I managed a three-hour nap upon returning home from our red-eye last night.  Poor Adam went straight to work!  Now, he’s passed out cold on the couch. :)

First off, Oregon is amazing.  If it wasn’t on the other side of the country from my family and friends, I would move there in a heartbeat.  We totally fell in love with the entire state this week.  And Ashland… oh my Ashland – what a little heaven.  I’ll post a bunch of pictures so you can see for yourself.

But besides just being in love with Oregon, this week was amazing because of the film festival!  We felt like we were wrapped in a warm fuzzy blanket of love from the minute we got there. The Ashland community was so warm and welcoming and they LOVED Hello Lonesome.  Everywhere we went, people would stop Adam on the street and tell him how much they enjoyed the film and how much it moved them.  In fact, a few women professed their Adam crushes to me. Amazing.  And then, there were the festival organizers and the other filmmakers – what talented awesome people.  We left Oregon last night both super inspired to create something new and even better!  The festival truly fueled us.

So before I go any further, let’s start where we left off…

I didn’t take too many photos on Wednesday, during our five hours of driving (I was the driver) – so I found myself searching for a photo at around midnight in our B&B.  I ended up in the bathroom – with another face photo:

Photo 362 out of 365 – “Bathtub Face”

"Bathtub Face" - Settings: ISO 3200, f/4.5, 1/50 sec, 24-70mm lens (32mm)

This one looks like an animal of some sort to me… maybe a lamb – with the white knobs as his ears?  Yes – I still see faces after my initial face project…  Adam saw one too on our way home:

Tray Table Face

This one’s definitely a person instead.  Right?

Anyway – Thursday was an amazing day.  We had breakfast at a place called Morning Glory in Ashland, where the food was delish, but the servings were so huge we left feeling guilty for wasting half our breakfast.  After breakfast, Adam had to jump on a conference call with work, so while he did that in the passenger seat, I drove around the hills of Ashland, looking at the beautiful houses and stopping to take pictures of the scenery.   Here’s a taste:

View of mountains from up in the hills of Ashland

All of a sudden, Adam points out a couple of deer eating some shrubbery right near where we were parked.  I got out of the car, put the 70-200 lens on my camera and started stalking the deer (in a nice way of course).  I kept whispering… it’s ok, it’s ok… as I snapped pictures.  I think they trusted me, because they didn’t really run away.  Before long, there were about eight deer – all just walking around the neighborhood.  I guess that happens pretty regularly in Ashland.  This is my favorite photo from the deer session:

Photo 363 out of 365 – “Deer in Ashland”

"Deer in Ashland" - Settings: ISO 160, f/4, 1/200 sec, 70-200mm lens (170mm)

I really think I could get more into the nature/animal photography thing.  I enjoy the patience that is involved – and I find it exciting capturing the animals doing their thing – especially when they look straight at me – and I feel that we have a moment’s connection.  It gives me a little rush.

When Adam was done with his conference call, we kept driving up and up into the hills until we ended up at a road that led to a trailhead.  We decided to go for it and drove about a mile up this windy, bumpy road until we reached an entry to the Pacific Crest trail.  At this point we were up fairly high and the trees were covered in snow!  We were sort of ill-prepared, with spring jackets, and no hats or gloves or hiking boots, but we decided to just take a short little walk to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Here’s Adam at the start of the trail:

Adam at the start of our hike

By the time we had walked about twenty-five minutes or so, it had started to snow really hard, so we turned around to head back. We were kind of cold – but it was magical – a far cry from the sirens and noise I’m hearing outside my window right now while I write this.

Snowy trees in Ashland Forest - Along the Pacific Crest Trail

Here I am… seeking shelter in my sweater… but really happy:

Snowy Me.

Finally – here, we recreated the first shot – but with massive snow falling on us this time:

Adam at the end of our hike - very snow

At this point, a bit cold and wet, we decided it was time to hit up Rogue Creamery in Central Point, OR (about twenty minutes away).  I am familiar with a few blue cheeses from Rogue Creamery that are sold at Murray’s.  These blues are AWESOME, award-winning cheeses, so I was psyched to check out their birthplace.

Rogue Creamery in Central Point, OR

The shop manager is named Tom Van Vorhees and after some chatting, I found out that he used to live in NYC and worked at Murray’s in Grand Central.  I told Tom about my Murray’s cave internship and we became fast friends.  He took about a half hour with us, letting us taste whatever we wanted.  I was in cheese heaven.

Here’s Tom:

Tom Van Vorhees - Rogue Cheese Shop Manager

And here’s where all Rogue’s famous blues are displayed – note the one named “Flora Nelle”.  I was excited about that one.

Rogue Creamery Blues Case

Tom explained to us how the Flora Nelle was created to put a new American spin on a classic French blue called Fourme d’Ambert (the first blue cheese I fell in love with).  Flora Nelle is also their first pasteurized-milk cheese as they are hoping to expand to the Australian market and those Aussies don’t import anything raw!  I never knew that. Anyway, we got to taste a version of Flora Nelle that is still evolving and won’t taste the same when it’s finalized and brought to market officially.  Here is Tom, scraping a piece off for us to taste.  It was delicious… salty and nutty with those little yummy cheese crunchies.

Rogue Creamery Flora Nelle

Still, my overall favorite was the Caveman Blue… it just sort of smacks you over the head with amazing blue flavor.

When we checked out at Rogue, Tom told us to head next door to Lillie Belle’s Handmade Chocolates so off we went.

Lillie Belle Chocolates - Central Point, OR

Jeff Shepherd, the owner of Lillie Belle chocolates (named after his wife and daughter… cute), is quite a character!  He definitely brings his own unique spin to the chocolate world and his shop was a blast to explore!

Jeff Shepherd - Lillie Belle's Owner and Chocolatier

He’s won awards with his “Do Not Eat This Chocolate Bar“, which is so hot, it manages to burn your face off while still being quite good.  His advice is to break it up over ice cream – I’m definitely trying that.  He also makes these crazy dark and deranged bunnies called Voodoo bunnies, which are apparently all the rage.  I bought one of course.

Voodoo Bunnies

But besides the crazy stuff, he makes wonderful treats like lemon-coconut buttercream bon bons, marzipan fig bon bons, smokey blue cheese ganache and a huge array of other delightful chocolaty creations.  We brought back a selection to sample.  Though never formally trained, he’s become hugely successful over the last several years and next week he’s being shot for Food Network.  Good stuff.

So… sated with cheese and chocolate, we headed back to the B&B to get ready for the AIFF welcome party followed by the first screening of Hello Lonesome at nine-twenty Thursday night.  The party was wonderful – more cheese and chocolate, local ciders, beers, wines – lots of people to meet.  It was great – and then we had to ditch out early to go attend the screening, which seriously… ROCKED! It was sold out and packed with Ashland folks who were totally with the film all the way.  It’s a true pleasure watching the film with an audience like that!  It’s more of a community event.  The screening was a huge success and nearly everyone stayed after for the Q&A with Adam – we got a tremendous response.  It was really touching.  At that point, we had a feeling it was going to be a really special festival.

Hello Lonesome Q&A - First Screening - Varsity Theater

So that’s only the first day!  The next couple days were filled with screenings of excellent movies!  We saw mostly documentaries – but I’d love to tell you about them all so stay tuned tomorrow when I continue with the rest of the festival scoop.  It definitely ended with a bang!!

Off to Oregon!

1 Apr

I must be brief tonight.  We’re getting picked up at four-thirty in the morning to head to Newark airport.  Ew.  And of course we haven’t packed yet and we’re waiting for our dinner to be delivered and I’m tying up all kinds of loose ends before we leave.  We’re both a little strung out with tons going on… movie stuff, moving, taxes, work, etc.  But ahhhhh… by one-thirty tomorrow afternoon, we’ll be in Portland, OR – with a full week on the other side of the country providing (hopefully) a little headspace and some serious relaxation.  We’re bringing several fun lenses and I’m bringing my computer so I will be checking in throughout the week to dish on our trip and on the festivities at the Ashland Independent Film Festival!  And actually, now that I think about it, I think I’m going to be posting photo #365 out of 365 on Sunday, April 10th – the day we’re taking the red-eye home from Ashland!  Crazy.

So without further ado -

Photo 356 out of 365 – “Cornelia Street Cafe”

"Cornelia Street Cafe" - Settings: ISO 100, f/2.5, 1/250 sec, 50mm lens

My friend Jessica took me here yesterday for a delicious lunch.  The Cornelia Street Cafe is a “cultural landmark” in NYC – serving excellent food and promoting artists and musicians in the West Village since 1977.  I ate huevos rancheros and they rocked.  I’m a sucker for huevos rancheros.

Ok -off to pack now!  Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Photo of the Day and Update on “Hello Lonesome”

23 Mar

Photo 347 out of 365 – “Happy Little Girl in the Chase Bank Window”

"Happy Little Girl in the Chase Bank Window" - Settings: ISO 200, f/5, 1/250 sec, 50mm lens

I stopped at the ATM yesterday and as I walked out the door I saw these two kids crouched down on the floor looking out the window.  When I got outside, I crouched down and waved to the little girl through the glass.  She waved back and was definitely intrigued by me.  Then I picked up my camera and showed it to her and she just sat there posing, with that excited sweet smile on her face – eager to be photographed.  I love making little connections like that with children.  They are so curious and pure and unaffected.  I just wish the glass had been a little cleaner. :)

Meanwhile, I’ve gotten back into the habit of posting late at night again and it’s a baaaaaaad habit for me.  My brain is tired and sharing my thoughts doesn’t come as easily as it does when I’m fresh and it’s light outside. A new goal for April… early blogging.  Tomorrow I’m heading home to Massachusetts to catch up with friends and family and to celebrate my grandfather’s ninety-first birthday.  He is actually an award-winning photographer (I like to think some of his artistic eye got passed down to me) – nature and landscapes are his greatest inspiration.  For his birthday, we all went in on a new digital camera for him and I am excited to help him learn how to use it.  Maybe I can talk him into doing a 365 project of his own.

Then, the first week of April we are off to Oregon for a week!  I’m super psyched.  I have never been to Oregon, but in my head, Portland is my ideal place;  good food scene, environmentally clean, liberal, good city for bikers, idealistic, good arts scene, lots of natural beauty, friendly community, a little bit of hippie vibe without too much … you know what I mean?  That being said, I’ve never even been there – this is all speculation based on reading about it, so we’ll see how I feel when I’m there in person.  We are spending two nights in Portland, then driving down the coast to a town called Depoe Bay.  I just booked a room at what looks to be a lovely inn there – overlooking the ocean and oh yes… each room has a private little deck with an outdoor jacuzzi!  I mean… what’s better than that?

After Depoe Bay we’re heading down to Ashland in southern Oregon for the Ashland Independent Film Festival, where we have been invited to show Hello Lonesome as part of the narrative feature film competition!  I’m psyched.  I think the folks in Ashland are going to love the film and I think we’re going to love Ashland!  It seems like a beautiful charming artsy little city… my favorite kind. :)

Oh – and for any newcomers to nellsdish, Hello Lonesome is my husband’s first feature film (writer, director, cinematographer, producer, etc.) and I’m really crazy proud of it and him!  Go look it up and become a fan on Facebook… more screenings will be announced in the coming months!

Anyway – off to bed with me.  I have to wake up early to pack.  Night!

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