Category Archives: film marketing

Film Friday

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A Quick Shout Out –

Cornerstone Fulfillment Service, LLC  extends their best wishes to the New Mexico International Film Festival in Jemez Springs, NM which begins tonight! Director Justin Evans and Associate Director Marc Leonard have a fulfilling line-up of films to screen for this 1st year film fest!!  Tonight their feature film will be the award winning “A Lonely Place for Dying” with a Q & A Session and meet the filmmakers afterwards.  Don’t forget to ask Marc Leonard how he did his visual effects that won him The Best Visual Effects Award at the Wild Rose International Film Festival. Filmmaker Magazine featured “A Lonely Place for Dying” in the Summer 2010 issue in an article called Period Pieces on the Cheap. The film was recognized for attracting big name actors to the low budget film and for it’s outstanding visual effects done on the cheap! For more information on this film, please visit http://alonelyplacefordying.blogspot.com/. 

For Aspiring Young Filmmakers: 

Looking for a fulfilling experience for your aspiring filmmaker? Enroll them now for a summer camp for want-a-be filmmakers organized by the non-profit organization Docs in Progress.

There will be offered a two week camp for middle school students (grades 7, 8, & 9) from June 27 to July 3rd. And a two week camp for high school kids (grades 10, 11 & 12). These camps will provide students the opportunity to work in small groups to plan, shoot and edit a documentary film. At the end of the camp, a mini film festival will be held so that parents and friends can be the first to see the finished work of the aspiring filmmakers. The finished docs will also be uploaded to YouTube for the entire world to see! In order to provide a quality camp, the enrollment is limited, so apply early.  For more information on this Silver Spring, Maryland summer camp, please visit http://bit.ly/h5heXK.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Make ‘Em Laugh, Make ‘Em Laugh

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“Laughter is the sensation of feeling good all over and showing it principally in one place.”  ~Josh Billings 

The nation and many individual states choose a deserving poet to be honored with the Poet Laureate Award each year. The Vermont Council on the Arts has just announced they will be honoring their very first Cartoonist Laureate on March 10, 2011. http://bit.ly/gftNdx. It is the second state, behind Alaska, to grant this kind of award. Chosen for the child-like intensity to his work, native Vermonter James Kochalka will been given the award. He is the illustrator of the comic strip American Elf and a number of graphic novels. It is not surprising that Vermont has decided to present a deserving funny-man or woman with the Cartoonist Laureate award each year. The state of Vermont has the distinction of  fulfilling the need for a Center for Cartoon Studies. www.cartonstudies.org. 

 I personally love a daily little chuckle but what I really like is to roar out loud until the tears come to my eyes and roll down my cheeks. Everyone knows that a laugh like that can sometimes hurt our bellies, but it is oh so fulfilling and worth it. The best is when I can share that kind of laughter with my twin sister. Wow – can we get going! It is often difficult to stop. Often the humor is only understood by the two of us. Others, they just don’t get it because it can be over the silliest things. In good times and in bad times, who can’t use a little laugh each and every day? It is good for our hearts. This I whole-heartedly believe! To read about a study from the University of Maryland on the health benefits of laughter, please go to http://bit.ly/qTtai. 

Just listening to the news each day and hearing the politicking is enough to make one laugh, no matter what your political persuasion happens to be. Democrats, Republicans and Independents, alike, often resort to child-like behaviors just to get their way. We could probably hold a debate as to whether it is even necessary to have a Cartoonist Laureate award. But there are too many debates already going on in this country, why add one more?

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Film Friday

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“…to increase respect for the creative individual, to widen participation by all the processes and fulfillments of art – this is one of the fascinating challenges these days.”  ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy 

The New Mexico International Film Festival is a week away. Festival Director, Justin Eugene Evans and Associate Festival Director, Marc Leonard have on tap a line up of fulfilling and impressive independent films that are sure to support their efforts at making this 1st year film festival, touted at being “not the biggest but the best,” all well worthwhile. 

The Festival Opens on Friday night, February 11th with the screening of “A Lonely Place for Dying,” a 94 minute, award-winning narrative film. This film is not an official selection, and is not eligible for the contest or other perks the official selections will receive.  It is a film associated with the festival staff. Following the screening will be a Q & A session with Writer/Director/Producer Justin Evans and award-winning visual effects artist, Marc Leonard. This film is notable for attracting big name actors, James Cromwell and Michael Wincott to the low-budget film and for it’s great storyline. For more information on this film, visit http://bit.ly/anFK2l. 

Official films selected for the NMIFF that will be screened include:

  • Misdirection
  • Food Stamped
  • I F**ing Hate You   (Please do not  be put off by the title)
  • Heart of Now
  • Kavi

To see the full Festival schedule, including after the screening get-togethers and more Q & A sessions, please visit http://bit.ly/eGqIWo.  

Just as I had promised, Sunshine will be present in Jemez Springs, NM and it’s bound to be a great weekend of celebrating independent films and the filmmakers who produced them. Don’t miss out!

 Jemez Springs, NM – site of New Mexico International Film Festival

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com

 

Melding Recreation with Culture, Art and Religion

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“Art seems to me to be above all a state of soul.”~ Marc Chagall 

Did you happen to see “Chautauque: An American Narrative” on PBS last night? I’ve been aware of this artist colony, located in Western New York, for quite sometime. However, the 60 minute documentary fulfilled my interest in wanting to know all kinds of things about this idyllic, lakeside town, their summer inhabitants and the programs offered by the Chautauque Institute that has existed since the late 1870’s. 

The Chautauque Institute has had it’s struggles over the years, but since the 1980’s a new vision for strengthening it’s programs in science, art, religion and politics has rejuvenated and elevated their institution to new levels. What began as a literary retreat back in 1878 now includes teaching programs, lecture series and live performances of theatre, opera, ballet. Studio experiences abound for painters, sculpture, fiber arts and even more. People come to immerse themselves in the intellectually and culturally stimulating programs for a week or two, or for an entire season. 

The institute’s popular morning lecture event attracts speakers such as Sandra Day O’Connor, David McCollough, Garrison Keiller and Daniel Pink. There are over 2,000 fulfilling programs in a 9 week period for those with a thirst for knowledge on the subjects of art, politics, spirituality and culture. 

Lake Chautauqua provides a setting for recreating in any way you please. Every summer, the town swells from a few hundred full-time residents to a population of 150,000 people. There are families, 5 generations deep, that return annually to enjoy the facilities and the recreation opportunities in this beautiful town and at this culturally-rich institute. For more information on the documentary film about this fulfilling summer hub of recreation, enrichment and intellectual stimulation, please visit http://bit.ly/gh9rTu.

 

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

All for the Sake of Learning

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“What we become depends on what we read after the professors are done with us.” ~ Thomas Carlyle

In recent years, I have become a real fan of historical art fiction. Some of my past readings have included books like the Girl with the Pearl Earring, The Painted Kiss, Girl in Hyacinth Blue – all about prominent painters of the past. The latest book I read, turned my attention to one of the finest composers that has ever lived, Vivaldi.  I just finished reading “The Four Seasons: A Novel of Vivaldi’s Venice” by Laura Corona. What a fulfilling read! 

The story is about two sisters whose lives begin together in an orphanage.   Both have talent in the arts, but one sister, has a much broader view of the world and of her destiny. This leads her to a path in life, far different than the other sister, who is consumed with thoughts of a priest and maestro and what he can offer her inside the walls of the orphanage. 

The Four Seasons: A Novel of Vivaldi’s Venice, like all the other works of historical art fiction I have read, have led me to want to know more about the artist and his life. If we could reach children and teens through books of historical art fiction we might be able to add some balance to their futures. Their futures might contain knowledge about idols from the world of art and culture, rather than idols from the world of misplaced values.

For more information on this charcoal drawing on board “The Book”  by Nancy Guzik, please visit www.WestWindFineArt.com.

That is just my thought from this day of All Things Fulfilling. Much of my time is spent writing blogs and spreading the word on the future of the independent publishing industry. As soon as I get time to squeeze it in, I look forward to “Clara and Mr. Tiffany.” I understand it too, is a worthwhile, educational read.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Using Stepping Stones

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“Being involved in the well-being and advancement of one’s own community is a most natural thing to do.” ~ Clarence Clemons

 Business people, non-profit organizations, companies selling products and services are not the only people who are jumping on the bandwagon to seize the opportunity to use independent publishing as a stepping stone for fulfillment and success. 

Columnist and book critic Cathy Beck was not to be stopped when dreams of having her manuscript acquired and released by a “publishing giant” were turned to dust. She focused her energies on independently publishing her manuscript “Cheap Cabernet” and marketed it inexhaustibly. The result? Success! She sprung open the doors of opportunity through entrepreneurial prowess and drove herself as an author to even greater heights than she dreamed. Please visit http://bit.ly/hE6FY4 to read her complete story of fulfillment. 

The moral of Cathy’s story:

  • Independent publishing opens doors to opportunity in unexpected ways.
  • Never give up
  • There are no problems, only solutions
  • Stepping stones often lead to bigger things

Cathy’s story is only one example of how the shifts in the publishing industry toward non-traditional publishing have brightened the outlook and led ordinary people to do extraordinary things through the power of books, films and music.

Let this be the year to begin to tell your story of success!

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Sleighbells…Are you Listening, Booksellers?

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I decided to take a trip yesterday, through the powers of my intuition, into the fulfilling world of publishing! What my intuition told me is that some print shops all over America are busier at work this year. How can they not be? Non-traditional publishing grew a whooping 181% from 2008 to 2009, according to Bowker  http://bit.ly/cp3anL.The trend, my intuition tells me, has risen again this year. Wish I knew for sure. But, only Bowker will be able to tell me, after they have tallied their reports at the end of the year. It’s just one of those things! 

Do you know what this could mean for the holidays? Santa may have a lot more stops this year – picking up books at companies that offer POD (print on demand) and short run printing. My intuition tells me the machines are cranking. More than ever, people want books (and films, too) that inspire, educate, inform and amuse that are not run of the mill. 

When Santa makes his rounds, my intuition tells me the sleigh bells will be ringing a lot louder this year, in support for the non-traditional publishing industry. If the trend in independent publishing stayed on the up and up again in 2010, is it what may be  keeping the publishing industry afloat? 

Hope Jolly Old St. Nick, has a stash of inspirational stories set aside for me this year. Ah well… if they sell out before Santa arrives at my door, they can easily be reprinted! No longer does the publisher need to print by the 10’s of thousands. That’s the beauty of independent publishing!

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.