Ariadne’s Notes: The World Poetry Cafe, CFRO 100.5 pm PST Jan 23, at 1:30 pm PST was honored to feature the award-winning filmmaker Michelle Muldoon! It was a wonderful interview, giving tips and insights on filmmaking and answering questions about her latest short film. When she was describing the making of her last film The Last Stand to Nowhere, I almost felt I was there. Also, her comments about creating western women characters and departing from the stay at home wife or the harlot typically cast in many Westerns. This radio show also included Raman Mander who could not reach us due to technical problems but included the beginning of our new program for the special heroes and promoters of shows on CFRO. Our super tech, Victor Schwartzman kindly agreed to talk about his own show, Soapbox Radio which airs on Wednesdays from 1-2 pm PST and features specially-abled hosts and guests sharing their stories and tips. Please check out his show! A new story from Sharon Rowe which will be in her next book and more poetry.
Michelle Muldoon is a Vancouver based writer/director who marries her love for action films with a commitment to female-driven stories. She’s written and directed short films and music videos that have aired around the world, most recently in Zagreb and Almeria, in Spain. A former Board Member of Women in Film and Television Vancouver, Michelle focused her tenure on the Board to create and build the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival Screenplay Competition. Her latest project was inspired by the Western films she grew up watching with her father.
It is a short proof of a concept film that re-imagines the Gunfight at the OK Corral as a power struggle between sisters, not brothers. Michelle Muldoon currently teaches the Introductory Screenwriting Workshop for Raindance Vancouver. Vancouver writer/director Michelle Muldoon’s film Last Stand to Nowhere which has been selected for this year’s Vancouver Short Film Festival and will be screening on January 25th at 4:30 PM. The film is an all-female re-imagining of the Gunfight at the OK Corral. It has traveled the world on the festival circuit winning countless awards and accolades, but this is its first screening at home in Vancouver. Michelle just returned from a festival in Almeria, Spain; the birthplace of the spaghetti western where the film received rave reviews. The film stars Chelah Horsdal, Julie Lynn Mortensen, Johannah Newmarch, Luvia Petersen, Sadie Silcock and a who’s who of amazing women.
Not only is the all-female cast unique, particularly for a western, but the film was also made primarily through crowd-funding. The premiere was on Saturday, January 25th at 4:30 PM, and was sold out! For more information: https://michellemuldoon.wordpress.com/
Here are her tips and more information for filmmakers in a letter to publicist, Nicole Pender and to host Ariadne Sawyer.
“Thank you for the wonderful experience on the radio.
Tips:
Be brave, take the leap.
— Taking risks is important for growth to happen, and for your project to be seen in a crowded content market.
Create or join a creative community.
— Film isn’t made in a bubble. Support and help from a like-minded community is important.
Work together with others.
— Very few people are great at everything. Bring each other’s best skills to each other’s projects.
Find your unique voice and follow it.
— If you follow trends then it will be over by the time you finish your film. Create something that resonates with you and it will resonate with others.
— Film is unlike any other artwork, you need people to see your vision and make it come to fruition with you and then you need a means to exhibit it. It isn’t an easy journey, but the collaborations make it rewarding.
I’m currently working on putting together the details for funding for a feature screenplay I’ve wanted to make for a number of years. It’s a murder/mystery that exposes the dark side of a family and the people that make up their circle. As with many of the projects I make, women are at the heart of it, and in Birthday Blues it’s three generations of women in a family. I’m also working on a pilot script for Last Stand to Nowhere. At every festival I hear the same comment, people want more. I hope that those voices will eventually reach higher circles.
Thank you again for spreading the word. The support is greatly appreciated!”
