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!”
Ariadne’s Notes: The World Poetry Cafe radio show featured the moving poetry of Shirley Sue-A-Quan. Due to a station problem, only 25 minutes of the original show was saved but Hector at the station was able to recover the whole show with World Poetry Ambassador Amita J Sanghavi, on December 19 at 1:10 pm PST and Shirley Sue-A-Quan at 1:30 pm PST. LISTEN To Entire The Show Here: http://www.coopradio.org/content/world-poetry-caf%C3%A9-70 .
Then this website went down and I had to get it fixed. I am really behind on posting the features but will try to get them all in as soon as possible. Co-host, Diego Bastinutti, tech Victor Schwartzman and Sharon Rowe.
Shirley Sue-A-Quan is a talented poet, translator, and part of the Wonderful Chinese Canadian Authors group. Here are two poems in Chinese and English:
Thoughts By the Fraser River Poem by Shirley Sue-A-Quan Translated by Shirley and Trev Sue-A-Quan Dear Fraser River, You flow from the high mountain ridge, winding down to the south end of Vancouver, Pouring into the ocean. This riverside is the place to refresh my soul In a country for me to embrace Nature. Look at the silver flashes on your surface, The reflection of an old man fishing in the river Wild geese perched on the shore, Crickets singing in the grass. Huge logs float in the water, waiting to be transported far and wide. Purple roses and blackberries add beauty to each other, Squirrels jump to yield a way to passing dogs. When did these tall cranes appear in the air? Real estate investments have come to this best-kept secret area Huge advertisements claim proudly and loudly, that this is the last riverfront treasure of Vancouver. Elegantly dressed men and ladies, Eloquent real estate agents, Pushing the price like waves higher and higher 700 square feet condos for only 800,000 dollars, The colour of money glitters more brightly than all of Nature’s beauty People are signing and talking, Vancouver is no longer the one we remember Gold diggers, house flippers, shadow dealers Luxurious mansions sprout like mushrooms after rain. It is the current fashion of a new business. How can we tell our descendants? Hereby the water there were hundreds of geese, birds, seagulls, Branches and bushes full of berries And a big river shining with silver flashes. Houses were for people to reside, Ordinary folks could afford to live in this city, Parents, grandparents, and kids could live nearby Will this once beautiful reality become a distant dream that cannot be reached?
August 25, 2018, Vancouver. Shirley Sue-A-Quan (C)
2019 August 24 To my 10-day-old darling granddaughter Brooklynn Your lips are like rose petals So pretty, blooming in your face. Ten days you’re in this world, Sleeping like in a honey land. Sometimes you open your eyes, Around you are the looks of love. Two little brothers touch you, Wondering where you’re from. Young parents sprinkle you with love Imagining where you’re going. The older generation of us, Suddenly feel like becoming a tree trunk. Our forefathers were strong roots, We hold you in our arms, my blossom.
The World Poetry Café radio show CFRO, 100.5 FM on Jan 16, 1-2 pm PST welcomed the talented Haida Filmmaker Christopher Auchter and National Film Board publicist Katja De Bock to share his exciting news!
“ His latest work, Now Is the Time, which revisits the raising of the first Haida totem pole in the modern era, had been selected by the renowned Sundance Film Festival, which will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, in Jan/Feb 2020.
The festival selected 74 short films from over 10,000 submissions (5,400 international submissions).
Background information: “When internationally renowned Haida carver Robert Davidson was only 22 years old, he carved the first new totem pole on British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii in almost a century. On the 50th anniversary of the pole’s raising, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter steps easily through history to revisit that day in August 1969, when the entire village of Old Massett gathered to celebrate the event that would signal the rebirth of the Haida spirit.”
Also on the show, the welcome song by Mary Youngblood playing the Medicine Flute, a special cedar rose flower made by Elder and World Poetry Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Amalia Barney, Poems by Ariadne Sawyer and Diego Bastinutti and a Big Bessie story by Sharon Rowe.
In a moving interview, Christopher spoke out the wonderful and moving reception that the film had by Elders and young alike as well as the need to preserve for future generations. He also answered questions sent in by two young filmmakers, one in Peru and talked suggested tips for young filmmakers
Now Is the Time was produced by the National Film Board of Canada’s BC & Yukon Studio in Vancouver. For more information: (info@nfb.ca) Katja De Bock also spoke eloquently about the history of the NFB and the service they provide for Canadian Filmmakers.
The World Poetry Café radio show was hosted by Ariadne Sawyer and Diego Bastianutti, tech Victor Schwartzman and special volunteer, Sharon Rowe.