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Monthly Archives: July 2012
July 24, 2012 — An Earfull At the Ear Inn
As the weeks wear on and I get closer to the deadline for submitting a grant application to the NEA, I have periods of doubt and wonder if it’s even worth it to try for such a prestigious thing. And if I don’t get awarded a grant what will it mean – that the project is unworthy, and I should give up?
Sometimes facing a lengthy grant application makes you want to cut and run.
Glancing through pictures I took in May I’m reminded that getting grants and making Art are two different things. These black and white snaps were taken on a hot summer night when I joined my husband Paul and our friend Peer at one of NY’s oldest bars – The Ear Inn on Spring Street.
Paul and Peer at the Ear Inn
As I ate muscles at the bar and listened to old-time jazz, a woman named Katerina introduced herself. She had an intriguing accent and was very charming.
Catharina is half Russian half Greek.
Several minutes later her friend Roland joined her – an artist, he showed her photos of his latest work on his Iphone.The striking shadows in his imagery prompted me to talk about the ideas for shadow play I had in mind for FINDING KUKAN.
Designer and artist Roland Gebhardt
For some great use of shadows, you should see THE THIRD MAN, said Roland. He sounded like he knew what he was talking about. When I got home I looked up Roland’s website – photos of his performance pieces made me think of all the possibilities before me. The doors to creation opened up a crack.
Image from Roland Gebhardts Performance/Installation “Layers”
As I watched THE THIRD MAN for the first time the doors were thrown wide open. Every shot was a compositional gem and fired up ideas in my head for ways to visualize my own search.
An early scene from THE THIRD MAN — shadows and a great stairwell — 2 of my favorite things.
I’m hanging on to the DVD so I can watch it for the third time – a reward I’m going to give myself after getting that grant app finished. You DO need a lot of money to make movies, but you DON’T need a lot to enjoy the heck out of them.
Screen shots from THE THIRD MAN
Thanks to Roland Gebhardt and the Ear Inn for reminding me of why I’m writing grants applications in the first place.
The mysterious guy across the bar must be writing a novel on his cell phone.
Whether it’s the bar, the gym, or the beach, we all need to leave the desk once in awhile to get a fresh perspective. Where do you go when you need a creative breath of fresh air?
July 11, 2012 — Cheongsam Dreams
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Li Ling-Ai, the Chinese American author who lured me into FINDING KUKAN, was known for always wearing a traditional Chinese dress known as a cheongsam (or qipao in Mandarin).
Li Ling-Ai in jade green cheongsam circa 1941
I didn’t always have an appreciation for the style since I associated it with my elderly grandmother who lived with us when I was a teenager in the 70s. Her old-fashioned Chinese ways and insistence on wearing a Chinese dress everywhere was a cause of angst and embarrassment to me at a time when appearing too ethnic or Asian was just not the cool thing to do.
My grandmother Polly Ching in front of Stanford University in the 1960s
But my attitude has changed over the years along with the fashions. All the rage in the 20’s and 30’s when Chinese women were expressing newfound freedoms, the cheongsam was banned in mainland China during the Mao era and later considered too old-fashioned by Chinese women who were going for more modern Western looks in the 70s and 80s. According to this excellent article by Babette Radclyffe-Thomas, sexy Chinese movies like IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE have recently inspired a nostalgia for the cheongsam.
One of the exquisite cheongsams fashioned for Maggie Cheung by IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE art director William Chang
Madonna, Nicole Kidman and Kelly Preston have all been caught wearing the style to glamorous effect at red carpet events.
Nicole Kidman takes on the cheongsam
To honor Li LIng-Ai and the revival of the cheongsam (and also divert myself from writing grant applications), I’ve been collecting cheongsam photos on my Pinterest board. Here are some of my favorites.
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Have a favorite cheongsam of your own? Post in the comments or send me a link to your pin and I’ll put it on my board.
July 8, 2012 — Kickstarter Plans Get Under Way
Well to offset my terrible experience of having my cameras and jewelry ripped off, let’s talk about one of the lucky things that have happened lately. The new FINDING KUKAN teaser has inspired several amazing women to volunteer their talents to help develop the film! All amazing creative professionals in their own right, Pamela Tong, Magnolia Barrett, and Debra Zeleznik recently gathered at my house to talk about how to get the film to the next step. We were guided by the great research volunteer Notre Dame student Camille Muth did for us.
Robin Lung, Pamela Tong, Magnolia Barrett and Debra Zeleznik hold brainstorming session for FINDING KUKAN.
Right now our most immediate need is to raise funding to complete the film. So we are planning a KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN to begin in OCTOBER. Why Kickstarter you might ask?
#1. IT WORKS. Crowdfunding– it’s what PBS and NPR have been doing for years — the phone in fund drive format where you get a nice little gift and mention on the show for making your donation at a particular time. Kickstarter (administered by Amazon) is just an online way of doing it and is structured so that independent creative types can have a ready made platform to launch their own crowdfunding campaigns. Check out a couple of amazing documentary campaigns here and here.
#2. GRANTS ARE GONE. Well not totally. I’ve been lucky enough to get a couple of small grants in the past and will continue to write onerous grant applications to try to capture what little funding is still available to documentaries — my Executive Producer Kimberlee Bassford pointed out that it’s easier to get into Yale University than it is to get most major film grants. Even directors with several major PBS documentary series under their belts are finding it hard to make films with the traditional funding available in this tight economy.
#3. IT’S FUN. To learn more about Kickstarter I’ve donated to a couple of projects myself. Donating makes you part of a team and gets you emotionally invested in someone else’s creative project. It’s energizing and inspiring to be part of a group effort to create something of lasting value. Plus there are some fun premiums you can get for donating.
Debra suggests a custom-made bracelet made of mah jong tiles as a possible premium — I LOVE IT!
Do you have any experience with Kickstarter or other fundraising efforts? Can you give us some pointers on how to run a successful fundraising campaign? Do you have an idea for a great premium to give to future donors? Don’t be shy! We need all the help we can get. Please let us hear from you!
July 7, 2012 — Getting Ripped Off
The police warn about it all the time, holidays seem to bring out the thieves in droves. Hawaii is no exception and I found out the hard way on July 3 when our house was burglarized in broad daylight. Bad news — all of my cameras and jewelry were stolen.
Shelf where the cameras used to be.
Good news. The computer and hard drives weren’t taken and the film and all my archival documents and years of research remain intact.
These binders alone represent years of research.
I am reminded of a Northern Exposure episode where Marilyn Whirlwind tells a story about a lucky situation turning unlucky and then lucky again. See transcript of story here.
Let’s hope you never have to fill out one of these.
I had a little mourning session for each item I listed in the Police Report, especially pieces of jewelry that my grandmother had given me. But as I was writing that up, friends from all over were responding to my Facebook post about the incident, offering help, comfort, loans of camera equipment, etc. Reading those posts I realized just how lucky I was.
But how to prevent future losses? Old fashioned safes might protect jewelry and cameras in the future, but what about those archival docs and film footage? Is cloud technology a practical solution? Anyone have experience using technology to safe guard precious photographs or documents? Let’s hear your story.
