Introduce Yourself: Sign In Here First

Hi everyone,

My name is Oggi Tomic, I'm originally from Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and currently based and working in London and Cambridge (UK).

I have recently completed a course (BA Hons) in documentary film and TV at the IFSW. I am professional camera and sound operator with my own equipment looking to collaborate on any current and future productions so please get in touch.

Best wishes to you all in 2012!

Oggi

Welcome Oggi – hear good things about your work (as it happens, as well as being one of the Co-Hosts here at The D-Word I also work at the Newport Film School in Wales, formerly the IFSW). Always good to have the next generation of filmmakers join our community.

Hi John,

Thanks – look forward to getting to grips with this community and get in touch with people. Hope all is going well at IFSW.

Hi everyone,

I'm French-American based between Paris and New York (mostly Paris for the last few years).

I'm going to Houston on the 24th of January for 2 weeks to do a research/trailer trip on a documentary about women who fall in love and marry prisoners who are either on death row or sentenced to life without parole. I am particularly interested in the dichotomy between these love stories and a judiciary system that is not built on rehabilitation or redemption, and does not encourage social reintegration. I am hoping that these love stories will allow for a greater reflection on forgiveness and reinsertion, in contrast to a prison system that is often times built on a vicious and violent cycle from which it is difficult to break.

An integral part of the film will be the weekly radio program called the Prison Show (recently profiled on NPR's All Things Considered), which, as its name indicates, is a radio show that discusses the Texas criminal justice system. It's a fascinating show, which has listeners who call in and leave messages for inmates, hosts and airs weddings by proxy, among general conversations about death row and prisons in Texas.

I'd love to meet any Houston doc filmmakers while I'm in town, or hear about anyone's experiences filming in prisons. Also, I'll probably need a PA for a couple of days work (paid), so if anyone has any advice on any of these fronts, I am open to all suggestions.

Many thanks!
Gabriella

www.gabriellakessler.com

Welcome, Gabriella. You can do an Advanced Search on the top of any page to find D-Word members from Houston. Good luck with the film, sounds like a really fascinating one.

Hello, I'm a Producer/Director/Screenwriter based in Karachi, Pakistan.In my other life, I was a print journalist, but I now work full time in documentary film production.
Issues I've worked on include madressa education, the police system in Pakistan, workers and union issues, the environment.
All the best

Tehmina

In reply to Doug Block's post on Tue 17 Jan 2012 : Thanks for the words of encouragement Doug! Will check it out now.

In reply to Tehmina Ahmed's post on Wed 18 Jan 2012 :

Welcome to D-word, Tehmina & Gabriella!

Hi All,

I'm new here. I am currently making a documentary about a network of controversial adolescent drug abuse programs which I was a member of for five years. We've just released a pitch trailer to try to raise the funding for the project and launched an IndieGoGo campaign. I'm hoping to find some guidance here on how best to run the campaign and make the film as good as possible.

Best,

Jacob

Welcome, Tehmina! Very glad that you found us, and hope you'll feel free to leap right into the discussions.

Welcome, as well, Jacob. You might want to check out this special discussion we held here on Crowdfunding with Jennifer Fox and Katherine Nolfi.

Thanks Doug. I read the entire thread yesterday and shared it with the rest of the team working on our film. I found it to be very insightful.

Ah I forgot to introduce myself and went straight ahead to the mentoring forum. Anyway,

Hi Everyone,
I'm a writer / director based in Melbourne, Australia. Straight out of film school (Australian Film Television and Radio School) where I majored in directing, I'm currently working on a documentary on the Maoist movement in India and the underlying issues of land, tribal rights, mining and development. There is a rough trailer online at:
http://vimeo.com/31587060
I'm working on getting production support before filming the second part of it. Finally, James Longley's Iraq in Fragments is a strong inspiration and my all time fav documentary.

Best,
Ajay

In reply to Jacob McEndollar's post on Thu 19 Jan 2012 :

Jacob, link to your campaign and trailer? (nevermind, I see it in the mentoring page)

So, Ajay, we can now officially welcome you to The D-Word!

Hello everyone,

My name is Yvonne Apollonio. I worked in the post production side of advertising for some years, but I stopped when I gave birth to my daughter two years ago. I am now returning to a documentary project that I had put on hold. I am very glad to be part of this community.

Greetings,
I read Ajay's post and realized I've done the same thing, I went straight to the classified topics. I'm based in Pittsboro NC the d word was suggested to me by another filmmaker here in town. I've finished up a new film and am working on two others right now. Look forward to all the great information and support that is here.
Mike

Greetings, I'm Elliot Sokolov, a composer for film specializing in documentaries. My many credits include scores for the Oscar-nominated documentary "The Restless Conscience" and most recently "Kings Park: Stories From An American Mental Institution". (see the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW_xrbqnWxE ) I love collaborating with documentary makers! Please check out my work at www.elliotsokolov.com

Welcome Elliot. Moving trailer, very moving score.

You're all very welcome at The D-Word, Yvonne, Mike and Elliot.

My name is E. Ablorh-Odjidja. I am based in the US but have been spending a lot of time (the past three years) in Ghana, Africa, shooting and producing documentaries. My current works are:
1. A New Face for Africa
2. The Asantehene
Both films are in dvd prints now, with trailers on YouTube.

In reply to Elliot Sokolov's post on Mon 23 Jan 2012 :

Welcome, Elliot & E. A-O :)

In reply to gabriella kessler's post on Tue 17 Jan 2012 : Welcome to the D-Word, Gabriella. Your project sounds compelling. I've filmed inside 5 different prisons in NY and FL, so here's my two cents: All prison officials – kiss ass, kiss ass, kiss ass. In addition, be nice to guards who are jackasses. (You can win an Oscar for this!) Make sure you let the person who grants you access, (public affairs or warden), know it's not your intention to make the prison look bad, (even if it's a hellhole, which most prisons are). Keep this same person informed about what your project is about and how it's evolving. Filmmakers are a bureaucratic pain-in-the-ass for prison officials, and also a security risk. Also, you might want to do a kiss ass interview with the warden if he or she is willing.

Hello! My name is Cassidy and I am producing my first feature length documentary with a wonderful team of journalists and filmmakers. We have an extensive repertoire of journalism, multimedia and short films in the bag but we are venturing into new/scary/exciting territory here! On top of that, we are launching a Kickstarter for post funds shortly, I'm feeling a little frightened but also, very exciting, I hope to have more to post soon! Thanks for this wonderful forum! Website for the film is here: www.barzanthemovie.com. The trailer is rough (too one sided for our liking but we are still in production so its far from finished).

Looks very interesting Cassidy. Good luck!

Hi all,
I'm Kevin Spahr and I have completed my first doc and I'm working on completing my distribution deal.

The doc is called "Glen Rock Fae" and it is about the world's largest and longest running fairy festival – yes, fairies – colorful wings, pointy ears, etc.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740742/