The New Girl.
 

Howdy boys.

I am hotshot nobody arthouse director. My gig is silent film. So far Guerrella style, want for the real production values though.

I live in Oakland CA but I am working on getting out of the country more permenantly. I am about to shoot a feature Doc/melodrama in Buenos Aires in October-03.

If there are any DV members in BAires who read this...drop me a line. I am having a big party Oct 10th. and filming the results!

Oh and since most of you are guys...
"I have a GL2 although I've used a variety of cameras on my films...and they were all edited on iMovie! Although I am now going FCP"...

and the link to ye ol' website....

http://www.feminalefilms.com

oh yeah. and if any female persons read this, let me know of your existance...

Not to worry, Kat. This is by no means a men's club by choice...just the way the chips have fallen. Glad to have you aboard.

Interesting explanation on your site of why you've chosen to pursue silent filmmaking, by the way.

What about the feature in Good Air? Tell us more about that. Will that be a silent film also?

Hello John- in Japon.
 

No actually it is my departure...and my cold sweat fear is my live voice audio..lol the "glamour of filmmaking"; nausea and cold sweats.

It's kind of a wierd "first feature". I've been resisting professional advice telling me to make a low-budget feature vs. a high budget short. Then 'it all came together"..idea, people, stuff, and my enthusiasm. and super talent behind as well as in front of the camera...strangely because still, it is a no-budget..

I actually have a reel of short docs but have only made them as the urge arise ...ranting hippies, drunk poets, and delusioned people

But seriously if i had a nickel every time a filmmaker said "I wanted to make a silent"...I could make my high budget short.

And if they would make them...I could put together a New Silent Cinema film Festival!
My little back burner project...

And You?

Welcome, Kat.

Yo Keit , `sup man.
 

How's Lady X?

wanna come to Buenos Aires in October? Can't fly you down, but I have a house for the month of Oct..

I need 'boom' baby!...and camera jock. I can get PAs there, but you once offered...

I know you are busy and unemployed...thought I'd ask though...we are going to have fun.

and I am working channels to interview some very big people down there...

See ya around.

I wish you a warm welcome as well, Kat.

welcome to DVinfo Kat, great seeing another person from the Bay Area. I used to live there (Berkeley, Oakland, Albany, the Mission) before I came out here. Your Buenos Aires shoot sounds like fun.

I also made the decision to get out permenantly, that was 12 years ago and I don't plan on going back. Life is so much fun on the outside.

Good luck with your Doc.

figures. a latino in Osaka..seems like a good fit.
 

Hello xpatriot!

Things haven't changed much since you left...just a little more barbed wire, curfews, and cattleprods...

So tell me: What do you do when you get a hankering for mexican food?

I lived in Asia few yrs back and that was the only thing I couldn't reconcile...especially being from San Diego and having Baja food; which is the best...

Seriously. I'm asking.

K

Kat,

Rik and I are both ex-Texans (can you really ever be an EX-Texan, Rik? I think it's soaked into the bone). He's been in Japan quite a bit longer than me (I've been here just over a year) but before moving here I lived in Seoul for 7 years. I'll let Rik speak for himself, but as for me, those 7 years in Korea were dry as far as Tex-Mex is concerned.

I once had a chef there prepare a "Texas" meal for me on my birthday...he asked me what I wanted and I said enchiladas. Next day, he brought out this plate, set it down, and proudly said "Kimchiladas". Since they didn't have tortillas, he had fried some scrambled eggs very thin in tortilla shape and size, filled them with onions and steamed chicken, then topped everything off with mulched kimchi (as a salsa replacement). Pretty dreary as far as real Tex-Mex goes...but you know, it was good, and I was happy about the effort he went to and his creativity in substituting impossible-to-get ingredients.

Now that I'm in Tokyo, though...two words..."EL TORITO!" And it's the real California chain...not a knock-off.

So what were you doing in Asia before?

Just bought equipement what a rush!
 

Mushi Mushi John...

Now i'm set for the trip! Light, mic and cool ergorest tabletop/carmount support.

but back to what's important here: food.

i once had curried califlower on top of a chapati...."Pizza". I would prefer 'Kimchiladas' any day.

You know, travel, teach english, try to figure out how to not return...10 yrs on and off in India, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore...but mostly Indonesia.
Been to Korea for layovers only...and Hong Kong for a couple of weeks.

No Japan yet. Want to have a reason I guess...The only reason being to work with Miyazaki/Ghibli who is a god to me..

Kat,
we always make our own Tex-Mex food when we get the craving. I taught my wife(she's Japanese) how to make it, we used to have a mexican dinner for all my friends when we had a bigger place. One of these days I'll get around to making some menudo.

Today they are having a mexican independance day festival downtown, it's sponsored by the Mexican consulate. All the mexican restaurants in town have a booth and according to Japanese tradition, they all try to Japanize the taste so it's not the greatest. I mainly go there for the music and to see friends, the few Chicanos in town will end up there so I can hook up with them and we can make fun of the Japanese who dress up in mariachi uniforms and try to sing in Spanish, back home in Texas they would be shot on sight for doing that. I'm sure the Japanese feel the same way of foreigners who put on kimonos and butcher their Japanese songs.

They used to have a Pollo Loco here but it went out of business. I'm going to have to check out El Torito the next time I'm in Tokyo. I went to one in San Diego and it was good. I tell my wife we ought to open up a Taco Cabana over here, it's a chain restaurant in Texas. The last time I went back home to El Paso, I brought back a suitcase full of beans and tortillas. All this talk of food is getting me hungry, I hope the booth run by some real mexicans is open this year, they are the only ones who had good food. The little old lady cooking it up was great. Just spoke with my friend and he told me which booth to go to.

If you ever come to Japan, there are plenty of DVinfo members here.

Diez y seis! I forgot about that, Rik. No where is the Mexican embassy...hmmm

The first guy that opens a tortilliarilla..
 

In asia is going to be BIG!

There is an absolutely terrible mexican restaurant in Bali.. But when I went to the restroom, and heard Sonoran music pumping from the kitchen, it brought tears to my eyes...

And not to dis San Francisco..but if you are NOT in the Mission, they put all sorts of 'weird' things in the Mex food too! Like cinnamon/clove salsa...not mole..salsa. This is definately el Norte when it comes to what we Southerners are used to.

And since I'm staying with you guys, I'll see you next year! ;)

John, I think the Mexican Consulate here in Osaka actually closed because of budget cuts, they used to sponsor the festival, they still might but the merchants now probably more sponsor most of it. The Mexican Consulate usually had a semi famous Mexican singer or group come in from Mexico. I didn't go last year so I'm curious to see how it is now.

Kat, I know what you mean of the bay area mex food, I think there are too many people from Latin America cooking in mexican restaurants, they usually add their own countries flavor into the mix which always pisses me off. I once ordered some menudo in the mission and I refused to eat what THEY called menudo and I returned it. This was from the place which my friend said had the best menudo in the Mission. For me, I'm used to the food from El Paso, it's right on the border and the food in California never really hit the spot for me, except for the San Diego food, tacos at 3am in Tijauana can't be beat, that was great food. Haven't tried the food in L.A. And in my home town, I can get menudo 24 hours a day, anywhere around town, and in Califas, the only on sunday for menudo is very annoying.

I'll introduce you to my Vampire, S/M Queens, Butoh Dancing friends over here if you ever come to Japan.

Here's their websites and you can see where I spend part of my time filming:

www.visona-viseri.com
www.territory-d.com

I got back this morning from shooting a Visona fashion show, stayed up all night and I just woke up an hour and a half ago, it's 1:30 now.

I prefer staying underground, but I occasionally have to go above ground to shoot weddings in order to pay the bills.

[sigh]...I've gotta get out more...

Rolled tacos w/Guac at 3 am
 

is the thing that bonds San Diegans around the world-really...

forget LA it's as diluted or self conscious or whateva as SF about Mex food....what is SO hard??

So you got the all time great Carne asado marinade? I'm favorable to beer marinades.

and I don't know if you have an interest, but Tokyo has one of the better developed Tango scenes...and I would be interested to see it. I am the "tango filmmaker" to the SF scene...And I hear Salsa is "infecting" Japan as well.

People in Japan doing Cuban Salsa...thas a cultural oxymoron I want to see!

and "suicide girls" (new name for goth models) I love them! Similar to your vampires I presume..

Suicide Girls, I like that, I'll have to tell my friends that, they'll like that. It seems every bar/club here now has a Salsa night, some even have a salsa band. Right now I started up iTunes and the first song it played was some Javier Solis, the day is getting off to a good start.

I just hope they don't have a Peruvian band like they did a couple of years ago, the japanese always get something wrong...hhmmm, it's a Mexican holiday, I know, let's have a group from Peru play some Peruvian music, it's all the same right??

yeah, from Javier Solis to some Funkadelics, iTunes is setting up a nice playlist.

Tangos, there are some Tango performances touring here several times a year. Don't know much about the Tango scene in Japan, Flamenco is pretty big here also, I've met a lot of japanese people who learn spanish because they want to go and study Flamenco in Spain.

About 8 years ago, I got the see the Ballet Flokorico de Mexico perform here in Osaka, and the fact that it was the same day as my birthday made it even better, that has got the be the best present my wife has gotten me, well, maybe second best, my XL-1 is the best, not really a present, but she "let" me buy it.

Ballet Folklorica is "the shit"...
 

and tickets to their performances are as expensive as Cirque de Soleil!

fortunately I saw them ten years ago before they became a high priced event in the Bay Area..they are one of those "status" oriented Multi-culti things....but this is the "decade of the Latino" in California...Cheech Marin has become a big player in visual arts and political hustle...never thought I'd see that!

Now if we could stop tripping out and get bilingual public eduaction back. Oh, but that would empower the majority wouldn't it?

from the former territory of Mexico-

Yeah, you can't have them Meskins running things, better off having them hopping around in pretty costumes :-) So it costs as much as Cirque, I've never seen Cirque, they come to Japan every year now, I don't know how much their tickets cost here but it has to be more expensive than the usual show. To see an act like Clapton, it will be about $120 for the cheapest seats and Cirque right now is very hot in Japan. My friend was the DJ at a party for them at some club here in Osaka, he said the performers are all really cool people, everyone had their kids there. It must be a great life, getting to travel all over the world with your family.

I was wondering why you threw your hands up on the XL-1 and got a GL-2 instead? I find myself on the opposite side, I borrowed a friends GL-1 while my XL-1 was in the shop, and now I've told myself I can only use it or a camera like it unless someone puts a gun to my head and makes me.

I've gotten so used to the XL-1 I don't like using smaller cameras, it's a pain to carry around when I have a lot of other gear but once I start shooting, it is all worthwhile. But if I had the money I would get a GL-2 to use as a second camera, have a friend use it or set it up on a tripod. Maybe I can one day buy the gl-1 off of my friend when he upgrades to the GL-2. The Sony VX-1000 I use as a wide angle shot or have a friend use is on it's last legs, I give it about another year or so.

Quick Diez y Seis Update:

Nada. Didn't find a thing, Rik...and I was looking forward to some cold Sols with "Volver, Volver" being played by mariachis.

John,
I was hoping they would have some Mariachis there but they didn't. They flew in a full brass band from Mexico, which is okay but I'm used to hearing the full Mariachi sound. When I went two years ago, they had the Mariachis but they had a japanese couple dressed in the outfits signing with the Mariachis, they sang Volver, Volver but it didin't sound quite right and so it ruined the song for me. It's my favorite song. They actually played the Macarena for 15 min. and when they had a Peruvian band come out and play Peruvian music, I left early. Leave it to the Japanese to get it all wrong.

And with all the signing and dancing the Mexicans were doing, it didn't get the crowd going very much, although when they annouced that the Hanshin Tigers had won the Pacific Leauge Pennant, the crowd went crazy and they played the Tigers song for 10 min. So the Mexican annoucer would yell Viva Mexico, Viva Hanshin and that would get the crowd going.

So you didn't miss much, I only go to see some friends and to hear a couple of good songs and eat some semi okay mexican food. I spent most of the time at the very back hanging out with friends, even my japanese friends were puzzled by some of the stuff the organizers were doing.

we are going to have a cookout at our friends place this sunday and we're making tacos, the stuff there was over priced and it was too japanized, my wife who has eaten the real deal didn't really think the food was all that good. by the time I got there, the tamales I got were made with cheese and a stip of green pepper inside, I thought it would have been pork, but they sold out and the guy didn't tell me it was a cheese/green pepper tamale. I should have gone home at that point, cause it was all downhill from there.

Sometimes things go really wrong here and life in Japan sucks, but it will pass soon and things will be good again, I'm sure you know what I mean, except tonight they pre-empted Star Trek to show the Hanshin game again so I'm going to make a small Tigers voodoo doll and curse the Tigers into losing the Japan Series. Nothing gets in the way of my Star Trek.

this is MY thread about ME...
 

so I'm taking it back!

and if I have to make a smiley face to tell you i'm kidding...

so film talk. question...

you guys do what? industrial? hobby? art? What?

am i the only hotshot nobody arthouse director? if not, i want to know what people are making narrative-wise...or other-wise.

perhaps there is something to talk about. hmm?

one more thing..
 

Rik-

In regards to my hands thrown up over XL-1...

I got sick and tired of the focus not staying fixed at close range(yep I pushed the button), and I was about to buy one for this Guerella doc in BAires, but then was glad I got the GL2...even though I miss the heft and wish the thing fit my hand better.

I became a filmmaker 'cuz of DV. I have no college to speak of, and couldn't think of working in film because of the cost. DV made it possible.

But this is my last DV film. after that, I am all budget and 35mm film and production insurance. Which, after having become accustomed to the freedom of DV, sucks in a way.

If I finally redeem myself and make a living at this, I will get the sweetest tricked-out XL1s you ever saw. Just because I've wanted one all this time and my work needed things like manual lenses, and didn't get it.

But for a Doc in Argentina...man the GL2 is perfect. Looks "tourist" for one thing...no one will notice it. XL1 is impressive to see...which is good and bad.

So that is the reason for the GL2. I wanted something a little littlier, just as complicated, with one less of the damn servo focus chip things...

and the color on the GL2 is more true...I love the red of the XL1, but in Tangoland, everyone wears red, and it would look like f*cking "Carrie" or something...

Peace

Howdy Kat
 

you guys (and gals) ain't seen nuttin' 'til you've et a wee bit 'o New mexican green chile. Doh!! mixed my southwestern and irish accents...

New Mexican chile cures blindness?
 

Hi Bill. Do you want to say something or are you just being childish?

just a kid at heart...and love to suck up bandwidth, what's your excuse?

no excuses.
 

I need a safe space to beat up men.

hmmm....
THAT"S scary!
Most men will fold like a cheap tent under the slings and arrows of a righteous woman. Others are likely to just beat her to a pulp.

let me hope I am speaking to the former...

'a righteous woman'...good one.

K

I could be an honorable, dependable, compassionate, sensitive new age guy....

but, years in this biz have made me curmudgeonly. I am, however, only borderline abusive.

Guess it's up to you to carry the flag.

careño!
 

I've been wounded by a compassionate new age guy!

O my heart...goodbye cruel film-world....

there's always tequila

Kat's a genius
 

Kat,

You are a great filmmaker (or videomaker if you prefer). Thanks for the website. I especially enjoyed "Body & Soul" and "Anima Attraction". In terms of both shooting and editing you have an amazing eye. I've just recently acquired a bunch of stuff I can use to make movies. Maybe one day, hopefully soon, I'll be able to put together a website to show my stuff too. I never wanted to do this before but now you've inspired me to. I'm really into images working in tandem with sound and music and am now scripting a rap musical. Good luck to you.

Thanks again

Aw shucks.
 

Dude. If you make a rap musical, I want to see it.

Thank you for calling me a genius. Although I'm generally inclined to agree, I'm PMS City right now, and although I have eaten a half a pound of chocolate, I don't feel any better for some reason...and have a headache.

Hey I have one piece of advice. If you are going to get into work with music, you are going to want and need rights to the music...or you will run into all sorts of problems. Trust me.

Fortunately with Hip-hop, I think you should have no problemo finding fresh stuff gratis. even collaboration!! Jeez, if only I liked music from live guys...

BTW: IF anyone is interested, I am putting up a new films at the end of October, November and December. So check back. They are pieces I want to fine tune for one reason or another.

Oh and one more thing. There is this video-rental movie, a comedy with William Shatner and the CUTE gay guy from "Will & Grace" . Its called 'something-Trek' or something, but it has two outragous scenes:

1) The beginning when a would-be filmmaker is delivering the best movie pitch technique of all time...

2) The end, where Bill Shatner gets to do his Hip-hop version of "Julius Caesar". Mein Gott! Heresy!

**any movie junkies know which film I'm talking about? Total straight to video?

also: I'm leaving Oct1 for a shoot in Buenos Aires. If I feel the need to VENT..I mean, relate my experience of the "process", I'll post it here and you can consider yourself warned.

You go girl, good to see you doing your thing.

go You as well, Guy.
 

Oz-

aren't you the busy little dv'er? and your website works! Immmpressive...

thanks for your encouragement. Let me also extend the same...diverse genre material!

What's your fave?

your funny

whats my fave? sorry my slang is not that up to part with you. ( ha ha ). bring it to me stright.

p.s don't let the dude get to yea

favorite-fave?
 

as in: genre with which you have participated in production?

as in: what do you like to film most?

apologies...I speak a form of californian that is dying out.

I am shooting a music video here soon. I will post it on my webbsite check back soon. Also we are almost ready to shoot our first full length feature called Aglerroad. hit my site people let me know what you think.