Stress ... what stress ?!

My mom sent me this ... I had to share it :

When you are under stress ...

A young lady confidently walked around the room while leading and explaining stress management to an audience; with a raised glass of water, and everyone knew she was going to ask the ultimate question, 'half empty or half full?'... she fooled them all ... "How heavy is this glass of water?", she inquired with a smile.

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.

She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes." She continued, "And that's the way it is with stress. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on."

"As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden - holding stress longer and better each time practiced. So, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don't carry them through the evening and into the night ... pick them up tomorrow.

Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment. Relax, pick them up later after you've rested. Life is short. Enjoy it and the now 'supposed' stress that you've conquered!"

1 * Accept the fact that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

2 * Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

3 * Drive carefully ... it's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.

4 * If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

5 * If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

6 * Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

7 * Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

8 * Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

9 * You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.

10 * A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

11 * Save the earth ... it's the only planet with chocolate !

Posted by Ronnie Apteker

Distribution

The Material journey is entering a new chapter. The most exciting chapter, but also, the most daunting.

Getting a movie out there, ie, trying to secure distribution, makes the film making seem like a Sunday picnic. It is a hyper-competitive landscape, and no one has ever heard of movies from South Africa. Come on, have you?

I am more and more convinced that the indie films that do get distributed are not because of some random acquisition. But, because of integral early buy-in and support. Sure, there are films that get made quietly, in remote parts of the globe, that turn out magical, and get acquired for world-wide distribution, but I only know a handful of films like these. The rest are carefully and skillfully nurtured, with the "right fit" distributor being on board from the outset.

I think making a film that is totally vulnerable is very naive. And yes, we are naive. We do have a chance to find a distributor, but it is going to be a hard journey. At least we have a magical film, but it is a tough market, and very hard times, and in short, we just don't have any credibility, so for someone to even take a call from us is a small miracle.

I am not one to ever give up, so we are going to give this all we can. We have to ... we have come this far. We are not stopping now.

But, for our next project, we are already talking to distributors now. The same distributors we are trying to tie up something with for Material. Perhaps Material was a stepping stone for the next project. Everyone is inspired by the film and they are keen to talk about future projects. 

So, yes, perhaps we will get the Material movie out there. We are not leaving a stone unturned. We will know in the next 4 to 6 months.

What a journey!

Posted by Ronnie Apteker

DIFF

Our London film festival screenings are now all behind us ... what a surreal experience. The film was very well received. And before London, there was Busan, where people were laughing and crying too, and this was with subtitles ... one thing is for sure - the film works.

Next month the film is playing at DIFF in Toronto : www.diasporafilmfest.com

Here are the screening times:

Saturday, 3 November, 7:00 PM, Carlton Cinemas, 20 Carlton St., Toronto M5B 2H5

Sunday, 4 November, 8:00 PM, Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave., Toronto M5S 1J5

Vincent will be there on the Sunday the 4th for a Q&A after the film.

In terms of our distribution efforts, well, that is a whole new journey that is about to begin. It is going to be a material adventure.

Posted by Ronnie Apteker

Tonight !

The Busan boys are now in London. Tonight is the BIG one - our first screening at the London film festival. It is going to be a material affair.

The film was very received at the Korean festival in Busan - the whole experience is something we will never forget. One thing is for sure, the films works - we had two sold out screenings in Busan and we saw the audience laughing and crying. The subtitling will remain a mystery - we will never know how accurately the film was translated, but we do know that everyone liked the film. You can't laugh and cry if you can't invest in the characters and go with them on their journey. We will probably not land an Asian distributor as it is very difficult to crack that market, especially for such a foreign film, but tonight in London we have a chance to gain a foothold.

Riaad Moosa and Vincent Ebrahim will be there, with Craig, Robbie, Tendeka and I, and we have some very special guests coming. Riaad is also doing a comedy gig tomorrow night in London and that is going to be something to see. We may even get a surprise visit from Riaad's co-stars from the Long Walk to Freedom.

We have been waiting for this London time for a while now. We were lucky to get this far, and now, we need a bit more luck to get us over the finish line.

Tonight is going to be a defining moment on the material journey.

 

Posted by Ronnie Apteker

On the road ... and all over the map

We arrived in Busan, after a 40 hour mammoth trek. Wow, what a journey.

The new trailer is getting such a good response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArJFQIO1oqI

It has helped us to attract some key champions in Busan, London, and more.

We got some more very exciting news this week - Material got invited to the big film festival in India (IFFI) - http://www.iffi.nic.in/

IFFI takes place in the last part of November in Goa. Between the London film festival and IFFI we are covered in the most important territories for this specific film. These were the two festivals we were hoping to get in to since the start.

Our first Asian premier is tonight and it is sold out. In fact, all the shows for Busan and for London have been sold out for a while.

Also, check this out: http://www.pissedoffgeek.com/?p=7638

Riaad is in London this week - he is gigging there and being interviewed left, right and centre.

We are on the path, covering a lot of ground. Still so much on the go, and it is all material.

Posted by Ronnie Apteker