Last chance to Vote is today!

Last day to vote for INTO THE SHADOWS for the Inside Film Awards is TODAY!

Please get behind this and you can help Into the Shadows be seen and heard!

Best,
Andrew.

Opening Night

On Saturday night INTO THE SHADOWS opened the Melbourne Underground Film Festival. It was a good night and the film received a hearty applause. It was the first public Q and A I had to do for the film and it went really well, a lot of passionate responses and questions from the crowd. Mike Smith from Indie Film Nation was there and typed up a short piece on his thoughts on the film, and you will be able to hear an interview with Mike and myself on his podcast Indie Film Nation come this Monday.

Here is his review:

Into The Shadows (Directed by Andrew Scarano) was great choice for this year's opening night film for MUFF. The current state of the Australian film industry has been kicked around in the arts community and wider Australian mainstream media for a number of years. This documentary took a holistic approach to the subject and gave a historical reference to the industry. Then moved through the years of Australian filmmaking to modern times. The film then took a look at the films, the exhibitors, recent events and the future.

This is difficult matter to cover effectively in an hour and half but Scarano choices and style has pulled together a very enjoyable documentary. It's informative but without being too dry. I was disappointed to hear that the a number of the major Australian film festival like (MIFF and SFF) both had chosen to overlook this documentary which is well made and provided a balanced, fair critique of the Australian film industry.

Into The Shadows certainly doesn't leave it's audience in all gloom and doom but introduces the notion that exciting times are ahead and the gate keepers of traditional exhibition/distribution can be bypassed by thinking outside the square. The internet may still be another solution. As the music industry has learned they should embrace new technology and maybe the motion picture industry should take stock. Exciting times are approaching for those that they have the heart and determination.


Best.
Andrew.

VOTE FOR IF AWARDS

We had a very positive screening at Dungog Film Festival!

The audience that saw the film all seemed to have a reaction to it: wether they were frustrated by the state of the Australian film industry, impassioned to do something about Australian film culture or simply soaked in the film - even a few laughs along the way which was cool.

If you saw the film at Dungog then show your support by visiting theIF AWARDS website. Here you can register and vote for
INTO THE SHADOWS. The winner is decided by the overall score given not the amount of votes so if you liked the film get behind it and hopefully we can encourage more people to see it and begin discussing, debating the issues that come out of the documentary.

Cheers-
Andrew.

Sydney Film Festival

Today after 2 and a half years of blood, sweat and tears on Monday 16th February we put INTO THE SHADOWS into an express post bag and sent it off for submission to the 2009 Sydney Film Festival! This is our first submission for Into the Shadows and also our debut entry into a national and international festival.

Now, fingers crossed and we begin the waiting game.

The great Picture Palace

A week back I drove to Sydney with a new edition to the Into the Shadows team, Callum Craigee, to shoot overlay footage of the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace in Cremorne.
Walking into the Orpheum for me is like stepping back in time. Each cinema has its own personality, its own charm and of course its very own name.

I have only seen one film there, Michael Clayton (it was in the Walsh) but after going back there to film I will no doubt be back again and again and again. In a time when showmanship is hard to come by and cinemas are more like supermarkets an old Picture Palace is a soothing experience. If your love for cinema is flickering go to the Orpheum and the magic for you will spark back!

While there we interviewed Paul Dravet the General Manager of the Orpheum and shot lots of great footage of the cinemas. We even had the surprise pleasure of meeting Tv personality and owner of the Orpheum, Mike Walsh.

A big thank you must go out to Rachell and Brett (Booking Manager and Projectionist) who assisted us the whole morning and also thanks to the floor staff on that day!

Encore Article

Into the Shadows is in Encore!

About a month ago Phil and I had a chat with Tracey from Encore Magazine (over the phone) and it led to this article being published about Into the Shadows. It’s our first picture in a film magazine and hopefully another step forward for the film. What do you guys think?

What the, IF?

So a week ago I come home to find my monthly subscription of IF mag lying on the kitchen table. I flick through it, read a few articles then put it down. Just before I go on to make some dinner I think, oh Rachael's column (as I usually read the magazine front to back and check out her column regularly).

Then, what the? There is Into the Shadows in print for the first time in an Aussie film mag.

A great surprise!

Into the Documentary Australia approved list

I know Andrew blogged about this before, but now Into the Shadows is actually on the list!

Click here for more information about the approved list and the awesome Documentary Australia Foundation website.

Face Space

We have finally done it. Into the Shadows is now not only on Myspace but Facebook too!

We have started the page off very simply, with a Teaser and a forum to discuss the points raised in the teaser. All are welcome to add comments.

So head to Myspace and become a friend or you can head to Facebook and become a FAN! Then again why not just head to both?

AIDC End

So much for posting an entry every day of the AIDC. I guess that's what you get for not having wireless abilities on your mac.

It's all about meeting people at these conferences. Andrew and I met a lot of people. And I mean, a lot! The common questions of course were what are you doing here and what is your project about? Personally I liked to talk about anything but my project. It wasn't because I dont like my project or ashamed or anything like that. In fact, quite the opposite. I am so proud and happy with our project that I didn't want to sound conceited.

I talked about my project when I had to, and I discussed it with enthusiasm when I did. Overall, the other delgates were very positive with their feedback. Some great interest from filmmakers, distributors, local broadcasters and surprisingly, international braodcasters.

Even though Into the Shadows is a very local story, the international correlations are obvious. Especially when in Into the Shadows, we turn around and look outward to see how other countries dealt, deal, and are dealing with the same or similar struggles and challenges our own filmmakers, distributors, exhibitors and government funding bodies etcetera are dealing with in our story.

They seemed to like the Australian focus and felt it could be used as an education of the industry for their industry.