Celebrating my white mother during black history month.

I am bi-racial -- my mother is white and my biological father is black, although my father is not a part of my life.

Recently, I had vague contact with a couple of people from my father's side of the family and it didn't turn out as I had expected.

I thought I was in a place where I could be impartial and non-judgmental but apparently not. Emotions I had buried long ago came bubbling to the surface and I found that my old feelings of hurt and abandonment had turned into anger. That really surprised me. I don't have room in my life for negative emotions like anger, especially since anger can easily fester into hatred.

My mom taught me to never hate because hatred does nothing to the other person but can destroy your own life. If anyone had the right to hate my father, it was my mother, but she never did. Not only that, she never said one bad thing about him. She just told me all the facts when I was old enough to ask. I have so much respect her for because of that and I recognize the inner strength it must have taken.

So, after an emotional whirlwind that lasted a couple of days and a lot of soul-searching, I can honestly say I am at at peace with my past, ready to close that particular door, and move forward into the future with my usual positive attitude.

And I owe it all to my mom.

So during this black  history month, while I am taking the time to appreciate the black side of my heritage, I'm also taking the time to appreciate my white mother. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be the person I am am today!

Namaste, mom.
xo xo

Feeling Blessed...

For my daughter Natasha and the courage she shows by allowing me to tell her story along side mine in my current script.

Phenomenal Woman

Because sometimes we all need a reminder... Thank you, Miss Angelou.

Phenomenal Woman

BY MAYA ANGELOU

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step
The curl of my lips,
I'm a woman
Phenomenally,
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet,
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed,
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
The palm of my hand,
The need for my care.
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

DEUTERONOMY 24:16, one step closer...

We finished color grading on DEUTERONOMY 24:16 yesterday and the results are even better than I could have hoped for.

Stirling Bancroft did the most awesome-est of awesome jobs as cinematographer on our beautiful looking little film and our colorist, Dermot Shane, added a whole new dimension.

I can't wait see this film onscreen!

During our color grading session at Dermot's space.

Next up, sound design  followed by music composition and we will be finished...

I'm so excited!

Whistler Film Festival 2015

Hey all!

After a super-duper busy year, it's finally time for me to resurrect this blog! I see that I haven't posted since January. Yikes.

Anyway, I'm ba-ack so hold on to your panties cuz I've got lots of news!

Our feature film, LAST NIGHT IN SUBURBIA, is almost out of post-production and the cut looks fantastic! I can't wait to see it fully finished and watch it take the indie film world by storm :)

DEUTERONOMY 24:16 is currently in color grading and then it goes to sound design and we should have a finished edit before the end of this year. This project was a long one -- got really busy on other films and had to put this one on the back burner temporarily while we had our editors and other team members busy on a TV series, THE SWITCH.

And two great pieces of news -- two of our short films, THE WOLF WHO CAME TO DINNER and DUDE, WHERE'S MY FERRET, are both screening in early December at the Whistler Film Festival. I'm off to L.A. the weekend before the festival and hope to be back in time to attend! If not, quite a few of our team members will be in attendance so please feel free to come and say hello :)

I've also got news on two of my feature scripts but it is a little too early to disclose.

And... that's all for now, folks. But please stay tuned. I plan to start posting regularly on this blog again and hope to get my readers/followers back :)

In the meantime, keep on keeping on!

xo

Deuteronomy 24:16 is wrapped!

And we are now in post production!

I am so humbled and grateful to have such a talented creative team, both crew and cast! Everyone worked together and pulled off an amazing shoot! We worked hard, sometimes outside in the relentless rain, sometimes inside in a sweaty gym, but we had a lot of fun!

Here are a few behind the scenes pics:

Our two leads, Cassandra Ebner and Nicholas Philip Marinos, with Jen Mylrea, our stunt coordinator.

Along with Mike Kopsa and Sam Khouth

 And Sarah Dugdale

Me giving our exec a noogie :)

 

The BEST cast and crew!

I can't wait to work with our team again, which will be in two weeks on The Wolf Who Came To Dinner, a finalist in this year's Crazy's 8's, written and directed by Jem Garrard.

The Official Trailer is HERE!

We spent the entire month of September in and around Ladner and Tsawwassen on the set of the comedy film, Last Night in Suburbia. It was strenuous shoot, with one week spent filming nights in the middle of NOWHERE in the freezing, foggy cold, but it was a blast!

I'm proud to have worked with such a talented team of people.

Without further adieu, voila, the trailer for Last Night in Suburbia...

DEUTERONOMY 24:16

Hey hey, all!

I've been ignoring this blog for a several months! Was really busy working on various projects. A few months back, we wrapped on the tv series, School of Fish, then we filmed the horror, Madness, then we went straight into pre-production on the feature comedy, Last Night in Suburbia.

Our 15 day shoot of Last Night in Suburbia wrapped yesterday at 7am! Whoop, whoop! Can't wait to see the film when it comes out of post.

Many many things have changed since I last posted here -- our company, High Deaf Productions, is in the middle of a giant revamp. We said goodbye to cinematographer/producer Andy Hodgson, one of our founding members. Andy has decided to take his career in a different direction and focus on music videos and commercials. We wish him the best of luck in the future.

Mike and I are focused solely on film. (well, I am anyway, Mike will still do the occasional music video if he feels passion for the project)

Funny enough, the second I decided to concentrate solely on film, all these film projects started falling into my lap. The old adage rings true -- when one door closes, another door (or in my case, several other doors) open.

Anyway, I have some great news. A few years back, I wrote a martial arts film noir called Deuteronomy 24:16. It got close to production on a couple of occasions, but due to circumstances beyond my control, the project was put on hiatus.

I am happy to report that we are finally going into production on Deuteronomy 24:16 in the next few weeks thanks to executive producer, Sam.

The plan is to have all key roles on the film filled by women. So far, I have brought on Amy Zimmerman as a co-producer, Leen Issa as director and Malin Ottosen as 1st AD.

Stay tuned for more exciting details to come!

Me and Sam on the set of Last Night in Suburbia.