Sweet Reminders of Why We Do It

We wanted to share with you a letter from one of our crew-angels, a member

of the local Japanese Canadian community, Addie Maehara, who worked hard

to cast all our fabulous Japanese Interns. We love you Addie and big thanks

to all of the Japanese Canadians who took part in the dream of telling the story!

Dear Wendy and Glen and Sweet Lucy,

Thank you for tackling the subject of the internment of the Japanese and for writing a script that not only entertains but informs and most of all reminds us all that there is hope, forgiveness and healing. All who have attempted to acknowledge injustices, to bring this part of our history to the public's attention as a reminder - be it writers , government, journalists, historians - and filmmakers have honorably fulfilled your role. THANK YOU.

I like to think, ideally, that because of people like you, we are freed to move ahead with a deeper understanding and appreciation as we look forward! We humans have so much to learn. Let's not give up on ourselves.

Thank you for your vision, artistry and hard work and for being who you are!

We are the benefactors.

With gratitude,

Addie Maehara

Finishing Touches

The film is really looking like a film now! Adding credits and ADR has made such a difference! Glen and I are constantly amazed at the growth of the film. How the editing and sound work can define and add to the story. We swear that in the future we will "have no wine before it's time". Wishing now we hadn't had to send it into festivals and so on before this point. BUT...there are always deadlines. And the curse of the indi-filmmaker is that you have to meet deadlines before you are finished...for what else? Financial reasons. The festival circuit is truly important to the film and we have been planning and plotting our strategy. The larger more prestigious fests won't take you if you're not a "Premiere", World, North American, European, National, etc. So...if we didn't want to wait a year to out the film (which we could not afford to do) then we had to submit our works in progress and HOPE... Hoping that someone can see what a great film you have before it's finished is a game of chance. We toss the dice and hope.

Our days these days are spent working in the nuance of sound; how a ticking sound pulls your eye to the watch, how a heartbeat will drive the music, etc. It's fun and rewarding. ...And very time consuming. In between we strategize and fill out entries to the big festivals, get press kits together and plot our next projects. Writing, financing, always moving towards the next one(s), while we work to put the finishing touches on this one. A filmmaker's work is never done.

Point Of No Return

We have just returned from Vancouver where we did some guerrilla ADR with our stars. GREAT to see everyone again and to get one step closer to finishing. We are at the point in the post process where the fine cut is done...no more little edits to correct, no more beats to add. We are at the point of fear and loathing. Does the film work? Does the story engage? Does it lag anywhere? Will the audience get this nuance or that? Will they feel the emotion? To that end we've been showing it to people who don't know the script and asking them to speak out loud as they watch. Critique it and give us answers to our burning questions. A daunting process for sure. The good news is most of our fears are self inflicted. (Isn't that always the way?) In fact some of the scenes we've never liked are people's favourites! I'm not sure if that's always the way....hmmmm...

Anyway this weekend will be spent trying last ideas. Throwing scenes around and seeing where they land. One last kick at the can as the editor, Glen and myself try any and all of our ideas, voice all our concerns, talk openly and boldly about STORY. And then when we all agree on every point, every edit, every beat of the film we will lock picture. Forever. The point of no return. Yikes!