Film Festivals

Continuing to submit to film festivals in the hopes of getting the word out about this documentary.  This week the DVD screeners went to the Atlanta Film Festival and the Ann Arbor Film Festival.  The Ann Arbor festival also happens to be an Academy Award qualifying event for short subject films.  Wouldn't THAT be nice?

Gigging again

Finally, I gig again.  October 3rd locally in Ventura, CA.  Squashed Grapes is a very cool little place, dedicated to Jazz.  It's all about wine and gourmet food and Jazz so I love it there. 

They are also screening my documentary!

But first I gig again:
http://www.tonijannotta.com/perf.html

My interview

Just about to watch my interview on local Channel 6, where George Alger interviews me about the documentary.  It's local Ventura so here's the internet link:

http://ourventura.com/homeless-voices/1644/#more-1644

Earth Charter for the Arts Award

Surprise, surprise.  I just got a call from an organization called Citizens for Peaceful Resolutions.  Here's their website:  www.c-p-r.net  They are a group of non-violent political activists.  One of their board members came to my screening of "Voices of the Homeless" at the library in downtown Ventura back in August.  She went back to the board and recommended me for an award.  What a surprise that phone call was.

So this October I'll be accepting an Earth Charter for the Arts Award at their annual ceremony.

I sure hope things like awards and film festivals and the like will bring attention not so much to me or even to the film but to what the film is about.  That's when we'll really start to help people.

Our Ventura TV

Our Ventura TV posted this interview hosted by George Alger this weekend.  It is live online now.  I talk about my documentary and the value of jazz music to help heal.  "Voices of the Homeless," where jazz improvisers helped the homeless tell their stories.

http://ourventura.com/homeless-voices/1644/#more-1644

Please check it out.

Thanks!

5:12 Minute Documentary Trailer

Here is the first "trailer" of my documentary "Voices of the Homeless."  I edited it on iMovie 11.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZWsaWrN44Q

Check it out on YouTube.

Thanks!

The first tralier

Wednesday night I was BACK at the station creating a trailer for "Voices of the Homeless."  It's probably too long.  It's 5:12.  I'm sure I'll need to create one that's between 2-4 minutes at some point.  But this one is for insertion into an interview, where I was the interviewee on a local TV cable access show here in Ventura.

And I rewarded myself Last Night for having spent yet another evening in an editing room instead of at the piano practicing or just plain singing (which I'm starting to miss terribly now that the documentary is finished).  I did this by driving down to Malibu (CA) to sit in with a jazz trio.  OMG, I felt like a human being again.  A human being again,  not some techno-wanna-be wizard.  LOL  Singing again felt like such a joy!

More Submissions

So far I've seen my documentary on a projector, an old standard definition television and a high definition television.  It's been very interesting.  I keep learning and learning just seeing it on different screens.

And tonight I submitted the documentary to yet another film festival, this one in London.  I submitted it because I have old and dear jazz festival friends in the North of England and the thought of my documentary screening in the U.K. puts a big smile on my face.

Feeling proud.

So embarrassed

I felt pretty good while watching my documentary on our local station.  But when I geared up to watch it a second time, as the schedule lists it as showing back-to-back, something else came on.  OMG, so embarrassing.  I tweeted, I facebooked, I blogged, I even emailed friends to tell them the schedule!  I did all those things that a good cyber person should do only to find out it will NOT air 10 times like I thought -- but 5.  I THINK it will air at the top of the hour.  It did today.

So embarrassed.

Look, I'm still pretty damn lucky.  I have a good show (at least I think it is) that is airing all week.  It's just not airing as many times or is it following the schedule I have . . . so I'm confused . . . and I'm embarrassed . . . and now I'd better tweet and facebook and here I am blogging that the show will air 5 times this coming week, not 10.

Yeah, I know.  Everybody should have my problems.

Channel 6

This was my come-down-from-screenings-week.  A week where I just do the day job, stop feeling bad that I'm not gigging, and get caught up on much needed rest.  Submitting to more festivals and researching which cable stations I want to submit this documentary to, well all that can start next week.  But this last week, the one that just ended, was supposed to be a week to rid myself of that exhausted feeling so I could feel human again.

And then I went by CAPS-TV, where they practically shamed me into submitting the documentary to the station.  "No," I said.  "I may want to fix some more stuff."  "Time to let it go, Toni," was their reply.

So I submitted it.

And now I'm ALL excited again because CAPS has scheduled it on their Channel 6 public access station TEN TIMES. 

Sure it's a local cable public access station -- but WOW now I'm all excited again.

I wonder where this is going.  I hope it is some place good.  Some place where it will actually help people.

If you live local in the City of Ventura, California, check out:
http://capstv.org/
and click Program Schedules
then click on the schedule for Sept. 2 - Sept. 8