Final Audio Mix Commences!

Panauh Kalayeh (yes, a brother) will be doing the final audio mix of THE HUMAN WAR. We are waiting on the vocal stylings of Jyoung-Ah Kim to be recorded and then we're off to the races. We will find out about Cleveland and Tribeca Film Festival by the end of March.

Steven Andrew has gotten up the new refurbished Sangha Films website (see below).

LINK: http://www.sanghafilms.com

Our First Festival!

Dear Friends,

I hope things are going well for you in the New Year. We've had our first good news of the year. We got into Appalachian Film Festival today. Since many of you have helped this result come into being, we wanted you to be the first to know, and join us in following the progress of THW as the festival season continues. As it stands now, we've entered about 18 festivals, with plans to enter ten or so more. We find out about most other festivals in mid-March and April. Hopefully, Appalachian is a sign of more good tidings in the weeks to come. We have our fingers crossed that we will also be making Tribeca and others in March. : )

LINK: http://www.appyfilmfest.com/pages/media-center.htm

These last three weeks have been extremely busy. We are hustling to get websites updated and a trailer out for THE HUMAN WAR. It's just Tom and I at this point, so we're slow moving, but working hard. With a little luck, we will have a trailer link and refurbished website in the next couple weeks. I will try and keep updating our website with new festival info, so you can come to the one that are closest to you.

Thank you for your support and help to make the first leg of our festival journey start out well. We look forward to celebrating more good news in the coming months. Who knows? We might win one of these. ; )

Chat Soon,

Pirooz Kalayeh
Director/Producer, Sangha Films
http://www.sanghafilms.com

_________________________

MAKING DONATIONS, INVESTING, OR OFFERING A HELPING HAND

As it stands, we'll be finishing the final shots of our documentary on Zen master, Brad Warner in February. Our hope is to release the documentary next year. If you'd like to make an investment or donation to Brad Warner: The Enlightenizer, SFAA, THE HUMAN WAR, or any other Sangha Films project, I've put a link below. Any little bit helps. That means that even a dollar would be appreciated. We're not a big company, but we've got a lot of heart and some extraordinary film and television professionals who have donated their expertise, time, and energy to helping this little company come into being. We'd like to keep making film projects for many years to come. If you've enjoyed the journey, and would like to see us make more films, please donate, invest, or pass on this link through your e-mail and social media outlets.

For those of you want to help with any of the shoots, please respond to this e-mail and let me know what film you'd like to help with and how. At this point, we will be shooting in Akron and Solon, Ohio from 2/9 -2/13. Our next shoot will potentially by in Los Angeles from 6/6-6/20.

A Paypal Donation button is below. To make a donation just click the button and follow the directions on the screen. Any sized donation is welcome.

NOTE: If you do not have a Paypal account, you can make donations by clicking "Continue" in the middle of the page under the title heading "Don't Have a Paypal Account."
NOTE: If you do not have a Paypal account, you can make donations by clicking "Continue" in the middle of the page under the title heading "Don't Have a Paypal Account."

Thank you for helping our film come into being.

PK

Donate to Our Summer Feature

Dear Friends,

We will be shooting the opening to our feature film, SHOPLIFTING FROM AMERICAN APPAREL from 2/9-2/13 in Akron and Solon, Ohio.

SHOPLIFTING FROM AMERICAN APPAREL is a feature film that explores Internet culture, consumerism, reality, fame, relationships, and cinema. The film is based on the novella by Tao Lin.

The idea is that creating a trailer will help us generate further donations through friends, family, and investors. (We will premiere the trailer on Kickstarter and other sites on March 1, 2011.)

At present, we need to raise $2,000 to make our trailer.

A Paypal Donation button is below. To make a donation just click the button and follow the directions on the screen. Any sized donation is welcome.

NOTE: If you do not have a Paypal account, you can make donations by clicking "Continue" in the middle of the page under the title heading "Don't Have a Paypal Account."

Please help our film come into being.

To see clips of our previous work please go here or here.

Best,

Pirooz Kalayeh
Director/Producer
http://www.sanghafilms.com
http://www.piroozkalayeh.com

Robert Kim Reviews Rough Cut of Film

Robert Kim Reviews THE HUMAN WAR from Pirooz Kalayeh on Vimeo.

I spent New Year's night talking to my friend Robert Kim about what he thought of a screening of THE HUMAN WAR. I recorded him right after we finished watching a rough cut of the film on a video chat.

For the rest of you who would like to get a copy or see it at a festival near you, stay tuned! We will be making announcements here on this blog, via e-mail announcements, and on the Sangha Films website.

Brad Warner: The Enlightenizer - NYC Shoot

We continued our shoot of Brad Warner: The Enlightenizer this past weekend in New York City. It was a really pleasant shoot. We talked about snake oil charmer spiritual salesmen, artistry and Zen, and favorite places to get french fries.

Our second day of shooting took place in Washington Square Park. Well, at least it started there. I wanted a backdrop of the city and Washington Square has always been one of my favorite places to sit alone when I've visited. I also like the "Arch de Triumphe" action. For me, the "Arch" immediately lets me know I'm in the city and that McDonald's golden arches would be much cooler if they looked like this.

Mark Parsia was our producer and camera operator this time around. We used a Panasonic HVX200 and a couple Senheiser wireless lavaliers. Theset-up was simple and easy. No lights were used since we were shooting outside. And, aside from lugging the equipment around the city and how cold it was, everything moved along effortlessly.

Grace Jung came out to help on both days. She even guested as an interviewer and drove Brad and I around as we listened to her John Lennon box set. That was a nice way to spend an afternoon. She only almost crashed twice.

Lancelot Bourne was visiting from South Korea for an art gallery show he had created. He called me the night before to see if he could come and help out. He needed some rest time between takes, but, of course, he was a rock star and made a very early morning shoot after being up all night on a flight.

On the second day, we walked around the city. It was bitter cold. We took a break at midday and went to a diner. Brad found this sign interesting.

"The 134 is painted," he said.

I like these kinds of signs, so I figured I'd take a picture. Maybe it could be a painting in the future.

We went to the East Village on the last day to mimic the Bob Dylan record on Jones Street. I took a pic. I don't know if I got the angle right. Hopefully, there a better pic out there.

Hmmm...I would say the documentary is turning out really good. We shoot in Akron in a month. I'm excited to rock it.

(The picture above is the new thinking man - Sohee in drag!)

Film Updates!

THE HUMAN WAR

We are weeks away from a final cut of the film. We have submitted works in progress to several film festivals already, including Sundance, Slamdance, and Ashland Film Festival. We will be submitting to dozens of other festivals in the coming months.

A theatrical trailer and updated Sangha Films website with relevant content will be up by the end of December. We will have two premieres for the film in Ohio and NYC in March/April. We will have exact dates as the months come closer.

Chat more after Thanksgiving!

PK

Film Festivals Here We Come!

We just finished a 24-hour session - well, more like three-week marathon and a 24-hour session - to get our still work-in-progress film of THE HUMAN WAR passable for a Sundance and Slamdance submission.

Tom and I were chatting on SKYPE and iChat until about 4 a.m. my time. I am not sure what happened after that. I remember putting together a rough press kit and dragging the Adobe Illustrator file to an e-mail. The rest is a bit of a mystery.

I am now here on my living room floor. It is 6:41 a.m.. I feel a sense of elation. I am excited to see what will come of the final edits (including a new ending!) in the coming month as we prepare to go to color correction and an audio mix - the final stages for a feature film.

At this point, I would like to give a special shout out to Gabriel Cassia, our Editor, who sat with me for 11 hours straight yesterday, and did the same a day before with Tom. We truly appreciate your hard work, willingness to sing songs with your three-word Persian vocabulary (in an Italian accent), and bring such a strong ending ("Goodbye Mickey Mouse!") and moody pacing to a film that would only come from such a unique and talented human being.

I would also like to thank Daniel Brothers, our Post Production Supervisor, who not only helped edit when we had no editor, and then helped again while Gabriel was working Fashion Week, but also for all the hard work downloading the huge files, setting up an FTP site and all the other 1,001 roles besides his own during the pre-production, production, and post-production of this film. (Tom only told me how fantastic you were before I met you two years ago. Now as our work on this first feature is coming to a close, I can truly say I am glad to see the brilliance Tom spoke of, and bear witness as you embark on your first feature.) Thank you for your hard work, generosity, and creative spirit.

Another expression of gratitude goes out to Sonny Mishra, our Composer, who was willing to put up with Tom and I as we jumped back and forth between different song choices. You were able to point us towards a possibility, and guide us gently. That gift, along with all the amazing material you have given this film, has made working with you a true joy. Thank you for the encouragement, patience, and hard work. We look forward to the sonic palette you will create on the next film.

It is a little early for Tom and I to thank everyone in the world. We still have a couple months to go before we're officially done. In two months time, we anticipate a unique film that will reflect the wit, terror, melancholy, and bewilderment at play on the day of March 20, 2003 when the Iraq War was declared and Noah Cicero's fantastic novella began. We are under no illusions about the competitive nature of the film festival circuit, and we understand that chances our slim to major festivals, but we are both happy to have had this opportunity to work with so many talented people, succeed and fail at bringing our visions forward, and watch as our ideas become reality.

Now I will try and sleep a bit. Who knows? I might just watch the 20th version of our movie.