Newsletter 29

Why does hail keep coming out of the sky and landing on my head? That’s it, I’m going groundhog hunting. Little wharf rats and their blasted weather control devices.. Grumble mumble.. I’m ready for some sunshine. If only I could get out of town and go somewhere that has a reputation for always being sunny and beautiful….

Portland

Yeah.. Portland! That’s the ticket!

Track down everyone you know in Portland and tell them we’ll be there Monday night, April 24th with a traveling JUMP Society show! The screening will be at the Guild Theatre and should get started at approximately 7ish sharp.

The collection of films has been carefully hand plucked from our past eight shows just for the occasion and features the work of Aaron Suring, Alex Nelson, Arlo Midgett, Edra Morledge, Greg Chaney, Jason Alexander, Joe Sears, Joel Bennett, Kevin Fremlin, Lou Logan, Pat Race, Paul Disdier, Roblin Davis, Sarah Elliott and many other local artists. Sweeeet. I’m excited!

Sadly, we’ve decided to break our tradition of free shows and charge a $5 admission at the door to help cover our travel costs. We’ll also accept short stories, sketches, or baked goods in lieu of cash. In fact that theatre has so many seats we’ll probably just let you in if you ask nice. It’s not art if people have to pay to see it right?

Here’s the address for the GUILD THEATRE:

829 SW 9th Avenue
Portland, OR 97205

Many thanks to Dan Frazier and Thomas Phillipson of the Northwest Film Center for their support!

Indiana Jones

At age twelve Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala, and Jayson Lamb decided it would be fun to create a shot-by-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark. It only took seven years to complete and they got the attention of Steven Spielberg who was impressed by the detail in their work. There’s also a producer currently working to create a biographical film about their experience.

These guys have some good stories to tell about the filmmaking process and they’ll be in Sitka for a screening of their film at the Downtown Coliseum Theater. Shows are at 6:00 pm Friday, May 5 and 1:00 pm Saturday, May 6. It sounds like quite the treat and I’d recommend checking it out. You can learn more about the film here: http://www.theraider.net/films/raiders_adaptation/index.php

The Sitka Film Society has been exhibiting independent films for a gazillion years and you can learn more about them here: http://www.sitkafilm.org

Night Gallery

JUMP Society filmmaker Greg Chaney has been working to bring the Night Gallery Film Festival to Juneau this October. The show will also screen in Anchorage, Arizona, and New Zealand and is accepting submissions until August 15th. Local filmmakers are encouraged to submit films and more information can be found here: http://www.nightgalleryfilmfestival.com

Yukon Film Society

The Yukon Film Society, located in Whitehorse, is hosting the following spring workshops:

April 21- 23: Animate Anything, with Dan Sokolowski
May 2,4,6: Final Cut Pro for Beginners
May 7: Super 8mm Film Cameras

The Yukon Film Society has a great program in place and you can get more information here: http://www.yukonfilmsociety.com

Laters

All the wonderful events in this newsletter are a part of an ongoing outreach effort in an attempt to connect the JUMP Society with other filmmaking organizations. As you probably guessed, this effort mainly involves me sitting around the office waiting for people to send email about the cool events they’re hosting. If you have a cool film event that local filmmakers can participate in let me know.

Ok, I’m off to Portland and then Seattle to learn more about filmmaking. I’ll probably do another JUMP Society road show in Seattle at the end of May… more on that as it develops.

I should be back in Juneau around June so take good care of the place while I’m gone, don’t forget to feed the dog, and get started on your films for the summer festival coming up in July!

Why We Fight

We received this in the email box today..

Hi JUMP,

I wanted to know if you could pass some information along to some Juneau filmmakers.

I am contacting you from Charlotte Street Films in New York. Our new documentary, WHY WE FIGHT, is opening in Juneau and Anchorage this weekend (3/24). We are currently in the middle of a grassroots effort to raise awareness for the film.

Part of our effort includes recruiting local filmmakers, in every city the film is relased, to capture the opening weekend. Filmmakers have total creative freedom in this endeavor.

Our goal is to include footage on the DVD of the various openings in different cities across the country. Ultimately, we want to capture each city’s unique response to the debut of “WHY WE FIGHT” and the information it presents.

We are not looking for expert cinematographers or people with professional equipment. Anyone with a camera can do it. So this can be a great opportunity for aspiring fillmakers and/or students.

All you have to do is take your camera to the local theater for a weekend night screening of “WHY WE FIGHT”. From there you have full liberty to be as creative as you want. You could shoot hours of footage, or 15 minutes of footage. The only preference we have is that you use the 16 x 9 option on your camera.

Some ideas for what to film include:
*the theater marquee
*people buying tickets and/or entering the theater
*interviews with people on the street before and after they see the film.

If we use the footage, the filmmaker will receive a credit on the DVD. There is also a possibility that we can reserve free tickets to “WHY WE FIGHT” for those who participate.

Please visit our website, www.whywefight.com to view the trailer.

If you are interested in participating please contact me for more details. I can offer more specific guidance and also help you with releases.

Please pass this information on to all Alaskan filmmakers. If there are any questions or if you want to give interested parties my info, I can be reached at merlin.viethen at gmail.com

Thanks for your time,
Merlin

The Goldtown Nickelodeon will be showing “Why We Fight” this weekend.

  • Thursday, March 23 – 7:00pm
  • Friday, March 24 & Saturday, March 25 – 7:00pm, 9:00pm
  • Sunday, March 26 – 4:00pm, 7:00p

Bad Larry Premiere – Gumbo 2

This week Bad Larry Productions presents the premiere showing of Gumbo 2. The Bad Larry crew has put together several great shorts for past JUMP Society shows and this 25 minute feature promises to be a good show. The screenings are free but I’m sure the boys would appreciate any donations for the Eaglecrest Terrain Park Fund which was setup for future improvements to the rails and jumps at Eaglecrest.

Show Times
Saturday, March 18th, 4:00 pm at Eaglecrest Ski Area Mezzanine
Monday, March 20th, 7:30 pm at the Hangar Bar

Bad Larry Productions

  • Producer/Editor/Videographer
    Kanaan Bausler
  • Videographer/Editor
    Mark Rainery
  • Assistant Producers/Editors/Videographers
    Will Geiger, Lucas Merli, Jake Ridle, Richie Behuniak, Jesse West, Donovan Bell, Conor Bell, Ryan Elliot, Micheal Blume, Nick Ellenbecker

Featured skiers and Boarders

  • Will Geiger, Lucas Merli, Makai Millay, Mark Rainery, Jake Ridle, Richie Behuniak, Kanaan Bausler, Jesse West, Donovan Bell, Connor Bell, Ryan Elliot,Micheal Blume, Nick Ellenbecker