Where We've Been, Where We're At

Whew! We knew it had been a long time since we'd posted an update, but didn't know it had been SO long. Here's a look at where we are with our current projects (and some new ones):

El Caffinato: With the one year anniversary of the festival premiere of El Caffinato fast approaching, our first short's festival run has come to a close. In the next few weeks, we'll be providing download links for a high definition version of the film to our Kickstarter backers. With nine festival acceptances in all, we're very proud of how our first short has done in the past year. At some point in 2013, we'll likely put a version of the film up online for general viewing.

Written On Your Face: During a wildly busy couple weeks in late June and early July, we completed the production stage of our second short, Written On Your Face. Thanks to a fabulous cast and crew, we walked away from the shoot with a lot of fabulous footage and have been working hard on post production since then. This first stage of post has been very hermetic, mostly involving the two of us huddling around a laptop screen cutting and recutting. Two weeks ago, we hit a milestone in that process when we completed a first rough cut of the film from start to finish. We've been watching and starting to tweak that rough cut since then, and soon we will send off a first working cut to our musicians to being the next stage of post production. Expect more updates soon. We're also at work on redoing the website for that short. We've temporarily taken down the link to the first version of that film's website, and hope to announce the relaunch soon. In case you haven't gotten to see them yet, you can get a little preview of the film (of sorts) by checking out the behind-the-scenes photos on the website of our wonderful still photographer, Nick Graetz.

Carrboro Film Festival: Meanwhile, we've also been helping out with this year's Carrboro Film Festival (the same festival at which El Caffinato premiered last year) by serving on the selection committee. We got to see some great films as part of that committee, and we're really happy with the slate of films that will be shown in November. If you are local to the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area, be sure to mark you calendars for November 18th - the festival starts at 1 pm!

This year's festival will also feature a new project that we're producing! That's right, as part of the Festival Committe, we've also been involved in the scripting and production of the Carrboro Film Festival Opener, a three minute short that will kick off the festival. We'll hold off on revealing the details, since you'll get to see some footage from it (and the short itself) before too long. We will say that we're very fortunate to be working with the very talented Mike Wiley and also pleased to be working with Nic Beery once again.

In a little bit of news not strictly related to Miner Light Productions, we are still very happy to report that Johnny Awful will be one of the many great shorts being shown at the Carrboro Film Festival this year. We helped as casting director, art director and assistant director on this project (don't worry - we weren't allowed to vote on whether it got in or not), and it is the directorial debut of Nathan Rosenquist, the cinematographer we worked with on Written On Your Face. We're really happy for Nathan and excited to see this fun short on the big screen in November.

Festival Screenings, Kickstarter Success, Production Starting

We know, we know. We've been quiet over here. But man, has there beens lots going on!

First of all, thanks to the amazing support of over 107 backers, our Kickstarter campaign for our new short, Written On Your Face, was a rousing success! We are so grateful for the support - everyone's contributions are being put to great use as we prepare for production. For example, we get to rent two of these babies for a day of shooting:

The Joker Bug 800 - daylight-balanced, super bright, more powerful than a locomotive... you get the idea. 

Secondly, El Caffinato had its NYC premiere as part of the New Filmmakers Film Festival at the Film Anthology Archives. We screened right before the feature presentation this evening - also a musical, called "It Is What It Is," directed by VP Boyle. It turns out that the Big Apple can't get enough of us, though, because El Caffinato will also screen as part of the Manhattan Film Festival on June 30.

Of course, we can't be at either of them - and there was some reason for that... oh yeah: production! Filming for Written On Your Face begins on Saturday, and we'll be wrapped by early July. Keep an eye on the Written On Your Face website for regular updates on that project.

Kickstarter Campaign Launched!

The fundraising campaign for our new short, "Written On Your Face," has now launched. Between now and June 9, we are trying to raise $5,000 to pay for things like costumes, locations, equipment, food, and music for our 25 minute romantic comedy about college seniors struggling to read each other as easily as they can read their books for class.

The campaign launched just a few days ago and we're already over 30% of the way there! If we don't reach $5,000 by June 9, we don't get any of the funds at all, so please consider heading over to check it and consider making a contribution yourself. Only $10 gets you a digital download copy of the film!

If you're a fan of El Caffinato, this campaign is also your first chance to get your own copy of that short, either in digital form, or on a signed DVD with "Written On Your Face" (just $30)!

New website launched, Kickstarter pending

Hopefully by now you have noticed that a new portion of the Miner Light Productions website has been launched - we have started up a separate page for our upcoming short Written On Your Face, which is slated for production in June.

All news relating to that project will be posted directly to the new site, so you may want to head over there and subscribe to email updates if you use that as a way of keeping up with us.

Things pertaining to El Caffinato and its festival screenings, or general news relating to Miner Light Productions, will continue to be posted here. It's a lot to keep track of, but we think this keeps things a little neater.

Another reason to check out the new website is that we will be launching a Kickstarter campaign for Written On Your Face in the next few days. Included among the rewards for contributing to that project are a number of things related to El Caffinato, including a digital download copy of the movie and a signed DVD that will include both films. We hope that, if you were a fan of our first short, you will consider making a contribution to the making of our second and will stay up-to-date on our various projects.

Changes a-rumbling

As you can see, we're in the midst of a bit of a website redesign, and space is being mapped out for something new. Hints of a Kickstarter campaign are in the air, and we have a desk drawer rattling like something wants out...

Stay tuned!

El Caffinato Accepted to Indie Spirit Festival

We are very pleased to announce the "El Caffinato" has been accepted to its 5th festival, the Indie Spirit Film Festival in Colorado Springs, CO.

The festival screenings are on a bit of a roll, with two in February and another upcoming showing in March at the Green Bay Film Festival. Needless to say, we're thrilled and honored that our rock opera seems to be finding an audience.

Other news you might have missed:

Name change: If you aren't on Facebook, you might have missed the subtle change in name. We are no longer "Miner Productions," but instead "Miner Light Productions." Our new web address is www.minerlightproductions.com (adjust bookmarks accordingly). We'll, uh, fix the banner up top soon. And if you are on Facebook and still didn't know about it, it might be because you haven't "liked" our page, which you should go do right now! There's neat photos there, and it's the best way to stay up-to-the-minute on the goings-on here.

Upcoming production: We're itching to tell you more about what we've got on the burner, but it's still just a little too soon to start talking details. The script is in the final stages of development, and then we begin pre-production. At that moment, we will be launching a fundraising campaign and will be telling you lots and lots of details.

Soon, we promise.

In the meantime, we helped out on the crew of another local NC production that might be of interest: "Johnny Awful," written and directed by Nathan Rosenquist.

"El Caffinato" screening in Green Bay, WI

In about an hour from now, "El Caffinato" will have its first public screening outside of NC when it plays at the Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City. But we're happy to announce that it won't be the last out-of-state screening: we've just heard that we will also be screening at the 2nd Annual Green Bay Film Festival from March 23-25! Not only that - we're screening on Saturday in the early evening, a stellar time slot!

Obviously, the pace of news is picking up around here at Miner Light Productions. Two festival screenings in February and now one in March, plus close to 150 fans on Facebook, 3 short film script drafts rattling in the drawer, and one or two other things that we can't even tell you about yet... it's a good time to stay tuned and watch this space for more.

Thanks so much to the folks in Green Bay and to all of you for your continued interest and support!

Film Threat reviews "El Caffinato"

It's been a while since we've screened "El Caffinato" in any large public setting, and though we've got two festival screenings approaching, it was a real thrill to wake up this morning to find some feedback on the film in the form of a review on FilmThreat.com.

And they liked us! Awarding the film 4 out of 5 stars, they said: "it would be next to impossible to not give yourself over to a fun and creative short film that must have been a royal pain to plan, shoot and edit." Thanks, guys!

But don't take our word for it; go check out the full review: http://www.filmthreat.com/reviews/46301/#ixzz1lKzGGyyZ

Coming soon to GSO...

We've just received word that "El Caffinato" will be screening at the Carolina Film and Video Festival in Greensboro later in February! 

This one is really exciting for us for several reasons: Greensboro is Liz's home turf, it's nearby so we'll be able to attend the screening, and it means more opportunities for all you North Carolinians to catch the film close to home.

So come out and join us at the Elliot University Center at UNCG on Thursday, February 23 at 7:00 pm. There will be sure to be at least a small contingent of the cast and crew in attendance, so come and say hello if you see us!

Between the screening in Boulder City at the Dam Short Festival next week and now this, we're looking at two festival screenings in one month. Still waiting on other decisions, so stay tuned!

Oh yeah - and we've written three more scripts. So there's definitely more in the works. More on that soon, too.

"El Caffinato" is going west!

Today was a two-fer for El Caffinato.

First, we got to pick up a copy of the Carrboro Citizen and see El Caff featured in the arts and culture insert. Then this came in the (e)mail:

That's right, folks. Our hipster western musical is going west! From February 9-11, El Caffinato will screen along with 100 other shorts as part of the Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City, Nevada - half an hour from Vegas and right by the Hoover Dam!

We're thrilled and honored to be part of such a cool festival dedicated to the art of short filmmaking. We're especially stoked that our film is screening as part of a block called "Unique Views: Fresh and Inventive Approaches to Filmmaking Ranging From The Real To The Surreal."

So if anyone is planning a Vegas vacation, or if you know anyone out there in Nevada, pass on the word!

El Caff makes the local news!

Happy New Year everyone!

Things have been quiet on our end for a few weeks now. Aside from the behind-the-scenes photos that we posted on our Facebook page (go see them and "like" the page here), we haven't had a lot to report. All of that should be changing, starting now.

El Caffinato, "one of the most talked-about films at the Carrboro Film Festival," rings in the New Year with a little bit of local press.

In December, Carrboro Citizen reporter Margot Lester interviewed Liz and Rory about the project, and now El Caff is featured in The Mill - the Carrboro Citizen's monthly arts and culture insert.

If you are local to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area, you can pick up a copy of the Citizen for free at various newsstands about town. You can also read the article online at the Citizen's website (scroll down and look for the .pdf link to the January Mill insert.

More to come!