What’s Happening

I’m heading off today for NY for DocFest.  Very excited and looking forward to our screening–check out this nice review in Timeout NY.

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/article/around-town/23528/doc-holiday

We just learned Knee Deep won the Best Documentary Award at the Hollywood Film Festival–on the heels of our win for Best International Doc at DocNZ, we’re very excited. Hope everyone in NY can come to the screening next Saturday at DocFest NY.

We head to Mill Valley Film Fest this week for two screenings in San Rafael: Saturday 10/6 at 12 and Tuesday 10/9 at 6.  It will be great to see old friends.

Knee Deep just played at the Camden Film Fest.  Check out this great review from the Portland Phoenix. http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid48238.aspx

This month is going to be busy: On the weekend of the 19th, the film plays at the Hollywood FF, the next week at Hot Springs Documentary Fest, and on October 27th it gets its New York Premiere  , when Nancy Buirski, head of the Full Frame Doc Fest (and where KD played to a wonderful sell-out crowd last April) presents the film  at the prestigious NY DocFest.

Hope we see you at one of these terrific events.

We got a great reception at the Woods Hole screening last nite–and delighted that the fest has scheduled a 2nd screening on Thursday.  Check with the fest for time & place.

Sheila and I have been receiving a lot of comments, but they’ve gone to the mail 

account instead of the comments section, so we wanted to share some of them 

with you.

Linda Campbellton wrote in to say:
I lived all my life in Maine prior to moving to Arizona. This is a film that I would like to see, but do not know if it is going to be shown anywhere in the Tucson area. For many years I lived in the Chelsea area and I watched as small farms got traded for housing lots and the horses that my daughter lovingly tended for a neighbor simply disappeared. Please let me know if it is going to be shown here.

Patrick Bonsant, manager of  Saco River Community Television wrote:

I was in the audience in Waterville Sunday night and was 

thoroughly entertained by Knee Deep - I think it’s the 

most authentically Maine film I’ve ever seen. The public 

access/community television station I manage

in Hollis is located in a rural area of York County 

not at all unlike Farmington.  I’m sure the folks around 

here would love to see this film - the issues are the same

around here.  If I purchase the film, would it be possible 

to show to our audience? This is a farm community that has seen 

better days and Knee Deep would surely resonate deeply 

with our viewers. Thank you for your consideration and thank

you also for making a movie that was respectful to Maine’s 

working class.

While we can’t yet release the film to local tv broadcast until we have 

our domestic broadcast in place, we were very happy to hear somethng 

that we have long believed:there is an audience out there waiting to 

see this film. 

 

We also heard from Gary and Sue Copeland that Andrew Robinson is 

only an Assistant  District Attorney, not the actual District Attorney 

for Franklin County.  Norman Croteau is the D.A.  While we were already

aware of that, it’s nice to have people paying attention.  Given the style

of our “lower-thirds”, calling Andrew “The ADA” would have been confusing, 

which is why we referred to him as “The DA” in the film. 

And last, the clerks from both the Franklin County Superior Court

and the Farmington District Court wrote in to ask where they

could obtain copies of the film.  They'd heard the film was

a "must-see"!  

We were happy to tell them that DVD's are now available from this site.

Sheila and I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone at the Maine Film Festival for making our experience there wonderful. First, to Programmers Ken and Beth Eisen, for taking the film, and to Shannon Haines, Fest Director, who did so much work in making sure it got out to the public and everything went so smoothly. Also, to Alan Sanborn, fest programmer, and venue manager Serena Sanborn, projectionists Jake and Meg, Guest Services Coordinator Brandy Wheeler, and all the other people who helped Knee Deep reach its Maine audience. Thanks again.

Please take a moment to share your thoughts about the film or the web site–anything from
Who Shot Mom? to
What’s happening to farms in your area?

Well, it’s midnite, and the flight from Denver’s finally fixed… so I’ll post more later.

Before I write any more, here are the markets where Robin Chase will be all summer–Be sure not to miss the molasses donuts…and the biscuits…and the raspberry pie…and the…

Monday & Friday: Damariscotta Farmers Market, Belvedere Road, 9-12

Tuesday:             Augusta Farmers Market, Mill Park, 2-6

Thursday:            Boothbay Farmers Market, Boothbay Commons, 9-12

Saturday:            Bath Farmers Market, Waterfront Park, 8:30-12

Her pies are also sold at the Weatherbird in Damariscotta, and at the Five Island Farm Store in Georgetown.

Terrific, we’re up and running!

At the first screening, three of Josh’s aunts and uncles showed up, and loved the film–went home to tell Josh all about it, but he was still shy about showing up.

On Sunday, the whole Chase family showed up–Robin, Pat, and Isaiah, and they graciously took a bow at the end to a round of very warm applause. The audience was so enticed by Robin’s pies that they wanted to know her market schedule, and they wanted it posted on the site–which I’ll do in the next post.

Friends Dan & Peg from Moab came from Camden with a picnic lunch, and friends Norma & Stan up from Westport. It was a real party. Isaiah said he’d try to call Josh and bring him by for the Friday screening, but he had a heckuva time getting him on the phone.

After the two WOH screenings, we got a nice write-up from Joel Elliott in the Morning Sentinel . You can check it out at http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/4095306.html

But both Sheila and I did not have high hopes for the Friday nite screening. It was pretty late for Maine–9:30pm. We ran into two ladies outside the Cafe in Waterville and they were honest about coming “We’re in our jammies by then.” Plus, it had been raining cats and dogs all day.

But when we got to the Rail Road Square Cinema an hour early, the line was already forming and Serena, the site manager, said the phone had been ringing off the hook all day. Sure enough, we sold out and sadly, had to turn away over 40 people. Luckily, we had some DVD’s to sell.

Best of all, Isaiah was finally able to reach Josh, and he came to the screening, where I promptly, and totally by accident, seated him next to Andrew Robinson–the Asst. District Attorney!

Andrew came with friends, including ADA Jim Andrews. Andrew had some very nice comments about the film, and I’m hoping he’ll post them in comments.

Friend Anthony Walton, who had helped out with early rough cut screenings at the Frontier Cafe in December, also made the trip up from Brunswick.

We had a great Q&A afterwards, which I’ll talk about in a following post.

Mike