Mabel Valdiviezo

On Sunday, April 5, we had a local screening of our short “Soledad Is Gone Forever” at the San Francisco Women’s Film Festival.   Isabel Allende, the world famous author attended the screening of “Isabel Allende,”an enlightening documentary about her life.  Brava Theatre was packed and filled with vibrant energy.  Isabel and I shared the stage after the screening and had  a wonderful Q&A.  She is brave, adventurous, generous and filled with inner female power.  I have been in a state of amusement and great inspiration ever since.

We are doing a 3D virtual world screening of my short to feature, Soledad Is Gone Forever in Multiverse Places -something similar to Second Life- but easier for first time users.

This screening is happening at the same time that our real world screening. 

Times Square FHTA Film Festival
THURSDAY, October 23
Times Square Arts Center - Theatre 2 (playing with feature film The Other
America)
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
300 W. 43rd Street
New York, NY
http://fhta-live.com/timessquare

We will have Q&A.

For audiences who cannot make it to the NYC screening, Soledad and 6 other FromHere To Awesome films will be simulcast in the 3-D virtual world called Multiverse Places.
Fans from around the world can create an account on the Multiverse Places website (www.mv-places.com) and login to see the a live stream of these films- broadcast at the same time as the real life screenings at the Times Square Art Center.

Detailed Instructions on how to view the films in Multiverse Places- Times
Square are here:
fhta-live.com/timessquare/mvp

 Consider buying Soledad at the following outlets:
http://www.indieflix.com/films/soledadisgoneforever
http://www.caachi.com/Members/FHTA/soledad_is_gone_forever
http://heretic.bside.com/films/soledadisgoneforever
http://www.joost.com/0359ti1/t/Soledad-is-Gone-Forever

Become our friend at IndieGogo - where Independent Happens!
http://www.indiegogo.com/individual/view/290

Do you know about OurStage?  If you don’t and you love music, then you’re really missing out!  It’s a
fantastic social community devoted exclusively to music lovers and creative people like you and me.  And
now they have partnered with From Here To Awesome, the online film festival showcasing my film, ‘SOLEDAD IS
GONE FOREVER.’

For every new person who registers with Ourstage, our film gets FOUR DOLLARS!!!! A vital contribution that
will support of our journey to produce ‘Soledad is Gone Forever’ in its feature length entirety.

After you signup send me an email (haikufilmsorg@yahoo.com) and I’ll send the FIRST 30 SIGNUPS  a link to watch my award-winning short film, ‘Soledad Is Gone Forever,’ for free!!!!!

This promotion between filmmakers participating in From Here To Awesome and the music network Ourstage
lasts only through August 31, so please:

Follow this link to our Myspace profile where you can join and help us out! http://www.myspace.com/haikufilms
Just scroll down and click on the JOIN NOW button inside the Ourstage Banner.  Make sure you finish your
registration with Ourstage by clicking the confirmation link in your inbox. After that you will see that the counter in the banner will go up $4.

Much thanks and I can’t wait to hear from everyone!

Mabel Valdiviezo
http://www.soledadisgoneforever.com

Great News!

“Soledad is Gone Forever,” has been selected by NewFilmmakers NY to be part of their NewLatino Filmmakers Series. This portion of the series is entitled Latinas in Cinema: Filmworks Beyond the Glass Ceiling. Curated by Edward Pagan, this screening aims to put the spotlight on creative Latinas working behind the cameras in both independent film and Hollywood. Along with myself, other unique filmmakers who are putting their own spin on the Latin New Wave will be presenting their short-form documentaries, narrative shorts, and feature presentations.

The screening begins at 6:00pm starting with the documentary portion of the night, which will include Natalia Almada’s work “ Al Otro Lado” (2006, 66 Minutes, Video).  Al Otro Lado (To the Other Side)” tells the human story behind illegal immigration and drug trafficking between the U.S. and Mexico through the eyes of Magdiel, a 23-year-old fisherman and aspiring composer who dreams of a better life.

At 7:15pm, the Short Film program begins, during which my film “Soledad Is Gone Forever” (2007, 14 Minutes, 16MM) will be screened, in addition to Glenys Javier’s piece, “Jolopeo,” (2007, 5 Minutes, Video); and Veronica Caicedo’s short, “Loss Of Innocence In Loisaida” (2007, 30 Minutes, Video).

At 8:15pm, Christina Soto’s feature presentation, “Muneca,” (2007, 70 Minutes, Video) will be screened.

Following the screening there will be a live panel discussion and Q&A with the filmmakers.

The screening will be held at Anthology Film Archives, located in East Village at 32 Second Ave,  NY, NY.

We are thrilled to announce that our short-to-feature, “Soledad Is Gone Forever,” has been selected to be showcased in the From Here To Awesome Film Festival. The FHTA selection process narrowed down from over one hundred entries 10 shorts and 10 features based on audience demand. Thanks to to all the people who voted for our film!

This amazing opportunity comes bundled with a promising DIY distribution strategy which will enable us to continue building an audience around our project and soon-to-be-feature-length film. The strategy includes setting up filmmakers with deals to showcase films via international theatrical screenings, and through video on demand outlets including Amazon Unbox, Vudu, Netflix, Vuze, Hulu, Joost, Indie Flix, Heretic Films, and Caachi.

We are already capitalizing on the DIY philosophy that the festival founders are spearheading, with filmmakers embracing this open source social experiment to create a sustainable future for our projects. Through the FHTA showcase we are finding new ways to communicate with online audiences. The result is quite fascinating:  people want to see our films in all over the world. In fact,  festival programmers have been asking me latelyto screen our film in Italy, Canada, Peru, Chile and Egypt.

This is an exciting time for independent filmmaking and I hope you come and join us on July 26th for the official FHTA festival kick off in L.A.  A fantastic line-up of speakers will share thoughts on new ways of making media.

See you there!

DIY DAYS | fund :: create :: distribute :: sustain
July 26th 9:30am to 7:30pm
Under Spring 1745 North Spring #4,

Los Angeles, CA 90012
For further info, please visit:
http://diydays.com/

People have been asking me where they can see ‘Soledad Is Gone Forever.’ For a while I was just relying on screenings of our short-to-feature at festivals. But if you’re a filmmaker, you know how disappointing it can be when you receive that generic email announcing that your gem wasn’t selected. But even if your film plays successfully at several festivals, what are the chances of getting your short distributed and keeping control?

In the last few months, I have been faced with the hard decision to not go for certain distribution opportunities because they would require me to give up the rights to my film for several years. And in many of these deals the film’s exclusivity would be given up, and likely guarantee that ‘Soledad Is Gone Forever’ would be just another short lost in the distributor’s vast library of digital assets.

But all is not lost in the world of independent filmmaking, 2008 has been a year of powerful resolutions and outcomes. I have revisited the original vision that inspired me to make this short-to-feature in the first place: to share the universality of ‘Soledad Is Gone Forever’ by crossing generations and cultures and ultimately raising awareness of the power of forgiveness. Today, I am taking action and becoming a creative entrepreneur to fulfill this vision. This is why I am embracing the DIY approach, willingly learning filmmaker-friendly distribution approaches and staying inspired by other filmmakers who are doing it successfully.

Enter, FHTA (From Here To Awesome film festival), a true film festival and distribution ‘Experiment’ by filmmakers for filmmakers.

The ride has just started and it’s already ‘Awesome!’ Not only has ‘Soledad Is Gone Forever,’ been selected to be part of the showcase, Heretic Films and Indieflix have signed a deal memo where we take most of the revenue and retain all our rights during distribution. Outlets abound, as distribution partners include Amazon, Caachi, Joost, Vuze, and VOD options, too.

Read more about FHTA and festival kick off on July 26 at

Coverage in Variety:
http://weblogs.variety.com/thompsononhollywood/2008/07/from-here-to-aw.html

Festival kickoff:   http://diydays.com/

The last few months have been very busy, particularly promoting our short and developing relationships with producers in Los Angeles and New York. In the meantime, we have some great news to share. Our short has found online distribution through Caachi, a company based in San Francisco. Before deciding to work with them, I researched many online and traditional distributors. So far Caachi is the way to go because they offer 70% revenue for the filmmaker, non-exclusive agreement and a willingness to work hand in hand with us. Assuming that we do well with downloads, we want to use this revenue to help us fund the development of our feature length.

Mabel

I have been hearing for a while about two innovative filmmakers, Lance Weiler, director of “Head Trauma,” and Arin Crumley & Susan Buice directors of “Four Eyes Monster.” I have witnessed online the evolution of their films and expansion of their audiences. What is different about them is that they have accumulated a great deal of experience and knowledge about DIY promotion and distribution and are actively sharing these though open source methods. When I heard that they have partnered to lead the From Here to Awesome film festival, which takes place completely online, I was so excited to become one of the filmmakers participating. Should we become part of the top 10 submissions, our short, Soledad Is Gone Forever, will be seen in theaters worldwide.
Help us participating in this awesome showcase by:

-Watch my interview/trailer at http://youtube.com/watch?v=9RmUKAWj-FE
-Rate the video, and
-Write a comment about our submission
As always thank you so much for your generous support,
Mabel