Attending NOMFA, and more! - North Bay Music Video

The Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards & Conference took place this past weekend, and I had such a great time! I was nominated for Best Cinematographer again (won last year), and even though this year's award went to Nano Debassige and not yours truly, I'm so happy to have been a part of it all. 

Last year was my first time attending the event, and I was only able to make it there in time to take in a few panels, and quickly get ready for the awards ceremony. This year, I headed to Sudbury on Thursday, and really had the chance to get to know a lot of people. A few I had met last year, like Ryan La Via (who was a winner this year, yay!) & Faye Blais, and many I had never met, like Nano, Lee Chambers, Curtis Jensen, and many more.  They were all such nice people, and I look forward to our paths crossing again.

I also got the chance to spend time with Dennis Landry and some of the folks at MFM who put this all together, and they were all so great. It's quite a weekend they put on for us, and they do a lot for the film industry in the north. We really are quite lucky to have them around, so It was nice to spend time with them as regular people, and not just the organizers of the event.

Coming back from a weekend filled with so many creative and talented people, I'm feeling pretty inspired to get rolling on so many projects.  For starters, It's time for me to start editing "Missing" which we recently got in the can, and I'm looking forward to our next round of shooting on a music video with singer Pam Millar. With those projects, and many more on the horizon, 2011 is shaping up to be a pretty productive year. Now I just have to make sure to leave some time in there for my regular business too!

I'll talk more about the music video project and the awesome people involved pretty soon. Until then, here are a few screenshots of the first day of shooting with Pam... 

The Lake showing at Cinefest - North Bay Cinematography

Well, The Lake (one of our short films) is showing at Cinefest International Filmf Festival today. This is pretty cool, unfortunately I don't think anyone who was involved with the film will actually be there for the experience.  Most of the cast and crew have regular jobs they couldn't just duck out of to go to a festival, which is too bad.

In my case, it's pretty much the same. I have quite a full month with a lot of different contracts on the go, from websites to video work and photography. I just can't take another day away from the computer right now. It's a little disappointing, but in the end paying the bills and hopefully keeping the family fed for a while happens to be quite a bit heavier on the priority scale.

The lake will actually also be showing at Film North - 2010 Huntsville International Film Festival this weekend.  I'll be out in the wild doing a full day of shooting for the tourism industry, so I'll have to miss this festival too. On the plus side, writer and partner in crime Michael Humble will be making it to the event, and I'm sure he'll have a blast.

This weekend will pretty much mark the end of The Lake's festival shelf life. It has been around for a little while, and played here and there over the past year. One of the highlights was the Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards where a certain Patrick Gilbert (yay me!) and Ed Regan won for Best Cinematography. now it's time to move on and start pushing the next one.

We have had a pretty good run with The Lake, and I look forward to continued success with our recent, and future projects.

If you haven't seen it yet, why don't you take a few minutes to watch The Lake...