The Poet (director's cut) won Best Narrative Short Film at the Noosa International Film Fest in Queensland, Australia! It was a wonderful surprise! The people at Noosa have been so gracious and kind to us. Unfortunately we couldn't attend, but I sent them an acceptance video and they sent me the award--and a fancy scarf just like Drake the vampire would wear! Thank you, Noosa!

Today marks 7 weeks since I moved to LA! It's been a whirlwind. I have no sense of time. The seasons don't change so I feel like I'm in perpetual summer (not my favorite season).

​I took a train across the country from Maine! I've road-tripped across the country several times and flown, but never gone by train! I made a short 3 minute video about my trip, filmed on my phone, nothing fancy. I highly recommend taking the train, at least once. It's a great way to see back country areas away from highways. I got a sleeper and was very comfortable--and it only takes 3 days!

I've been to LA before, but it had been a while and I didn't get to see everything. I've been trying to see as many things as I can. Here's an assortment of the sights.

May has been an incredible month. I am so honored to have been a finalist in the Maine Literary Awards for my short script "Motherbird" and to have received Honorable Mention as Best Maine Filmmaker in the Portland Phoenix Best Of Awards. Thank you to everyone who voted and to the MWPA for considering my script. I am truly grateful for every moment. Beyond words. 

The Poet was an Official Selection at the Emerge Film Festival! It was great to be back to such an amazing fest. The Poet screened with our friends who made "Suffer the Little Children" the Stephen King adaptation (Bonfire Films) and "Selfie" by Ryan Wilson. I got to show the director's cut to a full house! 

The after-party was held at the gorgeous Agora Grand. And they had a photo booth, which proved dangerous for our group.

I also had the opportunity to speak with students at Poland High School about film and the Emerge Film Fest and showed clips from Arabel and The Poet. They were great and it was a pleasure to meet their teacher Dawnie Hodgkins. (I loved the green screen and started to add the death star from The Empire Strikes Back into the background but haven't finished yet...). 

Wow, it's been about 7 months since I wrote a blog, even though I've been updating my website in other ways. That's because I've been busy! Here's a rundown:

A few weeks ago I returned to the College of the Atlantic, where I went for my undergrad and spoke to the film/video students there. They were an awesome bunch of people and I'd love to go back to talk more. Nancy Andrews, who teaches them, recently made a feature film called The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes, an experimental, musical, sci-fi film.

This past fall, I was Assistant Director and Producer on Tadin Brown's film Wayward Roads. Tadin was gaffer and editor on The Poet and his short film is really touching, dramatic and beautiful. Here's a short article about it and a few photos.
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Scenes of Addiction: Local filmmaker capturing the harrowing costs of the heroin epidemic

Right before I started on Tadin's film, we had our premiere of The Poet at Damnationland! 800 people came to the State Theater in Portland and then it screened in theaters around Maine. All the filmmakers agreed to dress up fancy, a nice contrast to when I am directing and wear the same dirty clothes for a week and never brush my hair. I'm so grateful for all the support. The Poet is a very special film for all of us who worked on it.

A few weeks earlier, I was interviewed for the show 207 with Damnationland producer Charlotte Warren. You can check out that interview here.

Stretching back to this summer, a group of us lady filmmakers joined together for an all female 48 Hour Film Project team. None of us had ever worked on an entirely female crew before and a lot of us didn't know each other. We got a little write-up about it here. Charlotte Warren was our fearless director and I was writer. Here's the group of us after a sleepless night and full day of shooting.

And hey look, we won Best Graphics, Best New Filmmaker (Charlotte), and Runner Up for Audience Favorite! 

So, it's been a busy time, to say the least! Arabel was also an Official Selection at The Harrisburg-Hershey Film Fest. I am hoping to write some more blogs about some of the fantastic movies and TV shows I've seen. Stay tuned!

Arabel was shown as part of the Maine Shorts Program at the Maine International Film Festival this week. Actress Erika J. Wilson represented the film to the sold out crowd of 150! Thanks MIFF! 

The fest is in September in Pennsylvania, more info to come! Congrats to the cast and crew!

We're so happy to learn that Arabel received Honorable Mention for Best Cinematography and Best Score last weekend at The SENE Film, Music and Arts Festival in Providence, RI! Thank you so much to the festival and congrats especially to Jayson Lobozzo and Michael McInnis!

Arabel has won Best Maine Film at the Emerge Film Fest! It was a great night to celebrate the film being done and being there together. Congrats to our cast and crew!

Will you help Erika be in our film? Can you help make this happen?

Brika Brack (aka Erika J. Wilson) will be playing Jennifer Herald in our film 'The Poet.' Jennifer works at an all-female vampire hunter agency where they pose as real estate agents. She's a career-driven business woman who's achieved a lot and continues to rise through the ranks, serving as a mentor for the new hunters. She's skilled with silver bullets, wooden stakes and a special silver knife. But Jennifer isn't just a bad-ass, she's also a woman who had other interests before her career skyrocketed; she loves the arts and although she's been trained not to feel too much to be a better killer, she's still a human woman with real emotions. She's never met a vampire like Drake before, which leads her to question her entire life's work--will she spare his life or will she follow the code of vampire hunting she has worked so hard to establish? 


Erika is perfect for this role. In Arabel the movie she could understand the subtlety and nuance in a scene, where she played a double-agent/pin-up/savior/enemy. Erika lived in Maine during her high school years but now resides in Portsmouth NH where she acts, models, hosts and an array of other cool things like running the Seacoast Film Society. Last summer she spent 3 months in Italy at Cinecitta Studios (Gangs of New York, The Life Aquatic and many other films). 


Take a look at our video, check out our rewards and contribute to our film! We're a Staff Pick on kickstarter and $60 away from being halfway funded on our 6th day! We can't make this film without you! We have 24 days left! Thank you for your support!