Today was fieldtrip day! Together with Nafiss, Farshad, the key characters, sound designer, director of photography and some more crew we went to Hilversum to see Dance Iranian Style on a big screen for the first time. But don´t worry it wasn´t the premiere where you were not invited, it was a test. We wanted to know what the film looked like and if the sound and color were as good as we wanted them.

It took some trains, cars and a couple of motorcycles to get us all to the Filmtheater Hilversum where the manager Piet invited us with open arms and lots of coffee. Everybody was feeling extremely nervous! For me, already saw the film twice but not in this final version, so even I was feeling a little bit anxious.

Everybody took a seat, lights when off and the opening credits of Dance Iranian Style came flying through the screen. The feeling was fantastic. I can´t image how Nafiss of Farshad felt, the overwhelming sense of pride they must have had, the satisfaction of finishing this project. It was an 85 minute long rollercoaster in this little filmtheater in Hilversum. Afterwards everybody waited until the credits were done, of course carefully looking for our own names, and after the screen went black and the music faded out we were still blown away from what we saw. Slowly getting out of the comfortable chairs and our eyes adjusting to the light the only thing I could see were huge smiles. Everybody was smiling from ear to ear.  

Whatever happens to this film, this moment today was absolutely magic. There will be a lot more of these moments, hopefully one on the first of December. I will keep you posted, because I would like to share something of this magic and I want to let you see the genuine smiles on the faces of people who worked months or even years for the moment we had today. It was lovely.

I’m in love with lists. And everything that has something to do with lists. Doesn’t matter if it’s a list with ingredients, a list with the 10 ugliest movie posters or if it’s my own to do list. I am officially in love with lists. And with my impressive notebook collection I can make a million lists if I want to. And it doesn’t really matter if I finish a list (there are several half-finished to do lists in my orange notebook) but the making of the list itself; wonderful.

The different lists I find on the internet can be either funny, educational of intriguing. Some are hilarious and some remind me of the past.

And of course I love the different websites that provide me with lists. So I absolutely love Flavorwire, Buzzfeed, Taste of Cinema and any other blog that gives me the joy of reading lists. Don’t tell anyone but I’ve got a special tab in my browser that stated: Lists. Over 57 lists I’ve saved to read again, look at and smile about. Some examples of awesome lists (click on the links to see the actual lists!)

Buzzfeeds 45 most powerful photos of 2011. A small history lesson through the lens of talented photographers.

Flavorwire’s books that define the last 50 years of literature. And I can tell you, I’ve got a lot of reading to do.

Pigeons and Planes who gave me: Women in their 20’s who are changing indie music. For those rainy days not knowing what music you should put on.

But the best one of all are movie lists. If it’s best or worst, if it’s year based or genre, the best lists of all are lists about film. There is so much to see with so little time. So if there’s someone who can tell me what to see I’m totally for that. I would like to make you fall in love with these movie lists too, so I’m providing three today. And with these in mind I hope you will understand my love for lists and everything that has got something to do with lists.

50 Foreign Language Films Everyone Needs to See

The 50 Directorial Debuts in Movie History

10 Incredibly Surprising Film Soundtracks

Please ENJOY!!

Time for some complaining and I want to tell you about a game I’ve been playing for some time now.

The last month or so we’ve been sending Dance Iranian Style to distributors, film festivals, or to whomever can help us with this project. One thing I never really thought about is happening right now. It’s what the people call “the waiting game”. I really have no idea what the rules are and no idea what the duration of this game is. But one thing I do know: it’s a silent game. Total silence, not a word.  

We have to wait for replies from distributors and we have to wait for festivals to give us the green light so we can proceed. I’ll explain this last part of the waiting game a little more. Every festival wants to be unique. After my blog last time you know that there are a lot of weird festivals in this world, every single one looking for its own audience and unique factor. But a lot of the big festivals are all looking for the same;  the next gem in the film business, the next big hit. So the festivals made up some rules and regulations. One of the festivals our film was send to is the International Film Festival Rotterdam. It’s a beautiful festival with lots of attention for experimental films and work of visionaries. Just the right festival for our Dance Iranian Style. BUT in the rules and regulations of IFFR it states that the movie has got to be a world premiere. This means we cannot show DIS anywhere else before the IFFR screening. Okay, so that’s not such a big deal you might think. What if I tell you the deadline for the IFFR to tell us if we made the selection in mid-December?! We have to wait until the end of the year before we know if we have a chance. Until then I can only focus on festivals starting after February 2015. And that’s just so far away in time. Totally working in the future over here.

So it’s not so much the fault of the IFFR, absolutely not, but it shows me the rules and regulations of the waiting game. Preparing for what might happen. I have to make different scenarios for all the possible “what ifs”. The festival in Cannes is even worse. They want a world premiere too, but the festival isn’t until May. So waiting for that might be worth something, because the festival has such a good name and would be an excellent starting point. But then I have to play the waiting game for 5 more months!! And it’s frustrating already. No can do, I want some action. And stubborn as I am, I WANT IT NOW! 

ps. I know i sound like a little kid. Sometimes I think I'm 6 all over again. Next week time for some positive things. Maybe some rainbows, unicorns and fairies. :)