[artinfo] (fwd) film project

[Janos Sugar]

Hello,

My name is Deborah Magocsi (deb at reachers.com), and I live and work in 
New York City.  I have
worked as an independent filmmaker and freelance production  mgr/line
producer in film & tv until about five years ago.  Since then, I've been
exploring other kinds of creative work, including music and visual art
(collage and painting, which is what led me to film in the first place).
Recently I've been doing a lot of video editing work as well.

I am writing to invite you to participate in a film project that I plan to
complete this summer.

Here's the deal: I want it to be filmed by many different people in many
different parts of the world at the same moment in time.  That is, each of
us will be shooting at the same time, using Greenwich Mean Time as a
standard.  I plan to collect this footage and cut it together into a
finished piece.  Hopefully, the results will be interesting!

Here's what I need from you, if you're willing: At exactly 1700 Greenwich
Mean Time, on Saturday, April 3rd, 2004 (12 noon in NY local time)(The
shooting time in Western Europe would be 6PM on April 3rd, for example, and
8PM in Moscow.),
<<<<<shoot some footage, any footage.  Use any moving image camera you
have, whether it's film or video, color or black & white, with or without
sound.  Shoot for at least three minutes, as long as ten.  When 
you're done, send it to
me in New York.  Please specify what format it is, where it was shot, and any
other information you think might be useful.  I'll be happy to reimburse
you for your film/video stock & postage expenses; just let me know 
how much you spend.

Here's what you'll get:  Contributor credit in the finished film and a copy
of the finished project in the video format of your choice.

As far as who/what you shoot, do whatever you want -- that's part of the
fun!  If I have any kind of theme or organizational concept in mind, I
guess it would be for you to try to capture the spirit or feeling of the
particular place where you are shooting.  Whether that's a person talking,
a traffic jam, a natural landscape -- or anything else -- is up to you.

In a way, this project is simply an experiment -- to see what happens when
different people in different places agree to contribute to something that
will only exist by virtue of their participation.  At this point I can't
say with any certainty just what the finished product will look and feel like.
Already, though, the response has been so positive that I am confident that
regardless of what comes in, the result will be interesting and provocative.

I hope to exhibit this film at film festivals & venues of that sort, which
is where I have shown my other films.  I chose April 3rd more for what
didn't happen on that day than what did.  I didn't want the date to have
any particular meaning; to let meaning grow out of the project itself.

Though I haven't set up a website, I plan to send out periodic updates by
email, reminding participants of the upcoming shoot date and later, the
post-production progress, and just to let folks know what's going on with
the project (number and geographical distribution of participants, etc.)

Please let me know if you have any further questions, and whether you think
you'd like to contribute to this film.  And feel free to pass my invitation
along to anyone else you think might be interested.

Thanks very much!

Deborah

Deborah Magocsi   deb at reachers.com
781 Union Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
USA

deb at reachers.com