Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Mad City Chickens Screens Tonight in Calgary!

Mad City Chickens screens tonight in Calgary as part of the efforts by CLUCK: Calgary Liberated Urban Chicken Klub to get the city's ordinances updated to allow for backyard poultry. Come to the viewing and see live baby chicks. Now you can't beat that!

7:00 pm at the Plaza Theatre, 1133 Kensington Road NW in Calgary.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Mad City Chickens Returns to Baraboo Today!

Our Mad City Chickens documentary plays in Baraboo, Wisconsin today at the UW's Campus Theatre. The screening, sponsored by the Wisconsin Humanities Council, is part of a larger event called Wisconsin: Making It Home. The focus is to get folks thinking about their food supply and to consider the idea of keeping chickens in the backyard.

There will be a post-film discussion with the audience lead by two teenage girls, Maia and Lydia. They are the two who spearheaded the movement last year in Baraboo to make backyard chickens legal. Their efforts were successful!

Sunday, February 28, 2010

The Rules

Independent filmmaker Rule #1 - Make films! Don't just dream about it, do it.

Independent Filmmaker Rule #2 - Study films! See how others do it, what works, what doesn't.

Independent Filmmaker Rule #3 - There are no rules! So ignore the naysayers who claim you have to do it this way or that.


Thursday, February 25, 2010

More on Saki

As we continue to research the possibilities for a narrative film project, we're still looking closely at the work of Hector Hugh Munro. Born in 1870 in Burma (Myanmar) when it was still part of the British Empire, his mother died when he was only two. Sent to live with his grandmother and aunts in England, much of Munro's work seems to be influenced by the strict, straitlaced upbringing he endured when living with these Victorian age martinets.

From Wikipedia:
...better known by the pen name Saki, [he] was a British writer, whose witty and sometimes macabre stories satirized Edwardian society and culture. He is considered a master of the short story and is often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. "The Open Window" may be his most famous, with a closing line ("Romance at short notice was her specialty") that has entered the lexicon.


Saki died in the French battlefield trenches of the first World War – November 13, 1916.

Monday, February 22, 2010

"Chickens" Returns to Canada this Week!

Thunder Bay, Ontario on the northern shores of Lake Superior! Mad City Chickens returns to Canada this Wednesday February 24th to screen at Confederation College, Shuniah Building Lecture Theatre, 1450 Nakina Drive in Thunder Bay. Sponsored by the Environmental Film Network, the screening starts at 7:30 pm.