Newport Beach Film Festival

What a great celebration of puppet films! We screened nine Handmade Puppet Dreams, with four filmmakers in attendance - David Michael Friend (Moonfishing), Scotty Shoemaker (Harker), myself Sam K. Hale (Yamasong) and Kevin McTurk (Narrative of Victor Karloch). Other filmmaker's shorts included Matty Sidle, Paul Andrejco, Genevieve Anderson, Steve Johnson, Frankie Cordero and Lyon Hill. Afterward, we were treated to the new documentary "Puppet", which shows filmmaker David Soll's outsider's look into the work of Dan Hurlin and Co. as they develop the show "Disfarmer". Very intriguing and revealing as to the hurdles, challenges, and longing for respect in live puppet theater. I highly recommend it.

We had a GREAT turnout last night for "Yamasong" @ The Hive Gallery & Studio in L.A.! Full house of mostly young artists connected with the Hive Gallery (fantastic art space!) -discussed the artist's lifestyle, conceptualizing scale and sculpture, the critical role of music in film. I even got into a little about Gaston Bachelard's "Poetics of Space" - a book I read in art school. Deep reading on art philosophy, but very inspiring stuff!

Shoji Kameda of On Ensemble, "Yamasong's" composer was great partner on the talkback - I always get excited by his energy and enthusiasm! He and I tag-teamed how we met (at a live puppet show I did called "The Fox Lantern") and the coincidental overlap in his creating a song about climbing a mountain and my deriving a fantastic journey up a mountain without him telling me that's what the song was about!

And after the talkback we sat down for a screening of "The Dark Crystal", which is always inspiring to watch! Love that film!

NEXT UP: Handmade Puppet Dreams at Newport Beach Film Festival on May 1st. Mark your calendars and come see highlights of the Handmade Puppet Dreams series!

Handmade Puppet Dreams Volume 1 Screening

Don't forget, "Handmade Puppet Dreams" Volume 1 screens at Clinton Street Theater in Portland tomorrow (2/20) at 2 pm! Includes a special screening of "Yamasong" and a Q&A panel of the film's artists as well!