Moving a Mountain’s new nomination

Moving a Mountain is nominated in Ventura International Film Festival, which will take place in July 8-18, 2011 in California. 

This is the 5th nomination of this film, including the Best Documentary Film Award in Pakistan. The film has also been shortlisted in several other film festivals, so we’re looking forward to more good news.

If you still hasn’t seen the film (oh my god!), then you probably didn’t know that it’s available in HD for just $1,99. I’m sure you weren’t aware of this wonderful opportunity, otherwise I can’t find any other explanation why somebody shouldn’t have spent 20 minutes on an interesting and entertaining film, especially after seeing a fragment of it.

Online screenings of Moving a Mountain

Good news for all those people who are against paying for anything online, including for cool films such as Moving a Mountain.

Yes, the good news is that Moving a Mountain is going to be broadcasted by Itzon, the online television. Itzon.tv is an online HD channel broadcasting only films, documentaries and animation, and they are going to screen Moving a Mountain once a day during one week, so that nobody misses it.

Itzon is great especially for those who have Internet-connected TV-s, but the good thing of online channels is that you can just go to Itzon.tv on your computer and watch the live streaming.

Here are the dates and times when you can tune in and watch Moving a Mountain. And the cool thing here is that the timings are universal, so when it says 7pm, it’s 7pm for every time zone, no matter where you are located - in New York or Antananarivo.

June 1, 05:15 (for early birds)

June 2, 16:41

June 3, 22:49

June 4, 16:00

June 5, 20:23

June 6, 00:19

June 7, 10:35

I forgot one more important thing; Itzon is also a monthly film festival, where the winner in each genre is being selected based on audience votes. We’d be thankful if you vote for us. If you like the film of course. If you don’t, well, vote anyway, it’s not going to kill you, right?

By the way, if you really liked the film, you can always watch it online in HD on our website only for $1,99 or buy a DVD for just $5,95. I would say this is a ridiculously little amount, and you can also feel proud for supporting an independent film studio such as ours!

Bubbles, the final video of Projections

Finally, Bubbles, the last, 4th video of Projections series, is here.

And again, it’s available in English and Armenian (the only difference is the final caption of the video, so the language actually doesn’t matter here that much).

We would like to thank again Hugh Wilson and Lindsay Jehan for the cool soundtrack. The song is called Dying Again, this is a special version of the song made exclusively for Projections, but the original song is available online.

You should remember Hugh Wilson and Lindsay Jehan for their cool song written for the well known Sprite Ad. Once again, thanks to them a lot for the great work they’ve done for our studio.

So, these were all four videos of Projections, developed and produced by Manana Films on request and with support of Shahkhatun NGO. Let this be our little contribution in the great mission of bringing up responsible and active citizens both in Armenia and anywhere else. If you find that mission important, help us to spread the films around.

Thanks again to everybody who took part in the development and production of the series. It was great to have Moushegh Baghdasaryan as the director, who was strictly in charge of every little process happening during the work. Thanks to everybody who acted in it (the full list will be available soon), and to Narek Javadyan (check out the production photos that he made) and Roma Ghukasyan for assisting throughout the whole process. And special thanks to Roma for shooting the funny making-of video. And of course, thanks to Shahkhatun NGO for an interesting project.

In case you’ve missed any of the films, here they are; Dreams, The Citizen, Paper, Bubbles.

The Citizen, second video of Projections

Please meet The Citizen, the 2nd video of Projections series.

This is another part of the Projections, and its slogan is “Stand Up for your vote - someone might try to steal it, during your lifetime or after you die”. Share the video if you like it.

And again, the film is available both in English and Armenian, as well as it’s mobile-ready thanks to Vimeo; if you use any of iThingies (the videos are as cool on mobile screens, checked on numerous iPods and iPhones in the studio), or any Android or WebOS device (Palm Pre, for example; I wonder if anyone from our visitors use it).

If anyone is not aware yet - Projections are short video series on democracy and civil rights, directed by Moushegh Baghdasaryan, our evil mastermind. You should definitely have a look at Dreams, the 1st video of the series, as well as the short making-of video.

So, 2 videos are available, other two are coming during this week. Check back soon.

First video of Projections is available

At last, we’re happy to present you the Dreams, the first video of Projections series.

Dreams is a 45-second-long clip, which slogan is “Our dreams come true at the cost of someone else’s freedom”.

The film is available both in English and Armenian.

We would like to thank again Raised by Swans, one of our favorite bands, for the wonderful soundtrack of the video. The composition is called “Violet light” and can be purchased online, together with the other really cool songs of the band.

Also, many thanks to all the people who acted in it, and sorry to those who acted but didn’t end up in the final cut, nothing personal! The full cast and crew list will be available soon, too.

So, you can watch the Dreams online in full HD resolution, and the video is mobile-ready; it can be easily streamed on any iOS, Android and PalmOS device, just tap on any video you want to stream on your mobile phone and watch it full-screen.

If you like the video or find the idea of it important, go ahead and share it.

The three other videos will be online soon, too. Enjoy!

Making-of video from production of Projections

As we promised once, we are going to shoot making-of videos for all the projects we work on. It’s not always possible of course. For example, when you make a documentary film, it’s a bit ridiculous to walk around with a crew in a, say, a village on the borderline of the country and being watched by a number of soldiers, and have a guy filming you during that.

But for other types of production it can be a lot of fun. That’s why we made this very short video while working on Projections, so that you don’t get bored while waiting for the actual films.

Besides that, you can also check out some photos and stills of the project here and on our Facebook nest.

All the 4 videos will be available next week both in Armenian and English.

Projections are almost ready

So, by the end of this week, all videos of Projections will be available on our website. It’s been a long and hard work, but the films are really cool, interesting and fresh.

The films will be available online in a week, first in Armenian, and English versions will follow shortly.

We also edit a short, 1-2-minute-long making-of video, for those who are interested.

Meanwhile, check out some more photos of the production process here and also in the Facebook album for Projections. Oh, you don’t have a Facebook account? How are you going to click the “Like” button below this post? Think about it!

Music for Projections

We always pay a lot of attention to music in our films, since we all like music in general (those who has been to our studio, has probably seen Moush’s guitar), and we usually don’t work with people who listen to crap. Seriously.

The work on music for our new project, Projections, has been especially interesting. Since the videos are quite experimental, we wanted the soundtracks to be really cool by themselves.

So, we’re proud to work with two different groups of artists on these video series.

Music for one of the films is written and performed by Hugh Wilson and Lindsay Jehan, the authors of the well-known “Falling Away”, the one you probably know from the cool Sprite commercial.

The music for the other film is from Raised by Swans (they are also known for the music for “Chloe” by Atom Egoyan), one of our most favorite bands, which made the experience of working with them especially enjoyable. For example, here is one of my personal favorites.

So, once again, our biggest thanks and gratitude to these wonderful people for taking Projections to a new level with their work, and doing that simultaneously from Canada and New York to Singapore. Thank you guys a lot for believing in this project.

Neighbors premiere screening in Istanbul

Yesterday was the day we were waiting for so long. Neighbors was finally screened for the first time. It was a special screening in frames of Istanbul International Film Festival, in an event organized by Anadolu Kultur and Golden Apricot. The film was screened together with other films made on Armenia Turkey Cinema Platform; Galata by Diana Kardumyan, Master of Doves by Arthur Sukiasyan, Puppet Theatre by Canay Ozden, and Don’t Get Lost Children by Gulengul Altinas.

Since the interest towards these films is rising, Anadolu Kultur will probably organize an additional screening later here. 

Our huge thanks again to all the organizers for this great event, but we have to fly back to Yerevan to finish the Projections and all the other stuff. You know, really cool stuff.

Moving a Mountain is nominated again

Yes, Moving a Mountain again got nominated, this time in International Festival of Film & Culture in Greece. The event will take place in August 1-8, 2011 in Patras City.

So, this is already the fourth international festival in this film’s event history, including one Best documentary film award. It’s not bad I would say, but this is still the first quarter of the year, we look forward for more good news.

If you haven’t seen the film yet, we strongly recommend you to watch it, since it’s available online in HD, as well as on DVD now.

New project and shootings

Our studio keeps generating new awesome ideas and projects all the time, so that our audience, all those cool, good-looking, interesting and intellectual people can have more and more visual food of a good quality for their unresting minds.

Projections is one of the new and experimental projects we’ve been working on since the beginning of this year, and started the shootings in March. It’s a series of PSA-s about civil society and importance of being an active citizen. Series contain three one-minute-long advertisements, all done with experimental technique and style.

All three films will be ready and available on our website in the highest quality in mid-April, as well as broadcasted by several TV channels of Armenia. And maybe some other places too, I don’t know.

Meanwhile, check some photos from the shootings on our website, and on our Facebook page.

Meet the Neighbors

At last, after almost one and half a year of hard work, our epic documentary film, Neighbors, is ready to go.

This was probably the heaviest project that we ever worked on, in many ways; the subject of Armenian-Turkish relationships is something not everyone would risk to work on, but we were stupid ambitious enough not only to work on it, but to go to the actual borders and film people living on the edge of two different civilizations for a whole year. We had to deal with two different governments who have no diplomatic relations with each other, worked with national security, three different armies, got arrested and taken to the court, and generally we managed to drive a number of governmental institutions mad. Despite all the adventures, we did everything to make a very interesting and emotional story and present you the colorful characters of nice, controversial, funny and crazy people that you’ll love.

Once again, I would like to thank all the people who worked very hard on this film; thanks to Moushegh and David, the cruel cameramen, and Narek, who assisted them; to Tzovinar and Gayane for an outstanding soundtrack and performance; to Nesra, who put all the efforts for the film with love and devotion; to Tim Straight, who followed every single day of the work on the film and supported it in all the possible ways, to all Manana, where every single person was doing everything to help us on the most difficult periods of the project, to Paros Foundation for support and guidance, and of course, the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Golden Apricot Film Festival and Anadolu Kultur, the sponsors and supporters of this film. Thanks for being crazy enough to believe that this initiative can come true.

So, Neighbors’ premiere screening will take place in Istanbul on April 12th, in frames of Istanbul International Film Festival, those who are there or plan to attend the festival, make sure to be there. If you forget to buy a ticket, or will have any problems getting inside, or will need any kind of help, please make sure not to ask me for anything. And don’t look for me. And I don’t know you. Leave me alone. Ehm, sorry, it’s just something left from the screenings of The Third Rider. Don’t pay attention.

The film is not available online or on DVD-s yet, but it will be later this year, so don’t forget to check our website regularly.

Moving a Mountain is available for watching

So, finally Moving a Mountain is available for watching on our website for only $1,99! This is the first film that is available for sale on our website, but soon some others will be online, too.

The principle of paying for a view on our website is very simple; you go to the Watch the film page, click play, select the way you prefer for paying, and the film will be available for you for 48 hours. In HD quality, by the way. I know, I know, no need to thank us, it’s ok.

As about the payment methods, right now you can purchase it with PayPal or Amazon accounts. If you don’t have an account in any of these services, no need to burst into tears; PayPal supports payments with credit and debit cards even without opening an account, so, it will take only a minute from you.

Almost forgot; if you really like the film and want to have it in your personal collection, you can order the DVD on Moving a Mountain's Indieflix page for only $5,95.

As about agreements concerning public screenings and other events, it’s better to get in touch with us personally.

Moving a Mountain wins The Best Documentary Film award

While we’re working our Final Cuts off on finishing Neighbors (I’ve tried to jump out the window after another sleepless night, but couldn’t open it), Moving a Mountain makes us happy and gives another reason not to break the keyboards in desperation, while deadlines approach us rapidly.

We accidentally found out that Moving a Mountain has won The Best Documentary Film award in FiLUMS International Film Festival in Pakistan. As we haven’t been informed about it, I almost fell off the chair when read about it in Herald Tribune this morning.

And the interesting detail is that it's not the short documentary nomination, but the whole documentary category, although the film is only 20 minutes long.

Well, so far the festival circuit of this film goes quite well, but we probably need to read more newspapers from now on.

I feel people pulling me off the computer, showing the amount of work left, shouting on me and hitting me with a calendar with a lot of dates marked red on it, and, in general, insulting and abusing me, so, back to work!

Review of The Third Rider in Asbarez

It appears that Asbarez.com has published a review of one of our films, The Third Rider. The article is very interesting and well-written, and, what was most important, the writer went through all the most important points of what we tried to express with the film, which made us all feel quite happy, since this is so far the most controversial (although... wait until you see Neighbors) film our studio has made, and all the feedback both from the audience and from media were either very good, or extremely criticizing.

And I personally, as the director of the film, was especially happy for the following sentence, which proves the experiments we did with the documentary genre in that film weren’t in vain.

“While remaining true to the most basic understanding of documentary as a factual sub-genre of film, The Third Rider, like Barking Island, uneasily straddles the line between fact and fiction, history and narrative.”

Neighbors Premiere Screening in April

Last couple of months were the period of intensive editing of Neighbors. And now, when it’s already more than a year that our studio has been working on this project, the film is almost done. And while most of us are busy with the final corrections in the editing, soundtrack and other aspects of the film, I am happy to announce that the date of the world premiere screening of Neighbors is already set, thanks to Anadolu Kultur, one of the supporter organizations of the project; it will be screened on April 12th, at 19:00 in Istanbul, in frames of Istanbul International Film Festival.

That will be quite an event!

Moving a Mountain nominated for two festivals

And again good news from film festivals’ world; Moving a Mountain is nominated for two film festivals; Al Jazeera International Film Festival in Qatar and Cape Winelands Film Festival in South Africa.

The film will be screened in South Africa in March, and in Qatar in April.

These are only the first countries where this film is going to be screened this year; Moving a Mountain has just started it’s circuit around the world, so we’re looking forward for more news and more countries.

New projects

The beginning of 2011 was very intense; the amount of work made us forget stupid things like New Year holidays and other simple joys of life. Lots of things are going on these days, so first let me introduce you two new projects that our studio launched on the second half of December.

Neither-Nor (a working title, may be changed in future) is a short film directed by Moushegh, therefore the film is really experimental and tricky. Although the draft script was written earlier this year, we’ve spent several weeks on shaping and finalizing it, analyzing similar stories that happened around the world, consulting with psychologists, testing the situations in real life and applying them to other people in order to be realistic.

In My Arrogant Opinion is also a short fiction film about a distant clash of two completely different people who never knew each other, but somehow turned to be enemies. The intense conflict evolves over the film, painfully revealing the well hidden sides of the characters.

Both films are in pre-production period, the shootings will start in the end of this month. The estimated release month of both films is April. Or maybe I shouldn’t have said that, as the deadlines are so difficult to keep. But anyway.

Both Neither-Nor and In My Arrogant Opinion are being made with the support of Royal Norwegian Embassy as two different parts of one project, so, once again, our warm gratitude to them!

And, as always, you can follow the progress of these films here, as well as by following our updates on Facebook page. We also tweet from time to time, if you’re interested of course. As soon as the shootings start, you’ll have plenty of production photos to watch (the most fun part for us).

Two more projects are still being developed and will be visible on our Current Projects page soon.

In the meantime, Neighbors, our epic movie of the decade, is in post-production in 24/7 mode (one day we will learn how to work like normal people and sleep at home at least once a week), the estimated release date is the beginning of February.

Good news; Moving a Mountain is going to be available on several platforms soon; Amazon Videos on Demand, Indieflix, Itzon online TV and Hulu. There are still some preparations to be finished, I’ll make a detailed post about the distribution of this film next week.