New Year, New Office (1-22-10)So we're 22 days late, but HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone. We are plowing in to 2010 with high hopes, big dreams and lots of projects in the works. We made a promise to ourselves not to talk about anything until it is really really really real, but in the words of Josh Slater: this is going to be the year of the hustle.
One thing keeping us excited is our new studio. We moved down the hall from 410
to 404
. We have a lot more space and are loving it. The river view doesn't hurt either. Stop by sometime, we love visitors.
We would like to thank the OMPA for honoring Sandymontana's very own Colin Brown with the 2009 Rising Star Award. With this award Colin joins the ranks of some of Oregon's sharpest media professionals. It is an honor to have one of our own recognized by the community and by the OMPA. Thank you very much and congratulations Colin!
Aquafrolics / 5 Months to Freedom (10-1-09)What do Sandys do when they're not busy being Sandys? Our guy Adam has been working his face off on some Nike 6.0 projects lately and the fruits of his labor are finally available to the world.
First up is Aquafrolics, Nike 6.0's very first wakeskate movie. Adam logged major hours editing this beast, so enjoy it well.
Once you're done frolicking, take a look at 5 Months to Freedom, a web series edited by Adam that follows two of Nike 6.0's BMX riders as they struggle to complete high school while riding professionally.
Finally we wish to congratulate Adam. Nike's BMX film Writing on the Wall was recently awarded Video of the Year at the 2009 NORA Cup Awards. Adam - you kick ass.
The Wonderful World of Cat (9-23-09)
Cat has been living the dream in beautiful New York City. Her recent short film "Umbrella" will be gracing all sorts of screens in the coming weeks, and we want to share the love. Here's an update on the official NY branch of Sandy, from the keyboard of Cat herself:
"First up, I am hugely honored that my short UMBRELLA will be screening in this panel on Friday with filmmakers who have been such an influence & inspiration. There are two screenings but most people will be at work.
The details:
Friday, Sept. 25th 10 am & 12:45pm
CUNY Graduate Center (365 5th Avenue, NYC) Room 6 [Panel 6]:
The Event in the Image: Poetry and Cinema
Curated by: Angela Joosse
Films and poetry by: Peggy Ahwesh, Lise Beaudry, Abigail Child, Margaret Christakos, Moyra Davey, Kelly Egan, Laura Elrick, Su Friedrich, Amy Greenfield, Shana MacDonald, Bridget Meeds, Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof, Selene Savarie, Joel Schlemowitz, Nathalie Stephens, Souvankham Thammavongsa, Gariné Torossian, Cat Tyc
Description: This program of recent experimental film and video examines the productive impact to be found at the intersection of feminism, poetry, and the moving image. Sharing common concerns with rhythm, duration, and the slippage and condensation of meaning, experimental cinema and poetry have had rich relations since cinema's inception. Yet the avant-garde edge of these art forms does not rest with medium-specific concerns, but rather with the capacity to install the audience in a situation that enables a potent shift in one's very perceptions of embodied, social, geographical, gendered, political, and cultural locatedness in the world. Through poetic approaches to cinema and cinematic approaches to poetry, this program explores varying possibilities of the image as an event situation.
Umbrella will also be screening in a show I curated for the New Filmmakers Series/Eye Am Series at Anthology Film on October 14th.
And then again, it will also screen at the Chashama Film Festival in their space on W. 42nd st at the end of October. I think they are going to curate a really interesting show."
Congrats again to Cat. Go check out Umbrella if you have the chance.
New Videos (9-10-09)We've had a great summer jet-setting around the country to create the "Bring it Together" campaign for
Nike 6.0. Rather than get into the details here, allow me to direct you to the newest section of our website - Case Studies. There you'll find the whole campaign and a bit of background information about the making of the spots. We've also created a case study for our animated
Bonneville Environmental Foundation spots. And before you go, make sure to have a look at Kurt's lovely new music video "No One in the World" for
Jes Hudak. Enjoy.
A New Wind is Blowing (7-23-09) This news section hasn't really been reporting all too much and we think that's too bad. We hereby promise to post more often!
Maybe not every update will be about jaw-dropping, palm-sweating, heart-racing occurrences. It's about getting to know us better and what we're all about. Sometimes it'll just be something we're really into. For example, what friends are up to:
Kudos to Tom Walters who co-produced a film about Biba. It recently started screening in the UK and we can't wait to get our hands on it. View the trailer
here .
Music Video Screening Tonight (4-9-09)
Sorry for the extra-super late notice here folks.
Jainee Dial has arranged for an awesome screening of selected music videos. Along with the premiere of "Missoula", her newest video, Kurt is offering a sneak-peak at "Don't Cry" for Olivia Broadfield. Uli will be showing "Le Puzzle".
The videos will be shown alongside work from Rachel Larsen, Benji Brucker and Johnny Le.
The magic happens (tonight) Thursday, April 9th at the
Screening Room Theater in NW Portland (925 NW 19th Ave. Portland, OR 97215)
The 40 minute program will begin at 7:00pm and will loop until 9:30pm.
Important p.s.: the bar is cash only.
Hope you can make it!
B-E-F.ORG is Live (4-6-09)
We are very happy to announce that the
Bonneville Environmental Foundation has launched their brand spankin' new website.
Tequila built it for BEF and we're thrilled to see our videos on such an awesome platform.
Enjoy browsing around for our videos. Consider it an early Easter Egg Hunt. And who knows, maybe you'll find a new way to do something great for the environment in the meantime.
Kurt Wins Again / Welcome Cat! (2-12-09) Kurt, Kurt, Kurt...
We were recently in Los Angeles, having a laugh and passing around our new reel when Kurt gets a rather exciting phone call. It turns out that Kurt's entry to the
Project Rising Stars contest was a winner and everybody knew it - and Kurt's video got some national airtime during the Grammys. So CONGRATULATIONS Kurt, you are #1. His entry was a music video for Olivia Broadfield's single "Indescribable". If that name sounds familiar it is because every time Kurt and Olivia collaborate it seems to result in magic.
Recently Sandymontana expanded its ranks even further with the addition of
Cat Tyc . Cat joins us as a writer/director with one foot firmly in the world of fine art and one foot striding toward site-specific and new media explorations. Look for some of Cat's work in our videos section soon and see for yourself. Welcome Cat. We are fortunate to have you.
Sandymontana Open House / Welcome Adam! (11-12-08) This Saturday - November 15th - Sandymontana is opening the door to our super-secret fortress of creativity. Be sure not to miss this once-in-a-lifetime event. There will be snacks.
Our open house is part of a larger open building at the
Towne Storage Building . This place is full of independent artists and craftspeople with unique and fun enterprises. It should be good times. Come by anytime between 6:30 and 10-ish in the pm. We are in Studio 410.
We would like to take a moment to welcome our newest director
Adam Long . Adam joins us as an amazing creative force - specializing in motion graphics and radness of that type and disposition. We are all looking forward to "killing it" together.
Homework assignment:
Read up on the most famous Sandymontanian - Uli Beutter - in the October issue of
XLR8R where she earns the unlikely nickname "The Cub". The whole article is a fun read, but we are beaming like parents at a recital over the reaction Uli's work has gotten in the media. The person who leaves the best comment under the article wins!
PS -
Olivia Broadfield asked Kurt to make a video for her new single. As usual, Kurt went all out with the idea and has been working overtime on his latest masterpiece. Keep your eyes open for this one - it's going to be cool.
Sandy is Huge in the UK (7-8-08) So these news nuggets are coming a
little late, but they're still exciting (to me at least).
First - If you are a fan of the Foo Fighters you may have already heard about their recent blowout at the
Wembley Stadium . We were lucky enough to get to make the video for the insanely huge screens that wrapped all around the stage. We enlisted the help of 5 directors, a slew of animators and plenty of camera crew to create clips and loops that were played for 2 nights, over 23 songs to 90,000 people. The show was taped by the BBC so there should be some awesome footage arriving soon. More to come as this story develops.
Second - Our "About BEF" video won the Award of Excellence for Creativity & Originality from the 2008
Accolade Video Awards . It gives us great honor to be recognized by the Accolades. We will now conclude this news transmission to return to the mirror and continue our rigorous self-congratulating.
The Reign of Kurt / New Office (4-16-08) There is a lot going on for us right now. I think most of these news updates start like that. I guess I only get inspired to write here when we are extra busy.
Unfortunately I'm going to have to be a little secretive, as many of the projects are in production or negotiation - and you know what happens when you talk too much about things before they're actually done. I will say that our website is undergoing a big (overdue) update right now and as soon as it's done, we will have even more videos to upload. Which is good.
Our boy Kurt's video for
Silence by Olivia Broadfield is now in regular rotation on VH1! So that's awesome.
Also in Kurt-related news: his video for
It's About Time by
Barcelona was recently a featured video on MyspaceTV. So that's awesome too.
So in summation: Kurt = awesome. Kurt's videos = awesome. My communication skills = awesome.
We have moved in to our new
office and we are the happiest people in the pacific northwest. If you are able, please stop by and bring us lots of office-warming gifts. Like tons. Seriously.
Having our new office means having a FAX MACHINE, which you should take as an invitation to send us random, nonsense faxes. Some sort of prize will be awarded to the sender of the wildest fax. The contest has no official end date or promise of an actual prize. (503)-764-9914
I should probably stop before this "news" posting becomes any more embarrassing. Adios for now.
COLIN! etc. (10-11-07) So this is long overdue but, we would like to announce the arrival of the newest member of Sandymontana - namely one Colin Brown! Colin joins us as a producer, mover, shaker, butcher, baker and candlestick maker. Colin comes to us with an impressive background in production spanning feature film, television, commercial, and documentary. His personal focus is on creating media that promotes social awareness, as well as entertains. He has got some big ideas for Sandymontana and for the world. Watch out.
Remember those music videos we mentioned Kurt working on? They are finished and look...well, beautiful. We will be posting them to our site soon, but in the meantime watch Echo Helstrom's "Hungry Ghost"
here and "You're Everyone I Know Right Now" by The Lives of Famous Men right...about...
here . One can only imagine what will come out of this prodigy's mind next. (P.S. Thank you to everyone who attended the official premiere of the Hungry Ghost video and to
Mississippi Studios for hosting the event.)
Uli has recently wrapped production on her new music video for
Eric John Kaiser's song, "Le Puzzle". True to form turning Uli's vision to a reality was no small accomplishment - involving a warehouse, building two apartments, theatrical spotlighting and no less than 300 feet of black plastic sheeting. I've seen the rough cuts and the video is already fantastic. Come and see the world premiere of "Le Puzzle" on October 23rd at
Holocene (1001 SE Morrison St. Portland, OR 97214). $5 at the door includes a live performance by Eric John Kaiser and special guests. What a bargain!
We are pleased to announce Alec's short "I Got Shot with a Bullet" is an official selection of this year's
BendFilm festival in Bend OR. IGSWAB will be playing this weekend, October 12th and 13th. Check out their website
here for full festival and schedule information.
Thanks for watching.
Festivals, New Videos, Friends (5-29-07) Last night I woke in the middle of my slumber in a cold sweat. It's been too long since we let you know what's been going on with Sandymontana and that has got to change starting now.
Ok, this one's huge. OUR FILM,
CATHEDRAL PARK PREMIERES! Come watch the eagerly anticipated feature length film by Vincent Caldoni, a co-production between
Blueprint Films and Sandymontana. Cathedral Park will be screening this Friday, June 1st at 9pm at the
Hollywood Theatre (4122 NE Sandy Blvd. Portland, OR 97212). Tickets are $7.00. This film is so good that the Salem Film Festival had to invent a whole new prize (Winner - Northwest Emerging Artist) to honor it. This film is so good, after playing at the Longbaugh Film Festival the theater asked to keep it running for an additional two weeks. The point is: don't play yourself, come see this movie.
Kurt has been working overtime approaching bands and making music videos. He currently is working on new videos for two bands. You can check out
Echo Helstrom and
The Lives of Famous Men by clicking on their names here because I made them link to their pages because I'm a genius. Watch out for these upcoming videos, they're gonna be razor sharp.
Sandymontana just completed a series of commercials for the
Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland . For those who don't know, Champ Car is an international automotive racing league. They drive open-wheeled cars like in F1 and go super fast. So if you live in Portland, keep an eye out for the spots because they're playing on TV and radio as we speak. Come find us in the stands at Portland International Raceway, June 8-10. We will be the ones eating hot dogs and covered in SPF 150.
Lastly, Alec's short
I Got Shot with a Bullet is playing in New York City at the
First Sundays Comedy Film Festival on June 3rd at the Pioneer Theater (155 East 3rd St. New York, NY 10009). The show starts at 7pm. If you're in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Boston, Philly, Virginia, Florida, Chicago or the Western Hemisphere, consider yourself booked for this Sunday night.
You can also see
I Got Shot with a Bullet in Las Vegas as part of the Best of the Art Institutes program during the
CineVegas Film Festival . Be at the Brendan Theaters in the Palms Casino Resort (4321 W Flamingo Rd. Las Vegas, NV 89103) on Thursday, June 14th at 9:30pm to see the magic that is IGSWAB.
That's it for now. See you soon.
So Much to DO! (3-18-07) Sandymontana has a lot coming up in the next few weeks, so I'm going to cut to the chase.
March 22nd - Kurt's prize winning video for the
Re-Animate The Decemberists Contest and Uli's prize winning video for the
Tropicana Fresh Take on Portland Contest are both playing at the
Hollywood Theatre (4122 NE Sandy Blvd. Portland, OR 97212) along with several short films from the Art Institute of Portland's senior class. Doors at 6:30, free admission.
March 24th, 25th - Uli's video installation "WHITE" is opening at The White Gallery (625 NW Everett St. #104 Portland, OR 97209). Come by from 6 to 8pm on the 24th and from 2 to 4pm on the 25th. You can also see WHITE at the same gallery on First Thursday, April 5th from 7 to 10pm.
March 25th - You are invited to The Secret Sandymontana Launch Party! Shhhh... Be there for free music by
The Village Green , free drinks, free admission, video screenings by Sandymontana, and
Copy will be DJing for your dancing pleasure. It all happens at
Holocene (1001 SE Morrison St. Portland, OR 97214). Doors open at 8pm.
March 30th - The
Longbaugh Film Festival will be screening Kurt's music video "It's a War" and "Fancy Time" (aka GFM - Copy Remix) by Uli and Alec at the brand new
Living Room Theaters (341 SW 10th Ave. Portland, OR 97205) as part of their Local Shorts 1 program.
March 31st - Today
Longbaugh will be screening a bunch of Sandymontana fare. Local Shorts 1, featuring "It's a War" by Kurt and "Fancy Time" (aka GFM - Copy Remix) by Uli and Alec, will screen at the
Laurelhurst Theater (2735 E Burnside St. Portland, OR 97214). Doors open at 12:45pm. Also, Kurt's music video "Happiness in Milligrams" and Alec's short film, "I Got Shot with a Bullet" are both playing at 12:15pm at the
Living Room Theaters (341 SW 10th Ave. Portland, OR 97205) in the Local Shorts 3 program. They both play again in the same program at the
Laurelhurst Theater (2735 E Burnside St. Portland, OR 97214). The show starts at 6:30pm.
It's going to be a busy few weeks. We'll see you around town.
Winners! (3-1-07) Kurt is amazing. Not only did he write and direct a wicked awesome music video for mtvU's "Re-Animate The Decemberists" contest in record time...he also won. But that's just Kurt's style I suppose. Kurt's video for The Decemberists' "O' Valencia!" is set to be aired on mtvU and on the internet on March 5th at 7am eastern. Congratulations Kurt!
www.mtvu.com/reanimatethedecemberists Uli is amazing. Her video "Splash" was just announced as the winner of the grand prize in Tropicana's "Fresh Take on Portland"! After intense public voting and a private consultation with Mr. Richard Roeper, Uli has proven again how unstoppable she is. Congratulations Uli!
www.freshfilms-portland.com Tropicana Competition (2-1-07) Our entry to the Tropicana "Fresh Take on Portland" short film competition has been selected as a pre-finalist! What this means for you is that between Feb. 16th and Feb. 22nd you better get your butt over to their website and vote for our video "Splash". If for no other reason, do it for poor Chris Herman, the star of the video who endured multiple buckets of water to the face on that cold, cold January morning.
www.freshfilms-portland.com In other news, the results from the No Exit Music Video Festival are in. Kurt's video "It's a War" was nominated for Best Editing and Uli and Alec's video "GFM - Copy Remix" was nominated for Best Video. We are very pleased to have been honored by the festival and congratulate the winners.
Festival News! (1-4-07) Both "It's a War" by Kurt Nishimura and "GFM - Copy Remix" by Uli Beutter and Alec Cohen have been selected as part of the top 25 entries to the No Exit Music Video Festival. Our videos will go on to be screened on January 28, 2007 in Hoboken, New Jersey where they will be judged and compete for a variety of prizes. Wish us luck. Check out the No Exit website at
www.noexitfest.com
