Friday 17 December 2010

Ending 2010 with a flurry of Creative Activity!

I'm guilty of being an inconsistent Blogger. So I've decided to just BLOG without thinking too much about it from now on. I did have the feeling that people might absorb my soul and my ideas (such as they are) if I spoke of them too much. But I figure you have to give to receive, so I shall proceed to be a little more forthcoming in the bloggosphere...I'm also aware that most bloggers only have about 4 regular readers, so not much is truly at stake!

So 2010 has been nonstop-exhausting from start to finish. I now live and work in Qatar (I've been there since July 2009) for Doha Film Institute, which is the best job I've ever had. I work in the Education Team, teaching new, aspiring filmmakers to shoot their first films. This year our students shot 20 x 1-Minute Films and 9 x 10-Minute Films; also 4 x Music Videos. Watching this group of young filmmakers flourish has been a truly joyful experience..

Here's my favourite Music Video of the year, which I instructed on alongside the wonderful Filmmaker Jackie Salloum. It was directed by 16-year old Bayan Dadah, and won the Music Video Competition judged by Nitin Sawnhey:


In addition to to a massively busy year teaching, and taking part in the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, I also shot a new Short Film, "TOPAZ DUO: COSMIC PHOENIX", which we just wrapped, and is a departure from my previous Shorts, being a Sci-Fi Musical, all spoken in Arabic.




I actually have to run off and do some stuff, but i feel good that i've got back in the blog saddle again....I'll be back....

(We're editing my submission for the David Lynch Music Video Competition today, so I'm a bit pre-occupied, but I'll post the finished video tomorrow on here)......Bye for Now!!! :))