Exciting News!

It's been a busy week in the wild world of Lipica...

I'll be shooting an industrial next week with OmUsha Communications for NAMI New Jersey (the National Alliance on Mental Illness). It's a half documentary, half dramatization to raise awareness among police officers about how to better handle situations involving mentally ill people, rather than labeling them "crazy" and treating them like criminals. My role is really intriguing and definitely a challenge for me, but I'm really excited to work with such a talented group of people!

I recently began searching for a new apartment, and this week the hunt began in earnest *dun dun dun!!* So far...I'm a little worried about the prospects. I mean, which would you choose: the apartment with the shower in the kitchen and the bathroom outside in the shared hallway or the one advertised as a "200-square-foot studio" for the low, low price of a kidney? hmmmmm

And finally, the biggest news of all: I'm so excited to tell everyone that I am now a proud member of the bloc NYC agency family :) I signed with bloc this afternoon and I absolutely cannot wait to work with them! We may be small, but as I always say, big things come in small packages. I'm really looking forward to growing, developing, and doing what I love to do with bloc's guidance and support. Stay tuned...

Cannes Update

I know it's been a while since I returned from France, but what can I say? I'm a busy gal! Seriously though, the work didn't stop while I was in Cannes; it certainly didn't slow down when I got back...doesn't the world know to stop when I go on vacation? ;-p Just kidding.

Anyway, attending the festival was an incredible experience, and Nice/Cannes are absolutely BEAUTIFUL cities - check out the pictures if you don't believe me.

I think we (Josh Luria, Ye-Jee Kim, Elizabeth Kerin, and I) did a great job promoting our respective films in the Short Films Corner, and we still had time left over to catch a few screenings...by sheer coincidence, I managed to see the much-talked-about "Che," Steven Soderbergh's biopic (or should I say biEPIC?) of Ernesto Guevara.

Not surprisingly, I felt the film was a *little* long (read: really long) because it was repetitive at times; a lot of the second half seemed similar to the first half. However the cinematography, sound, and design were breathtaking (as was the location!) and Benicio Del Toro's portrayal of the humble revolutionary reminded me why I love acting - I empathized with Che, I hated Che, I yelled at Che, I cried for Che, I thought Che was foolish, I thought Che was a genius, and just when I thought there couldn't be more to Che...there was. The emotional roller coaster lasted the entire 4 1/2 hours.

Overall, I wouldn't change my first film festival experience one bit. Will I do things differently next time? Well, I was given a Cinephile pass to Telluride Film Festival this August as a graduation present (thank you!!!), so I suppose only time will tell...