Among so much else, it has been a year of copious streaming: movies, series, podcasts – how would we have isolated without them?

PHOEBE’S FATHER, my 2015 film, joins the streaming fray this month. Some have seen the film during its festival run, but I’m incredibly happy for the film to now find a wider audience!

PHOEBE’S FATHER starts Friday April 30 at Northwest Film Forum’s virtual cinema for 2 weeks, as well as on Amazon and iTunes platforms indefinitely.

Grab a sliding-scale ticket here and support independent cinema.

And check out the brand-new trailer here.

Phoebe (Marie Lazzaro) is a budding competitive cyclist who has to make peace with her past when her estranged father (Lawrason Driscoll) comes back into her life. The cast also features Eric Jordan, Betty Campbell, Jenn Ruzumna, Lisa Every, Ryan Sanders, David Friedt and Sara Thiessen.

This is a project that, like BROWN’S CANYON, the cast and I developed through improvisation. We shot in familiar Seattle neighborhoods. A huge thank you to all the amazing cast and crew and musicians who contributed their talents to the movie.

Sadly, we lost Lawrie Driscoll and Betty Campbell in 2019. This virtual cinema run is dedicated to their memory – both brought richly layered work and a spirit of joy and play to their characters and to our set – I miss them both deeply.

Thanks for taking a look at the movie, and please consider rating and reviewing it on the streaming platforms and/or IMDB. You can also find PHOEBE’S on Facebook @phoebesfathermovie.

Thank you all who came to our CUDDLE launch party last Thursday – what a fabulous evening, with a sold-out house, lots of cast and crew, and There Is No Mountain playing songs from the series!  It’s always a treat to see the work in a room with a real live audience, and your comments made it clear the characters and story really connect with you.

Critic and blogger Marc Morin says:  

Series creator and writer Adeline Colangelo absolutely gets it right … Hope Shanthi has the perfect personality to take on a role like this and what she creates is a character that is ambitious, flawed, optimistic, a little misguided, and very much well intended.

This is just a quick reminder that CUDDLE is now live!
YouTube channel:  http://bit.ly/CUDDLEchannel – don’t forget to subscribe!
website:  http://cuddletheseries.com

Many of you asked what’s next – we’d love to make more of the show, and the way we’ll be able to do that is by reaching more audience, so… if you like what you see of CUDDLE, you can help by rating,  commenting, subscribing, and sharing the link. These things really do make a difference.  THANK YOU! 

We’ve had a wonderful year showing BROWN’S CANYON at festivals and independent cinemas.  The reaction to these screenings from audiences, and critics, has been heartwarming.  People have mentioned the compelling performances, the way the landscape of the Wasatch Mountains is another character in the film, and how “real” the characters feel. My cast, producers and I are thrilled that audiences find both humor and poignancy in this story of a mindfulness retreat gone awry.

I wanted to pass on the great news that Freestyle Digital Media has acquired distribution rights to BROWN’S CANYON, and the movie comes to digital screens on January 29! Needless to say, we are thrilled that the movie will now be able to be seen more widely.

The release has been featured in Variety, Vimooz, Screenanarchy and more. 

Many of you supported the production of the movie and/or followed along with us from inception through filming, post-production and festivals, and we’re truly grateful for your support and enthusiasm along the way!  If you haven’t been able to make our screenings, this is a great opportunity to see the film.  

We hope you’ll check it out, and share the movie with your friends.

BROWN’S CANYON is available immediately to pre-order on iTunes by following this link:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/browns-canyon/id1445269431

more on BROWN’S CANYON at brownscanyonmovie.com

I’ve had a blast these last few weeks working with BASH Theatre people to make a film version of actor-playwright Cristopher Berns’ new short piece Phone Calls.  This is one of the more unusual and wonderful projects I’ve had a chance to do lately, and I’m excited that both the theater and film versions are on the bill this Saturday, June 27 at 3:30pm in the final show of On the Boards’ Open Studio Series.

Phone Calls is a glimpse into the lives of five people aching for love, acceptance, and connection.  With an unconventional use of time and space, this nine-minute short piece experiments with text as a kind of musical score, challenging both actors and audience to listen in a different way.

I invite you to join us for Open Studio as BASH members and friends of BASH perform original works, including short theater and dance pieces, exploring our search for love, connection and a sense of belonging.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1592350641019718/1597193257202123/

http://www.ontheboards.org/performances/15-%E2%80%93-end-season-bash

Saturday, June 27, 3:30pm (Arrive early – tickets are first come, first served, no advance sales)
On the Boards Studio Theater
100 W Roy St, Seattle, WA 98119

In 1909 my great-grandfather Cassius Marcellus Forbes purchased 120 acres of Iowa farmland. He was a school teacher, not a farmer, and he deeded the land in my grandmother Erma’s name. Perhaps he was looking to the future, or maybe he liked having a stake in the agricultural community that surrounded him. Regardless, that piece of farmland stayed in my family for generations, even after my grandmother left Iowa. Since the 1930s, the land has been farmed by multiple generations of the same family, the Swansons.

This is how I came to meet the central subjects of FIELD WORK: A FAMILY FARM. We had no relatives in Iowa when I was growing up, so I had never had much contact with the farm. In 2008, I decided to visit the current generation of Swansons. I’d heard a lot about how we’re losing family farms in this country, but here was a family who had a clear vision of staying family-sized. Their dream, they said, was to bring their two sons back into the operation and farm as one extended family. That year, I started shooting FIELD WORK, ultimately following the Swansons through the recession years as their sons grow up and set out on their own, and they work to pursue this dream of farming together. Meanwhile, the financial crisis hit, and crop prices and expenses were a roller coaster. Unable to afford more land, the Swansons had to get creative about what direction to go. I had the opportunity to be in the field with the farmers through several growing seasons, observe their challenges and joys, and see farming first-hand through their eyes. I met and talked with other farmers in the area, bigger and smaller, as I began to put together a picture of one farming community.

Old friends Lauryn Shapter and Dennis James, the Iowa-based duo Truckstop Souvenir, joined in to create amazing, heartfelt score and songs that capture the feel of the landscape.

FIELD WORK: A FAMILY FARM debuts on Iowa Public Television this week, Sunday April 12 at 1pm statewide. I’m thrilled to bring this story back to Iowa where it all began.

Huge thank you to all the farmers and folks who took time to appear in the film, as well as to Humanities Iowa, Seattle Arts & Culture, 4 Culture and Artist Trust for making the documentary possible.

Follow FIELD WORK: A FAMILY FARM on Facebook