Shinsedai Special Report #1

Hey folks, Coffin Jon here.  As you may remember hearing in Episode 8, I am making the journey from the VCinema base of operations here in the San Francisco Bay Area to the Great White North for the Shinsedai Cinema Festival 2010.  Of course, me going to the festival entails that there will be full coverage via special podcast episodes as well as on our primary Twitter feed and Facebook page.  That, of course, leaves this blog which recently has just been used as a depository for our podcast episodes and not necessarily what it was meant for: reviews, coverage, and general writings.  So here I am, using this blog as my official ™ Shinsedai Festival Diary.  Enjoy.

I have attended many film festival screenings and events in the Bay Area both as general audience and “press” (a term which I use loosely; I’d much prefer “mega fan with a blog”), but this is admittedly the first time that I’ve traveled for one.  Of course, traveling to Canada, to be specific, Toronto,  is not exactly the most challenging of adventures for a fellow North American, but I still can’t help but be a little excited.  First off, being able to see so many great sounding movies and shorts, meet and hang out with so many new friends I’ve made producing VCinema, and getting to stay with Shinsedai head honcho, Chris.   We’re going to make one rag-tag family out there, that’s for sure.  And, of course, Canadian beer!  One of my secret missions will be to locate some Picaroons Best Bitter which is sort of hard to find here in California.

With all of the basic details of air tickets, passport, and accommodations out, thought is now being put into coverage, namely what to cover.  Of course, reviews are certainly going to be in order and I have two interview promises from filmmakers Momoko Ando whose debut feature, Kakera: A Piece of Our Life is the kick-off film and Yasunobu Takahashi another director whose debut feature, Locked Out, is in the festival.  Beyond that, I’m not sure what else we will have since it’s certainly the case that carrying a recorder around can be both cumbersome and intrusive.

With that said, we should plenty of coverage for at least a couple of bonus episodes so stay tuned!  The next time you should hear from me is when I’m on “the other side”.

For more information about the Shinsedai Festival including ticket sales, go here.