“Life and the Lady” came out of the festival gate in style with a trip to Toronto on October 17th-21st! It was a whirlwind 5 days as I met with other Directors, Producers, organizers, volunteers, and film appreciators and came away with a ton of photos and videos to share. REFLECTIONS ON TORONTO: A note from Director Micha Last Dance in Toronto - Micha on the Edge Walk @ the CN Tower Being the first public World Premiere festival for The Lady, it was a great event to dip our toes into the festival circuit! The organizers put a lot of heart and passion into making sure that the filmmakers...

It has been one beast of a process, but we are nearly there! There are no less than 7 people from 3 different post-production teams working on the film now. We're SUPER excited to be making great progress working with the Oscar-Nominated Academy of Art STUDIO X VFX team on some complex sequences and underwater fixes. Just met with Catherine and Sasha today (seen in this video,) as well as team lead, Melina Cuffaro, Suzanne, Peri, and all talented students on the team....It takes a village! Specifically, and without giving too much away, Studio X (credits include Beast of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale...

ONE YEAR AGO TODAY!.....a half-crazed Producer/Director had the idea of pushing a talented, half-crazed Parisian actress into 52 degree open water at 6 in the morning. Production on LIFE AND THE LADY began, Autumnal Equinox, 2015, Fallen Leaf Lake! WELCOME TO ACADEMY AWARD-NOMINATED STUDIO X! We would like to welcome the first members of the blossoming POST-PRODUCTION crew, starting with the esteemed, visual effects department Studio X at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco! We are honored to have the fine artists and crafts people, led by Catherine Tate, Sasha Korellis, and Michael...

CONGRATULATIONS TO CAMILLE! After many hours of long hard work and study, Camille has become a certified NAUI Open Water Diver! She easily passed her open water skills, and passed the complicated written test on her first try! (something the Director cannot boast.) As we work on finalizing the lock on our pool location and completing major underwater close-ups, a special 'MERCI' to our hard working Lady! HINT: Look closely at the beginning of the video and you will see a bird chasing the fish at 20 feet below! In related news, we have submitted our application for completion funding to the Berkeley...

After a winter break and allowing weather to calm, we are back in action and ready to complete principal photography. Camille is completing her scuba training and will be certified by March! In the meantime, we come full circle and finish how we started: in the water! I am currently working with a local projectionist to create a digital .DCP file of the test footage that can be projected on a big screen. When I know what the underwater image will look like projected, I will have a better idea on what course to take with the visuals underwater. The road ahead:   In the final days of February,...

Today (SEPT. 1) marks the 3 WEEK COUNTDOWN of our first scheduled shoot in Tahoe! Five years ago, I began writing a script that was 3 pages long with nothing but water, a young maiden, and a flowing dress. Five years later (through blood, sweat, tears, actor changes, 3 script consultants, deaths, relationship endings, emergency surgery, and major writers block,) it is coming to fruition! Today, the script is 15 pages, four major scenes, and many characters stronger and larger (think the movie JAWS when Brody said "Your gonna need a bigger boat!"..... I said to myself  "You're gonna need a BIGGER...

With all the heaviness that the subject of death brings, we thought we would lighten it up a bit and show you how the main actress, Camille Grenier, is doing with her training. Enjoy!

As part of our ongoing commitment to give you the best film in the history of films, Camille has accepted the challenge of getting certified with Dive Master Jim Steele in Oakland! After the Tahoe trip, it became apparent that certification would prove invaluable to Camille's performance. With the gracious and generous support of Steele's Scuba (on telegraph ave,) Camille will be sea worthy in about 5 weeks of training.  Send her well wishes below!   A special thanks to Dive Master Jim and Sue for their continued support of this epic project!!