Hi all. I wanted to bring everyone who is following this up to speed. I last posted August of 2018. Why isn't this film made yet? That's a good question. I had every intention of doing so.
Life with my daughter being in her last year of high school, single parenting and also having my son move back into the house-it was a lot of change at once. I didn't really see the space to launch a film series, creatively speaking. But then a new situation arose that made me glad that I hadn't done any work on the film yet. A new trip came into being where I was going to travel with the Being Salmon, Being Human group once more. We were to go from Ontario to Nova Scotia to North Carolina in December of 2019. Given that I sought to delay working on what I had from 2018 so that I could instead tell a broader story from this additional experience in 2019. Then I got hired to actually produce the tour. So I became busy organizing venues for a nearly 20 day tour-while keeping an eye on others that I could interview along the way. Then it got bumped into February 2020. We were going to focus on universities, larger audiences to increase the message. But we were still going to perform in some areas of Nova Scotia that represented hard fighting anti-fish farming activists.
Just this last week we received word that the funding for this trip was denied. Our donors didn't approve the grant in Norway. It was a big surprise to all of us. Shocking really. I still can't believe we didn't get it. I thought it was a sure thing. At the moment we are trying to secure funding to just get the Ontario section of the Feb 2020 trip funded on a smaller fast turnaround grant from Norwegian sources.
Another wild thing that happened is that the group was invited to perform for the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues...on the same day that our major trip funding was denied. So now we have swung our view to, at the very least, make it to NYC to perform for the UN. Funding is still imminent, but we remain hopeful. And yes, if they go...I go. With my camera.
In the meantime I have survived the last year of having school aged kids living under my roof and entered the bizarre world of the empty nester. I am now also looking after my parents quite a lot. I've also been quite busy working on a film regarding a local issue. It went quite well. The site for it is barely a site so for now I'll share the Youtube link with you.
It's doing quite well. That's a different story altogether. But I am glad that I was forced to make that film first. I have also made numerous other short works. Each one informs me of how to better accomplish what I want Salmonfolk Films "Being Salmon Being Human" to be. I am quite excited to work on it, more than ever actually!!! I just have my fingers crossed that we will make it to Ontario and then in April 2020 to NYC for the UN. To me, that would help bolster the film's message with such poignancy...
My plan is also to reach out to a large network of outdoor brands and companies to help get my work on Salmonfolk fully funded so that it is all I am working on. Full stop. I am seeking to have enough $ so that I can hit a few other locations (like Scotland) and then get to work on creating this multiple film series in earnest and also in podcast format.