Suskind Film Update ~ October 27, 2005

Hello Friends!

Tim and I are still “riding high” from our wonderful experience during Premiere Week in September. We are so pleased and encouraged by the response to “Secret Courage” and we are so grateful to those of you who were able to be here during those special days.

We continue to be busy with the next phase of bringing the story of Walter Suskind to the public and lots of exciting things are happening.

I have promised to be better about keeping everyone informed about the film, so this letter is my first effort to let you know “What’s up”! I will try to write twice a month, and certainly when something special happens.

So, since September 26th, here’s what we’ve been up to:

The DVD: We are getting the film ready to go to duplication. Tim is working on the technical aspects and I have been working with our good friend and graphic designer Priscilla Sturges to design the cover and insert page. It looks great and we expect to have all the pieces submitted to the duplication house in about a week. The DVD will be created in a new format, called a “flipper disc”, with the American NTSC format on one side and the European PAL format on the other side, so we will all be able to play it no matter where we are! Our target completion date is November 21 and we will let you know when they are ready to be mailed.

The Soundtrack CD: Tim and Chris Hossfeld, the composer of the film’s soundtrack, just finished re-mixing the sound for a CD recording. Priscilla and I are working on the artwork and copies of the CD should be ready at about the same time as the DVD!

The Website: Our terrific webmaster (webmistress?) Lisa Webber (that’s her real name – honest!) has just completed updates on our site and we are planning new pages to upload over the next few weeks. Go to www.morsephotography.com and click on the link “M&M Films, Suskind Film Project”. I’ll let you know when the new pages go up.

Film Festivals: We have been researching film festivals in the US and Europe (there are hundreds!) and we have a tentative list of those we plan to apply to. We have been advised to “think big” so we have started by applying to two of the very best: Sundance (Utah in January) and Berlin (Germany in February). It’s really a long shot but, hey, why not?

We also visited the Hamptons Film Festival in New York last week just to see how festivals operate and see what other filmmakers do to get attention for their work. We learned a lot. (Special thanks to Sidney and Dottie Stiber for hosting us!) We are hoping to pick festivals located near friends (you can come to the festival AND let us stay at your house!) so stay tuned.

Community Screenings / Fundraising: Thanks to Ellen Huber and our friends at the Unitarian Church in our old hometown of Carlisle, we had our first Community Event last week-end. Ries Vanderpol joined us as we showed the film to about 85 people, had a great discussion afterwards, made a fundraising pitch and enjoyed refreshments provided by the Social Action Committee at the church. The response was wonderful – both emotionally and financially. There was also a very nice article about the film in the town newspaper, the Carlisle Mosquito (that’s the real name – honest!). We will be planning more such events at churches, temples, universities and organizations in the coming weeks.

Educational Outreach: We have talked to two organizations, Facing History and Ourselves and Discovering Justice, both highly-regarded groups that teach students about humanity, justice and the democratic process. We have meetings with representatives of each group in the next two weeks to talk about how to use the film in their curriculum. We hope that one result will be the creation of a study guide for teachers to use in conjunction with the film in their classrooms.

And finally, for those of you in Holland… One more party!! Tim and I plan to host another “Private Premiere Party” in Amsterdam this winter. Piet Meerburg has offered to arrange a date at one of his theaters and we hope to gather everyone who worked on the film sometime in February. We will let you know as soon as we are able to set a date; please let us know now if you know of any conflicts in February (holidays, events, whatever).

So, stay tuned!

Fondly,

Karen & Tim