I knew y’all were smart, but C’MON!

So I’ve been on a national tour for a month now, university hopping and talking to people about issues related to Asian eyelid surgery and topics explored in the film. It’s been an incredible experience akin to what I imagine being in tour as a musician might be like, or perhaps campaigning as a politician, only considerably less duplicitous and fundamentally more sincere. Ok, so I’m a lot jaded when it comes to the political machine. So let’s hear it for change!

What has become quite clear is that there are quite differing opinions about eyelid surgery: the motivations & influences, what it means, its effects, its derivations. But what’s also clear is that everyone seems to be very interested in the topic and eager to discuss the issues as it affects the Asian American community as a whole and more specifically, how we perceive AA women and we are perceived.

After three years of toiling away at this film, scrimping and saving, alternating between crawling into a fetal position under my desk and whimpering quietly or screaming into the wind while being talk off my eighth floor terrace ledge by my brilliant, grounded, life-saving co-producer, Ted Robinson (countless times, sadly), these moments of talking to university students have made it all worth it.

The vision I had of wanting to use the film for a springboard for discussion, desiring to use the film to open some doors in our community and beyond has come to fruition in some small way and to each of you out there who has come to the screening at your university because you happen to pass by a random Kinko’s xeroxed flyer haphazardly taped to your dorm bathroom door, from one tiny, poor, exhausted independent documentary filmmaker from Brooklyn, New York, you have my eternal gratitude.

Until next time, thanks for tuning in…

Thanks and earmuffs, for pete’s sake…

Regina.

Ok, so we have cool news. This is good, like “wake up on Christmas morning and find your house not broken into and ransacked by the crappy burglars who’ve been casing your way-too-trusting house for two weeks” – this is even better, this is like getting to sleep in on Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa morning, spending the holidays with your family who’ve all taken their meds and are all on their best behavior, including the children and your mother who’s not criticizing you but telling you how beautiful your hair looks as you eat the scrumptious fatty-fat-fat brunch that your husband has prepared which doesn’t taste 0 calorie but somehow is calorie-free, and magically transforms your butt into that of a supermodel’s and your face to look as radiant as any Hollywood starlet’s.

This is way better.

After three years of stress-induced nighttime teeth-grinding and lots of enamel-endangerment, we have sold the film. NEVER PERFECT has sold its non-theatrical North American rights to Cinema Guild, a distribution company based in New York City. You, your company or institution can have a screening, purchase the film on DVD or find out more information here.

We also sold the film to an independent television network called MHz Networks for an air date soon to be announced. So that means you can watch the film on your cable station?  Wha-?

Holy mac, we’re excited...A lot of times.

And now I’m trying to beat the bushes for interest in scheduling a university circuit of speaking engagements to present and discuss the film. I have a few confirmed already on the west coast for late Jan/Feb and the northeast for late Feb/Mar, and I would love to schedule some in the Midwest for Mar/April.

I’m sure my musician friends who are on tour are accustomed to doing this all the time, but I really am a novice, so I need as much help as I can get. If you are in college or know people in college who run student organizations, have contacts in academia who might be interested, have a dog who is matriculating, anything, feel free to pass my information along (regina@neverperfectthemovie.com). I would love to get in touch with colleges and universities out there to arrange workshops, panel discussions, screenings with Q&As and/or visits to classes (e.g. Asian American studies, women's studies, psychology, anthropology, history, sociology).

I can’t thank you enough to everyone who has been supportive and interested in the film, or to those of you who bumped into the website by accident looking for hot Asian porn but stayed because you were interested and maybe saw things from a different perspective and hopefully learned something in the process.

Happiest of eggnog sipping and pipedreams!

Thanks for tuning in…

Regina.

So the film is out there. I mean really out there.

People have been writing about it, commenting on it, blogging about it, referencing other peoples’ blogs about it in their blogs…It’s incredibly exciting that people are motivated enough by the film and its subject matter to publish their thoughts about it. That really makes all the frustrations, trials and rejections completely worth it. And there were many, many frustrations. That was my intention when I set out to make the film in the first place – to use the film as a springboard for discussion to get people talking about these very difficult issues.

The strange thing about making a film and putting it “out there” is that feedback means so much because you want to know that you’re reaching your audience and that you’re getting people to think and talk and best case scenario, to act. I’m not talking about feedback in terms of validation (although if I were brutally honest, there is a tiny bit of my former pathetic, awkward high school girl still inside me dreaming about finally being recognized as the rightful heir to the homecoming throne because I’m secretly a rock star in an ugly duckling disguise); I’m talking about reactions to the exploration, to the discussion taking place in the film.

So I want to hear from you: post a comment on the blog page or the discussion forum page, or email me at regina@neverperfectthemovie.com. I’d love to know what ya’ll think about these issues.

Meanwhile, I’m in pre-production for my next documentary feature film which will be about the war on HIV/AIDS in Thailand. We’re going in November to scout and will be shooting hopefully soon after that. Check in to these side pages soon and I’ll have some pictures and more information about the film.

Thanks so much again for tuning in. You’ve made my homecoming very special!

Regina.

Holy mac. 

So nothing happens with the film for....uh, forever and I'm feeling a wee bit like I got dressed up for prom with a big froofrey dress and realized that I hadn't secured a prom date.  So trying very hard not to feel discouraged (the plight of all filmmakers, and if you say that you never feel discouraged, sorry, but you're a big fat liar) I trudged on.

But now the momentum has kicked in on the film and it feels a bit like freefalling.  It's going to be fun, at some point, but now I really don't have the time to think about it because I'm too busy getting the film ready for a film festival in Seoul, Korea.

It really does make it extra special because it's the "Motherland" and all.  And speaking of mothers, I told my mom about the festival and the first thing she said was, "Oh, WOW!  I'm coming too!  What am I going to wear?  I have to go BIG SHOPPING!"  Bless her.

So in August my producing partner and I will be crossing the mighty seas to Seoul, South Korea to attend the EBS International Documentary Festival for the world premiere of NEVER PERFECT.  I'll post some pictures from the event, it sounds like fun.

Stay tuned for more festivals (hopefully) and more information.

Thanks and here's to being able to wear your prom dress after all ~

Regina.

Wow.

Ok, so it's been another long while since I've written.  I don't do this blog thing very well.  I know there are dedicated bloggers out there who do it every day ~ and quite frankly, I really don't think anyone would care about what I would have to say every day.  Except maybe my mother.  And even then that's a stretch.

So the last time I checked in, I was scared stiff about speaking at this conference in Los Angeles.  It was fantastic ~ it was a small, intimate group of journalists who happened to be all women (just by coincidence, I believe), who seemed very interested in issues of beauty ideals, cosmetic surgery and my subject grappling with her racial identity.  It was so energizing watching a live audience watch the excerpt, I completely forgot about throwing up from anxiety.  Thanks to all the incredibly insightful, intelligent journalists who made my heart race with giddiness.

The other great news is that I've signed with a worldwide sales agency.  They're an amazing New Zealand-based company (love her accent), not too big which is important, and the Managing Director is this fantastic woman who really gets my film, she understands the complexity of the arguments.  So I'm wicked excited since the chances are much better for the film to be seen with her behind me.  Check out NEVER PERFECT's profile here.  They rep amazing films, including "The Blood of Yingzhou District," which just won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject.  Holy mac.

So I'll be in a mad rush to finish the film and get it out the door.  Please send me all the good karma you can spare, I'd really appreciate it.  I promise to try not to be such an angry New Yorker in return.  Not that it's a tit for tat thing.....but I need all the help I can get.

Thanks for tuning in.

Until next time ~

Regina.