More Adventures in Movies
Last night was the gala premiere of Upskirt, the 15-minute short film M. wrote and co-produced, inspired by research she'd done for an article in Salon.com. When I read the script, I thought it was one of the very best things M.'s done, so the production was a little fraught for me, although never quite so much as it was for M. herself, or the director, Antonella Franchini, and producer, Ingrid Spielman, both friends of ours, the latter of whom, with her husband, Thomas Ashelford, have a production company, Ether, which has largely focussed on broadband video and similar output (and all three of whom, along with Astrid Spielman, of whom I've written here previously more than once, form the occasional band, The Yokos, whose music is featured throughout the film).

Well, it was all worth it. Upskirt is a finely realized short, with emotional depth, humor, and sensitivity dealing with a subject not often addressed, fetishism, as well as the overall topics of desire, sexual power, and emotional need. The performances by Emma Grant and Graham Harvey, along with support from Lena Cruz and Oriana Panozzo were first rate, as were those turned in by veteran character actor Gary Waddell, and Stewart Armstrong, Madison McKoy, and Brett Danalake, all of them volunteering their efforts, as did the production crew, notably director of photography Steve MacDonald and editor Karin Steininger.

I'll come back in later and add some links, but the important one is the film's website itself (again: Upskirt-the-movie.com, which I recommend using, and not just because trying to do a Google search is going to get you in trouble at work if you're not careful). The website's got some scenes off the cutting room floor, a slideshow of stills, and the usual site material.

The movie was great fun, and our after-party at the new Hilton was a worthy celebration. Congratulations all around and many thanks for everyone's efforts.