Writing a Feature! Tree Hugger Updates! Alabama!

Why hello there!

My breakfast from the Butcher's Daughter... oh yes. Oh yes indeed.

I just ate a steamed pork bun and finished my milk bubble tea. I still have 3 Chinese pastries to eat. Oops. I just ate half of one. And guess what? It's a dessert I've been searching for for 4 years! I ate it when I went to China and have been craving one ever since. It's a coconut rice cake thing-- this one was filled with peanut. I'm literally passed out on the floor with happiness & love right now. (Okay, I lied, I'm sitting on a chair typing... but in my head I'm passed out on the floor). Oh, and yesterday I ate at a Kosher Vegan Chinese restaurant?! And then today I ate at a Vegan restaurant called the Butcher's Daughter (what an amazing name for a Vegan restaurant). I'm not Vegan... but I've been obsessed with finding Vegan restaurants this week! Ha. Yum yum.


Tree Hugger Updates

So the picture is locked for Tree Hugger! My sound designer will be working on the film this weekend and tomorrow morning I meet with my colorist who will begin working on color grading this weekend as well! So a few weeks ago Nicolas Martin sent me back the score for the film... and let me just say... I am once again in awe of his musical genius. He perfectly captured the whimsy, magic, and dark fairytale vibe I was going for. He scored my film Girly 2 years ago and since then I've been dying to work with him again. So grateful that I had the chance!

These past couple of weeks I've been researching all of the festivals I want to enter. Let me know if you have any suggestions! I've become quite addicted to film festivals. It's this amazing phenomenon of creative people, filmmaking, eating, bonding & travel.... all my favorite things in one! Can't wait to do more of that... and speaking of which:


George Lindsey UNA Film Festival Trip 

Last Wednesday I left for the George Lindsey UNA Film Festival based in Florence, Alabama. My film Girly was selected as one of 30 films from 3,000 entries! They paid for my travels & accommodations and I stayed till Sunday. I met filmmakers from all over the world: Germany, Canada, Spain, Santa Fe, L.A., etc. This film festival really focused on making the experience amazing for the filmmakers. I miss my new friends so much already. But I know we will all stay in touch and cross paths again! That I will make sure of.


First Feature

On a plane heading to LA... while on the plane I day dreamed about the feature film screenplay.

During Valentine's Day weekend I had a breakthrough: it hit me all at once what feature film I wanted to make. I knew which story I had to tell. Here's the pitch (as quoted by my boss after telling him the concept): "You're writing the Disney Channel Polygamist movie." Yeah... something like that.... But in all seriousness: I don't have a logline yet (as I'm still fleshing out the plot) but here's one I came up with earlier today: A girl searches for a classical, fairytale romance but unexpectedly falls in love with a couple.

Prepare for magic! And love! And passion! And whimsicality! The past 2 or 3 weeks I've been fleshing out the plot, characters, etc. Alongside this I've been reading books on producing & financing films. I plan on utilizing my Tree Hugger film festival tour as a financing tour for my feature. In the next few months I will start looking for a producer for my film. If you are a female film producer with some experience and are reading this or if you know of a female producer with some experience, please contact me! Or if you are an investor or know an investor who may be interested, once again, please do contact me! In the next couple of months I will be writing up the business plan for the feature.



Film Festival & Various Updates

Demons in Disguise & Girly are official selections at Starlite Film Festival which took place in Winter Garden, Florida from Feb. 26 to Mar. 1 2015. Demons in Disguise won Best Domestic Student Short.

We're Okay and Demons in Disguise are official selections at National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) located in Seattle, WA taking place from April 23rd to 26th.

Girly was named 1 of 30 finalist films in the 2015 George Lindsey UNA Film Festival in Florence, Alabama from March 5-7.

What Are You? has been accepted to the Boomtown Film & Music Festival which takes places in Beaumont, Texas from February 25th-28th!

I finished and turned in my short film for Sony! A few months ago my film We're Okay won a the All American High School Film Festival in NYC and one of the prizes was a new Sony camera-- in return I made Sony a short film.

Working on a collaboration with the awesome Grammy winning Eighth Blackbird Ensemble. Making a video to one of their songs for a live performance!

I finally got to go to LA. It's a crazy story... but 10 minutes into my Monday a couple weeks ago my job sent me on a random trip to LA?! It was so surreal. I had 30 minutes before a car picked me up and whisked me away to the airport. I was on a mission to get Morgan Spurlock his passport that very night! They put me up in an amazing hotel in Santa Monica. And then the next day I came back to NYC. Life is amazing.

About to start composing for my best friend Abbey Sacks' thesis film. It is so surreal and dreamy and magical. Cannot wait to create music for her!


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Well, I guess I better go eat the rest of my Asian snacks & day dream some more about the world of my screenplay. Sending magic, hugs, and smiles to you!
Remember: stay hydrated!

xoxo
Kira

Internship in NYC and Editing Tree Hugger!

Screenshot from Tree Hugger.

New York City 

Standing in the home I'll be living in for 3 months!

Right now I'm sitting in a nice coffee shop in Brooklyn called Konditori. How did I end up here? Well, a few months ago I interviewed for a paid post-production internship at Morgan Spurlock's production company Warrior Poets... and, well, I got the internship! Today marks a complete week of living on my own in NYC. My home (which is a crazy story that I'll have to tell you sometime in person) is located in Harlem. But, long story short about my living situation: I'm living alone in a beautiful, large Brownstone owned by some awesome actors. It is simply amazing. I am still in shock of my luck and good fortune!

So every day I explore the city a little more. Let me be honest with you: a week ago (although I was born and raised in New York... but bare in mind I lived in Nyack, NY... not Manhattan) I was 100% NYC-geographically lost, impaired, and distressed. But little by little I have learned to actually understand the Subway system...! By getting lost many times (sometimes multiple times in one day!) and by floating from coffee shop to coffee shop, downtown to uptown, I have started to actually feel increasingly confident with my travels. Can you believe it!?

It's awesome to be in a big city because already I have so many friends who either a) live here or b) are, will or plan to visit! Yesterday my wonderful friend Eden (who is an amazing jazz vocalist & is studying at Harvard) came into town and we went to the most amazing event ever: we saw a special screening of Beasts of the Southern Wild (which is one of my favorite films) where they had a 25 piece orchestra playing the score (which is one of my favorite scores!) live during the film. We were both in a state of delirious happiness afterwards because of how inspiring it was. So, simply put: NYC truly is the land of inspiring places, inspiring events, inspiring people, inspiring food.


The Internship


So my job is located in Soho right at Little Italy & China Town. When it comes to food... let's just say I'm more than happy. It's been pretty amazing to see how a large production company operates. There are so many people involved. I'd say maybe 60 people work in the office? I love knowing that everyone there is taking part in the creation of film. I've started learning how to use Avid (which has been a goal of mine for a few years now), I've done transcriptions for some of the episodes, looked for and documented archival footage, organized files, made a powerpoint for a business pitch look sleeker,  learned how to script sync... and much more. It's refreshing to jump from task to task. The hours fluctuate each days, which is also kinda fun! I think I'm looking most forward to making bonds and friendships with some of my co-workers, honestly.  Friendships are so important to me.

Tree Hugger Updates

Thatcher (the lead of the film) and I along with all of the extras!

So last Wednesday I finished shooting Tree Hugger. In total I had 5 days of production. (Well, technically 6 if you count the first day that started at 2pm and went till.... 6am... oh my goodness what a tiring, cold, snowy night!). This was actually the most amount of time I've spent in the production phase for one of my films. Three or so months of pre-production, a $4,000 Kickstarter campaign, and 5 (or 6) shooting days. It's been fun. There were some curve balls thrown in, but, hey, that's part of the excitement of making movies!

On the last shooting night of  Tree Hugger!

One curveball that was particularly crazy was the final shooting night; we were supposed to wrap on a Sunday night, but we got rained out! And the scenes that were left were all exteriors! And I was going to be moving to NYC Thursday morning! And the only night that was forecasted to not have rain was Wednesday night! So we shot Wednesday night. And after we wrapped, I got home at 5:30am. And then a few hours later... I was on my way to NYC. I truly had no time to experience the "oh my gosh, I'm moving to NYC!" feelings. For a brief window of time, everything felt so surreal. Who am I kidding- everything still feels surreal!

A screenshot from Tree Hugger.

A screenshot from Tree Hugger.

So I'm really happy with the footage we got! My crew & cast really came together to create something great. Some of the content of the film is pretty tough, but everyone was very professional so the environment on set always felt safe. The lead of my film, Thatcher Johnson-Welden, did such a fantastic job with such a hard role. Very proud of her. She's also so fun to have on set. I've been editing and I already have a rough cut. I'm fine tuning the rough cut a bit more and then I'll be sending it out to Nicolas Martin, my amazing French Composer! You should check out his work. I'm in love with everything he creates. He has scored a TV series, features, shorts, theater productions... and it's all so lovely! I worked with him once before on my film Girly. The music he created for my film... was even more magical than I had imagined! So grateful to be working with him again.

A screenshot from Tree Hugger.

A screenshot from Tree Hugger.

A screenshot from Tree Hugger.

Other Various Updates...

On December 9th I was on the National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse's "Stop Child Abuse Now" talk show where we discussed my film Tree Hugger and making art that deals with topics (i.e.: sexual assault) that people are afraid to talk about. 

Asheville's Mountain Xpress featured the Tree Hugger Kickstarter Campaign in an article.

https://mountainx.com/arts/faces-in-the-crowd-wnc-crowdfunding-initiatives-19/

Tree Hugger Kickstarter became a Staff Pick! And the Tree Hugger Kickstarter was fully funded/

Demons in Disguise has been accepted to its first festival!: MiCe Film Festival which takes place in Valencia, Spain March 27th-29th.  Thank you to my friend Claudia for making Spanish subtitles for the film! 

Demons in Disguise, Girly, and Hello From Malaysia are official selections at the StarLite Film Festival which takes place in Winter Garden, Florida February 26th to March 1st. On top of this, Demons in Disguise has been nominated as a finalist for the jury prize in it's category and will receive an additional screening in the Best of Shorts program to be held in the historic Garden Theatre. 

My 1 page screenplay "The Cycle of Sneezes" has been accepted into the One Minute Story category at The Hollywood Festival of New Cinema in Hollywood, CA from February 22nd to 25th. Unexpected news!

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Well, this concludes my blog post! Tonight I'm going to watch the SAG Awards! Should be fun! Right now I'm overly caffeinated and I'm ready to dance and meet new people and stare at the sky and make a spontaneous film. Oh caffeine. Which reminds me:

Stay hydrated!

xo
Kira

Film festival wins and pre-production for Tree Hugger!

Me as a 5 inch tall voice coach genie in the first episode "Big" of my co-directed web series Absurducopia.

Hello readers. So let me preface this with a word of wisdom to you all: this is not information generally given to the public, but an amazing thing has been hidden from us all... that amazing thing is the beverage of carrot juice. I just discovered a few days ago that carrot juice is not only delicious, but is jam packed with Vitamin A. Oh, and in one thing of carrot juice there are 39.5 carrots?! Now that I've shared that with you, let me move on to some news!

The Mini-Film-Fest-Tour

Me accepting my award. So classic of me to be covering my face because my smile is about to fall of my cheeks.

All American High School Film Festival (October 23rd-26th)

So I just went on my first mini-film-fest-tour as I've been calling it. Let me tell you the story of how that all went down... So the night of October 23rd I arrived in NYC for the All American High School Film Festival. I am originally a New Yorker (I was born and raised in Upper Nyack, NY... it's maybe a 45 minute ride away from the city?) so it was lovely to be back. The next day I interviewed for a paid internship at Warrior Poets, the production company of the amazing documentarian Morgan Spurlock. Super cool energy in that building. Hours later I reunited with my best friend, amazing filmmaker, and back-up vocalist Abbey Sacks. I hadn't seen her for 5 or 6 months... and yet that night we sang my original song "Warm Rush" in front of almost a thousand people. Cool story: my first live performance was about a year before with the same song alongside Abbey... it was surreal to go from an on campus talent show to the New York Hilton's Grand Ballroom in front of so many talented people. Here's a 15 second clip of the performance: http://www.enjoygram.com/m/838691044556180997_261366186

On the red carpet at AAHSFF!

The next day 5 of my films were screened (We're Okay, Girly, Hello from Malaysia, & my music videos Warm Rush and Beautiful Creature). That night I was nominated for six Finalist nominations including Best Directing and Best Drama for We're Okay; two nominations for Best Music Video for my films Warm Rush and Beautiful Creature (from my recently debuted CD, Confused Travels); Best Special Effects for Warm Rush; and Best Female Rising Star. So they were about to announce the final award for Best Overall Film... and at this point I whole-heartedly believed that I wasn't going to win because I had already been nominated so many times. So they call up the first 5 nominations... none of them are me. Then they announce the final nomination: they say "We're Okay" by Kira Bursky. I get slight butterflies, but still believe I won't win. But then.... I WON!!! Crazy moment. I went up there in front of more than a thousand people, accepted my award, and then the crowd requested I give a speech! I won $1,000, a new camera, a trip to work on a Relativity Media set for a week, lots of softwares, and some other things. So that was that. All high school filmmakers should enter this festival. It is one of the fanciest, most exciting festivals I've had the pleasure to attend. Plus everyone is so supportive and kind.

Mosaic Film Experience Film Festival (November 7th-8th)

Standing next to my talented best friend Abbey Sacks!

Two weeks later November 7-8th I arrived at the Mosaic Film Experience Film Festival in Grand Rapids, MI. The year before my film Girly had one 1st place. This year they paid for me to travel up to the festival to be a guest speaker! And to make life even more amazing, Abbey Sacks came to the festival as well! So we got to reunite again. AND the head of my film program back at Interlochen, Michael Mittelstaedt, decided to make a trip to the festival to support us. I hadn't seen him for more than 6 months since graduation. So they both supported me as I gave my presentation on my work since making Girly. I showed Girly as well as 4 other films (Hello From Malaysia, Warm Rush, Demons in Disguise, and Halfway). I talked about how with each film I learned so many things and I really tried to emphasize how all young filmmakers should not feel afraid.... you just need to go for it! There is no such thing as "failing." All of these "failures" should really be thought of as AWESOME LESSONS! The glass is half full, folks. So side note: this year my film We're Okay was in the competition- but I assumed since I had won last year that there was no way I could win again. So the next day, sure enough, We're Okay won first place!! So I won $1,000 again! AND Abbey won this Made-in-Michigan award plus 3rd place! So we both celebrated by stuffing ourselves with soup from the soup place across the street. It was a glorious occasion of smiles and friendly familiar faces (of whom I had met one year prior).

Cucalorus Film Festival (November 12th-16th)

Why are we all unicorns? Well the woman on the righthand side is named Leah Meyerhoff. She directed a fantastic feature film called "I Believe in Unicorns." I had the pleasure and honor of meeting her- she is truly inspirational!

Three days later November 12th to 16th I was at the craziest (in the best way imaginable) festival ever: Cucalorus Film Festival. So the past two years Filmmaker Magazine has named Cucalorus one of the Top 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World! Instead of focusing on prizes, they focus on making the experience for the filmmakers A-mazing. There are parties, events, and screenings non-stop. So they paid for my airfare and accommodations, making this trip like a retreat! I seriously met so many unique individuals and really felt like I had a chance to truly bond with them. Cool story: one night I was "baptized" in a tub of ice water. The guy who "baptized" me is Jewish. I am Jewish. And this ritual was in order to awaken me. It was 3 in the morning. What followed this was dancing and sharing ridiculous old films we had made long ago... what a beautiful night that was. I'm addicted to the vibe of this festival. It is definitely a goal of mine to get back to this fest. It is something I do not want to miss.

Tree Hugger... Kickstarter and updates!

So I'm currently in pre-production for my short dark fantasy film Tree Hugger. Before I say anything more about this project, here is the link to the Kickstarter where any contributions are more appreciated than you know:

Tree Hugger Kickstarter!

If you are inspired by this project and are interested in helping me bring this film to life, please feel free to help me in spreading this Kickstarter around. 

I'm currently in the midst of rewrites for the script as I have discovered that this topic is very hard to write about. But, alas, I am drawn towards things that are hard to express because I feel like that will help stretch me as a person and has the greatest chance at stretching and touching my future audience. Vulnerability + honesty = a more truthful film. I value truth. So if you are reading this and you happen to be or know someone who has dealt with sexual assault or abusive relationships, I am currently looking for individuals who can relate to this topic to read my screenplay and let me know if the screenplay is doing a justice to your experience and mindset of these topics. Feel free to contact me if you are interested or know of someone who is interested in giving me feedback. 

I'm scheduling meetings and rehearsals with my cast and crew. I have a really awesome group of people I'm working with. I love how each time I make a film my crew and cast quickly start to feel like a family. I'm also currently in the process of location scouting. Trying to find a magical woods has proven to be slightly harder than I had imagined... but I have not lost faith! 

Absurducopia

Since my last post, Wayne and I have created three more Absurducopia episodes! For those of you who do not know, Wayne Culpepper and I have a co-directed, co-starring musical comedy web series! Big was accepted to TOFF The Online Film Festival (November edition) and Novella Showcase which is a TV Station in Lansing, MI and Jackson, MI. Halfway was also accepted to the Novella Showcase and additionally was selected for the Colchester International 60 Hour Film Challenge Top 10 which screened in the UK, October 26th, 2014. Here are the most recent three episodes: 

Episode 3: Halfway - dissatisfied with their life, a couple orders a guru in a box. Unfortunately, he is not the guru they expect him to be.

 


Episode 4: The Antidote - a scientist tries to convince the world of a zombie epidemic on a live talk show, but soon discovers that he doesn't have as much power as he thinks.



Episode 5: Use That Talent - the owners of a "famous" cat try to make a new hit video, but the cat has decided to pursue her own dreams...

Various Film Festival Acceptances and Updates!

Girly has been accepted to the Grace Film Festival 2015. The film festival takes place April 23rd-25th in San Francisco, CA. Girly was also accepted to Embarras Valley Film Festival and screened November 6, 2014, at 7:00 in Doudna Fine Arts Lecture Hall in Charleston, Illinois.

Hello From Malaysia took 2nd place for the High School Narrative category at the The MY HERO Project International Film Festival! The film fest takes place November 22nd in Santa Monica, CA #MYHEROIFF14

We're Okay had a screening in St. Louis, Missouri November 26th. October 21st at 8:00pm there was a local screening of my film We're Okay at the Bebe Theater in Asheville, NC. We're Okay took second place in the student category at Highway 61 Film Festival (Pine City, MN)! 

Bye Bye Lullaby and Hello From Malaysia (ha, Bye Bye and Hello....) screened at the Citizen Jane Film Festival November 7th to 9th in Columbia, Missouri. This film festival is awesome- their mission is to empower women filmmakers! High five to all kinds of filmmakers of all different backgrounds, ages, genders, orientations, races, perspectives and all that jazz! The more stories the merrier.

Warm Rush was National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY)'s Film of the Week- sponsored by Volvo. Also, Warm Rush was accepted in the Music Malt Online Fest (October 18th, online). Warm Rush was named a semifinalist at the Highway 61 Film Festival (Pine City, MN).

October 13th I was interviewed about my movies and music on Living Well on Asheville Free Media (www.ashevillefm.org) from 12-1PMEST. The podcast should also be available on the website www.bobhannaphd.com.

I've been doing some freelance work. Here's a BTS video of a 9 day photoshoot that I edited together for FishEye Studios. I also have been photo assisting for them on various shoots.
https://vimeo.com/104549629

I additionally made a music video for music artist Jonathan Brown. Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ9D1oYmqlY

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So I better go back to working on Tree Hugger related things! Oh, and tonight at 3 in the morning I'm helping a good friend of mine film something.... the things you do for filmmaking! Goodness! Ha.

Thanks for reading. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of pies, pies, and more pies. Remember: stay hydrated! 

Love,

Kira

Starting a web series! Touring acting job! Film festivals!

So since my last post I've completed 3 film projects: Demons in Disguise (shown above), a children's dark comedy, plus the first two episodes of my new co-directed, co-starring, musical comedy series called Absurducopia. Wayne Culpepper and I both have many random musical comedy ideas and are both interested in acting- so the logical conclusion was to start our own web series. Additionally, lately I've been experimenting with making electronic music, so I have a lot of new tracks that need vocals... or better yet, I have a lot of tracks that want to be in some movies! Ha. We are about to start shooting the third episode starting tomorrow. This episode involves zombies. Of course. Well, it involves tubing-zombies floating down the French Broad River in Asheville... Before I give too much away, here is the first episode (originally made for the Charlotte 48 Hour Film Fest a few months ago).

Episode 1- Big: Chris tries to find his voice with a little help from Indigo the voice coach genie... but Indigo has big plans of her own.



Episode 2- ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Fail - The Musical: In the second episode Wayne gets nominated to do the ALS ice bucket challenge, amps it up by locking himself in a vat of ice at the gas station, and, well, has an epic fail: he dies.



If you're interested in seeing more and want to show us your support of Absurducopia, feel free to subscribe to our channel on Youtube!

My caterpillar costume!

So I got the coolest job ever: I am acting for Brightstar Touring Theater. I am touring all over the U.S. doing two 45 minute anti-bullying shows for children. So far I've had shows in NC, MI, KY, NJ, and PA. October 1st I go to OH for some more shows! It's been a great experience and has really stretched me. I did not know I had the capacity to memorize as much as I did as quickly as I had too! Normally I would assume that that sort of thing would be impossible for me, but I proved myself wrong. And although the process was very difficult, it has been such a rewarding experience spreading the anti-bullying message. I have been bullied and I know many children have been as well. It's important they know how to protect themselves and that they do not need to accept mistreatment.






Film Festival Travels:

I am going to be traveling to three festivals starting at the end of October. October 24th-26th I will be at the All American High School Film Festival in NYC where 5 of my films will be shown and I will be performing my song Warm Rush live at the opening night party. My best friend Abbey Sacks also got two films into the festival and is actually my backup vocalist for Warm Rush. As of a few days ago we are officially going to be staying together in NYC and performing together! I haven't seen her since graduation so it will be a fun reunion. After this fest I will be traveling to Grand Rapids, MI for the Mosaic Film Experience Film Festival around November 7th and 8th. I won 1st place at the film fest last year with my film Girly and they have asked me to be a guest speaker at the fest. They are paying for my travel & accommodations! I feel like I'm living the dream. And then November 12th-16th I will be in Wilmington, NC for the Cucalorus Film Festival where We're Okay will be screening. They are paying for my plane ticket, accommodations, and food! Again: I feel like I am living the dream. I am in awe! So happy.

Film Festival Acceptances and Various Updates:

"We're Okay", "Girly", "Hello From Malaysia", "Beautiful Creature" and "Warm Rush" are Official Selections for the 2014 All-American High School Film Festival! The festival takes place October 24­27th at the AMC Empire Theaters in New York City's Times Square.

Warm Rush is an official selection at the Grenada Afterglow Film Festival in Grenada, MS October 18th.

We're Okay and Warm Rush are official selections for the Highway 61 Film Festival in Pine City, MN, October 3rd-5th.

Hello From Malaysia has been accepted to the 2014 Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (CICFF). It is the largest annual festival of films for children ages 2-18 in the world. Hello from Malaysia has also been accepted to Guam International Film Festival (Guam, September 23rd-28th) and The International Children’s Television Festival “Dytiatko” (Kharkiv, Ukraine, September 24th-27th)!

We're Okay has been chosen as an early selection for the 20th annual Cucalorus Film Festival, November 12-16 in Wilmington, NC.

What Are You? has been accepted into Cine Probe 2015, May 5-7 in La Paz, Mexico

“Big” won for Best Special Effects after being screened to a nearly sold out audience of 650 people at the Charlotte 48 Hour Film Project Premiere.

Here is an interview Dan Thornton did with me about "Big" and "Demons in Disguise."
http://www.gigspotting.net/this-is-big.html

I have decided to start writing one of my feature ideas. Everyday my craving to make my first feature film grows stronger and stronger. Additionally I have a short film that I would like to shoot in the next 2 months. It has to do with the messed up romance between a girl... and a tree. I'll leave it at that!

I am thinking about going to a Buddhist retreat in upstate NY sometime in December for 1 week and then traveling to NYC to do some film work. We will see if I can solidify these plans!

Until then: everybody remember to stay hydrated! Woo hoo!

Summer Days

My best friend Miles Carey and I sitting on a dock in Mackinac Island.

I'm sitting in an awesome coffee shop called Spill the Beans in Greenville, SC. I'm drinking some hazelnut coffee and I'm thinking about what all of my friends may be up to. I just graduated a boarding school, and well, all of my friends are from all over the world. It's strange to think that we are all existing at the same time, but none of us are experiencing things together any longer. It's also strange not knowing if and when I'll reunite with these folk of my past. How can you love someone thousands of miles away? A text message doesn't suffice. A letter? A phone call? There is nothing comparable to simultaneously experiencing the world. It's lonesome these days without the company of my tight knit group of pals. I took them for granted at times and didn't even realize how tight we were until I no longer had them. But I guess that's life. I just wish I could experience the essence of vibrant friendship in these days of summer. It's a feeling of magic that most movies can't even capture. Being around people you love and people who appreciate the brilliance of the moment opens up for a world of much more ebullience, warmth, and vigor. It's sometimes hard to find that enchanting reality from within yourself, by yourself.

My best friend Abbey Sacks and I on the night of Halloween.

My best friend (and insanely talented singer-songwriter of The Accidentals) and I at the end of a school day.

My fantastic roommate Ivy Carpenter and I waiting for the train...

One extremely fantastic group of people that I did have the chance to be with recently was my team for the 48 Hour Film Festival.  This group of individuals is composed of best friends I've had for a while, as well as new friends who I've just recently met. This year I picked out of the hat "Dark Comedy" so I wrote a script about a polygamist goat farmer, his wives who are competing for his love, and their one young daughter who has run away from home to become a gym instructor. Here's the film!:

The main thing I'm up to right now is pre-production for a short children's film that I'm shooting next weekend (July 26th and 27th). A teenage girl's mother says she can't have a sleepover with her friend, so she decides to seek revenge by putting pee in her mother's coffee. Yummy story, right?! My D.P. and I have been putting together storyboards and in the next few days my A.D./Producer, my D.P. and I will be putting together a schedule. 

Brad Hoover, my D.P., poses as one of the characters in the top picture while we work on storyboards.

Other Various Updates

Girly has been accepted to and was screened at the 2014 Princeton Student Film & Video Festival July 16th and 17th.

July 10th Bye Bye Lullaby and Warm Rush were screened at the Josiah Media Festival in San Antonio, TX where Warm Rush actually took 2nd Place in the Experimental Category. I skyped in July 12th for the awards ceremony where they interviewed all of the winners. 

Went on a road trip to Texas. Went to my first dance club. Tried real cajun food in Louisiana. Made music. Listened to music. Fun times!

I wrote my first 1-minute screenplay. It's called The Cycle of Sneezes. Of all things I've ever written, this seems like the easiest to pull off... I mean, it's only one page! Logline: Did you know that every time you sneeze someone's thinking about you?

I wrote a screenplay about a transgender child. I really hope to shoot this sometime soon. Logline: A little boy struggles with his identity as he finds himself attracted to both the popular boy at his school and girls clothing.

I've been working on scoring some music for an upcoming film of my friend Rachel Lin. I met her at NFFTY in Seattle this past year and she actually won the New Talent Award. She is such an awesome gal. Check out her film Iceberg which was screened at NFFTY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q82aya2tetM

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Well I'm off to plotting out some crazy plans for the near future.
Have a lovely day, and always: stay hydrated!
~Kira

Real Life Begins

High School Graduate: Gap Year Begins

This past year has been an uphill battle in terms of living a balanced and healthy lifestyle. I overcrowded my plate, lost touch with my social life, and crammed in every possible project I could. There were undoubtedly oh so many rewarding moments (some of the best of my whole entire life thus far), but overall I learned a valuable lesson: one's mental state is more important than a project! There were points during the year where I didn't know if this extreme stress and anxiety was worth it, but I am happy to say that I've learned that this "extreme stress and anxiety" is not innate within the nature of what I choose to do with my time, but rather, is a self-created, self-imposed, controllable spoonful of poison. I reject that poison. Instead I will eat chocolate and drink tea.

"We're Okay" Premiered and Released

I graduated from high school a little over 2 weeks ago, and these past 2 weeks have been the most balanced 2 weeks I've had in the past 2 years. I know that's a bold statement, but I honest to goodness feel like a twisted weight has been lifted from my back and from my eyes. Did that metaphor make sense? Who knows. Ha. Well, I finished and premiered my senior thesis film "We're Okay." It deals with teen depression, sexuality, and warped body image. I am here to vouch that as a teenager the high school years can be extremely tough. We are in a society that unfortunately bites at the confidence of everyone in one way or another. The characteristics and ideals our culture values comes in opposition with the reality and truth of what it means to be a human. There is no blanketing checklist that can identify and define every person. The beauty of being here on earth lies in the fact that it is in our great and mighty multitude that we find diverse personalities and real individuals. Before I continue to rant, here is We're Okay. I hope you enjoy!:

We're Okay has already been accepted to two festivals: Mass Hysteria (Live Stream Event, June 6th 2014) and The Serile Filmului Gay Film Fest (Cluj-Napoca, Romania, November 10th-16th 2014). Can't believe I have a film that's gonna be screened in Romania?! Who would've guessed! Ha.

48 Hour Film Fest

Most of my team at the 48 Hour Film awards last year after winning Best Cinematography. We were pretty happy.

So for the 5th year in a row I will be competing in the 48 Hour Film Fest. I made a promise to myself the first year I competed (and bear in mind I was only 14 years old!) that I would compete until my team won best film. Over the course of 4 years my team has won Best Director, Best Actress, Best Makeup, Best Sound Design, and Best Cinematography. I hope to win Best Film within the next 10 years.... cross your fingers for us, ha! But in all seriousness: I actually do this competition not for the awards, but really to reunite with my crew. They have become my family and this competition becomes a time for us to join back together and create something. Most of these people I do not get to see anytime during the year, so it truly is a once a year reunion.

Team All Around Artsy does crazy things.
Wayne, producer and gaffer, did indeed fall into the waterfall.

Wayne Culpepper (my producer and gaffer) has been helping me to secure locations, additional crew, and equipment. I don't want to give anything away, but we've secured something that I have only dreamed of having the privilege to use sometime in my life. The thing we have secured... well, never in a million years did I think I would have the chance to work with one at this time in my life! I hope I've stricken your curiosity. Mwahaha. You'll just have to wait and see! The competition is June 20th-22nd. Thusly, the film will be released online a few weeks later.

Wish my team luck on the 48 Hour Film! If you're interested in seeing what my team has done the previous years, here is the one we did last year:

Other Projects

As always I am working on a ton of projects. I'll try to summarize each project in a couple of sentences:

I've always dreamed of seeing the mysterious Blue Ghost Firefly that only appears for 2 weeks in the summer in certain areas of the South. So I made a short doc of my friend Wayne (who is a professional photographer) capturing the blue fireflies on camera, along with doing a light-painting photo shoot of Miss Whimsy (that's me) in the woods. Currently in post.

I was planning on making a short doc on No Kill Nation, an organization that is trying to stop the use of euthanasia within dog shelters, but after getting in contact with a local animal rights group I just got hired to shoot a doc for them. More info to come.

I am making my own doc on these 8 year old twin "brothers" but one of them identifies as a girl already. Having a meeting with the mother tomorrow. Very excited about this one. Gender identity is one of my favorite topics.

My best friend and greatest mentor Brad (he was my first film teacher and taught me oh so much!) wrote a short story that we are adapting into a short (possibly animated) film.

I wrote a short about a coffee-addicted insomniac who ventures to a stargazing field in the hopes of escaping coffee, only to stumble upon and fall in love with a sleeping narcoleptic boy. I applied for a large grant. Wish me luck. If I don't get it, I'm still gonna make the film. Nothing will stop me. Mwahaha.

I just started taking hammer dulcimer lessons. This is random, but I recorded a composition using my dulcimer, melodica, guitar, and vocals, and it's my favorite composition I've ever made. I will probably be putting it into an upcoming film.

I've been in contact with so many different and amazing individuals in terms of internships and jobs. I never thought I would be granted so many oppurtunies and options. I have no fear going into this gap year (*note that this gap year is possibly eternal) because I have an abundance of inspirational oppurtunities!

This past November my film Girly won The Mosaic Film Experience film fest in Grand Rapids, MI. Well, a few weeks ago they got in contact with me and have offered me a job! They are going to pay me to fly out to the fest in November and be a guest speaker. This is a dream come true.

Directing Reel

I cut together my first directing reel which features clips from over 10 projects of mine! Here it is!

Kira Bursky Directing Reel 2014 from Kira Bursky on Vimeo.

Well, there are probably a lot of things I'm forgetting to mention, but, oh well. I'm gonna get back to work. So many random things to do! I love it! By the way, I'm in a coffee shop right now. What a suprise, right? At this point I think it's safe to stay I spend half of my life in coffee shops. Rather than being a coffee connoisseur, could I call myself a coffee shop connoisseur? Ha.

Love you all! Feel free to comment or email me any questions! Have a lovely day, and remember: stay hydrated!

Last two weeks of High School!

Firstly: Hey I turned 18 a few days ago! I'm an adult! So strange! So lovely!

Some of my friends and green-me on the day of my birthday!
Being green on the day I turned 18 was never part of the plan!

Secondly: I'm sitting at my favorite coffee shop in Traverse City: Brew. My nickname is Bru Bru (my last name is Bursky, which got shortened to Bur, then Bru). Why did I tell you my nickname? I don't quite frankly know... None-the-less: I graduate from high school in 13 days.

Current thoughts: I am extremely excited to pursue my "gap year." I've been reconsidering what I'm going to do with my time. The first thing I've reconsidered: I do not want to make a definitive plan. Thusly, I am no longer set on making my first feature film (and believe me, reconsidering this was a heart-wrenching process, but in the end seemed more than logical). Why? Well, my whole life has been schedule-based. I want to retrain my mind and way of life. I want to be more flexible and more able to live in the moment. The only way for me to do this is to stop planning out every minute. But: I do have some plans. The two big ones: In June I'm competing in the Asheville 48 Hour Film Project for the 5th year in row. So happy to reunite with my familew (family + crew = familew). The other plan: I am gonna move to LA for a bit. Maybe it'll be just a month, maybe it'll be for years. Who knows! I just want to experience new things and work on films and meet people in a big city. I'm from New York, but it's time to try out the West coast!

I'm looking for jobs / internships and a place to stay in LA. I'd like to move on out there in the next few months- probably sometime after August. Let me know if you're looking for a roommate... or know of a job! I'm honestly pumped to help out on anything and everything!

Other current thoughts: I am frightened. I am about to step out into the real world. And if / when I go to LA I am afraid of being alone. BUT: I know that I will meet new people and make new friends! I love people!

In other news: I just released a new music video for my song Beautiful Creature:




I also was sponsored to travel to the most amazing film festival ever and I made a VLOG of my trip:




Gosh I just need to reiterate: going to NFFTY was life changing. The experience and the way life felt while being there was so unique. Everything was so exhilarating and wonderful and I met so many fantastic individuals. My music video for Warm Rush was accepted and screened at the fest. I really hope I am fortunate enough to be accepted into the festival next year. I would do anything to go again and to reunite with these brilliantly wonderful people.

We're Okay Updates

So We're Okay premieres Friday! That's less than a week! I have been busily working on finishing up animation and editing. I am getting closer and closer, but wow oh wow! I'm nervous! And excited! And busy! I do wish I had more time, but hey, deadlines allow me to see better creative alternatives. So that's good I guess!

Various Festival Updates

"Girly" won Best U.S. Narrative and "What Are You?" won Best U.S. Animation at The Lovett School High School Film Fest. 

"Hello from Malaysia" has been selected as one of the top three entries for the "Theme" category and "Warm Rush" has been selected as one of the top three entries for the "Music Video" category at the Cresskill High School Film Festival in Cresskill, NJ May 22nd.

Girly was accepted to the West Chester Film Festival in West Chester, PA and screened April 25-27!

Random Updates

I've also been busily editing my best friend Miles' capstone film "Border Woods." For more information on this film, check out his recently successful Kickstarter project: 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1119558530/gay-coming-of-age-fantasy-film-border-woods

I've also decided to document the last 20 days till graduation by drawing one hand a day. Once I'm done with that I'll turn it into a collage and post it on here. It's been fun. And if you didn't already know, I'm utterly obsessed with drawing hands and I have been since I was 12 or so years old. 

A few days ago I started shooting a music video for my song West Wind. My best friend Abbey did face paint for me.

 

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Well I'm hungry. I'm gonna go get sushi or Middle Eastern food. Sushi vs. falafel? This is the strife that a foodie must face each day. Oh, dear life, please bless me with the ability to be decisive when it comes to choosing food! I JUST LOVE ALL FOOD SO MUCH. Food = life. Life = food? My logic is broken. Why? Because I am hungry. But that was logical.

TIME FOR FOOD!

Wish me luck with finishing up We're Okay! 

Love, 

Kira