Camerado Movie and Media Production

Another item from the menu of a neighborhood restaurant here in Phnom Penh: DUMBLINGS. Mmmm! Gotta love them dumblings! Anyway, looks like the land grabbing doc has been greenlit by the NGO, they want to shoot in later May; until the paperwork/contract is signed though (see the former post re: HD Cinema 10) I will remain healthily skeptical. But it does seem solid, and today in fact we shot an hour of interview material with s noted social anthropologist who was discussing the effect of land alienation (land grabbing) on local indigenous communities. The efect being, not good, in many cases seriously and critically disrupting the communities. Soon hope to get the Susan hero tapes here in Phnom Penh, at whih point I'll have to aquire the case of a Firewire HD, might have to locate a chepa one on Ebay. Then, will try to scrape together enough for a 250G HD and I'll hpefully be in action with a very rudimentary editing setup. Moa later. Busy days, hot days, powere outages lea...

Another scorcher today in Phnom Penh; the Mekong river coils lazily downstream, past boats that look a thousand years old, families tending crops on the far side of the bank. Anyway, this is the letter I wrote to the CEO of Rainbow Media, Joshua Sapan . Rainbow Media Holdings owns HD Cinema 10, the company that unethically went back on their word during the recent "near"TV sale of BookWars, mentioned a blog ontry or two ago. I thought I'd post it here for educational use--please note that neither Mr Sapan, nor Kelly Devine (the buyer from HD Cinema 10 who pulled the deal) nor anyone else from Rainbow Media or IFC or HD Cinema 10, did reply: ===================== 11/30/04 Rainbow Media Holdings, LLC attn: Joshua Sapan President and chief Executive Officer 200 Jericho Quadrangle Jericho, NY 11753 Mr. Sapan, Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jason Rosette, I'm an independent filmmaker (please see www.camerado.com) who had recently entered into a broadcast ...

Have just returned from the long awaited and absolutely necessary Visa run to Poipet, border of Thailand where I finally secured my Cambodian business Visa. What a hassle, but at least I got it done and now can extend indefinitely. There's a bit of a story that goes with the Visa, but first I have to write about my newfound Mojo, because it's more important to document this and I have to fucking write it first: My Mojo is back. I may have only $400 to my name right now , but I don't care I am going to fucking regenenate myself and build an edit station and I am going to start cutting Susan Hero myself, ASAP. I have my fucking mojo back and I am going to tear water buffalo from their bony skeletons with my bare feet...I will eat a cake of dust and bleed my stumps dry on all the landmines in the hills of Pailin; I will shower my living sperm over the humps of all the temples in Angkor before the yawning, gasping flocks of monks; I will bewitch the last wild elephant of Mondul...

Yes, that's right folks. I'm officially able to stay in Cambodia indefinitely thanks to the new Business Visa, granted to me by "my best friends" at the Cambodian border! All I need to keep renewing is....you got it.... CA$H . But i't's easy, just take your passport with Business Visa inside, $150 bucks for a six month extension, and head over to Lucky! Lucky! motorcycle shop, where they also specialize in Visa matters. What sort of business do I intend to conduct here in Cambodia? Well, maybe more of the same -- teaching, hanging out with beautiful girls (since dates are so cheap here: .50 cents for a Coke and they're satisfied, which is great on my salary!). BUt most of all I want to get back into SHOW BUSINESS: to somehow start the final edit of Susan Hero, maybe even put together a Vampire movie I'd like to shoot here. More later, but it's great to be back to (generally) paved streets again!

Thought it was worth mentioning this for various reasons: way back in October, when I was scraping by in New Mexico after shooting our next road movie, Susan Hero, which features great native American talent, and great new actors all round, I was very very low on money. **I say this is worth mentioning so that any emerging or established filmmakers can take note of this situation and try to learn from it** (Thus started the cycle which I now am climbing from, the very challenging situation which is described in such detail in HURRICANE --the uncut version of this blog/diary, which started in Oct 03' when I first set out to make the picture.) Anyway, one day, out of the blue, and having been petitioning the universe for some deus ex machina to boost the finances and stop the slow downward financial spiral, I got a call from Kelly Devine of HD Cinema 10, the new HD channel headed by IFC, part of Rainbow media. She said they wanted to aquire BOOKWARS for their channel! After much dis...

My guts are starting to boil...I can hear stranges noises coming from them, sounds like the bubbler of a fishtank. The rule of thumb here in Cambodia is: "if you see a bar of soap, use it". But no mater how careful you are, you're bound to pick up some kind of bug, and I've found that it's often not a matter of IF you have the runs, but TO WHAT DEGREE you have the runs. Feeling blue because the hilltribe doc is on hold, hasn't been cancelled outright, but they're waiting for money to come through from the EU and that means delays, delays, delays. Fuck. True, I'm successfully building up an alternate skill set here (teaching), but I also want to be workin gin my primary field (film/video) as well, and it's frustrating. Another thing that's frustrating: low on money. Down to my last $500 to my name, and while I'm accountable for my choices, some of them were made under some degree of compulsion. Ie, do you want to continue sleeping in your ca...

On the moto, as I rode to work this morning to teach the officer from the Minister of economics, swerving through traffic to avoid the Landcruisers which are driven with impugnity by former Khmer Rouge bigwigs...I noticed on the power line up ahead, a bushy tailed squirrel prancing across the busy road far overhead. I felt nostalgic, a little, for the old squirrel days back home in Ohio, back in the days of tree forts and Halloween. Our trees were full of the paunchy rodents, who'd nimbly claw their way from pole to pole along the high tension wires. "Hey...that's no squirrel" No, it wasn't. It was nothing less than a bare assed monkey, clever and determined, balls drooping off his mangy hide, trying to make his way across the great Russian Boulevard. He made it across and stopped to rest at a grubby, battered cement pole which supported the wires. He clung to it grimly, halfheartedly, as King Kong does in his final moments (watch the movie to see what I mean) ...

Just received the rough cut of Susan Hero, via poste restante, at the Phnom Penh post office. So far, so good: a little long and the pacing needs to be tightened, but the editor, Giacomo Ambrosini, has put in a lot of effort to make this the best cut yet--have't watched it all though (very long--2 1/2 hours!) but so far things seem promising. However, G (Giacomo) has a problem with the firewire bus on his computer, and from this point on we're a bit stalled until we can get our equipment situation sorted out. Ah, if only I were a minority filmmaker, not a rich white man, then I'd surely have access to more grant money. Or if I were a woman, or a "person of color". Or if I were ethnically connected, like my Irish and Jewish friends. (not a joke or being bitter: it's true) "What're you talking about, you're a rich white dude from the suburbs." "Oh...yea...I forgot...uh, right." (he says as he eats another handful of rice from the co...

Everyone picks their nose in Cambodia; if you don't when you arrive, you will gladly adopt the habit. You'll soon find yourself probing a nostril with a gentle, wayward backhanded gesture, as naturally as Samba the elephant tosses a bucket of husk-filled turds as he passes by on Sisowith Quay, back home afgter a day of work at Wat Phnom giving elephant rides to tourists. Yes: you'll find the lovliest ladies, with the tightest and most delicate figures, scooping gently at their nose-holes with pretty sculptes nails while they bat their eyelashes at you. The object of the hunt is found within the act of digging itself; any gems which are found are not eaten or even examined, rather, they're tossed cavalierely aside as a fisherman might catch--and then release--a rainbow trout. He fishes for sport. And so do they!

Still waiting to hear about the hilltribe documentary; in the meantime, the villagersa re being harassed by the local police and Cambodian government. Susan Hero, our New Mexico road movie, seems to be on hold due to unsolvabel equipment problems. Need more cash, and it's slow to generate... Thus, an appeal to any readers who want to contribute to our latest effort, the road movie Susan Hero: Visit our website at http://www.camerado.com/popes.html to find out how you can assist our second feature by becoming a Pope of Camerado! Thanks from afar, JR

Here it is, the short demo doc we produced for the NGO regarding land alienation in Ratanakiri province, Cambodia: http://www.camerado.com/media/ratanakiri_small.wmv **The good news is: they liked the short and we are now discussing the details of a longer, commissioned piece--negotiations under way, I'll announce it here when things are official!**

Just thought I'd add this while I remembered: ***"BEEF-TRIP WITH CHEESE FISH"*** ...it was listed in the menu the other day up in Ratanakiri. Showed the hilltribe short demo tonight to the NGO folks; they seem positive and some figures were discussed (though no formal offer or green light to start shooting, etc). Could conceivable be starting up right away...but what about my students? Shall I get them to sell brinze Buddha heads on Ebay for me while I'm gone? Just for the record I thought I'd add that I'm not living large. In fact, finally moved out of the OKAY guesthouse, across the street to a house that I'm sharing with two Ducth guys and one of theior Khmer wives, they run a travel shop downstairs. Although I'm just renting a room ($100 per month with attached bathroom--would be $800 bucks per month or more in NYC excpt for the cold water), and this is my first place, my own first autonomous place I've had since w finished shooting Susan Her...

Can't believe my luck these days; things seem to be DEFINITELY turning around! For example, I'm now down here at the Tuol Sleng Internet cafe, near the infamous former Tuol Sleng prison S21 [now a museum to the Cambodian Holocaust], where the Khmer Rouge held and tortured thousands of innocent men, women, and children. I'm just chillin'and drinking a Pepsi after teaching my wealthy government minister English student on the other side of town--the one who lives in a Sky blue mansion behind razor wire--and getting ready to hit Babel studios where our short demo / fundraising trailer of the Jarai hilltribes is about to be finished .... ...when I check my email to find that I have (once again!) won a MAJOR LOTTERY!!! Here's the message from the lottery president (?) , a Mr. Donald Duke--from London England: [*note, my response to him is included ] ==========>>> YES!!!! I can't f*cking believe it!!! You guys ROCK!!!! I'm already figuring out what I'...

Today, down time on all media sides as G (back in NYC) figgers out how to get the hard drives running again to tweak the cut--again--of Susan Hero. Current approach is to have him cut a 100 minute version, which will cause, I hope, a tighter, leaner cut. And the ultimate goal is to make a 100 minute version for release. None of the Hollywood people I know can perceive the emergence of this picture, I'm sure, the odd-angled way it's taken place. But you can be sure that when the picture makes its rounds on the festival cicuit and lands the frist few TV sales, they'll be patting us on the back: "Here son, have a cigar." So what's my company now that I'm still obsucre, in the raging Asian night, in the furthest Mekong reach of the lumpen Earth? Lizards. Geckos actually with flabby, fat round pawed toes, who've stakes out territories near the awful lamp which adorns this Khmer ceiling. They lie in wait for unsuspecting insects, then they'll pounce ...

Just flew back from Ratanakiri (and boy are my arms tired...wa, wa, wa). Went up there to expolore some doc ideas and meet with some NGO folks who are eyeing a potential doc about land alienation in the region (land grabbing: stealing land from the natives, it's rampant). Well, one thing led to another and after a day of shooting stills in the hills with a local Tumpun assistant from the NGO, went the next day to an even more remote hilltribe village, Jarai (sp?) very close to the border of Vietnam where hug construction companies have been slowly moving in for the kill. Anyway, shot some vide which we hope to turn around very quickly for an NGO conference on the 11th, featuring the rearely seen villagers explaining their situation in their language (and Khmer) and pleading for assistance. Spent the night in the houseof one of the family's with the Jarai -speaking guide, woke to the sound of big animals beneatht he stilted house moaning in the dawn. Even had a dream that someo...