Updates for 2014 - even though it's more than halfway over!

School is out and Summer is almost here!

I've neglected the blog for awhile. Got caught up in Facebook and the Lost In Living Newsletter. So here's a quick update about what we've been up to.

In January we filmed a short documentary about the prolific and wonderful contemporary composer, Gunther Schuller. We are just finishing that up as I write this and will be sharing it very soon.

We completed a book trailer for the talented writer, Karen Maezen Miller. It is about her third book, Paradise in Plain Sight and we had the great fortune to spend all day in her beautiful 100 year old Japanese Garden. Click here to see the trailer.

Mary spent the semester teaching at Art Center College of Design and at Loyola Marymount University. She designed a new class for LMU to teach dance students how to make dance videos. And it was a blast.

Lost In Living screened at the Beloit International Film Festival in Wisconsin, and as part of The Egg, the Womb, the Head and the Moon exhibit in the UK, and at Canon Hollywood hosted by Los Angeles Camera Women and for Expressing Motherhood in Los Angeles.

The Library Journal gave Lost In Living it's highest rating saying it was highly recommended! YAY! The film was also streaming free for International Women's Day and for the entire Mother's Day weekend. Ma and Pa Films partnered with Expressing Motherhood, Mommy Tonk (a terrific comedy music duo) and author, Amanda Hirsch to share their work for Mother's Day. More free streaming opportunities coming soon. Like the Facebook page to get all the updates. DVD's are also available on the website here.

Mary has signed on to be a Sister Wifey with Wifey.tv and is curating videos for her section of the channel. Wifey.tv is a collaboration between Rebecca Odes and Jill Soloway. You can check out the site here and Mary's page here.

The summer is full of travels to start filming the new documentary project that may turn out to be some kind of hybrid - photos, website, video, music, etc. Stay tuned! And thanks for checking in.

xo

More Amazing Mothers Who Are Artists

More Mothers and Artists You Must Meet Throughout the making of Lost In Living and as the film screens in various places I have the great pleasure of receiving letters and emails from some of the most talented, determined, resilient artists who are also mothers.  I feel quite honored to be the recipient of their very kind words about the film and their stories of balancing creative lives while raising children.  All of them have unique narratives and situations and all of them persevere in work and parenting.  I am greatly inspired by them and I will be sharing their work in this newsletter and many more to come.   CLARE KIRKCONNELL/Painter, Mother                          http://www.clarekirkconnell.com/ Born in Brownsville, Texas, Clare Kirkconnell spent a number of years in Mexico City before returning to Houston to finish high school. Developing an interest in the arts, she continued her education at Palomar College in San Marcos, California, a school well known for its art program. After college, Clare spent several years as a fashion model traveling the world from bases in New York and Paris. Concurrently, she studied acting and landed several film and television roles, including a three year run as the female lead in the highly acclaimed drama, "The Paper Chase." Never abandoning her interest in painting, Clare continued her studies at Santa Monica College and Otis Parsons School of Design. Her work has been consistently well received and can be found in many private collections, including the American Embassy in Kuwait. When not in the studio, Clare’s time is divided between her husband and son, the family wine business, “Hollywood and Vine Cellars” and a deep, abiding urge to see every corner of the globe. MORGAN NICHOLS/Writer, Poet, Novelist, Mother http://morgancnichols.wordpress.com/ http://mindthegapmotherhood.wordpress.com/ Morgan is a freelance writer, poet, novelist and children’s story writer. She loves to write about what makes us tick as creative and soulful beings. She is lit up by characters who give us insight into our deepest longings and our own journeys. At the moment she is working on ‘Stirring the Cauldron’ (working title), a non-fiction book about being a mother and keeping the creative fire and the spiritual journey alive, which weaves together content from interviews with mothers with her own experience. She is also working on two novels, one magical realist style and one that she terms ‘new age chic lit’, and collaborating with an illustrator to bring her children’s book, ‘The Lonely Oak’, to publication. She offers regular creative writing workshops in East Sussex (Lewes & Brighton) including workshops for mothers of young children to explore their experiences. Her writer/poet inspirations are Lionel Shriver, Louise Tondeur, Kate Atkinson, Jeanette Winterson, Cate Kennedy, Alice Hoffman, Bernadette Cremin, Mary Oliver, Sharon Olds, Charles Bukowski, Leonard Cohen, Mark Hudson and Audrey Niffenegger. For creative mentorship/inspiration she loves Leonie Dawson, SARK, Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron. ELSIE KAGAN/Painter, Mother                  http://www.elsiekagan.net Elsie Kagan, who hails from Berkeley, CA, moved to New York in 2005. She studied painting at Tyler School of Art (MFA) and Wesleyan (BFA), and has pretty much painted ambitious works on large surfaces from the time she was a self-taught muralist at the age of 15. Highly influenced by the Baroque ceiling paintings she observed while spending her grad school year abroad in Rome, Kagan reaches, in her own work, for a similar sense of drama and sensuous physicality -- albeit updated to a contemporary painting language that embraces surface drip and gesture. Part Ab-Ex bravura, part old-school atelier, Kagan's paintings 'foreshorten' formalistic concerns from art history's past and contemporary painting's present. Kagan's most recent works are square-format landscapes in which she manages to subsume both her love for the light of Northern European painting (Jacob van Ruisdael, Rubens) and the passing of the seasons outside her studio window. Kagan works in Gowanus, Brooklyn. NEWS ABOUT Lost In Living: DVD's are now available for sale on the website here.  Thank you for your support and for sharing this film with friends and family. Please like the facebook page here to get the most recent information and specific details about future screenings.  And if you are not a subscriber of the newsletter please join by clicking here. We have two upcoming screenings in Fargo, North Dakota and at The National Gallery in the Cayman Islands.  I will be at the Fargo screening on Thursday, June 13th.  That screening takes place at the beautiful and Historic Fargo Theatre at 7pm and the event is free.  All four women from the film will be attending as well and a discussion panel will take place following the screening and moderated  by Colleen Sheehy, Director and CEO of The Plains Arts Museum in Fargo.  Hope to see you there! Lost In Living will screen at The National Gallery in the Cayman Islands on June 19th.  Unfortunately it is cost prohibitive for me to attend but if anyone out there would like to contribute to the air fare and join me, that would be most welcome.  I'm not exactly sure of the time of the screening yet. House Parties have been popping up all over where small groups are screening the film in living rooms and having lively discussions about the film.  I offer a House Party Kit that includes the DVD of the film, an Extras DVD with an hour and a half of extra footage, a 23 page discussion guide, postcard invitations and a totebag.  I can also be available to skype after the screening and answer questions.  So please check out the House Party Kit here. As always I thank you for your incredible support and please feel free to email me anytime if you have questions or comments, you'd like to share something in the newsletter or share your work.  I love hearing from you.

Mothers/Artists You Must Meet

Mothers and Artists You Must Meet Throughout the making of Lost In Living and as the film screens in various places I have the great pleasure of receiving letters and emails from some of the most talented, determined, resilient artists who are also mothers.  I feel quite honored to be the recipient of their very kind words about the film and their stories of balancing creative lives while raising children.  All of them have unique narratives and situations and all of them persevere in work and parenting.  I am greatly inspired by them and I will be sharing their work in this newsletter and other newsletters in the future.  Here are three women who write, perform, sing, play music, photograph, collage and paint.  I hope you are as inspired as I am. ANDREA PETERMAN/Singer, Songwriter, Mother http://www.andreapeterman.com/index.html Born in Minneapolis, Andrea spent her early childhood in Minnesota, Michigan, and rural Wisconsin, and her teen years in the mountain town of Missoula, Montana. She headed back to the Midwest to attend Northwestern University, where she studied classical voice, acting, and dance, and earned degrees in music and history. Before writing and performing her original material, she spent a number of years on the stage, eventually making her way to New York City, where she used her vocal skills in musical theater and acted in theater and film. She started performing with live bands after a move to Los Angeles, singing jazz, blues, and pop standards. Her first song was written for a character in a screenplay she was co-writing with a friend. The response prompted her to write more and soon she was playing her alt-country originals in clubs and bars around Los Angeles with her band, The Alternators. Her first album, Miles To Go, was released in early 2008. Andrea currently lives in Seattle with her husband and two young children. After taking a break to tend to the babies, she is at work on her second album.   AMANDA HIRSCH/Writer, Performer, Mother http://amandahirsch.com/ Amanda's New Book Feeling My Way: Finding Motherhood Without Losing Myself http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00C5VPTR6/creativedc-20 Brooklyn-based writer and performer Amanda Hirsch was 34 years old when she and her husband decided they wanted to have a child. The decision was prompted when her doctor told her, "'Maybe' never turns into 'no,' and it only gets harder as you get older." Bam. Hirsch found out she was pregnant in the middle of Hurricane Irene, and she chronicles the stormy emotions of pregnancy, from elation, to shock, to sheer terror at the prospect of what having a child will do to her life. Like all women, Hirsch wears many hats -- in her case, the hats include artist, business owner and wife; how will she wear the motherhood hat without sacrificing other parts of her identity that are so important to her? Once her daughter is born, she is overcome with love, and documents the disorienting rush of new motherhood, while showing us how she slowly re-inhabits the other parts of her life. Motherhood does change her, but it doesn't limit her. This is a book for pregnant women anticipating parenthood, for new mothers who want to know they aren't alone as they adjust to this profound change in their lives, and for any mother who wants to remember what it felt like when this enormous part of their identity was brand spanking new. It's also a book for anyone looking for a window into how new motherhood feels, and for anyone struggling to lead a life that balances many passions.   MICHELLE JOHNSTON/Writer, Photographer, Painter, Collage Artist, Mother http://michellejohnston.net Michelle Johnston lives in Bungendore NSW, Australia with her husband, three girls, a cat called Matisse, six chooks and a very large garden.  Michelle is the Author and Publisher of Woman on the Verge - The Subject is Herself.  She is also contributing to the Arts in the Canberra Region giving Art-Journal and Creativity Workshops locally.  Michelle gave herself a 30 day art/play/mend/make challenge.  Here is her description of it in her own words:  "I am the mother of three girls under ten years.  Lately I have found myself slightly frustrated with the amount of time and dare I say creative energy that goes into maintaining our house and life.  And since the real problem is priorities I have made a big decision for the good of all.  Art/Play/Mend/Make first.  I don't know how this will effect the greater whole, most likely they will not notice or even care and I will most likely save electricity from not vacuuming the floor so regularly but that could be good for the environment anyways so yes win/win perhaps.  Anyway the point is I am fed up with my own whining and feeing mostly that I am letting myself down because I haven't gotten around to doing most of any of the things I value.  This is the plan:  Each day create/play/mend/make something.  Even if one cannot be bothered it shall be done regardless.  Do it for 30 consecutive days and no judgement, if for some reason it does not happen.  Each day keep a list of all things that fit into the above category.  Potentially post some pictures/lists of things  I have come up with.  You can join in too, you may not have the same reasons as me, that doesn't matter.  It is about making yourself happy and being subject in your life and doing what you need to do, without any excuse.  And off we go..." Check out her website to find out what she did and to see so much of her beautiful work as well as buy her book! NEWS ABOUT Lost In Living: DVD's are now available for sale on the website here.  Thank you for your support and for sharing this film with friends and family. Please like the facebook page here to get the most recent information and specific details about future screenings.  And if you are not a subscriber of the newsletter please join by clicking here. We have two upcoming screenings in Fargo, North Dakota and at The National Gallery in the Cayman Islands.  I will be at the Fargo screening on Thursday, June 13th.  That screening takes place at the beautiful and Historic Fargo Theatre at 7pm and the event is free.  All four women from the film will be attending as well and a discussion panel will take place following the screening and moderated  by Colleen Sheehy, Director and CEO of The Plains Arts Museum in Fargo.  Hope to see you there!  Details coming about the The National Gallery screening. House Parties have been popping up all over where small groups are screening the film in living rooms and having lively discussions about the film.  I offer a House Party Kit that includes the DVD of the film, an Extras DVD with an hour and a half of extra footage, a 23 page discussion guide, postcard invitations and a totebag.  I can also be available to skype after the screening and answer questions.  So please check out the House Party Kit here. As always I thank you for your incredible support and please feel free to email me anytime if you have questions or comments, you'd like to share something in the newsletter or share your work.  I love hearing from you.

Two New Screenings in Southern California

New Screenings

www.maandpafilms.com/lostinliving

BUY THE DVD

Please check out the NEW two minute trailer for the film by clicking on the link below.  

http://youtu.be/0jj2Cew7na8

Hello Everyone!

We have TWO SCREENINGS coming up in Southern California. I am grateful to Audrey Bilger, Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn and Melanie Klein for organizing and making these happen. Here is all the information you'll need to attend and spread the word:

• Thursday, April 25th, 2013.  4:00 pm. Claremont McKenna College, 500 E. 9th Street, Claremont, CA. Pickford Auditorium (Bauer Center). Sponsored and Hosted by The Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children and The Center for Writing and Public Discourse. FREE and Open to the public. I will be there to discuss the film and answer questions.

•  Thursday, May 9th, 2013.  7:00 pm. Santa Monica College, 1900 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA. Humanities and Social Sciences Building, Room 263. Hosted by Women, Action + Media LA. FREE and Open to the public. I will be there to discuss the film and answer questions. Some of the women from the film may be there as well. 

Details about screenings in New York and North Dakota will be coming soon.  

DVD's are now available for sale on the website here or just click on the button above (BUY THE DVD).  Thank you for your support and for sharing this film with friends and family.

Please like the facebook page here to get the most recent information and specific details about future screenings.  And if you are not a subscriber of the newsletter please join by clicking here.

We've had the pleasure of getting noticed and mentioned by some wonderful writers, bloggers and artists. I'd like to share those links with you below. And please check out their sites. These people are incredibly talented and I am grateful for their support of Lost In Living.

•  Rachel Power at The Rachel Papers.

•  Susan Perry interviewed me for her blog Creating in Flow.

•  Claire Thomas.

•  Karen Maezen Miller.

•  Duplex Collective.

•  Feature Shoot.

If you or an organization you are affiliated with would like to host a screening, please let me know. Maybe your school or college would be interested in hosting a screening as part of a classroom curriculum or department event. I would love to discuss it with you. On the website store page are some guidelines to organize just such an event at your school. Clickhere for details. And look under "Lost In Living" Educational DVD. Or read this:

How to Bring Lost In Living to your Campus

1)  Contacting your school's Office of Student Activities is generally a good place to start.  Each school is different, and the Office of Student Activities at your school may then refer you to another student group or academic department.

2)  You can also start by asking the department heads or professors of various academic departments in your school to inquire if there is a possibility of co-presenting or co-sponsoring the screening.

Lost In Living is particularly suited to classes in:
•  Women's Studies
•  Gender Studies
•  Sociology
•  Psychology
•  Film/Media Studies
•  Documentary Production

3)  You can also organize to have me speak with the film screening.  I normally charge a speaking fee per event but I am more than willing to work with the budgets of various student organizations and academic departments to coordinate a campus screening and presentation.  I am also available to skype with smaller groups.

I truly appreciate your help and participation. This film could not have been made without you. Please feel free to share this newsletter with friends!  Thank you.
-Mary

Spring News

Spring News

www.maandpafilms.com/lostinliving

BUY THE DVD

Please check out the NEW two minute trailer for the film by clicking on the link below.  

http://youtu.be/0jj2Cew7na8

Hello Everyone!

First, I want to thank you once again for your support and make sure everyone received their Kickstarter rewards. If you haven't yet received what you are due, please email me atmarytrunk@sbcglobal.net and I will remedy that situation right away. Many apologies for mix-ups.

Second I thought you all might enjoy some great links I've collected over the past few weeks. They are at the bottom of this newsletter. All of them are from the amazing blog brainpickings. If you don't already subscribe to it, click here to do just that.

DVD's are now available for sale on the website here or just click on the button above (BUY THE DVD). We have already had a few very successful screenings so far and more are coming up. 

The next one is Thursday, April 25th at 4:00 pm at the Pickford Auditorium at Claremont McKenna College.  Sponsored by the Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children and The Center for Writing and Public Discourse.  This screening is free and open to the public.  

Another screening is scheduled for Thursday, May 9th at 7pm at Santa Monica College. Room 263 in the Humanities & Social Science Building. This event is hosted by Women, Action + Media LA. Also free and open to the public. 

I will be there for a Q & A at both screenings and possibly some of the women in the film will be there too. 

Huge thanks to Audrey Bilger, Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn and Melanie Klein for organizing these screenings. Hope to see you there.

Please like the facebook page here to get the most recent information and specific details about future screenings.  And if you are not a subscriber of the newsletter please join by clicking here.

If you or an organization you are affiliated with would like to host a screening, please let me know. Maybe your school or college would be interested in hosting a screening as part of a classroom curriculum or department event. I would love to discuss it with you. On the website store page are some guidelines to organize just such an event at your school. Click here for details. And look under "Lost In Living" Educational DVD. Or read this:

How to Bring Lost In Living to your Campus

1)  Contacting your school's Office of Student Activities is generally a good place to start.  Each school is different, and the Office of Student Activities at your school may then refer you to another student group or academic department.

2)  You can also start by asking the department heads or professors of various academic departments in your school to inquire if there is a possibility of co-presenting or co-sponsoring the screening.

Lost In Living is particularly suited to classes in:
•  Women's Studies
•  Gender Studies
•  Sociology
•  Psychology
•  Film/Media Studies
•  Documentary Production

3)  You can also organize to have me speak with the film screening.  I normally charge a speaking fee per event but I am more than willing to work with the budgets of various student organizations and academic departments to coordinate a campus screening and presentation.  I am also available to skype with smaller groups.

I truly appreciate your help and participation. This film could not have been made without you. Please feel free to share this blog with friends!  Thank you.
-Mary

Advice about solitude from Andrei Tarkovsky:
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/03/13/tarkovsky-advice-to-the-young/
Musings about art by Susan Sontag:
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/11/30/susan-sontag-on-art/
Thoughts on the meaning of life by Henry Miller:
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/03/21/henry-miller-meaning-of-life/
And some ideas on how to stay sane by Phillipa Perry:
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/02/05/how-to-stay-sane-philippa-perry/

Lost In Living DVD Release

Lost In Living is finally available on DVD!  Go here to purchase your copy!

Here is the NEW two minute trailer:

The full-length documentary film Lost In Living is now available on DVD.  Please visit the website: www.maandpafilms.com/lostinliving to purchase your very own copy. We are offering House Party Kits which will include a second DVD of extra footage and an in-depth discussion guide. Please share this post with anyone you can think of who would enjoy this film. I am very grateful.

I spent seven years documenting and recording four women as they experienced parenthood for the first time and after children leave.  I was there when they felt the loss of creative energy, grappled with divorce, regret, triumphs and failures.

This movie is an in-depth exploration of a domain normally off-limits – illumination of private experience, events that happen behind closed doors and the unveiling of one’s most personal, private and conflicted thoughts about life, family, artistic expression and self-image.
 

These amazing women shared their personal stories so that I may share them with you.

What job entity wields the most private power on the planet and yet has no public face?  Motherhood, the world’s most demanding, least compensated job.  Where only perfection is acceptable and failure is certain.  And who are these women who become mothers even when their creative compulsion tells them not to?  Lost In Living focuses on that very issue.  This story is about feeling like an outsider and wanting to be special.  About wanting to be heard – and don’t we all?
 Lost In Living is not a traditional Hero Story.  Hero stories are great.  We love to be inspired by the long shot, the renegade, the against all odds success. But we also long to see our own more nuanced and less formulaic experiences presented to us for reflection and identification. Lost In Living is about every aspect of the complexities of living in our modern world.  Thank you for taking a look. 

Almost there...

We will be celebrating very soon...

The film is so close to being completed.  The cut we have now is very close to a "fine" cut and it is exciting.  Yes, we're still working on the music cues, photoshopping the many, many photos, fixing sound, color correcting, working on graphics and titles, etc. but the story is sound.  I almost can't believe it.  Your support, your encouragement and your connection to this project have kept me going and I am so grateful.

For those of you who have not seen the Kickstarter Page I want to give you the link because I've been posting updates about the film, sharing videos, links, poetry, photos and short clips I think you will like.  Just click here.

We exceeded the goal we set on Kickstarter and I couldn't be happier and more grateful.  Of course there's always time to contribute.  Our post-production, publicity, marketing and outreach costs also exceed the goal we set on Kickstarter -  by a lot.  You can visit the website (here) to make a tax deductible donation any time.  And if you get a second to go to the website and join the newsletter, that would be great.  Thanks.

But please know this film will now be completed because of all the support you have already given.  THANK YOU!!!

Below are the newest clips from the project.  I hope you enjoy them.  Feel free to comment, share your thoughts and communicate.  I always love hearing from you.  All the best, Mary

And the RACE is on...

The finish line is in sight and I’m not just talking about the Olympics.  I now have a rough cut of my film Lost In Living and it is because of your support and your friendship.  I am so grateful and frankly quite touched by your belief in this project and in me. 

I am launching a Kickstarter Campaign and I need to raise $5000 or more in the next 30 days.  That’s how Kickstarter works.  If the goal isn’t reached, I get nothing.  This last fundraising push is necessary to complete the editing, pay the composer, update the website, create an education guide and show this film everywhere. You can read all the details about it when you click on this campaign link:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/27218549/lost-in-living 

  

Many of you have financially contributed to this project already.  Your incredibly generous help has kept me editing this film toward completion.  Thank you so very, very much.

There are so many ways to participate in the project without sending money.  And I need that help.  Open up your rolodex or your email contact list and send the Kickstarter link to anyone who you think would be interested.  See if you can find at least five people to email.

Maybe you know someone who can write about it in a blog or an article or on a Facebook page.  Take up the message of the film as your own and pass the news about it to your friends, relatives, co-workers – even strangers on the street.

Become an Outreach Partner.  Spread the word about the film in your community, to arts and womens’ organizations.  Help us find places we can screen this film and partner with organizations that can benefit from its message. 

Most of all broadcast this Kickstarter campaign as often as you can.  Facebook it, tweet it, email it, talk about it.  My thanks are enormous.

Please sign up on the website (below) for the newsletter and continue to receive updates on the progress of Lost In Living.  There is so much more to come.

http://www.maandpafilms.com/lostinliving

With your participation and support I plan to have this film completed in the next few months.  I simply can’t thank you enough.