Doing the Cannes-Cannes with Cerise!
It’s been about three weeks now since Team Cerise (myself, Marinell, and Camiren) has [...]]]> A brief update about Cerise’s trip to Cannes Film Festival, backer DVDs, and our three nominations at this year’s Staten Island Film Festival!

Doing the Cannes-Cannes with Cerise!
It’s been about three weeks now since Team Cerise (myself, Marinell, and Camiren) has been back from the 64^th Annual Festival du Cannes on the always sunny French Riviera, where we were supporting our Josh Kermes and company at the Cannes Short Film Corner.

Unfortunately, the Corner was the part of Cannes that received the least amount of sunshine.

I won’t say much about the trip here, but in short, as far as experiences go, it was an experience to remember and to learn from. If you would like to read up in much more detail the exploits of our travails at Cannes, check out my post on Film Threat (re-posted courtesy of Film Courage.)

Backer DVDs Are Our Top Priority!
Crunch time! I’ve sent off the Cerise master DVD off to my good friend, Cerise Executive Producer, and co-owner of Triple Ace Productions Gregory Colletti so that he and his partner, my equally good friend Louis Affortunato, can get our DVDs done. The box art should be sent by the end of this week; Marinell is hard at work on putting that together (amidst myriad other marketing duties!) Then we’ll be mailing them away in late June/early July, so backers, please make sure that you’ve included an address on our IndieGoGo page or we won’t be able to mail ‘em out to you.

And the Award Goes To…
Despite a few rejections received from some film festivals while we were in Cannes, we also got word of some stupendous news: Cerise has been nominated for not one, not two, but three awards at this year’s Staten Island Film Festival (SINY for short––Best Short, Best Cinematography (nice goin’ Alain Aguilar!) and Best Actor (good stuff, David Arkema!)

Cerise will be the fourth film I’ve had screened at SINY (Perfekt screened there in 2008, and Ryan Mooney’s Something About Ryan and Lou Affortunato’s The Welcoming screened in 2009), but this is the first time one of my own films has been nominated for anything, so this is not only a milestone for Cerise, but a milestone for myself as a filmmaker, and I am super-stoked about it!

So mark your calendars, New Yorkers––Cerise screens at SINY on Thursday, June 9 at 10pm. Hopefully we’ll see a bunch of you there showing off your true color.

The Third Crusade Has Begun!
Well…unofficially, at least! This past Thursday, Alain and I had pleasure of being interviewed on Film Snobbery – LIVE where we chatted candidly about Cannes, shooting Cerise, and the nominations we’d received. Later on that night, Marinell and I saw that Cerise had received a contribution from our wonderful friend Michele Simmons! She’s proudly sponsoring our submission to the Calgary International Film Festival! Thanks so much for all your support, Michelle, and welcome to the Cerise Table (and yes, it’s Round, too!)

The Road Ahead
While I recover from the expenses of a two week trip to France, we will still (somehow!) be submitting Cerise to CIFF and some other film festivals across the globe. We also plan to officially launch the Third Crusade for Cerise in the weeks ahead, asking once more for your support in the form of love and dollars to help us spread the word that took Josh Kermes down. See you next time!

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Maroon [muh-roon] noun 1. dark brownish-red (from Dictionary.com)

Thanks to a handful of wonderful Film Festival Crusaders Brendon Fogle, Marcella Selbach, Marinell Montales, Kerry Wilson, Gavin Ap’Morrygan and David Ulery.

In case you might be wondering just what the heck a “Crusade for Cerise” actually is, here’s the lowdown: Film festival [...]]]> It’s official! The Second Crusade for Cerise has come to an end!

Thanks to a handful of wonderful Film Festival Crusaders Brendon Fogle, Marcella Selbach, Marinell Montales, Kerry Wilson, Gavin Ap’Morrygan and David Ulery.

In case you might be wondering just what the heck a “Crusade for Cerise” actually is, here’s the lowdown: Film festival submissions are costly, so the Team and I have been reaching out to all our family, friends, and our followers on Facebook, Twitter, and beyond to cover the cost of a festival submission fee. By doing so, you get knighted with the title “Film Festival Crusader” and get a cool Cerise sticker featuring artwork by Jersey City artist Matt Caputo, as well as a personal thank you card from me!

So far, and thanks to all of our Crusaders from the First and Second Crusades, we’ve been able to submit Cerise to almost 60 film festivals worldwide! 60 festivals! And already we’ve been invited to screen at EgoFest, NYC Downtown Short Film Festival, Bergenfield Film Festival and Staten Island Film Festival! Four fests! This is truly an exciting time for our little tale of about a former spelling bee champion who’s haunted by the word that took him down!

Sound like something you wish you’d taken part in? Well, don’t be too bummed that the Second Crusade is over––we’ve got a Third Crusade coming your way soon, so stay tuned to the website, the Cerise Movie Facebook page, and watch for updates from myself and Marinell on Twitter!

We’ve got B-I-G news: Cerise is going to Cannes!!

Now, before you get too excited –– it’s not the Cannes Film Festival proper (I didn’t submit to them this [...]]]> Un mise à jour courte —er, I mean, a short update about Cerise, including our latest festival acceptances, rejections, and upcoming screenings for April and May.

We’ve got B-I-G news: Cerise is going to Cannes!!

Now, before you get too excited –– it’s not the Cannes Film Festival proper (I didn’t submit to them this year!), BUT Cerise will be part of the Cannes Short Film Corner at Cannes Film Festival from May 11 until May 22. Marinell and myself are doing our very best to actually fly to the French Riviera, since it’s obviously a wonderful place to network, get Cerise seen by programmers and buyers, and rubbing elbows with the Weinsteins of Hollyworld. More details to come!

FESTIVALS! FESTIVALS! FESTIVALS!
Speaking of wonderful, we’ve got more wonderful news. Cerise has also just been invited to screen at Bergenfield Film Festival on Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) starting at 7pm! So mark your calendars if your closer to Bergen County than Cannes, ’cause I’ll hope to see some friendly, familiar faces there (and afterwards, we can all go out for some margaritas to celebrate Mexican independence, American-style!!)

And if you’re more of a New Yorker, well, as you may already know, you can check out Cerise when it screens alongside the Tribeca Film Festival at the NYC Downtown Short Film Festival, happening on Tuesday, April 26th at 8pm.

Get your advance ($12) tickets here: https://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=7TH6

“OFFICIAL REJECTION” (or “UNOFFICIAL ACCEPTANCE?”)
With acceptance of course comes rejection, and Cerise has just been rejected by the Cannes Independent Film Festival and the American Pavilion Showcase at Cannes. Getting into either of these film festivals (which would’ve grated Cerise a theatrical screening during the Cannes Film Festival) would have been more incentive to go into some steep debt with a trip to France. But in truth, not ever having to utter the words “What if…?” is incentive enough, I think!

…BUT THE GLASS IS ALWAYS HALF FULL!
With now over 40 film festivals submitted to, I’m hoping Cerise keeps up its momentum. When I submitted my last film Perfekt, it took over two dozen rejections before getting the first acceptance. With Cerise, we’ve got more acceptances than rejections, and that’s hopefully a good sign of greater things to come!

BECOME A FILM FESTIVAL CRUSADER TODAY!
Our Second Crusade for Cerise is not over yet! If anyone wants to help out Cerise by sponsoring a film festival, please go to https://cerisemovie.com/support-cerise/festival, choose a festival and click that “Donate” laurel today; these submission fees can be quite costly, y’know, and your help is most appreciated (AND, you get a cool sticker Cerise sticker as a thank you!)

STAY “IN THE KNOW”
with up-to-the-minute updates about Cerise on our Facebook page!

Follow me or Marinell on Twitter for up-to-the-second updates on Cerise (and our daily goings on) on Twitter!

Have a great month everyone! Spend it (and spell it) correctly!

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Burgundy [bur-guhn-dee] noun 1. French, Bourgogne a region in central France. 2. wine, of many varieties… 3. red wine with similar characteristics made elsewhere. 4. a grayish red-brown to dark blackish-purple color. (from Dictionary.com)