Cheatin' Update

It's been a while since I've given you, my fans, news about the progress of "Cheatin'".  We were hoping to get the film into the Sundance Film Festival, but alas, they turned it down.  I'm not sure why, but I do know that I've probably shown more films, shorts and features, in Sundance than any other filmmaker.  So perhaps they felt I was over-exposed.

But not to worry - my office manager noticed that Slamdance had a category for alumni filmmakers (we screened "Hair High" there in 2004) so we entered that festival too.  Slamdance loved my film and offered it the opening night slot - Yeah!  It should be a very prestigious night - so our "Cheatin'" crew is flying out to Utah in January to present the film at the U.S. premiere and hopefully get some distribution for the film.

"Cheatin'" will screen at Slamdance on Friday, January 17 at 8 pm, and again on Monday, January 20 at 9:05 pm.

 You can see the whole Slamdance Festival line-up here:

http://showcase.slamdance.com/Film-Festival

And you can buy tickets here:

http://slamdance.festivalgenius.com/2014/films


My French distributor, E.D. Distribution, is now holding preview screenings of the film in selected festivals.  I heard that at one screening, the film got a 3-minute ovation - I love the French!  They didn't feel that the title "Cheatin'" would work in France, so they came up with an alternative title: "Les Amants Electriques", which means "The Electric Lovers".  Perfect!

Also, even though the film is only now entering the U.S. festival circuit, it's already won two prizes at international festivals.  So we feel very optimistic about the future for "Cheatin'" - I just hope we can break the damn U.S. distributors' prejudices against animated films that are hand-drawn, not CGI, and for mature audiences.  I've been banging my head against those barriers for 6 films and I believe that "Cheatin'" is the film to break through.

Keep checking this blog for updates on the film's progress -

Bill