Individual Artist Project Grant FY21

At the most prosaic level, monies raised for this project supported local businesses, as well as local cast and crew. Local cultural contributions are arguably deeper and more significant. Production collaborations with local artists like Magic Smelt Puppet Theatre, Northern Acrylics, The Denfeld HS theatre department, Design EYE Q9 (Duluth's only African-American owned design studio), Blowpop Media, Lake Effect Studios, Death Calm Studios, and Zinema/Zeitgeist (among others) lead to an interpenetration of ideas, insights and visions. We also provide internships to community students and work outside our projects to advance the careers of area filmmakers with production consulting, funding leads, etc. Broadcasts in regional media about our work bring arts and cultural news to the region's interested citizens. Perhaps the largest community impact is the level of quality and global reach that local cast and crew are able to access. In the same way that my first film exposed the work of Northland film personnel to screens worldwide, advance distribution interest predicts the same or greater reach and impact from this project. Finally, because our efforts attract financial interest and acting talent from the coasts and Europe (and some of our top actors are also writers, directors, and producers), a collateral outcome of this project is that outside people of influence are able to spend time as artists in the region and and often express a desire to return both as tourists and as creators. I divide accomplishments and outcomes of this work into two categories: those pertaining (1) to personal artistic ambition and (2) to worldwide audience impact. Addressing the audience of the finished film is an easier matter: I project that more people in more places will see and discuss my work. I don't hope or dream that they will all love it, but objective quantitative statistics on DVD purchases, online streaming numbers, festival attendance rosters, and frequency of online critique will provide ample information on how the work "succeeded" externally. Although the internal artistic effect is harder to measure, I believe that I will be able to personally assess whether the final film has provided a meaningful emotional and intellectual experience. I also look to the critique of trusted collaborators as to how they read the experience of this artwork. Finally, I value and heed the qualitative feedback I receive online from audience members who take time to respond to my work. Your confidence can be based on 2 objective factors: (1) my vision-to-distribution freshman full-length filmmaking effort, "In Winter" and (2) the substantial progress I have already made on "The Hunter". From a working draft, we calculated precise logistics and scheduled travel for a cast and crew from MN, throughout the US and Holland, with 24 actors arriving in Duluth by airplane, bus and car, accommodating overlapping and solitary time requirements on set. We also provided 149 nights of housing and 30 days of meals for the team and , most importantly, finished principal photography ON SCHEDULE. We commenced editing as Covid hit, but were able to complete a first assembly of the rough footage remotely. We now have 3 rough cuts for review and will lock down a final visual edit soon. We have recruited specialist crew who are standing by to complete final post-production, including color correction, titles and credits, sound design/composition, Foley/SFX, ADR and final sound clean-up and mix. My personal definition of success for this work is simple and complicated at the same time: "The Hunter" will be a success if it has beauty, power and integrity. This statement of success requires that I define these three words "Beauty" exhibits freshness, originality and thoughtfulness in the presentation and composition of an organic visual experience. "Power" in a film shows us a living, breathing world where we are touched emotionally and intellectually; it eschews the superfi