Coming Soon To A Theater Near You!

In 2003, we decided to make a movie. In 2008, it hits theaters! There were many times we thought that the movie would never screen on anything bigger than a laptop. But, after a fantastic run at festivals, we've been lucky enough to book a run in select cities. For an independent film like ours, without a theatrical distributor, the idea of screening in theaters at one time seemed like it might be an unattainable goal. Luckily, several theater bookers really loved the film and are giving us an incredible opportunity. We need lots of support opening weekend in all of these cities to show these bookers that they were right to take a risk by supporting a small, independent film.

PLEASE COME SEE THE MOVIE! BRING YOUR FRIENDS! BRING YOUR ENEMIES! BRING EVERYONE YOU KNOW! AND HAVE THEM BRING PEOPLE, TOO!

And, don't forget to ORDER THE DVD at www.twistedballoondoc.com
It includes a director's commentary and lots of extras.

- ST. LOUIS, MO
May 23-29
The Tivoli
6350 Delmar in The Loop
Q and A at evening screenings on Fri, Sat, and Sun

- MADISON, WI
May 23-29
Sundance Cinemas
Hilldale Mall
430 N. Midvale Blvd

- WICHITA, KS
May 30 - June 5
Warren 13th Ave Theatre
11611 E 13th St N

- INDIANAPOLIS, IN
June 6-12
Key Cinemas
4044 South Keystone Avenue

- SEATTLE, WA
June 18-22
Central Cinema
1411 21st Avenue at E. Union

- NEW YORK, NY
June 20-26
Pioneer Theater
155 East 3rd Street, at Avenue A
Q and A at all screenings

- ANN ARBOR, MI
June 26 & 28
Michigan Theater
603 E. Liberty Street

- IOWA CITY, IA
July 6-10
Bijou Theater
Iowa Memorial Union
Corner of Madison and Jefferson Streets

- PORTLAND, OR
July 12-13 & July 19-20
Film Action Oregon/
The Hollywood Theatre Project
4122 NE Sandy Blvd.

MORE CITIES TBD... Check the site for updates!

Please contact us if any of the following applies to you:

- You live in one of these cities and would like to be part of our street team - handing out postcards and balloon dogs

- You know a member of the press (print, tv, radio, blogs) who might give us coverage nationally or in one of these cities

- You know of another theater that might want to screen the film

Buy the DVD!!!

We are pleased to announce that our DVD is now available! Buy 'til it hurts!

Just click on the "Buy DVD!" link on our website:
www.twistedballoondoc.com



The film is being released by WGBH, the flagship station of PBS. It is so exciting to be able to share the film with everyone and we would like to thank our families and friends for listening to us talk about balloons for five years. We'd also like to thank our cast, crew, and our Executive Procucers, Lauren Versel, of Lucky Monkey Pictures, and Nick "The Balloonatic" Rotondo.

Antelope Valley Film Festival

Come see Vera Stalker, one of the stars of TWISTED: A Balloonamentary, as she does a Q and A at a screening of the film:


Antelope Valley Film Festival
Sunday, May 4, 2:30pm
Cinemark Movies 12
44790 Valley Central Way
Lancaster, CA 93536

The festival programmer has been very enthusiastic about our film and we wish them a great festival!

Lake Forest - Opening Night!

TWISTED: A Balloonamentary is going to be screening as part of the Lake Forest Film Festival this weekend in Chicago. We're the opening night film!!

Friday, April 18th
McCormick Auditorium
8:00PM

Saturday, April 19th
First Presbyterian Church:
1:00PM

Lake Forest College is located at:
555 N. Sheridan Rd.
Lake Forest, Illinois

More information about the festival is available at: http://www.lakeforest.edu/life/orgs/film/default.asp

Hope some of you can make it!

Wisconsin Film Festival

We had a great time in Madison for the Wisconsin Film Festival. After what was described to us as the longest winter ever, we were lucky enough to arrive on the first warmer weekend. On Saturday, we hit the town with our great street team of Chris, Emily, and Andrew. As we were walking around, we even spotted a local balloon twister making a purple balloon dog.





While at most film festivals we spend a lot of time on the go, this time we decided to relax and not worry so much about marketing. We sat out by the melting frozen lake, with hundreds of University of Wisconsin students. There we saw a badger pop out of the lake, a marching band perform, and a wedding party go by.




That night, we had a nice dinner with our fantastic hosts, The Timmermans. They live on one of Madison's many lakes, and have a beautiful, relaxing view.




We then headed out to a film festival party downtown. It was a pretty small gathering, but we did meet a few filmmakers. One woman came up to us and said she was excited to see our film, and said it was nice to meet female filmmakers with a "big" film. So, we thanked her for thinking we have a big film. Who knew?

The next afternoon, we had our screening at the Monona Terrace Convention Center. A few balloon twisters came out to show support - along with 250 other people. The turnout was a fantastic surprise, as we barely know anyone in Madison. Almost everyone stayed for the Q and A, including a balloon twister who made hats for the audience, and a woman, who told us she wants to buy the DVD for each of her sons for Christmas.






Anyone else interested in buying the DVD? EXCITING NEWS COMING SOON...

Wiscahhhnsin

Sara and Naomi are headed out to Madison this weekend for the Wisconsin Film Festival!


Sunday, April 6th 1:30pm
Monona Terrace Convention Center
$7.00
http://filmguide.wifilmfest.org/tixSYS/2008/filmguide/title/detail/

We will have fun until the cows come home, or until Sara's lactose intolerance proves difficult in the land of cheese.

Eliot Lives!

St. Louis International Film Festival was a great homecoming. STL is always very welcoming - so much so that we even stumbled upon a bar with a familiar name...



Early Friday morning we met a bunch of twisters, organized by a local named Silly Jilly, at Blueberry Hill - a famed hangout on The Loop. Silly Jilly, Thad, and several others twisted balloons for us to use for publicity. The people at Blueberry Hill welcomed us, and all of the vendors on The Loop seemed into it. When we approached one store owner to say we had an odd question (could we put a balloon duck on the front table to promote our film?) he answered, "That's the easiest question I'm going to get all day. Go for it!"







Then, we went to Wash U for a fantastic luncheon organized by Jill Stratton, our former RA boss. We ate Mexican food, showed clips from the film, and answered questions from faculty and students. We both agreed that speaking with students is something we enjoy and hope to do more of.





It was good to walk around Wash U's campus. We checked out Bear's Den, where they serve beautiful fresh fish and steaks - just like when we were there. Of course at the time, such food items were mysteriously disguised as mozzarella sticks and chicken tenders.





While Eliot, as we knew it, is of course no more, we did find a photo on campus of our beloved dorm. For those paying close attention, you will be relieved to know that the spot on the left is the camera flash, not an atomic bomb cloud.





And as part of our series as areas that are not gun-friendly (until now - the series just included Wichita), we can add Wash U:



We spent the afternoon handing out postcards and doing an interview with Wash U magazine. Then, we had a great dinner made by our wonderful hosts, Debby and Chris! That night, we went to a party for filmmakers in the Central West End. We got our badges, some hats, and a bit of other swag - which we showed off with style.



The next day, Debby greeted us with freshly baked muffins (because she is fine, fine human being) and we set off to do some last minute postcard-handing-outing. We met Thad and Silly Jilly at the St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM), where we'd be screening that evening. As they made fantastic balloon decorations for the entrance to the theater, we inflated hundreds of purple balloons.





The screening was another great one. We had 200 people in the audience, including friends, friend's parents, friends who drove in from Chicago, former teachers, and lots and lots of strangers. Every time we screen it - it is just such a good feeling to hear the audience response.



After the Q and A - we invited everyone to join us at Blueberry Hill.









The next day, we got to play. After another morning of baked goodness from Chef Debby, we went to the City Museum. If you ever have a chance to go, it is such a fun, bizarre, over-stimulating wacky museum. We climbed through weird tunnels, ate marshmallows at a bonfire, and, of course, no day out would be complete without a viewing of the world's largest pair of underwear.







We then watched some very young and talented circus performers putting on a show at the museum. If it didn't make us nauseous to think about, we would even mention how great these kids would be in a documentary.





After dinner at Sara's favorite restaurant, The Establishment Formerly Know As Cafe Natasha, we went to the Awards Banquet. We were told that we had the second biggest audience at the festival (the bigger gathering, of course, a silent Japanese film). And - we did not get an audience award - losing to... wait for it... a film about vaginal fistulas.

We actually had nothing but positive feedback that night, which was really nice. We sang karaoke with our new friends from Disney, Brian and Nicole. We sang "Part Of That World" and a little Nelly, because they go together so well.