Purgatory Comics Gets Mention in Local Penn. Newspaper

There is a nice write-up on the Lancaster Area Film Festival in the Entertainment section of the Lancaster newspaper. The Entertainment section is in the Thursday evening "New Era" and the Friday morning "Intelligencer Journal."

"The two features are 'Purgatory Comics,' directed by Ralph Suarez, of Long Island, N.Y., about a young woman who hides out in a comic book store rather than face the responsibilities and challenges that come with young adulthood, and 'Schism,' directed by John C. Lyons, of Erie, about about a man's descent into Alzheimer's, as told from his perspective."
Click here to read the full article!

And don't forget to get your arse to Pennsylvania this Saturday for the festival. It's Saturday at 7:15 pm, doors open at 6pm. Tickets are $15 each. Address is Liberty Place, 313 W. Liberty St. Purgatory Comics screen roughly around 8:45pm in theater 1. See you there!

Purgatory Comics 2009 Festival Poster Art

Check out the new 2009 poster art above! I'm going to print these and distribute them at some upcoming screenings, though I won't have them in time for LAFF. This will also give you a pretty accurate idea what the front cover art of the DVD is going to look like.

Remember, we're screening next weekend in Pennsylvania! If you're in the area, go to this site for information and be sure to be there. Our film is headlining the event and getting a special spread in the program! More screenings to be announced soon. In the meantime, let me know what you think of the new poster art!

Edit: Made some minor tweaks to the "page tear" effect.

The Wanting Comes in Waves

A few weeks back, my pal Kristin hounded me to download the latest album from the Decemberists, "The Hazards of Love." I did, and . . . oh man. I think I already have my pick for album of the year. Instant love. I'd describe it as a folk/acoustic mix, blending Kings of Leon, early Radiohead or Oasis, Damien Rice, and then a pinch of Jethero Tull.

Before you start sampling 30-second previews from itunes, you have to realize a couple of cool things about this album. First, many songs change drastically, so those previews might be misleading. Second, each song blends harmoniously into the next, thus creating the type of album we haven't seen since the days of classic rock (think Floyd). And the reason is because the entire record tells one story.* It's a fun story too about forbidden love, and like a Broadway show, the characters in the tale sing their emotions complete with duets and reprises. It. Is. Great. I love driving because it's an excuse to listen to this CD, from the start, yet again. I don't know about you but I find a disc like that once maybe every 2 or 3 years. So this is my high recommendation for my readers. I'll be seeing the Decemberists in Radio City this summer and I haven't been this excited about a concert in a long time.

*A woman named Margaret falls in love with a shape-shifting forest dweller. A jealous forest queen and an ensemble of recurring characters bring conflict to the album's story arc.

Screening of "Drawing with Chalk" in Tarrytown

A few blogs back I mentioned a film called "Drawing With Chalk." Last Saturday I took a drive north to Tarrytown in Westchester County to meet up with writer/director/actor Todd Giglio along with DP Mike. The film screened in a cool cafe by the water, projected from an HD disc playing on a Playstation 3. The film looked gorgeous, and it's absolutely worth checking out if you ever get a chance. A pleasant surprise was I got to see Suzanne Guacci again too, who shot a film called "Cycles" a couple years back (also with DP Mike). She helped me with the early stages of my flick and even lent her son for a scene!

While there, Todd hooked me up with gorgeous discs of "Purgatory Comics," which will be the DVDs I'll duplicate for the cast and crew in the near future. Awesome awesome awesome. It was nice to talk filmmaking a little with Mike, Suzanne, and Todd. Personally I draw a lot of motivation from other filmmakers and this was a good recharge for me. I wish I took some pics of us all together in one room, but I did snap the image of the bridge above.

Purgatory Comics Wins Two Accolade Awards!

Purgatory Comics won two Awards of Merit from the Accolade Film Awards out in California. It's a competition I used to enter my old short films in back in the day. You can choose which categories to compete in, and I entered Purgatory into four categories (I honestly can't remember what the other two were). Looks like we're one of 13 winners for feature film for this award, and the only winner for casting. I was hoping we 'd get a mention for casting because I think my awesome group deserves the special recognition. So, congrats guys!

Most of the other festivals I've entered so far haven't closed out yet, with the exception of the Tribeca Film Festival. Yeah, that one was a long shot. Don't forget we're headlining the Lancaster Area Film Festival May 2nd! Click here for all the information you need!

DVD News

Easter morning I met up with Todd of Drawing Chalk Pictures in New York City. Todd made a film called "Drawing with Chalk," which DP Mike LaVoie worked on shortly after my film. Todd had the same issue as me: how do you compress an HD film to an S-DVD without losing too much quality. But Todd's much smarter than me when it comes to technical stuff, and he's helping me out so we can finally have "Purgatory Comics" on a barebones disc, in a format that will look good. Below is the trailer for Todd's film...it looks great and I'm a huge admirer of his many talents, which you'll see below also includes acting and music.

Support true independent film...visit Todd's site, look out for screenings of "Drawing with Chalk," and look out for screenings of "Purgatory Comics" as well. We're an art form on life support and we need your help.

Happy Easter from Warm Milk Productions!!!

Hope you dig our latest youtube upload...it's a little low-production value holiday card my brothers and I whipped up to spread the cheer. Enjoy!

Some Updates

Hi folks, I'm writing this from a spa in Connecticut where I'm totally spoiling myself with a gift package I won. But it's hard to relax with so much going on so I thought I'd drop a few updates:

• Some of you regular readers have followed my work from my college days, so there's no doubt you'd recognize the man in the picture with me. That's Steve Amico, star of almost all of my college short films including Warm Milk, Warm Milk 2, The Great Inner Solitude and Scratching the Surface. I saw Steve last week for the first time in at least 5 years, and it was incredible. We had some mind-blowingly deep, reflective conversations that really inspired me. And we also made a pact to work together again one day soon. What a great day that was.
  
• You might have noticed that this blog has officially become WarmMilkProductions.com. When you type to the old homepage, it will forward you here. I think it makes things a lot neater and easier and I'm actually excited about that change.
• You might have also noticed some google ads on the page. I joined the AdSense program to allow adverts on my site. I'm hoping it might help generate some revenue, even if it's loose change. Every bit counts. Sorry if the ads are bothersome but you understand.
• Don't forget to buy your tickets for our screening in Pennsylvania! We're headlining the 2009 Lancaster Area Film Festival!
• Okay, I know everyone wants to know when we'll have DVDs. I'm working with someone this month to make it happen, so just hold a little longer.
• Check out the new Digitcut.com, where our film is highlighted on the main page.
  

There's your dose of updates. Between seeing Steve and taking these days to reflect, I really feel a shift in my mindset. What it means for the film is a return of some motivation. Ooh, and here's something fun: there will be a new skit online this week, so check back soon!