Rocking Oren - Random Notes

'Heavy Soul' Poster in an Austin Bathroom

shameless promotion- public restroom
Originally uploaded by pastor.iii.

Right up there... above the SXSW poster and the one-sheet of Ido Mizrahi's 'Things That Hang From Trees'.

Pastor Alvarado posted some of the pictures he took while we were down in Austin for SXSW on his Flickr account.

Check 'em out!

New Look, New Article, New Interview

Uploaded a radio interview that Jennifer Nathan of The Roundtable (WAMC) conducted with me during SXSW. An MP3 is available Here.

Yediot America, an Israeli-American newspaper, published an article about me on Friday. Will have scans of the article (in Hebrew) on-line by next week.

The site went through some cosmetical changes, I apologize if anyone had problems browsing while this was happening.

"Will somebody with bankroll please give Oren Shai a budget to make a feature film?"

Pollystaffle.com has put up a great new review of 'Heavy Soul'.

Give it a Read.

Some quotes from the article:

"Will somebody with bankroll please give Oren Shai a budget to make a feature film?"
"Shot on 16mm on a budget of $10,000, “Heavy Soul” looks better than some features that cost millions."
"“Heavy Soul” would fit perfectly as a DVD bonus feature on a Something Weird Video release. It just looks a hell of a lot better than their usual archive shorts."

Oren.

SXSW Backlash, Reviews and Other Oddities

Back from the SXSW Film Festival which was nothing short of fantastic.

'Heavy Soul' had 3 screenings and was very well received.

The Austin Chronicle has described the film as:

"Oren Shai genre-hops from black-and-white Reefer Madness-inspired educational films to color-saturated Lynchian scenes to tell the story of a young girl and her bad trip down the road of addiction."

And this is a review posted today on The Greencine Daily Blog:

Heavy Soul Oren Shai knows how to draw attention to a film. First, by sending a somewhat insulting email (if taken seriously); then, by mailing an elaborate package to my office designed to look like a mental patient's hospital records. I wasn't prepared to like it (granted, when folks usually go to this much work it is to compensate for something lacking in the film). However, it is an accomplished, stylish, well-made short with a star-turn by Sally Conway.

In addition, I was interviews by Jennifer Nathan from The Roundtable on WAMC. The interview was to air today and will be streamed very soon (look out for a link).

I will have a full recap of the festival published on Films In Review in the following week or two.

Watched 20+ films during this week and I am not surprised that my two favorites: 'The Notorious Bettie Page' and 'Tales of Rat Fink' both deal with the 50's-60's. Other films of note were 'TV Junkie', 'Things That Hang From Trees', 'Jam', State Vs. Reed' & 'Summercamp!' and the shorts 'Nevel is the Devil' and 'Coney Island 1945'.

Also attended two great live shows by Of Montreal and one of my favorite New York bands: The Dansettes.

Will post pictures from the fest very soon. Keep looking!

Oren.

The Brooklyn Independent Screening Series

The Brooklyn Independent Screening Series will screen 'Heavy Soul' on May 1 together with the feature film You Are Alone and the short Twitch.

In addition, check out the Heavy Soul Myspace Page.