"Heart Strings" Award Wining Short Film

For the past three years I've taken part in the 48 Hour Film Project in Des Moines. In just 48 hours you have to write, direct, shoot and edit a short film.

This year the genre of film the River Run team had to make was romance. A cast and crew of 14 began shooting just before midnight on July 25 from a script I wrote with a heavy dose of improv. With Amy Anderson as the lead actress we shot until just after sunrise. With a little sleep here and there Paco Rosic edited "Heart Strings" and we turned it in before the cut off. 

It's fun to push yourself and try some different things in a short time span on a limited budget. It helps you appreciate when you a have a little more time and money to pull off a quality production.

August Update:

This year there were a total of 40 teams in competition and we made the top 12 best of the cities screening and ended up winning best cinematography and honorable mention in directing. This is the third year in a row winning best cinematography at the 48 Hour Film Project and this year I had the pleasure of sharing the award with co-director of photography Jon Van Allen (shown here holding his HVX camera) in my office. 

Video with Nobel Peace Prize Winner

It's not every day that you get to meet and work with a Nobel Peace Prize winner. In fact, it's only happened once in my life. A couple months ago we received a call to video tape an interview with Dr. Norman Borlaug for Self-Help International.

Dr. Borlaug was a farm boy from Cresco, Iowa who grew-up during the depression and would go on to become one of only five people in history to win the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Medal of Honor.

His work in increasing agricultural production has been credited with saving billions from starvation in Mexico, Pakistan, and India. His 1970 Nobel Peace Prize was "in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply."

His work in the 1940's and 1950's is considered to be the spark of the beginning of the Green Revolution. In 1986 he started The World Food Prize which recognizes work being done for the world food supply.

Dr. Borlaug was 95-years-old at the time of the interview and when we took the above photo in Des Moines. His life represents a life lived to the full. This evening the video will be shown as part of a fundraiser for Self-Help International.