Another Coming Home review

 "We hope that ‘Coming Home’ is just a pilot episode, or a trailer to an upcoming movie that will change everything we know about films of this kind. Yes, we truly hope so, because what we’ve seen in those fifteen minutes was absolutely astonishing."

Coming Home Review from Feel The Reel.

I'm so glad that "Coming Home" is doing exactly what it was designed to do... get people interested in what happens next!  I think doing a prologue short film instead of a spec trailer was one of the best ideas we had when it came to providing a visual pitch for The Family Way.

I have papers now.

This came in for me today from the AAB Film Festival.

It's the first time I've ever been singled out for accolades as a director. 

I'm getting used to seeing laurels come in for the films that I've directed, but that's the project entire being recognized as a collaborative medium with a lot of really talented people working on it to earn those ribbons. I don't even like calling them "my films" because of that, but it's usually my name listed next to the title.

So even though this particular festival singled me out for an
award, I still say that it wasn't all me. A lot of people worked on "Coming Home" to make it look good, and this director's award is actually a lot of praise heaped on to the cast that I gave the direction to. If they couldn't pull off great performances, this paper would have never been sent to me.

Coming Home in India

This is a first for me... I just won "Best Director" for The Family Way prologue film "Coming Home" in the June edition of the AAB International Film Festival.

"Coming Home" continues to impress.

Over the last 48 hours I've had two bits of news about this short film that I directed come in.

First, a Review of Coming Home from Indyred.

Not a terrible review. I know to expect both good points and bad points to be mentioned, as that's what reviews are all about.   Bt when the last paragraph reads like this, I call it a win:

"As a full film, "Coming Home" manages to get it's point across in a decent, entertaining way. It's a fresh take on so many movies we've all seen in the past... and that "freshness" was welcomed in a huge way. The real kicker here? This is the set-up to a larger production and it does it's job perfectly. I personally look forward to seeing the bigger story unravel. I can't wait actually. Director Shiva Rodriguez sets out to entertain... and entertained I was. "Coming Home" could be the start of an exceptional story. I can't wait to see how it all turns out."

Then today I got a message from the Spotlight Horror Film Awards. This was a pleasant surprise:

 

Trailer for Coming Home

This short film I directed is now in film festivals and recently won "Best Horror" in the U.K. Monthly Film Festival.

Coming Home public premiere

Back in December I directed a short film called "Coming Home" which Duckie and I wrote as a prologue to our feature screenplay The Family Way.

We shot it instead of a trailer as a visual aid to introduce potential investors to some of the feature's characters. But we also decided to throw it to the Court of Public Opinion and enter it into several film festivals.
So far it's been accepted into every festival that's announced selections.

This morning I was greeted by a review of the film sent to me from The Global Grit Film Festival. I won't post the whole thing since it contains some major spoilers, but here are the first and last paragraphs:


"Coming Home" is a solid, thoroughly entertaining, self-contained story. The acting, lighting, writing, pacing, and effects were all convincing. This film inspires an amount of intrigue that most shorts really can't manage, and subverts expectations effectively.

In less deft hands, "Coming Home" would have been a disaster. However, you managed to craft an engaging, interesting, and successful thriller. Bravo!

"Coming Home" is scheduled to kick off the Global Grit Film Festival in Miami, Florida on June 3rd.

 

Blast from the Past - Hungryland

This photo was taken while I was acting as Second Unit Director for "Hungryland" in January 2016. I was primarily the SPFX Supervisor for the film, but also directed scenes with a lot of FX and stunts.

This is also where I first met two of the young actors I cast in "The Family Way: Coming Home", Kinsey Krutzler (little girl) and Blayze Hippensteel (boy on left).

Girls in charge

Photo of me with my producer and dear friend, Lowrie Fawley.

Lowrie is another one of those first-time film actors working for me as a first-time director in Predatory Moon. Over the years we've developed both a professional and personal friendship.

While she's gone on to work on some television shows that you may have actually heard of, she still has enough faith in me to let me direct the films she produces. (Well, as long as she gets to be on cast for them too... as if I'd have it any other way!)

I love kids!

On the set of "The Family Way: Coming Home" with two of my favourite young actors - Nick Trivisonno and Kinsey Krutzler.

Screenplay contest

Duckie and I just got this from the Cannes Screenplay Contest.

You can learn more about the story and the project now in development at http://www.familywayfilm.com