Rumpled at the Scary Cow screening
Last night, I went to see a short film made from one of my stories, The Rumpelstiltskin Retellings. My story retells the fairy-tale as a series of poetic blogs by each character.
For those who don't recall the fairy-tale: One day, the King is hunting in a forest when he encounters a miller who claims his daughter can spin gold from straw. The King has her locked in a room with a spinning wheel and a bale of straw: in one day, she must spin it into gold, or die. As she despairs, a funny little man appears, and offers to do it for her in exchange for her ring. She agrees, he does, and the King is very impressed. So impressed that he has another lot of straw brought in and gives her another day to repeat the feat. Again the little man appears, and does it for her, this time in exchange for her necklace. Astonished, the King has more straw brought in. If she succeeds this time, he'll marry her. When the little man appears, she has no more jewelry. He asks for her first-born, and with no other choice, she agrees. The straw is spun, and the Miller's daughter becomes the Queen. In time, she bears a son, and then the little man appears to claim it. She is so upset that he gives her an out. If she can guess his name within three days, then she can keep the babe. The Queen orders everyone in the Kingdom to give her lists of names. The first two days, none of the names are right. Then on the second night, hunters in the forest hear a strange little man dancing around a fire in the woods, and revealing his name is Rumpelstiltskin. They immediately tell the Queen, who then wins the game. The little man stamps on the ground in fury and disappears.
Justin interpreted my story as on-camera interviews with the Queen, the Miller, the King, the Handmaid, and Rumpelstiltskin. I was totally blown away by how fresh it was, and yet how true to the spirit of my story. The acting was extremely good, the sets were perfect, and everything just worked. Justin "wrote, directed, produced and edited it. And yeah, [he] acted in it too."
His team was called Sea Urchin Productions, and they worked in collaboration with Scary Cow, a film-makers' collaborative which also arranged the screening.
The film was one of eighteen short films shown. They ranged from simple amateur efforts to professional-looking well-produced movies. This one was clearly one of the best.
ETA: It won an award and a cash prize!
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In other news: My story, The Intragalactic Shakespeare Festival, has been accepted for the Art from Art anthology. I'm thrilled. Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman's positive feedback at Clarion saved me from trunking it. Even though it's a favorite among my stories, I didn't know if anyone else would be interested in the intersection of science-fiction, fantasy, and Shakespeare.
For those who don't recall the fairy-tale: One day, the King is hunting in a forest when he encounters a miller who claims his daughter can spin gold from straw. The King has her locked in a room with a spinning wheel and a bale of straw: in one day, she must spin it into gold, or die. As she despairs, a funny little man appears, and offers to do it for her in exchange for her ring. She agrees, he does, and the King is very impressed. So impressed that he has another lot of straw brought in and gives her another day to repeat the feat. Again the little man appears, and does it for her, this time in exchange for her necklace. Astonished, the King has more straw brought in. If she succeeds this time, he'll marry her. When the little man appears, she has no more jewelry. He asks for her first-born, and with no other choice, she agrees. The straw is spun, and the Miller's daughter becomes the Queen. In time, she bears a son, and then the little man appears to claim it. She is so upset that he gives her an out. If she can guess his name within three days, then she can keep the babe. The Queen orders everyone in the Kingdom to give her lists of names. The first two days, none of the names are right. Then on the second night, hunters in the forest hear a strange little man dancing around a fire in the woods, and revealing his name is Rumpelstiltskin. They immediately tell the Queen, who then wins the game. The little man stamps on the ground in fury and disappears.
Justin interpreted my story as on-camera interviews with the Queen, the Miller, the King, the Handmaid, and Rumpelstiltskin. I was totally blown away by how fresh it was, and yet how true to the spirit of my story. The acting was extremely good, the sets were perfect, and everything just worked. Justin "wrote, directed, produced and edited it. And yeah, [he] acted in it too."
His team was called Sea Urchin Productions, and they worked in collaboration with Scary Cow, a film-makers' collaborative which also arranged the screening.
The film was one of eighteen short films shown. They ranged from simple amateur efforts to professional-looking well-produced movies. This one was clearly one of the best.
ETA: It won an award and a cash prize!
------------
In other news: My story, The Intragalactic Shakespeare Festival, has been accepted for the Art from Art anthology. I'm thrilled. Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman's positive feedback at Clarion saved me from trunking it. Even though it's a favorite among my stories, I didn't know if anyone else would be interested in the intersection of science-fiction, fantasy, and Shakespeare.