Next month Holy Crap! the film will be shown at the University College of London's Loo festival as part of their initiative to spark creative solutions to the global sanitation crisis.
We are thrilled to have been asked to participate in this wonderful event, and look forward to seeing the results of their Make-a-thon contest!!!
This contest is such a wonderful response to the global sanitation crisis.
In London alone, more than 400 million litres of drinking water are flushed down the toilet every day!! Just imagine how much water is wasted on a daily basis throughout all of the developing world. What if flush toilets were to become a thing of the past?
What if water-borne disease were to become a thing of the past? What if the waste itself were to become a vital resource, critical to agricultural development and economic independence from foreign aid?
We can't wait to see what the makers of the Make-a-thon come up with, and will keep you posted as the project unfolds.
Until then, make sure to give thanks for the clean water with which you wash your hands, the warm water with which you bathe your face, and the place you dispose of your personal waste. Ain't it grand not to have to think about it?
Learn more about the Make-a-thon here: http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/ucloo-festival-2013/
Monday, October 28, 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
It's really a Global Movement now
Recently I was contacted by a totally cool organization called, "Toilet Hackers".
They're based in New York City and have a mission of ending the global sanitation
crisis.
*Ending* the global sanitation crisis.
This is so inspiring I can't stand it. They have put together a team of people who are
moving heaven and earth to make it happen and beginning a revolution for like-minded
people to organize around this mission.
So exciting!!!
Cassandra (Jabola - my amazing co-producer) and I decided last week that it's time to
put the feelers out looking for collaborators to take our project to the next level both in
story-telling and production value.
We really believe this story deserves to be told and told well so if any of you readers
know of anyone who knows of anyone - filmmakers, funders, organizations or earth-and-
justice lovers - who might be interested in supporting this project through to the end,
please let me know.
We are gathering and grouping and beginning the next phase of fund-raising.....
Because come on. SERIOUSLY!!! Everyone deserves a safe place to put their body-
by-products. Why not put those by-products to work restoring soil fertility and
agricultural yield and abating disease and starvation??
Let's do this.
They're based in New York City and have a mission of ending the global sanitation
crisis.
*Ending* the global sanitation crisis.
This is so inspiring I can't stand it. They have put together a team of people who are
moving heaven and earth to make it happen and beginning a revolution for like-minded
people to organize around this mission.
So exciting!!!
Cassandra (Jabola - my amazing co-producer) and I decided last week that it's time to
put the feelers out looking for collaborators to take our project to the next level both in
story-telling and production value.
We really believe this story deserves to be told and told well so if any of you readers
know of anyone who knows of anyone - filmmakers, funders, organizations or earth-and-
justice lovers - who might be interested in supporting this project through to the end,
please let me know.
We are gathering and grouping and beginning the next phase of fund-raising.....
Because come on. SERIOUSLY!!! Everyone deserves a safe place to put their body-
by-products. Why not put those by-products to work restoring soil fertility and
agricultural yield and abating disease and starvation??
Let's do this.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Semi-finalists!!
I forgot to announce to everyone that our film was named a Semifinalist in the Focus Forward film festival!!!
This is a huge honor as we made the top 96 out of thousands of submissions from all around the world. We could not be more thrilled and tomorrow, November 28, they will announce the top 20 films in the competition.
The judges have been reviewing and viewing and reviewing all the films and so we know that our film has been scrutinized and evaluated and are anxious to find out whether we will be moving into the final rounds of the competition, where the top 5 films will be given huge cash prizes and announced at no less than Sundance Film Festival.
Have you had a chance to vote for our film? Audience voting is a completely separate category from the judge and the jury, but the 10 films which receive the most votes will be featured on the Focus Forward website and continue to receive such great exposure!!
You can vote for our film here:
http://vimeo.com/focusforwardfilms/semifinalists/51888594
If you are so compelled, please encourage your friends and family to vote for the film as well!! And please don't hesitate to check out other films in the competition. There are some absolutely breath-taking ideas being presented in these 96 films. I am truly humbled to be among them.....
My love,
Jenny JUP
This is a huge honor as we made the top 96 out of thousands of submissions from all around the world. We could not be more thrilled and tomorrow, November 28, they will announce the top 20 films in the competition.
The judges have been reviewing and viewing and reviewing all the films and so we know that our film has been scrutinized and evaluated and are anxious to find out whether we will be moving into the final rounds of the competition, where the top 5 films will be given huge cash prizes and announced at no less than Sundance Film Festival.
Have you had a chance to vote for our film? Audience voting is a completely separate category from the judge and the jury, but the 10 films which receive the most votes will be featured on the Focus Forward website and continue to receive such great exposure!!
You can vote for our film here:
http://vimeo.com/focusforwardfilms/semifinalists/51888594
If you are so compelled, please encourage your friends and family to vote for the film as well!! And please don't hesitate to check out other films in the competition. There are some absolutely breath-taking ideas being presented in these 96 films. I am truly humbled to be among them.....
My love,
Jenny JUP
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Holy Crap! happenings
Greetings one and all on the eighth of November, 2012 and the first update on the Holy Crap! film project in over a year!!
I am very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish in the year and a half since the 5-minute version of the film was released. We created that version specifically for the Possible Futures Film Festival, and while we were disappointed when our project did not win an award, we learned a lot and were excited to be included among all the amazing films.
But then, to our complete surprise, within a few weeks the film was broadcast on National Geographic on-line! This was a great boon for the project and at the same time the film was accepted into two Film Festivals, the Tall-grass International Film Festival, and the Our-Stage Superstars on-line festival, where the film was named a finalist.
The next boon to the project was when, over the summer, a wonderful editor and filmmaker named Jessica Jones contacted me to inquire about the film and we decided to work together to seek ways to develop it. We got started looking for grants, and in the end submitted a proposal to the Chicken and Egg Grant, a fund that supports women filmmakers who are passionate about story-telling, social justice and environmental and human rights. We feel that this project is very well-qualified for the Chicken and Egg grant and are awaiting the announcement of winners on Wednesday, November 28. Here’s hoping!!
Soon after we submitted this grant another amazing woman, Cassandra Jabola, got in touch with me, as she had heard I was wanting to develop my film. Cassandra brings a lot of experience in the area of distribution, development, and documentary narrative through her years working with National Geographic as an Associate Producer. We could not be more thrilled to have her on-board.
The three of us set about to develop our first project together, and targeted making a submission to the Focus Forward on-line festival. This is a contest that seeks 3-minute films about a wide-variety of topics from filmmakers around the world. It is a very large festival with thousands of entries, and we were skeptical that our film would be noticed, as they already have a film about composting toilets!! (“Toilet Man”).
But we felt that we really have a different angle on the topic, and decided to take the 5-minute piece that I made with editors Xuan Vu and Barbara Kadri last year, and see what we could do to make it into a stronger, shorter piece.
The 3-minute restriction worked really well for the material that we had to work with, as we already had a pretty strong piece, and just shifted our focus, changed a few of the clips, and drove home the point that I’ve been wanting to make with this film ever since I first conceptualized it over 5 year’s ago: could POOP be the answer to a lot of the world’s problems??
Unbelievable. But poop is having a very positive impact throughout Haiti with SOIL (www.oursoil.org) and other organizations that are implementing safe techniques for transforming this substance into a very important material: fertilizer.
We want to tell their story and we want to tell the story of how other organizations are using this same substance in other parts of the world to reclaim a sustainable future for various communities. And we want to begin an investigation into how we here in the U.S. could also benefit from water-less toilets. Perhaps eco-san could become a global movement......
To our delight and surprise, in late October we were notified that the newly-revised version of Holy Crap! had made the first cut in the Focus Forward contest and was named a semi-finalist, bringing us one step closer to the possibility of being the recipient of the contest’s top prize, a $100,000 cash award.
The Focus Forward contest is set to go live on Wednesday November 14, so stay tuned, as there will be two components to the festival: audience voting, and judge and jury voting. The audience voting will be an opportunity for the film to be seen by a large audience, and we are so excited to get the feedback, input, and exposure from this!!
In addition, the judges will be announcing the Finalists for the festival on Wednesday, November 28, and the top 5 winners will all be announced and awarded large cash prizes ($200,000 total!!) at none other than Sundance Film Festival!!
I can’t wait to show you the new and improved version of the film, and I can’t wait to see all the other films that made it to the Semi-finalist category!! From what it looks like, they are going to blow my mind!!
So please stay tuned for upcoming updates to the project, and in the meantime, give thanks for the hidden infrastructure that can so easily be taken for granted....until the moment a hurricane wipes it out.....and we have to figure out what to do with all this sh*t.....
Friday, October 14, 2011
.....it's a global movement!
Dear friends,
I am thrilled to tell you about some new developments with the Holy Crap! film project. To summarize, the film has recently been refurbished and touched up and we are so thrilled with this new shiny version!!!! Secondly, the new shinier version has just been accepted into its very first film festival!! Thirdly, we will be developing a Kreyol-version of this film hopefully by the end of this year, for release within Haiti....and finally!! I am developing a series of short films by the same name which will explore some of the many different projects around the world which are transforming human waste to become a viable, cheap, accessible and proven component of the search for sustainability.
So Holy Crap! is about to take off! (kinda like a global movement.....)
:)
To see the upgrades to the film click here: www.holycrapthefilm.com
To learn more about all our exciting new developments, read on....
Firstly, thanks to a generous donation offered by Daniel Drasin to do some touch-ups to the film, we are releasing a new, shinier version, available now on our website. We added a little intro to the film which I think really ties it together well, and otherwise Dan (with lots of great input from Tamara Gurbis, the film's Director of Photography; thank you Tamara!!) did a lot of color corrections and audio refinements that I, as a budding filmmaker, didn't know how to appreciate until after the fact. And having run out of money long before the final edits took place, I couldn't really afford to get the full post-production we needed prior to the film's release. So please let us know if you like the modifications and the new intro to the film - I'm thrilled with it!!! And thank you so much to Daniel Drasin for all his many years of experience, his incredible patience in bringing me up to speed and into the digital world, and for believing in this project so much to invest his time into making this film shine. Major kudos to you my friend.....
Secondly, we are thrilled to announce that Holy Crap! has been accepted into our first, full-fledged international film festival!!! The Tallgrass Film Festival, located in Wichita, KS, will be screening Holy Crap! in their short film category among many other films. As this is my hometown I must say I am quite thrilled about it. www.tallgrassfilmfest.com
Thirdly, we are beginning to fundraise for the next and final edit at this time with the footage from our trip to Haiti last year -- a Kreyol-version of the film for release within Haiti. This is something that we are making to be a versatile tool for SOIL to use in schools, communities, for staff members and families and to just explain the concept of ecological sanitation, how it works, and why it is 1000x better than the "system" now in place throughout Haiti, which has resulted in wide-spread public health epidemics. If any of you have the energy or interest in helping with these fundraising efforts please do not hesitate to contact me at: jenniferbenorden@gmail.com
And FINALLY! the Holy Crap! project is beginning to grow in scope, as we are in the process of developing a series by the same name. This series will be a number of similar, short films which feature the work of other organizations and townships around the world that are transforming human waste into a viable resource.
Here are some of the things we are considering featuring in our series:
Cars (called "Bio Bugs") running on methane gas created from raw sewage in Bristol, England. What else is happening with methane gas in other parts of the world? Are other people trying this out?
One part of the series will feature and check on the progress of some of the more portable inventions that are coming to the fore, such as "PeePoo" bags which are safely biodegradable and the Gardiner CH4 - which is like a portable rolling suitcase but is actually a composting toilet!
Next will be a two-part installation that will investigate how ecological sanitation would impact communities within the United States. I want to query local governments about regulations to this type of off-the-grid infrastructure, and follow a citizen through the process of creating one in their yard or on their property. How would this type of sanitation impact facilities like hospitals, universities, and municipalities?
Emergency relief -- I'd like to follow-up on SOIL's lead of providing ecological sanitation directly following the earthquake of Port-au-Prince, 2010, show how their project is developing and also see what is happening in places like Japan following the tsunami there, and the floods in Pakistan -- what impact have these disasters had on sanitation? Is anyone doing ecological sanitation in these areas? I want to find out!
There are many more exciting ecological sanitation projects happening around the world and I would like to keep a pulse on it, as I do believe that it is the only and obvious choice for sustainable sanitation in a time when water resources are limited, human beings are losing their lives because of poor sanitation, and billions of men, women and children are suffering from water-borne illness.
If you have any interest in helping me to develop this series, please do not hesitate to contact me at jenniferbenorden@gmail.com.
Finally, Holy Crap! is thrilled that we are still being featured on the National Geographic's website! Check us out there and don't forget to keep in touch with SOIL at www.oursoil.org.
So many of you have been staunch supporters of my work with this film and of SOIL's work in Haiti and I can't thank you enough for all the ways you believe in me and in this project. I could never have done it without you.
Wishing you all a lovely autumn,
Jenny
Producer/Director, Holy Crap!
www.holycrapthefilm.com
I am thrilled to tell you about some new developments with the Holy Crap! film project. To summarize, the film has recently been refurbished and touched up and we are so thrilled with this new shiny version!!!! Secondly, the new shinier version has just been accepted into its very first film festival!! Thirdly, we will be developing a Kreyol-version of this film hopefully by the end of this year, for release within Haiti....and finally!! I am developing a series of short films by the same name which will explore some of the many different projects around the world which are transforming human waste to become a viable, cheap, accessible and proven component of the search for sustainability.
So Holy Crap! is about to take off! (kinda like a global movement.....)
:)
To see the upgrades to the film click here: www.holycrapthefilm.com
To learn more about all our exciting new developments, read on....
Firstly, thanks to a generous donation offered by Daniel Drasin to do some touch-ups to the film, we are releasing a new, shinier version, available now on our website. We added a little intro to the film which I think really ties it together well, and otherwise Dan (with lots of great input from Tamara Gurbis, the film's Director of Photography; thank you Tamara!!) did a lot of color corrections and audio refinements that I, as a budding filmmaker, didn't know how to appreciate until after the fact. And having run out of money long before the final edits took place, I couldn't really afford to get the full post-production we needed prior to the film's release. So please let us know if you like the modifications and the new intro to the film - I'm thrilled with it!!! And thank you so much to Daniel Drasin for all his many years of experience, his incredible patience in bringing me up to speed and into the digital world, and for believing in this project so much to invest his time into making this film shine. Major kudos to you my friend.....
Secondly, we are thrilled to announce that Holy Crap! has been accepted into our first, full-fledged international film festival!!! The Tallgrass Film Festival, located in Wichita, KS, will be screening Holy Crap! in their short film category among many other films. As this is my hometown I must say I am quite thrilled about it. www.tallgrassfilmfest.com
Thirdly, we are beginning to fundraise for the next and final edit at this time with the footage from our trip to Haiti last year -- a Kreyol-version of the film for release within Haiti. This is something that we are making to be a versatile tool for SOIL to use in schools, communities, for staff members and families and to just explain the concept of ecological sanitation, how it works, and why it is 1000x better than the "system" now in place throughout Haiti, which has resulted in wide-spread public health epidemics. If any of you have the energy or interest in helping with these fundraising efforts please do not hesitate to contact me at: jenniferbenorden@gmail.com
And FINALLY! the Holy Crap! project is beginning to grow in scope, as we are in the process of developing a series by the same name. This series will be a number of similar, short films which feature the work of other organizations and townships around the world that are transforming human waste into a viable resource.
Here are some of the things we are considering featuring in our series:
Cars (called "Bio Bugs") running on methane gas created from raw sewage in Bristol, England. What else is happening with methane gas in other parts of the world? Are other people trying this out?
One part of the series will feature and check on the progress of some of the more portable inventions that are coming to the fore, such as "PeePoo" bags which are safely biodegradable and the Gardiner CH4 - which is like a portable rolling suitcase but is actually a composting toilet!
Next will be a two-part installation that will investigate how ecological sanitation would impact communities within the United States. I want to query local governments about regulations to this type of off-the-grid infrastructure, and follow a citizen through the process of creating one in their yard or on their property. How would this type of sanitation impact facilities like hospitals, universities, and municipalities?
Olympic Forest Park, Beijing, China -- in 2007 China incorporated ecological sanitation (such as SOIL uses in Haiti) into their giant national park. We want to go there and see how the project has progressed since then.
There are many more exciting ecological sanitation projects happening around the world and I would like to keep a pulse on it, as I do believe that it is the only and obvious choice for sustainable sanitation in a time when water resources are limited, human beings are losing their lives because of poor sanitation, and billions of men, women and children are suffering from water-borne illness.
If you have any interest in helping me to develop this series, please do not hesitate to contact me at jenniferbenorden@gmail.com.
Finally, Holy Crap! is thrilled that we are still being featured on the National Geographic's website! Check us out there and don't forget to keep in touch with SOIL at www.oursoil.org.
So many of you have been staunch supporters of my work with this film and of SOIL's work in Haiti and I can't thank you enough for all the ways you believe in me and in this project. I could never have done it without you.
Wishing you all a lovely autumn,
Jenny
Producer/Director, Holy Crap!
www.holycrapthefilm.com
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Holy Crap! I'm posting a new blog post! :)
Dear friends,
I am thrilled to let you know that we finished the Holy Crap! film (short version) and submitted it last month to the Possible Futures Film Contest -- a wonderful on-line festival hosted by the Pachamama Alliance. This festival has 317 films, all dealing with the subject of "possible futures" for a positive turn of events on Planet Earth.
But I have been so remiss in posting to my blog that now we have just 2 days left to collect votes in the festival!! Can you spare a few minutes to go to the below link to watch our film, register, and vote?? Every vote counts!!
http://possiblefuturesfilmcontest.org/watch-vote/film-detail/?film_id=25433496
There are some really great films in the contest and so competition is stiff. We need all the votes we can get in order to be a contender for one of the two prizes determined by voting.
Can you take a moment to watch our 5 minute film and cast a vote in our favor??
And in the meantime I promise to get back into making blog posts and keep you posted as the film moves through the festival circuit over the next few months. Do you know of a good place we should submit it? Do you have any extra time to research on-line festivals or short-documentary film festivals at this time?
Please let me know.
Mesi Anpil pou tout bagay.....
Jenny
I am thrilled to let you know that we finished the Holy Crap! film (short version) and submitted it last month to the Possible Futures Film Contest -- a wonderful on-line festival hosted by the Pachamama Alliance. This festival has 317 films, all dealing with the subject of "possible futures" for a positive turn of events on Planet Earth.
But I have been so remiss in posting to my blog that now we have just 2 days left to collect votes in the festival!! Can you spare a few minutes to go to the below link to watch our film, register, and vote?? Every vote counts!!
http://possiblefuturesfilmcontest.org/watch-vote/film-detail/?film_id=25433496
There are some really great films in the contest and so competition is stiff. We need all the votes we can get in order to be a contender for one of the two prizes determined by voting.
Can you take a moment to watch our 5 minute film and cast a vote in our favor??
And in the meantime I promise to get back into making blog posts and keep you posted as the film moves through the festival circuit over the next few months. Do you know of a good place we should submit it? Do you have any extra time to research on-line festivals or short-documentary film festivals at this time?
Please let me know.
Mesi Anpil pou tout bagay.....
Jenny
Monday, May 16, 2011
the composting process
Dear followers of the Holy Crap! film project, interested parties, curious ones and smellers of good ideas, today I write to you with a true update as to how this project is progressing.
From start to finish this has been one of the most incredible learning curves of my life! I have felt so many times like I am way out to sea in a vast ocean of footage, choices, perspectives, and options for how to obtain and present this material to you in a meaningful, compelling, engaging, smart way that brings positive and plentiful attention to the work of SOIL (www.oursoil.org), who pointed the funds in my direction so that I might do just that.
So far with the help of 3 crew members volunteering a great deal of their time, a couple of primary consultants (also donating their time), a 10-day film-shoot in Haiti, over 20-hours of footage with 3 different audio tracks and roughly 2,000 still photographs to choose from and with the help of 2 different editors, we have made 3 versions with about 20 different micro-variations to narrow down the best way to work with the material that we have.
In this process I have consulted with many people, relied heavily on people far more experienced than I, floundered, f*ed up, and forced myself to keep going because I am thrilled to be the one who gets to tell the story of SOIL to the world and hopefully, it will be heard.
It's such a great story!
And it is making a huge difference in the lives of thousands of people in Port au Prince and Cap Haitien, Haiti, as well as in many other places around the world. I am hoping to get to tell this story further beyond SOIL's work in Haiti, to the methane-gas used to run vehicles in Bristol, England -- to the eco-san projects happening throughout Africa, to Asia, and wherever else it's happening, because I think that is one of the most remarkable things in the whole world right now, that we can transform our own human waste into a valuable -- even - an INvaluable -- resource.
WILD! and INCREDIBLE.
So I am launching a Kickstarter campaign and gearing up to submit a piece to the Possible Futures Film Festival, deadline June 21.
Some people think the Holy Crap! title is too crass. Some people think it is hilarious and awesome. Some people think it is slightly offensive. Some people say it should be used in a more subtle way.
To me, it is the perfect irony and I am choosing to stay with it. I'm sure over time we will continue tweaking the way it is used, how we present it graphically, and how to make it accessible to a wider and wider audience.
In the meantime, hold tight because our next one-minute promo version is coming your way I promise, very very soon.
Check out our website (still in development) at:
www.holycrapthefilm.com
E mesi anpil anpil pou tout bagay nou ap fe pou late' la
(and thank you so much for everything YOU're doing for the world)
Jenny JUP Benorden
Producer, Director, and Chief Composter for "Holy Crap!" -- the film
From start to finish this has been one of the most incredible learning curves of my life! I have felt so many times like I am way out to sea in a vast ocean of footage, choices, perspectives, and options for how to obtain and present this material to you in a meaningful, compelling, engaging, smart way that brings positive and plentiful attention to the work of SOIL (www.oursoil.org), who pointed the funds in my direction so that I might do just that.
So far with the help of 3 crew members volunteering a great deal of their time, a couple of primary consultants (also donating their time), a 10-day film-shoot in Haiti, over 20-hours of footage with 3 different audio tracks and roughly 2,000 still photographs to choose from and with the help of 2 different editors, we have made 3 versions with about 20 different micro-variations to narrow down the best way to work with the material that we have.
In this process I have consulted with many people, relied heavily on people far more experienced than I, floundered, f*ed up, and forced myself to keep going because I am thrilled to be the one who gets to tell the story of SOIL to the world and hopefully, it will be heard.
It's such a great story!
And it is making a huge difference in the lives of thousands of people in Port au Prince and Cap Haitien, Haiti, as well as in many other places around the world. I am hoping to get to tell this story further beyond SOIL's work in Haiti, to the methane-gas used to run vehicles in Bristol, England -- to the eco-san projects happening throughout Africa, to Asia, and wherever else it's happening, because I think that is one of the most remarkable things in the whole world right now, that we can transform our own human waste into a valuable -- even - an INvaluable -- resource.
WILD! and INCREDIBLE.
So I am launching a Kickstarter campaign and gearing up to submit a piece to the Possible Futures Film Festival, deadline June 21.
Some people think the Holy Crap! title is too crass. Some people think it is hilarious and awesome. Some people think it is slightly offensive. Some people say it should be used in a more subtle way.
To me, it is the perfect irony and I am choosing to stay with it. I'm sure over time we will continue tweaking the way it is used, how we present it graphically, and how to make it accessible to a wider and wider audience.
In the meantime, hold tight because our next one-minute promo version is coming your way I promise, very very soon.
Check out our website (still in development) at:
www.holycrapthefilm.com
E mesi anpil anpil pou tout bagay nou ap fe pou late' la
(and thank you so much for everything YOU're doing for the world)
Jenny JUP Benorden
Producer, Director, and Chief Composter for "Holy Crap!" -- the film
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