So after three months in the competition, thousands of votes from you and all our friends, we are officially out of the Pepsi Refresh Competition:( At the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank all you who stuck by us these past few months and put up with our repetitive messages. Our supporters are incredible, everywhere I went people were letting me know that they were voting for us daily. It was so encouraging to see everyone's support. Honestly, thank you!!!!

The focus right now is to finish this film. It is close to done and we have been doing a number of test screenings in St. Louis and getting excellent feedback and encouragement, but have also seen that we still have a little ways to go.

As far as Sundance, we submitted the film by Sept 25th deadline and we don't hear back if we are accepted into the competition or not until early December . Many of the festivals require that you premiere your film at their festival, so it will be a while before we do a public premiere with red carpets and all, but we do hope to do one of those someday. First, we are going to be entering the film into a number of the major festivals. It will be long process but sure to be a rewarding one and hopefully a way to secure some form of distribution.

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Have you ever had the opportunity do something big, something special you always dreamed about? The moment arrives and you freeze up. Your heart races, your breath quickens and you limbs feel weak. What you were once excited about becomes dread and you ask yourself why you thought you could do it in the first place.

When our daughter, Anastasia, was four-years-old, she begged to take a dance class. She had been dancing around our house since the time she could walk. She had spent numerous hours watching big bro in all of his activities and it was “her time” to enter the ring.

The day of her first class, she put on her leotard four hours early and had me fix her hair in two little buns. She danced around the house proclaiming, “I just can’t wait!”

Later, when we pulled up into the parking lot of the studio and her excitement began to dwindle.

Why are so many people willing to risk so much to cross the American border? The award winning independent film, Sin Nombre, elects to show us, rather than tell us. It is a poetic portrait of a highly politicized issue. Filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga researched Honduran immigrants’ plight, riding cargo trains loaded with hope-filled sojourners. His resulting first feature is a beautiful and troubling trek towards the Rio Grande. It also immerses viewers in the brutal initiation rites of the Mara Salvatrucha. Started by Salvadorean immigrants in Los Angeles, Mara Salvatrucha’s network has now been exported (or rather deported) across Central America. Sin Nombre is a riveting story of escape and a haunting fight for survival. It is not recommended for the squeamish. But for those who want to get inside the immigrant experience, Sin Nombre puts a compelling face on those who often die ‘without a name.’

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I wept throughout Taking Chance. This powerful film starring Kevin Bacon as a stoic Marine competed at the Sundance Film Festival last month. It premieres on HBO this Saturday night. Many of my students indicated they had never cried so much in one movie.  What made this requiem for an American soldier killed in Iraq so powerful?

Director Ross Katz collaborated with retired Lt. Colonel Michael Strobl on the simple story. It is about a Marine who chooses to escort a fallen soldier back to his hometown for a funeral. We never see even a photo of the dead soldier, 19 year-old Private First Class Chance Phelps. Taking Chance focuses instead upon the respect extended toward the casket by limo drivers, airline attendants and pilots. It is about people pausing to pay their respects to the departed. Taking Chance is an invitation to grieve.

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