Volunteers! More shoots!

Mary, working on film aspects,
with Diana working on finances

 A wonderful thing happened--a young woman named Mary Okonkwo came to our home from Fort Worth, to help us for a few days. We didn't know Mary--but she readily agreed to come spend time at our home working on aspects of the film, and we had a really great time with her!

Paul Taylor, voice recording

Armando

Tim & Paul

During this time we had actor Paul Taylor come over to record one of the voices for the film and also Armando, a student at the Art Institute, come talk to us about doing some animation. How lucky we are to have such lovely volunteers and professionals working on aspects of the film!

Tim, Anne, Manoutch, Melvin

We called our friend Melvin to play the part of Charles Tinsley, a servant of Phoebe Hearst in bed with a broken leg, who gets a visit from Abdu'l-Baha.  Here we are at the home of Manoutch and Karen Kazemzadeh shooting that scene--and we also did a scene at the park, on the porch of a little historic house--and I mean LITTLE! It was only about 12 feet across.  Mary got to be in the scene as well. I am standing in the photo, but I wasn't actually in the scene, even though Tim had me wear a costume that morning--in case I was needed in the background!

We are now getting ready to go to San Francisco to show excerpts from the film (Anne) and Los Angeles to recording original music with orchestration (Tim).

What excitement, on all fronts!

Montreal! O Canada!

We had the great bounty of going to Montreal for the Association for Baha'i Studies conference, and making several presentations about the film.  First to an audience of children. . . .

What a great audience! They asked some of the questions adults ask: what is the release date?
(Wish we knew!)  Are there any famous actors in the film?  (Wish there were!)

Then at our own session. . . . Then for 1000 people in the ballroom on Sunday morning.

Oh, also we showed the trailer and a behind-the-scenes piece at one of the late-night evenings.

We made a terrible faux-pas--Tim had accidentally put Montreal, Ontario on the title of the Montreal section, instead of Montreal, Quebec!  Oh--the shame of it, especially there. But we turned our announcement into a melodrama, and even had a French translator speak of it--and the crowd laughed and pardoned us!

Our friend Golgasht, who had shot some footage for us, was doing the video / PowerPoint transitions--and I provided all of the PowerPoint slides for the conference.  This is a volunteer role I have had for years--and it seems to add something to the conference. Dear friend Geoff was responsible for all of the media--and we had fun in the tech booth.  I don't seem to be able just to attend a conference!

We saw many dear friends, such as Robert Michell, Stan & Lorraine Phillips, John & Michelle Steere, Betty Fisher, and so forth. Tim got to SHOOT in Montreal and stay on to do a little sightseeing. All in all, it put us closer to conveying the days Abdu'l-Baha spent there!

Golgasht and Tim in front of a building designed by Sutherland Maxwell

Dublin Inn Program

Today was magical at the Dublin Inn. As 'Abdu'l-Baha has promised, He will be in our midst when we are unified, and I think we all experienced a pretty profound example of that today!

For me it was such a joy to see old friends and make new ones! It was a grand reunion of souls.

I can only put a few photos here, for now, but I hope it will give you a sense of the event. If you want an invitation to the Dropbox folder of images, let me know!

As Juliet Thompson

Reunion of old friends! 

Nancy & Michael Reimer

DUBLIN!

I am here in Dublin, during the same time period (100 years later) when 'Abdu'l-Bahá was here.

Staying with my friend Julie Swan (the utmost hostess), I will soon be going over to the Dublin Inn to do a program and have a reunion with old friends and meet new ones.

I had a brief moment lying in a hammock (relaxation--what is that?) and sent a photo to Tim saying that's all I'd be doing here--but he quickly responded: LOL

These photos are from our visit to Dublin last September. . . . I'll add some more from this visit!

Ruthie and Phil Gammons, caretakers of the Dublin Inn