As filmmakers, we are always looking to create something different or unique. Our hope is to entertain, and to ignite people’s imaginations when they watch our work. However, every once in a while, a film comes along that tries to tell more than a story — it hopes to create a reaction… or a movement.

This is exactly what is happening with Yoani – The Film, a new project by Open View Productions that attempts to bring the life of Yoani Sánchez to the screen. Despite the challenges the majority of Cubans face accessing the Internet, Yoani has blogged about human rights violations and daily life on the island since 2007. Her blog Generación Y has attracted over 15 million readers online and her Twitter account has over 500,000 followers. Once you learn more about Yoani’s story, it is very easy to see why she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012.

Yoani – The Film was conceived and developed by actor/activist Kesia Elwin (whom you may recognize as Rosa in our film, Parallel Avenue). Kesia has put a tremendous amount of work into creating this project and is now seeking your support to get it off the ground. What I find the most inspiring is that she has created a special opportunity to embrace art, entertainment, social media, and human rights as a means to educate and create social transformation.

Yoani Sánchez (left) and Kesia Elwin (right) discuss the film.

I urge you to visit the film’s Kickstarter page and get involved in the making of this film. Yoani Sánchez has a message that deserves to be supported and spread to a worldwide audience. In her own words, “We all deserve basic human rights as citizens of the world.” Below you can watch Kesia introduce Yoani – The Film so you can see for yourself why this film needs to get made. Visit and share her project by using this link: http://kck.st/ZJx8tp

We’re thrilled to announce that Parallel Avenue has been selected to screen at the Hamilton Fringe Festival as part of an international short film showcase. The event will be presented by Chasing Time Productions (Lily White, Pride of Caldwell) on October 2, 2013. Click on the flyer below to see more about the event ahead:

We’re happy to share the news that Sarah will be screening at the LA Harbor International Film Festival. It will be presented as part of their DocSunday event on May 5th, 2013 at the Warner Grand Theater. This beautiful old venue is a compliment to the golden days of Hollywood referenced in our film. For tickets and info visit the LA Harbor Film Festival website.

Today we released our Happy Hands page on Facebook. LIKE the page to connect with the filmmakers, and share updates with friends as the film begins its journey. Just click our new festival poster below to check it out:

We’re excited to kick off the week by sharing a new blog post by Jasmina Nevada, in which she interviews Leor in depth about Parallel Avenue. They cover a lot of ground, but focus especially on how the city of Los Angeles runs through the film’s veins. Click the image below to read the article on “Jasmina Nevada’s Insight into Film”:

We are thrilled to announce that our co-production of Happy Hands is now complete! Our thanks go out to Panik Piktures, our crew, and all the people who helped bring this project to life. Director Honey Lauren has done a wonderful job revealing the events that came together in California after the Vietnam War. The film features personal accounts by legendary Hollywood actress, Tippi Hedren (The Birds, Marnie), Tam Nguyen, and Thuan Le.

We look forward to sharing this unique story with you. More updates coming soon…

It’s official — the Internet is no longer big enough to hold Trent Steele‘s ego or Melvin Pratt‘s office bowling set.

This Sunday, February 3 at 6pm, Sevvy Hounds will make its television premiere in the San Francisco/Bay Area market on EATV (Comcast Channel 75, Astound Channel 31, and U-Verse). It will air as part of the weekly Web.2TV series, which features a tasty selection of entertaining web series from across various genres. The full first season of Sevvy will be broadcast over the course of 5 successive episodes, all at 6pm:

• Episode 1: Sunday Feb 3
• Episode 2: Sunday Feb 10
• Episode 3: Sunday Feb 24
• Episode 4: Sunday Mar 3
• Episode 5: Sunday Mar 10

So if you plan on being in the Bay Area during these times, you know what to do!

Life in a modern office cubicle can be pretty fucking drab. Yeah, it’s relatively low on the larger scale of human suffering, but STILL. That beige-on-beige-on-slightly-darker-beige color scheme, and all it represents, can inflict its own kind of subtle, slow-motion damage to the human spirit.

Just ask the Sevvy Hounds – it’s a life that’s often worth escaping:

Thankfully, like a fearless journalist dropped into a fiery warzone, prolific cubezone blogger Cubicle Views is there to shine a public spotlight on all that sinister beige. His takes on corporate life are funny, honest, and unfiltered. Or in other words, extremely non-corporate.

Witness:

• Performance reviews are sham-a-licious
• A precise accounting of the worst meeting ever (a.k.a. every meeting)
• The exact cube where trees go to die
• A survival guide to the office men’s bathroom
• Math: bosses clearly don’t get that shit

So, do yourself a solid and check out CV’s frequent dispatches on life in the cubicle. They’re like delicious, whiskey-flavored vitamins to get you through the workweek.

If you’ve ever gotten a manicure in California, you may have noticed that many of the nail salons are Vietnamese owned, more than anywhere else in America. Even those of us who live in Los Angeles have never stopped to ask why 80 percent of manicurists are Vietnamese.

To be able to tell that story, we teamed up with director Honey Lauren and Panik Piktures on a documentary called Happy Hands.

The film features legendary film actress Tippi Hedren (The Birds), who recounts the chain of events following the Vietnam War that opened doors for Vietnamese immigrants during the 1970s. This uniquely historical story is now in post-production and we’ll be sharing some updates as we apply the polish.

See our film page for more info.

Originally screened as a finalist for “On Location: The Los Angeles Video Project,” our mini-film, SARAH, is now available for you all to see. Discover Los Angeles has distributed our work alongside other films chosen to showcase the beauty and diversity of L.A. You can read more about this unique event in this article from the Los Angeles Times.

SARAH is one of five vignettes featured in our latest film, Parallel Avenue. It follows a young, aspiring actress as she searches the city for an old dream. Watch the video below and feel free to comment or share it with friends.