Apologies for the long, long overdue update from us at Driven. It's been a busy past few months, and we've got lots to tell you about.

First of all, let's tell you about the HotDoc Forum in Toronto, all the way back in May. 
The HotDocs Forum takes place during the Hot Doc Documentary Festival in Toronto each year. It is an invitation only pitch session to all of the top commissioning editors from all over the world. We were 1 of 27 films invited this year, so quite a vote of confidence.

We were second last to pitch on the second day. Rob Fletcher and Jonathan Howells were fortunate to have our new Exectutive Producer Tom Roberts sit at our pitch table, along with Tom Koch from PBS International, who is our new international sales agent, but more about that in a moment.

The sessions take place in the Great Hall at Hart House at the University of Toronto. The room looks like Hogwarts dining hall from Harry Potter! There is a long, rectangular set up of tables, with the moderators at the far end, all the commissioning editors along the sides, and with us at the other end. At both ends of the room are screens for trailers/demos to be viewed. There is also an audience of nearly a hundred who sit in on the pitches. So, a pretty intimidating environment!

We were introduced, and then given our 7 minutes to make the pitch, 3 1/2 of which was taken up by our trailer. We set up the story, explained our intended approach, then the lights were dimmed, and our trailer was played. We sat in the dark watching it for the hundredth time, and when it was over, the lights came back up, and Rob and I swallowed... it was time for the commissioning editors to react.

Here are some of their comments:

"I do love this story - one of the pitches I was looking forward to."
Jane Jankovic,
TVO Commissioning Editor Canada

"I have a road stories strand, -  I am in."
Murray Battle
Knowledge
Director of Independent Production and
Presentation Canada

"It makes it difficult for both of us, I was looking forward to this pitch and Murray and I can battle it out."
Bob Culbert,
CBC Executive Producer Canada

"Sweet and lovely story, would love to talk some more. I want to do a series on love, and this would fit in."
Barbara Truyen
VPRO Commissioning Editor Documentaries
Netherlands

"Sounds beautiful - almost Hollywood."
Susanne Mertens
ZDF Commissioning Editor
Germany

"I ask if I would love to see this and I think yes."
Iikka Vehkalahti
YLE TV 2 Documentaries Commissioning Editor
Finland

"I love the archival footage, I'm interested is seeing more..."
Mette Hoffmann
Meyer DR Media Head editor of Documentaries
Denmark

So, very good reactions. We were a bit stunned -kind of in disbelief. There were some critical comments, mainly about being careful the film isn't too sweet/too Hollywood, and has some real depth to it, which we completely agree with.

I mentioned PBS International at the start. We were approached by PBS before we arrived at Hot Docs. They had reviewed the project, and contacted us about possible representation. We were thrilled, of course, but carefully reviewed some other options. Ultimately, we decided they were a good fit for us, being that our film takes place in the US, with American characters, but also with a global backstory.
So, thanks to Charles Schuerhoff and Tom Koch from PBS International, for spotting us, and pursuing us. We're thrilled to be with you.

After HotDocs, we spent time with our amazing Exec Producer, Tom Roberts, developing some more rough cut scenes, to show to BBC Storyville, who showed some interest in Toronto. We're now had a couple of sessions with Storyville, but so far, no commission. We're working on it!

Most recently, I have been working on a "paper-edit" with Tom Roberts. Because we're still seeking our "finishing budget" we can't move into the actual edit yet, but instead, we've been editing the film scene for scene, line for line, on paper. It's been a great process, and has reinforced for us just how strong our material is.

We also received a real treasure from Niels Hobbs, Alfred and Jakobine's son. It is the hundreds of pages of Jakobine's original travel journals. They are evocative, colourful and insightful, and really conjure what it was like for the two of them to travel the world in that old taxi. Thanks Niels. This will be invaluable for the film.

So, there's a nice long (and long overdue) update for you all. We intend to be much more frequent with our posts leading into next year, and hope to have some more exciting new very soon.



We are very pleased to tell you all that Driven has been selected as one of 27 international, documentary film projects to pitch at the 2011 Hot Docs Forum event in Toronto, on May 4th and 5th. Projects will be coming from countries all over the world, including Argentina, Denmark, Peru, Israel, Syria, USA, Canada, and the UK. View the full list here.

This is an amazing opportunity for us to introduce our wonderful story to a impressive list of "attending buyers". These are television commissioners, buyers, distributors, agents, funders and associations  (see the list below - gulp!).

Producer Rob Fletcher and Director Jonathan Howells will be there in Toronto to pitch, and we hope to get some of these buyers excited about Driven. Last month, Rob and Jonathan attended the Engine Room Workshop, a pitching event associated with the Sheffield Doc Fest. Driven was a unanimous favourite among all in attendance, so we're optimistic for Hot Docs.

The Hot Docs Forum could help us find the funding we need to see Driven to the finish line, as well as connect us with the international film community, so wish us luck at the beginning of May everyone! We'll let you know how it goes.

International buyers at the 2011 Hot Docs Forum:

Argentina

• Infinto Hernan Topasso

Australia

• SBS Television Australia Ben Nguyen
• Screen Australia Julia Overton

Austria

• Autlook Filmsales Andrea Hock
• Autlook Filmsales Peter Jäger

Canada

• Astral Media Kathleen Meek
• Bogeydom Licensing George Ayoub
• BuzzTaxi Communications Inc. Jenna Bourdeau
• Canwest Broadcasting Christine Shipton
• CBC Michael Claydon
• CBC Bruce Cowley
• CBC News Network Andrew Johnson
• CBC News Network Catherine Olsen
• CBC Science & Natural History Unit Michael Allder
• Corus Entertainment Michael Harris
• Discovery Channel Canada Lindsay Cowan Dotchison
• Discovery Channel Canada Paul Lewis
• E1 Films International Charlotte Mickie
• Filmoption International Lizanne Rouillard
• Films Transit International Inc. Jan Rofekamp
• High Fidelity HDTV John Panikkar
• High Fidelity HDTV Daphne Vaz
• High Fidelity HDTV Craig Colby
• High Fidelity HDTV Andrea Harrick
• Interactive Ontario Ian Kelso
• KinoSmith Robin Smith
• Knowledge Murray Battle
• Knowledge Rudy Buttignol
• Maple Pictures John Bain
• Mongrel Media Caroline Habib
• Movie Central Julie Di Cresce
• RIDM Roxanne Sayegh
• RIDM Myriam Lisee-Castan
• SRC Société Radio-Canada Georges Amar
• Super Channel Justin Rebelo
• Super Channel Marguerite Pigott
• Super Channel Maureen Levitt
• TVOntario Jane Jankovic
• TVOntario Naomi Boxer
• TVOntario Linda Fong
• TVOntario Christine McGlade

China

• iDocs China Coraline Zou

Denmark

• CPH:DOX Daniellla Eversby
• Filmkontakt Nord Katrine Kiilgaard
• Filmkontakt Nord Karin Johansson-Mex
• Nordic Film and TV Fund Karolina Lidin

Finland

• YLE TV 2 Documentaries Iikka Vehkalahti
• YLE Current Affairs Nina Tuominen

France

• ARTE France Christilla Huillard-Kann
• ARTE France Nathalie Verdier
• ARTE France Karen Michael
• ARTE France Alex Szalat
• ARTE GEIE Olaf Grunert
• CAT&Docs Catherine LeClef
• Wide Management Anais Clanet

Germany

• NDR Patricia Schlesinger

Israel

• Channel 1 Israel Neil Weisbrod
• yesDocu Guy Lavie

Italy

• RAI Lorenzo Hendel

Japan

• NHK Takahiro Hamano
• NHK Tomoko Okutsu

Korea South

• Pusan Internatoinal Film Festival Hyosook Hong

Netherlands

• AVRO Marijke Huijbregts
• IDFA Ally Derks
• SND Films Sydney Neter
• VPRO Barbara Truyen

Norway

• FilmCamp Svein Andersen

Sweden

• SVT Hjalmar Palmgren

Switzerland

• First Hand Films Esther van Messel

United Arab Emirates

• Dubai International Film Festival Jane Williams

United Kingdom

• BBC Mark GoodChild
• Channel 4 Television Anna Miralis
• Channel 4 Television Simon Dickson
• Dogwoof Distribution Oli Harbottle
• Dogwoof Distribution Anna Godas
• Mercury Media Tim Sparke
• Mercury Media Calum Gray

United States

• 7th Art Releasing Udy Epstein
• A&E IndieFilms Molly Thompson
• Al Jazeera English Jean Garner
• American Documentary l POV Chris White
• American Documentary l POV Simon Killmurry
• Balcony Releasing Greg Kendall
• Balcony Releasing Connie White
• Catapult Film Fund Lisa Chanoff
• Catapult Film Fund Bonni Cohen
• Cause & Affect Ted Richane
• Cinetic Rights Management Emi Norris
• Crowd Starter Paola Freccero
• Crowd Starter Liz Ogilvie
• ESPN & ESPN Classic Mark Durand
• Films Transit International Inc. Diana Holtzberg
• Ford Foundation Orlando Bagwell
• Goldcrest Films Nick Quested
• Hamptons International Film Festival David Nugent
• Icarus Films Jonathan Miller
• Impact Partners Dan Cogan
• Independent FIlm PBS PLUS Kathryn Lo
• KETC (PBS - St. Louis) John Lindsay
• Link Media Lorraine Hess
• Magnolia Films Laird Adamson
• MSNBC Scott Hooker
• Naked Edge Films Jim Butterworth
• Naked Edge Films Daniel Chalfen
• National Endowment for the Humanities Sonia Feigenbaum
• Participant Productions Diane Weyermann
• PBS Interactive Eric Freeland
• PBS WGBH International Tom Koch
• PBS WGBH International Charles Schuerhoff
• Ro*co films international Sue Turley
• Shooting People Ingrid Kopp
• Shoreline Entertainment Sam Eigen
• Submarine Josh Braun
• Sundance Channel Ann Rose
• Sundance Film Festival Caroline Libresco
• Sundance Film Festival David Courier
• The Documentary Channel Kate Pearson
• The Documentary Channel James Ackerman
• Tribeca Film Institute Ryan Harrington
• True/ False Paul Sturtz
• True/False David Wilson
• Women Make Movies Debra Zimmerman
• Zeitgeist Films Ian Stimler

Wishing you all a very warm and happy holiday. It's been an exciting past few months, with editing on the film continuing, music starting to come in from our composers, graphics being built, and some recent digitizing of newly discovered, never before seen, archival footage!  As a little present to you all, here's a sneak peak - you are literally among the first to ever see this 50-year-old film footage. We hope you enjoy it, and we look forward to giving you some new updates in the new year. View the video here:

Wishing you all a very warm and happy holiday. It's been an exciting past few months, with editing on the film continuing, music starting to come in from our composers, graphics being built, and some recent digitizing of newly discovered, never before seen, archival footage!  As a little present to you all, here's a sneak peak - you are literally among the first to ever see this 50 year film footage. We hope you enjoy it, and we look forward to giving you some new updates in the new year.

We are very sorry to be the bearer of sad news, but Alfred Hobbs passed away late last week, at the age of 84. True to form, he had just returned to Taos from 6 months away traveling the world (again), and as all his friends well know, that is what made Alfred feel most alive. The world was indeed his oyster.

The film will go on, and now with even more conviction to honour Alfred and tell his amazing life story.

A memorial service happened Saturday, 28th August near his home in Taos, New Mexico. Any words in his honour can be sent to us here via the website, and we will pass them along. He will be dearly missed.

A thoughtful article appeared in the Taos News, and can be read here.

Firstly, Driven (formerly Alfred & Jakobine) had some good mention in the UK's The Independent newspaper yesterday. Our producer Rob Fletcher was quoted in an article that discusses 'crowd funding' as a very new approach for indie film financing. Driven's "buy-a-mile" program was mentioned along side a new doc about David Lynch and a Ridley Scott project, so we're in very good company. You can read the article below, or on the Independent's website here. Well done Rob.

Next, we are very pleased to announce that our editor, Alan MacKay has completed a wonderful, 28 minute "cross section" of the film, which we'll be putting in front of television commissioners, distributors and other funders to assist with our 'finishing budget'. We're hopeful that with this edit, which presents the look and feel of the full film, we'll impress all with the richness and breadth of the story. A couple of months back, Driven's new trailer was shown around Cannes, and many of those who saw it are eager to see the new 28 minute edit.

Lastly, we wanted to thank all of you again who have already supported the film by 'buying-a-mile'. Your t-shirts are now rare collector's items, since the film was renamed from Alfred & Jakobine to Driven. Your A&J t-shirts are the only ones in existence - an artifact from the evolution of this film project. Please encourage your friends to consider supporting us - we still have a long way to go. Speak to you all again very soon with more updates.

Well, after many (many) development years with our film "temporarily" being entitled Alfred & Jakobine, we have finally renamed it!. Are you sitting down? Alfred & Jakobine is now called Driven!

We're very pleased that this title has multiple meanings, some more obvious and some more buried. We hope when you all finally see the film, you will agree this title is entirely appropriate. Please let us know your reactions.

Stay tuned for our brand, new trailer as well. We promised it a few weeks back (sorry about that) but then decided it needed more time to make it perfect. We're confident you'll enjoy seeing parts of the real film for the first time. We expect the new trailer to launch in the next week or so, and don't worry, we'll be sure to let you know it's ready for you.

Alfred, Niels and Anpo in the middle of their journey.

Happy New Year to all of you. We've been busy at work on a brand new trailer for the film, and it is coming together very nicely. You will see it before anyone else next week. This new trailer, for the first time, will properly represent all the dimensions of the story, now that the film has been shot.

Most importantly, it will, more than our current trailer, evoke the key role of Niels in the film, Alfred and Jakobine's son. Niels, of course, made the journey with Alfred across the country in the old taxi, and within the film, it will be through Niels that we will learn of the epic story of his parents' greatest adventure, and of Alfred's plans for the taxi before the new road trip begins.

Many of you have asked how the trip went. Did they have problems along the way? How did the taxi do? Did they make it all the way to Jakobines, and if so, how did she react?  The answers to some of these questions will be contained in the new trailer, but certainly not all. For these, you'll have to wait for the actual film!

One final update for now, is that we are about to go into final editing! Our talented editor, Alan Mackay, is now ready to jump in, and we're all very excited to see how he crafts the story, from the over 80 hours of footage that we shot. Also, we have new composers lined up to create music, and a beautiful score for the film, which is so important.

It's all very exciting, and we'll keep you posted more frequently now, as things move toward completion, and for now, keep an eye out for the brand new trailer next week.

We started reviewing the massive amount of new archival material this week, that we collected from Alfred and Jakobine's personal collections. Amazing stuff. We could almost tell the story with photographs alone!

Here, in no particular order is a new selection of photos, slides and paper matter from the archives, ready to be worked into the film. Some have captions, some don't, but we hope you enjoy them.

 A page from Alfred's Pakistani driver's license

Alfred's Moroccan driver's license

Alfred the adventurer.

The rad blowing coming up a hill in India (so steep was the hill, that the rad blew every 5 minutes).

Fixing the the taxi in Africa.

Filling the rad in Southern India.

Alfred and Jakobine with a white dove in Karachi, Pakistan.

Fitting as second, rear wheel in Casablanca, before they headed into the Sahara Desert.

On the beach in Casablanca, before heading into the Sahara. With Alfred are their friends Liza and Phlip.