Dearest Donators,

We started our production with the working title A Short Film About Home, with which I started my script and creative process for the film. This was the title that gave me the opportunity to start this crowdfunding campaign, so I am forever grateful to all of you for spreading these words.

After months of editing and making the film into a whole, I am happy to announce that the official title of our short film is now:

The Patter of the Poets

The title consists of a pure Scottish word for chatter and my main drive for the film, the beloved poets.

I can't wait to show you our film. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

Kind regards,
Sophie

Dearest Donators,

Hopefully you're all doing well, it’s been a while since I gave our last update, so I think it’s good to catch up with all of you again.

On this update you’ll see two photos; in one picture you see the workplace of my beloved editor Nathalie Alonso Casale when we were working on the edit. In the second picture you see my beloved sound designer Sam Titshof when we had our first meeting.

I have also been so lucky to visit my family in Scotland in the meantime and show them the first rough version of the film. Showing my film to them was one of the most special experiences of my life, and since the film was shot in and around them in their own home village, it felt natural to show it to them first.

The reason for my late update is that we're currently in the middle of working on the post-production of our film. To give you an open, and hopefully interesting, insight into our filmmaking, I want to take you on the journey of where we have been and where we are heading for.

Please open this update in the 'Voor de Kunsten' browser (the button below) if you want to know all the facts about this independent way of filmmaking:

Production: I am producing the film by myself with the help of my amazing crew. This gave me the incredible ‘hands on’ experience of seeing the details of every step in the process. Normally you hire someone to do the complete post-production but the scale of my film required me to do it myself, which I actually loved. This process of (Co-)Producing a film myself is something which I will endeavor to do in all my future films. I enjoyed the process so much and as a filmmaker (in which there are so many people involved) I found it essential to stay involved artistically in every step of the way. Even if this was just in learning and listening to the professionals. Producing it myself of course took much longer than it would have normally taken but this gave me time to consider every careful step along the way.

Finance: I am happy to tell you that we have stayed within our budget for the complete filmmaking process till now! There are still some big costs we need to take care of, but it looks as if this will be possible within our current budget reserve.

Collaborations: It has been such a joy finding creative artists to work with on the titles, visuals, music and poster design. I have been working out the ideas for these over the past few months and currently I'm thankfully lining up the right people to help me with my vision in the film.

Eternally Grateful: Just a reminder of how thankful I am to you all. You have made it possible for me to get closer to finding my own voice and style in filmmaking. A lot of people are now asking me what the next step is with the film. After it’s completely finished, we’ll be sending the short film to film festivals. If we get selected for any of these then this will help me enormously to take the next step in making my next film. It will also give a big boost to our whole team to be more known in the world and film-industry. This selection process is something which will keep me occupied in the next couple of months.

If you have any questions about independent filmmaking or about our production process, then you know where to find me.

Many thanks again for all the help and support in getting it this far,
Sophie

(to read the full update, please press on the blue button on the bottom)

Dearest Donators,

Today marks exactly half a year since our first shooting day in Scotland. This is quite unreal for me, since the material and experience still feel so fresh and because I'm still working on it daily.

Currently we're still editing the film but also working on other important layers of the film such as music and the titles.

To give you some insight into my nostalgia of the shooting period I'm attaching some behind the scenes photos made during the filming. The freedom and focused sphere we experienced during shooting this film, set an artistic guideline for me on how I want to shoot other films in the near future. Thanks to my loving crew. Hopefully this feeling speaks through the photos.

Next to the making of this film, I'm currently following literary courses at the University of Amsterdam. And I'm exploring and writing new ideas for short screenplays as well. Which I both enjoy highly.

Thank you all so much for following our process the last half year. If you have questions of any kind, please feel free to send me an email.

Kind regards,
Sophie

(to read the full update, please press on the blue button on the bottom)

Dearest Donators,

Three months have passed since the shooting of our film in Scotland. In the meantime I turned 23 and started a Masters degree in Philosophy specialized in film and critical theory.

And most importantly, in the meantime we have found an amazing editor who joined the team and is currently working on the material. It's someone who I find it very special to work with, I couldn't dream of our film being in such good hands.

Therefore I want to say that I can't thank you all enough for the special time I have had the last few months. Making art this freely is something I have never experienced before and I can say that I never want to do anything else in my life. Especially with lovely crews like this one.

The actual doing of art is something so hard and at the same time so fulfilling. I'm currently exploring more and more in what way an artwork is a pure expression of the artist, which makes it such an intense process; you have to find the expression closest to your heart and experience of life. This is of course what all studies of art are about and all lives of artists.

I want to finish off with a quote from one of my philosophy papers. Our film is about John Keats and funny enough Keats is popping up in strange places in my life at the moment. Also here in a book 'Art as Experience' by John Dewey:

"Ultimately there are but two philosophies. One of them accepts life and experience in all its uncertainty, mystery, doubt and half-knowledge and turns that experience upon itself to deepen and intensify its own qualities - to imagination and art. This is the philosophy of Shakespeare and Keats."

Thank you all for reading my updates and for all your support so far. If you have any questions (or philosophical contemplations), don't hesitate and send me an email.

Kind regards,
Sophie

Dearest Donators,

A month has passed since we came back from the shooting in Scotland. After being away from home for so long I had to get back into my old routine again of making money to pay for my rent. I work on a film set and in three different bookstores in Amsterdam (all jobs that I enjoy very much). This frustrated me very much at first because the only thing I wanted to do was work on the film and the material as quickly as possible. Afterwards however,
I see that the rest did me well, I could reconnect with myself after months of production and get back into checking into my favourite films, books and art again.

This week we're finally starting with the editing of the film, a process that will take a couple of months to finish. We shot some extra material in Scotland in a very free and intuitive way which gives possibilities for some new small ideas. I cannot wait to move mountains to bring these ideas into practice and to follow my pure imagination in this exciting process for finishing off the film.

Since I understand that you're all waiting to see our Scottish material, I've selected some film recommendations in a way that I can already share my love for cinema with you. These five films are all part of our inspiration for this short film and the filmmakers have meant a lot for my/our artistic aspirations. I've put the films in no particular order.

1. Midnight Cowboy, 1969. Directed by John Schlesinger.

2. A Woman Under the Influence, 1974. Directed by John Cassavetes.

3. Jane B. par Agnès V., 1988. Directed by Agnès Varda. (RIP Jane Birkin)

4. Mystery Train, 1989. Directed by Jim Jarmusch.

5. Being There, 1980. Directed by Hal Ashby.

If you hate any of those films, call me or send me a message. I will make sure that you get to love them…..

Take care and I’ll keep you all up to date with our progress in the coming months,

Sophie

Dearest Donators,

Our Scottish film crew is back from ten days in Scotland. You would say that we're 'back home' but... Are we really?

When are you really back home? What does this mean? Home is such a mythical thing that we spend our lives finding our way back to it. Searching for it over and over again. Most of the time we don't even know what it is, we just know that it is somewhere out there.

I experienced multiple forms of ‘homes’ the last ten days in Scotland. First of all, within the challenge of the medium of film, which struck me with more intensity and beauty than I thought it would. I can't wait for a lifetime of writing and directing films.

I want to thank all of you for giving me the chance to direct for the first time. To communicate my vision and my emotional world through this short film. I'm very aware of this unique opportunity and I find it very special that you all gave me the chance to start working on my dream.

Secondly, I found home with my Scottish family and the nature in the area of Dumfries and Galloway where we shot most of our footage. I already knew that Scottish people are special but these weeks connected me with the country even more.

And finally, I found home within my incredible team; Katja, Anne, Lykle and Wisse. I have never experienced such a group of talented, hardworking, honest and kind people. I'm sure you will hear a lot about these artists in the future.

With this email I included three photos. One of my crew, one of me with my Scottish Granny and one of a sneak-peek of our scenery.

The first bit of the film is done, the shooting. Now working on the edit, sound and music can begin.

See you at the next update.

Kind regards,
Sophie

Dearest Donators,

Only four more days and we're heading off to Scotland. Of course we're nervous, thrilled, constantly making decisions that might make the difference between just a good or excellent film, fighting ourselves through the obstacles of Brexit but... most of all we're really excited for this life changing event.

We're ready to indulge into making art while being surrounded by the beauty of the Scottish landscape and the Scottish people.

This is all possible because of your donations and supportive messages. It means the world to me that so many want to help us show our vision freely.

After making all the arrangements, we can now only trust the magic of film making and art making, which arises from following your heart and your gut feeling.

You will see or hear from me after my weeks in Sanquhar, Scotland.

Thank you for all your help and love till now!

Kind regards,
Sophie

Two days ago the counter reached €15.000. We are completely overwhelmed by all your support.

The only thing that we can say is THANK YOU! For all the love, your donations, the incredible messages with the donations, the inspiration and the motivation.

It's really happening. We're going to Scotland and we're making this film.

Personally, I of course feel very touched by this. The morning after the counter reached €15.000 (I slept the best I did in months) I couldn't realize the fact that after years of watching films, that I was actually going to make my own film. Which will give me the opportunity to speak to you, and to the world, through the medium of film. A challenge which I'm going to accept together with a very talented team. Thank you so much for making this possible.

Last week we did our first camera test with black and white film and currently we're diving into the character of Ann, in coherence with finalizing the script. An amazing process and very exciting.

We can't wait to show you the result already. As much as Ann is going to make a leap of faith in her travels through Scotland, we're going to do this too. Let's see what we are going to find.