So the LoliGirls crew is super excited about being accepted into the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival!! Film festivals are an important part of the film making process...not only is your film open for public viewing (and scrutiny), but it's often judged (Buff/Niag does have a film contest) and can be awarded special recognition. Festivals are a place for film makers to see what others are working on. It's a good way to see trends developing in the film industry. It's a great way to network and secure a distribution deal too!

Now as I'm sure you all know, the reason "LoliGirls: The Story Behind the Frills and Bows" has been kept off the internets is so it has a chance on the festival circuit. Festival organizers often consider YouTube to equate a 'world premiere' and so the film won't be accepted into a festival. Definitely keep this in mind if you've worked on something with your friends that you think can go the extra mile. By keeping it offline you create an air of mystery around the project and, let's be honest here, seeing your film premiere on the BIG screen is much more satisfying than watching your view count rise on YouTube.

From the very beginning I wanted "LoliGirls" to act as a long funding trailer to jump-start a bigger, more ambitious and more comprehensive project that will look at Lolita fashion as it exists here in America. This will be a 60-minute feature-length documentary that will once again examine the lives of our 3 loligirls (Julia Aly and Victoria) but will use their stories as a way to segway between various parts of the film. Yes, I'd love to film in Japan. Yes, I'd certainly like to visit some key lolita communities across the U.S. Will this happen? Gosh, I hope so, but I'm hesitant to put a timeline on anything. Money is a big concern...so this is way the Buffalo Niagara film festival is a big deal. It's the first festival (so far!) that LoliGirls has been accepted into, and the first time the general public will be invited into the mysterious, poufy, whimsical and frilly world of lolita.

And now for some details!

LoliGirls will be screened at the Riviera Theater on April 24th at 12PM (Address coming soon!).

If you would like to come to see the film, you only have to pay $10 for a pass ($8 dollars for students). LoliGirls will precede a feature film, and is the first film of the day at the Riviera Theater...so get there early! It'd be wonderful to see a group of girls dressed in their finest at the premiere!

So...have you checked out our IMDb.com page yet?? Please do, and write a review (if you've seen the film)!

This weekend was peppered with LoliGirls shoots. Friday we ventured into the city (Victoria (Lolita Charm blog), Megan (our movie photographer), and Linsey (co-producer for the LoliGirls short and assist. camera/editor for the movie). After meeting up with Victoria's friend Dalin, we wandered over to Bryant Park for an impromptu photo shoot (pix are up here). We then had to hustle to FIT to grab a seat for the Tokyo Fashion Fest Show. Looking across the audience from the press section, I was impressed by the sea of lolitas. Everyone was dressed in his/her finest. Misako introduced the show, and for the next hour we were immersed in the wild, over-the-top fashion of Harajuku.

Not a day later, Aly (Miss Lumpy) organized a local lolita meet-up at Chocopologie in SoNo. Liz and I showed up with a camera and tripod and luckily the cafe staff was cool with us filming. The entire front section of the cafe was stuffed with Lolitas and their significant others. Liz and I were excited to interview boyfriends and husbands, as well as the new Lolitas who showed up. It was so wonderful to see so many local lolitas in one spot! I hope we can organize another meetup soon!

I'm utterly THRILLED that LoliGirls made it into the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival!! Not only is it a big festival (I discovered it through an ad in Videomaker magazine), but it's also our first official opportunity to show our film to the world. The festival is over a week long, and tons of films will be shown. The idea is to promote the heck out of your film so you can pack the theater for your screening. In order to do this you need cool promotional materials (hand-outs) and a way to grab people's attention. So I will need a team of Lolitas to come and help get the word out. I will dress in lolita myself if that will help get the word out about the film!!!

So we made stickers to hand out at various anime cons, which seemed popular, anyone have any other ideas? I was thinking something frilly would be cute, like handing out bow-shaped pins or cute necklaces. It'd be great to keep costs low (as we have no budget) so anything crafty (but professional!) would be best.

If you have any ideas please don't hesitate to email me at loligirlsmovie@yahoo.com! Or send me a message on twitter (loligirlsmovie).

Also, get the word out! Let your friends know about the festival and a chance to see LoliGirls on the BIG SCREEN!

Thanks for all of your festival suggestions! Keep them coming, and perhaps LoliGirls will be screening in a theater near you!!

As many of you probably know, Anime Boston is rapidly approaching (it's on Easter weekend this year...which is a bit odd I think). I've already preregistered, as waiting in line last year was reallllly tiring >.<'

So I posted on the AB forum panel group about Lolita panels. Anyone running one? If you are, how would you like to screen LoliGirls? The festival version is only 14 minutes long. If there isn't any interest I reckon I might apply for a 'How to make a con documentary' panel and somehow sneak a LoliGirls screening in there >.>  I know AB is a huge con, and I think it'd be a great opportunity for some of your gals to see the film on a big screen!

So here's my post in the AB forums, please reply or offer advice! See you in April!

Hello everyone and I hope you all had a safe and happy New Year's celebration!!

With the arrival of 2010, and also with the chaos of the holidays past, the LoliGirls team are getting back to work! Our goals for this year:

1) Get LoliGirls: The Story Behind the Frills and Bows into as many festivals as possible!

With each festival, our documentary isn't not only viewed and enjoyed, it's recognized. We're not only interested in feedback, but we're looking for people interested enough to invest money in the development of a feature-length documentary. Which leads us to our second resolution-

2) Develop and shoot LoliGirls: The Movie!

First step: create a funding trailer that we can use to approach potential investors. I'll admit that this is my first time raising money for a film (I don't think the fundable site for LoliGirls counts) so it will be a learning process. Fortunately, my associate producer is well-versed in this area of film making, so I'll be relying on her expertise to get us pass this crucial part of the film making process.

Now, I'd like to take this space to clarify a point. With the LoliGirls short, some folks expressed concern over us filmmakers making money off the film. They felt we were, in theory, exploiting them in order to make a buck. I completely understand this sentiment, however I have to explain something: in order to make a movie, you need money. And, you need to make money to pay back those you took money from. On top of that, you want to make a profit so you can apply that towards making your next movie. During the filming of our short LoliGirls, we made a negative profit. I financed most of the film out of pocket. Here's something for a little perspective- during one afternoon of filming I spent xxx. Have of that went towards drinks and food for the crew (it was blisteringly hot that day and we didn't want our talent to faint!), the rest went towards gas and camera equipment. That might not seem like a lot of money for a big production, but for this small project that started out as a weekend activity, it's quite a bit. Of course it was totally worth it, but my bank account took a bit of a blow last summer.

If you have any questions or concerns about the money raising/spending part of the filming process, please don't hesitate to contact me via our contact form:)


So here's a call out to all you lolis! Please let me know of any big lolita events and/or any film festivals in your area! We're still on the lookout for festivals to send LoliGirls, and we're currently searching the globe for lolitas and lolita communities to possible include in LoliGirls: The Movie! If you're at all interested please get in touch with us. You'll probably make it into the credits of the movie for your assistance:D

So from now on "LoliGirls" will refer to the short documentary we completed last summer, and the Loli Movie will refer to our next project: a feature-length (60+ min) documentary on Lolita.

I've gotten asked on numerous occasions how exactly I can make my short documentary into some full-length. I know it's hard to imagine extending our cute short film! But the Movie will be a lot broader and, although it will have some personalities, it will cover more of the history of the fashion, the philosophy behind it, and how it fits into the American J-Pop culture scene. So for research purposes I've been following a number of lolita blogs (lifestyle and non-lifestyle) as well as keeping an eye on larger communities such as EGL. I've also enlisted the help of a loli expert;)

Everything is still very much in the preliminary stages, but I'll post frequent updates on our progress here.

In January I'll most likely be visiting Tokyo Rebel in New York (camera in tow) to conduct some interviews. I was told that after Christmas they would have most of their Lolita lines in stock. Also, I'm going to work on getting a test screening of LoliGirls at NYU to get some audience reactions that will hopefully help me with the Movie concept.

So that's all the news for now!

Hope you guys enjoyed another secret screening! Sorry I wasn't around to monitor things personally, I was taking a production workshop all weekend, learning how to raise money to shoot a feature-length documentary on lolitas:)

There will be other secret screenings, but for now, I'd suggest working on your Scary Loli Contest Entries!! :D

Want a copy of the LoliGirls poster? Enter the LoliGirls October Halloween Contest! Here's the deal:

Contest details:

THEME:
It was a dark and stormy night...

Write a scary short story, poem, play, comic or draw a scary picture featuring a lolita!

DEADLINE:
Entries will be accepted starting right NOW through Oct. 23rd! **Send your entries to loligirlsmovie@yahoo.com**

PRIZES:
Entries will be posted on this website on October 25th and judged by the LoliGirls! The winner/s will be announced on Halloween!

First place receives a LoliGIrls poster and a LoliGirls mug!
Second and third runner ups get LoliGirls posters!

So get writing, composing, sketching, painting, etc. Get spooky, get frilly, get loli!

I had a fabulous time at the New York Anime Fest on Friday, and am looking forward to going back to the Big Apple on Sunday! I had to skip the con today, Saturday, to do some work for Kato Productions :-/  We're hoping to arrive early on Sunday so we might be able to visit Alice's Teacup...which I hear is a lovely place!

If you plan on attending NYAF on Sunday, be sure to check out the fabulous Neo-Victorian Fashion show...which I believe will start at 12:30PM. I shall be there with my *brand new* Kodak Zi8 to film the show:D

Now, for the REAL reason why you've come to this blog post...for info on the Super Secret Loli Screening!! I'm sure you all know by now why I haven't posted LoliGirls on YouTube, Vimeo, blip, etc. I have to refrain from releasing LoliGirls on the internet so it can get accepted into film festivals. However, the festivals I'm submitting to get going around March 2010...and I don't think it's fair to keep you guys waiting! So I've come up with a solution- a super secret, limited time only LoliGirls screening on a super secret website that I will post a link to at a super secret time:)

So stay tuned to this site for more details on the screening, which will be coming soon!

I'll be at the New York Anime Fest filming a little bit (the footage may potentially be in the feature documentary on lolita) as well as the opening of Tokyo Rebel in NYC on Oct. 3! For the store opening I'm thinking of collecting some footage and interviews. Check out Victoria's blog on the store opening!