Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Hat

The new year is off to great start! Fresh snow, lots of new shoots in this winter scenery, and a viral Star Wars inspired edit that did particularly well on the Editing Luke Instagram.

The heavy snowfall in Medicine Hat, Alberta over the weekend lead to this new image looking down 6th Avenue reaching over 100K people in just 48 hours. To push it just a little bit further I created "The Empire Strikes Hat", a quick Star Wars edit featuring AT-AT walkers that leveraged the popularity of the original post into another bit of shareable content.

 

Newsmaker of the Year: Luke Fandrich

I'm grateful, humbled, and very surprised. 

Yesterday, the Medicine Hat News announced in a full front page spread that I, Luke Fandrich was their 2024 Newsmaker of the Year - recognizing the success of my documentary, Your Cinema Needs You about the Monarch Theatre in Medicine Hat, Alberta. 

I only got the heads up a couple weeks ago that my name was being thrown around about this, but when we ran those first premiere shows of the documentary at the Monarch one year ago I really had no idea what 2024 had in store or just how far this film would end up going. 

I want to thank this community for their involvement throughout so much of this journey. 

Telling this story - in this way - would've been impossible without so many of you reaching out, sharing your experiences, and supporting the project from the very beginning. I can't downplay what a significant detour my year took, and the doors that opened, because of how well those premiere shows did. 

I want to thank the team at the Medicine Hat News for their coverage throughout the course of production of the documentary and for this recognition. Seeing this announcement was an amazing way to both cap off and kick off a year. Thank you!

Demolished: Whoville Set at Universal Studios

Once a staple of the backlot tour, the Whoville set from the 2000 production of How the Grinch Stole Christmas at Universal Studios Hollywood was demolished in 2020. These images were captured right before the park closure during the pandemic that year. 

 

Monarch Theatre Turns 113 Years Old

On this day 113 years ago, on December 21, 1911, Canada's (now) oldest, surviving, purpose-built movie theatre opened its doors to the public and screened its first films that very night.

The story of the Monarch Theatre in Medicine Hat, Alberta has largely flown under the radar for over a century, but I happen to think a documentary about this place would be a cool watch. Might even win an award or two.

Seuss Landing & Whoville at Islands of Adventure

A few visuals from Grinchmas during the Christmas season at Seuss Landing / Whoville inside Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando, Florida. 

Monarch Documentary Wins 14 Festival Awards

Without being able to properly respond to each individual message this week, let me just say thank you one last time to everyone who made this experience unforgettable. Thank you to the cast and crew, to all the audiences and supporters, to the producing team, festival organizers, promoters, and on and on and on. I'm incredibly proud of what we all achieved.

With the international film festival tour for my documentary Your Cinema Needs You concluding this month it's finally hitting just how much happened this year. More here.

A special shout out to the Monarch Theatre and to everyone in Medicine Hat, Alberta too. If we weren't already feeling the hometown love throughout all of this, the documentary was once again a front page story this week. It's been an ending right out of a Christmas special.

New irons are in the fire for 2025. Stay tuned.

Plaza Hotel in New York City

Welcome to the iconic Plaza Hotel in New York City.

"Howdya do, this is Peter McCallister. The faaaaaaather."

With my Talkboy, two turtle doves, and my vintage collector's cards in hand, I made my way to the Plaza Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

I didn't run into any former presidents in the lobby, but I was honored to be in the company of guests of the new Celebrity Ding Dang Dong. The rest of my family was in Florida while I watched "Angels With Even Filthier Souls" and ran up the in-suite ice cream tab. I didn't come all the way to New York to get my naked rear end spied on though. 

Are all these Home Alone 2 references landing? Because as far as travel shoots go, this was actually a dream come true.