Hitachi VM-2000A VHS Movie Camera

I just added some serious Cold War era tech to my arsenal of movie-making equipment with this vintage Hitachi VM-2000A VHS movie camera. Released the same year as Back to the Future and weighing as much as a Buick, this Hitachi camcorder comes with state of the art auto-focus technology and VCR compatibility.

I've also been adding unopened brands of blank VHS tapes to my collection during my province-wide thrift hunts, which might further prove that this "vintage media wall" I've been building really is (at least in part) just a big art installation. Do you remember ever seeing these giant VHS cameras in the wild? This one still had a tape with a little league game from 1991 in it.

Fred Moody "Hometown Series" Painting

I want to extend my thanks to artist Fred Moody who took inspiration from one of my "Hometown Series" images of Medicine Hat, Alberta last year and asked me if he could paint it. I'm always appreciate of these requests and only ask that artists share an update of their work if they happen to follow through on the idea. Fred took it a step further and surprised me by mailing the completed framed canvas painting as a gift for my personal collection.

As someone who doesn't have much of my own work on my walls, this painting by Fred Moody is a really unique highlight. I love his interpretation, I'm humbled by the gift, and I just think this makes a really cool story for one of my gallery walls. Thank you, Fred! This is amazing.

The original image featuring the Saamis Teepee.

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.

 

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.

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.

 

International Film Festival Tour Concludes

It's finally over! After 10 months, the international film festival tour for my feature documentary, "Your Cinema Needs You" has finally come to an end! So, how'd we do? 

Over the course of this year the story of Canada's oldest, surviving, purpose-built cinema (the Monarch Theatre located in Medicine Hat, Alberta) was officially selected and screened at film festivals in more than 30 cities in 12 countries. 

The icing on the cake is that during this time we also picked up 25 festival nominations and 14 wins (including 8 in categories for best documentary)! 

I can't say thank you enough to all of the cast and crew who made this possible. Also, thank you to everyone in Medicine Hat who came out to one of the 16 premiere shows at the Monarch Theatre earlier this year. Without that initial reception I never would've pursued such an ambitious (and long) festival run. 

Details about what's next and where you can finally see the documentary are soon to come. I just wanted to say thank you again! A project like this wouldn't have been possible without the support you've shown. Original post here.

Next Steps, Milestones, and the Documentary

In the process of working on an update for tomorrow, it hit me that it was exactly one year ago that we finalized plans for the premiere screenings of "Your Cinema Needs You" and set the gears in motion to finally reopen the Monarch Theatre. 

This was meant to mark the end of the documentary. It wasn't. 

Who knew it would kick off a new series of side quests that (incredibly) would last another year. The 3 night premiere, which felt ambitious at the time, turned into a 16 show run with thousands turning out to see the debut (the encore of the encore of the encore). 

Not bad start for an indie doc.

And then the film festival run began. 

More news tomorrow about what's next.

Your Cinema Needs You in Australia

Your Cinema Needs You has picked up its final film festival selection and is off to Australia! This selection marks the 12th country the documentary has traveled to this year and will conclude the limited release / international film festival tour that kicked off in February 2024.

Oakley Court Hotel & Rocky Horror House

Built in 1859, Oakley Court is a Victorian Gothic house located in Windsor, England. Now a luxury hotel, the property gained fame as a popular filming location, most notably as "the Frankenstein Place" in the 1975 cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.