The End (of 2011)

It is late December -"dead" time for film in Portland- and the annual worries about running out of money and having to find a "real" job are creeping in again. But that's the way this kind of work goes... you never know if and when you will see your next pay check, or for how much that will be. I've just got to ride this out and count on things picking back up here soon.

I cannot wait to say goodbye to this year. It has been an absolute blast, but I am looking forward to new adventures in 2012. The coming year is going to be one of transition, risk, opportunity, and new beginnings. There is already a lot on the horizon for 2012, which I will talk more about later. (By the way, Rid Of Me has had it's run at Living Room Theater extended AGAIN so if you're in Portland and haven't had a chance to see it yet, there is still time!)

I will leave you with the just released trailer for Lions Eat Their Own, which I am in... covered in blood and glow-paint. As mentioned in an earlier post, I was head butted pretty hard while on set but it makes a good story (that's not where the blood came from). The teaser trailer is only 50 seconds long so take a minute and check it out!


Lions Eat Their Own from anthony lopez` on Vimeo.

Have a happy and safe New Year's. See you in 2012!

Emily

And now for a post about music...

Switching gears from film for a minute here... My band Monster-Sized Monsters has officially announced our new drummer: Chad Sixkiller. We are excited to have him on board. He is bringing a new dynamic, full sound to the band and we think this will be a very good direction for us. We also were written up in SSG Music as one of 10 Portland bands to watch for! Check out the article here! Here's an excerpt:

"Proving once again that rock and roll is not a boys-only club, Monster-Sized Monsters fuse the early-nineties, Riot Grrrl punk rock aggression with a bit of the modernized, danceability that has been borrowed from the post-punks by such bands as the Kills and le Butcherettes. If MSM keeps their nose to the grind and finds the right audience, I could really see them going places."    -Nick Hilden, SSG Music

Finally,  tomorrow (Dec 23) my cover band (The Cover Girls) is playing the Ash St. Saloon. The Cover Girls is a nostalgic punk/rock cover band, we play classic punk influenced songs from the 70s, 80s and 90s. I play the drums. So if you're looking to catch some subculture vibes tomorrow night, come on out! I think we are opening the show so come early. 7pm or so. Portland, OR. Downtown at 2nd and W Burnside. 21+ Probably a cover... $5 or less.

Happy Holidays!

Rid Of Me opens in Portland!

FINALLY! Check it out Portlanders!

Rid of Me will open at Living Room Theaters DECEMBER 16! (I know it says 15th on the website.. that's the private night... It opens to the public on the 16th!!)

This film has been on quite the journey. I encourage ALL OF YOU in Portland to see it while it plays... I do not know if it will be playing for 1 week or 2... I suggest checking out the showtimes once they are posted.

Living Room Theater lets you order food and drinks to enjoy during films. Also, on Mondays and Tuesdays, shows are only $5! 21+ after 7pm.

Rid Of Me - Reviews

Line for Rid Of Me in NYC opening weekend

Slew of great reviews for Rid Of Me which opened LAST NIGHT at Cinema Village in NYC and plays throughout the week! So excited to be a part of this film!

• Film Journal
• New York Times
• Backstage.com
• Indiewire Women and Hollywood
• New City Film

Watch a new clip from the movie on HULU.
Video blog of the NYC promotion effort on Oregon Confluence.

Updated less than 4 hours ago	Positive Reviews
Happy Feet Two	59.7%	WIDE
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1	46.6%	WIDE
The Descendants	86.4%	Key Cities
Tomboy (2011)	81.7%	NYC
Buried Prayers	72.7%	NYC
Eames: The Architect And The Painter	71.0%	Limited
In Heaven Underground: The Weissensee Jewish Cemetery	67.9%	NYC
The Lie (2011)	64.8%	NYC
Tyrannosaur	64.4%	Limited
King of Devil's Island (Kongen av Bastøy)	62.5%	NYC
Garbo: The Spy	62.0%	NYC
Rid of Me	59.0%	NYC
Another Happy Day	50.9%	NYC/LA
The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch	48.6%	NY/LA/SF
Laredoans Speak: Voices of a South Texas Border City	30.9%	NYC/LA
Average:	51.8%

This is the kind of film that develops cult followings. People either love it or hate it, there is no middle ground. Have you seen it? What are your thoughts?

Rid Of Me: Full on Marketing Campaign

Good movies do not just "make it" magically. They take YEARS of hard work with everyone lending a hand where they can. This little-big indie film has beaten the odds... and is opening in theaters in NYC THIS WEEKEND! This film can not compete with the advertisement campaigns of big budget studio movies but we have a shot... and WE NEED YOUR HELP!!

If you are in the NYC area, or have family or friends who live there, please suggest they catch a screening of Rid Of Me THIS WEEKEND (11/18/11) or next week! You will want to buy pre-sale tickets, we expect the weekend to SELL OUT. Tickets can be found HERE for Cinema Village (22 East 12th), NYC

More ROM COOL STUFF:

• Rid Of Me Trailer on iTunes (also shown above)
• Rid Of Me screens in Chicago
• Rid Of Me screens in Amsterdam as part of "Best of Tribeca"
• HeGotRidOfMe.com - A "sweet" tie in website!
• Review of ROM: TrustMovies
• Official Website: ridofmemovie.com
• Clip from ROM on Rotten Tomatoes!
• DEMAND IT! Want ROM to play in YOUR town??

Rid of Me premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival to rave reviews:

"Bracingly Original!"
-John Anderson, Variety

"A Tour-De-Force performance by Katie O'Grady"
-ST VanAirsDale, Movieline

"MEAN GIRLS for adults! Few recent movies are as darly funny."
-Steven Zeitchik, LA Times

"Cheerfully Obscene, hip and wickedly funny! Director James Westby is a talent on the march."
-Ericka Abeel, Huffington Post

To date, ROM has won:

• Best of the NW at the Bend Film Festival 
• Best US Fictional Narrative at the Traverse City Film Festival 
• Best Screenplay at the San Diego Film Festival 

Film Synopsis: (Although really, these never do films justice)
RID OF ME, a black comedy that follows Meris, an awkward young woman trying too hard to perfect her marriage, amongst a new group of friends. RID OF ME follows Meris'rejection from the cool crowd down a path towards truth and salvation which includes a job at a local candy shop, a group of punk friends, community gardening and a newfound love for Cambodian rock music.

NEW YORK!! We need you to fill those seats! Don't wait! Make a night out of it and be the first to see Rid Of Me! Are you convinced yet??!

Premiers in Portland and Los Angeles are coming up. If we get the word out and pack theater seats in NYC, we may secure a much wider theatrical release!!

Children's Games

So on Friday, I was sitting with the band in the studio mixing room at Scenic Burrows in NW Portland, listening to the unmixed version of our latest track destined to be the end credits theme for upcoming film Nightscape, when our drummer Jeff said, "Hey your picture is in the paper."

 To which I replied, "What?!!"

 Then he showed me the following article. (I assure you the picture makes perfect sense in context).

Tonight is the last night to catch the show, I will be there tonight to check it out for myself!

AnOther Magazine (Scanned Images)

A while ago I did a photo shoot/story for AnOther Magazine. I posted a blog HERE at the time. It's taken me ages, but I finally got around to getting the pages from the magazine scanned. For the shoot, we traveled all around the outskirts of Portland, Oregon from abandoned buildings, beaches, and space ships to magic overgrown gardens. It was nice to be roughed up, dirty, and punk rock for this shoot vs. normal shoots where every hair has to be in the right place. Here are a few pages from the spread that I am in:

By the way... 
Dear AnOther Magazine, if you read this: The only copy of the magazine I have is one my mom found in a magazine shop and bought. I would love it if you could send me a copy, and I know the other girls in the shoot would like a copy as well. Email me at emilygalash at yahoo dot com for a mailing address. Thanks!! -Emily

Lions Eat Their Own (Screen Grab), Etc.

LETO Screen Grab

The past few weeks have been busy- school started up again. Five months left until I've got my Business Degree! Right now I've got a big case of not-being-motivated-for-school. I'd rather focus on film work! I've been auditioning and going to callbacks lately, we'll see if anything comes of it. A couple weeks ago I did a Nintendo shoot... getting paid to play video games definitely falls in the PLUS category of life. I also have at least two projects lined up for the coming months, but I *can't* tell you what yet! I'd rather tell you when I can also link the post to the project's website, provide photos or show video clips. So you're just going to have to wait.

Photo shoot with V

 

 

Recently I had a fun shoot with "V" Vinciguerra for a new head shot and to have some fun with different looks. Here are some of the results! We ended up getting a bit... creative... by the end.

All photos by V Vinciguerra

Rid Of Me gets DISTRIBUTION in US and CANADA

Today news broke that Rid Of Me, (Dir. James Westby, Starring Katie O'Grady) in which I had a supporting role in, has made a deal with Phase 4 to do an "agressive theatrical release" of the film!

Two articles that cover this great news can be found here:

Hollywood Reporter

Indiewire

This is great news for the cast and crew, as well as Oregon film in general!

For The Benefit Of Others

Just before shooting Nightscape, I helped out Bryan Hiltner (Dir. SlipPage) on a short project of his. It's a fun, creepy little short. I absolutely love the colors in this. Check out the finished product:

For the Benefit of Others: DIRECTOR'S CUT from Bryan Hiltner on Vimeo.

Nightscape: It's a Wrap!

BTS Shot of Emily Galash as Kat in Nightscape

Today we wrap filming on Nightscape! My feelings are bittersweet. Although it is great to have it done, working on that film for the past month was a great gig with talented people who were a pleasure to work with.

The last week of filming has been extra exciting filled with car stunts with a pro driver: I've been the passenger in a car pulling 180 degree turns, flying down windy roads backwards skidding into a field, racing other cars, near head on collision with a semi, and more. Two days ago we got to set off explosions, and last night we crashed a car over a cliff. What a blast!

The Oregonian wrote an article on the film, they were on set a few days ago to check the production. Here's the link.

Pair Squared Promo Video

Here's a little hipster comedy in a promo video I did with actor Rhyan Schwartz for a start up social meetup website called Pair Squared. I don't get many chances to do something goofy so this was a nice exercise.

ROM: Traverse City Film Festival & EW

Rid Of Me was personally requested by Michael Moore to screen in his film festival, Traverse City Film Festival. It won best US Fictional Narrative!

It was also 1 of 98 films mentioned in Entertainment Weekly's Fall Preview (See image)

Nightscape

^Teaser poster for Nightscape

OK, so I've been working on a film called Nightscape. I play the female lead named Kat. It's a supernatural thriller with car chases and monsters, as well as strong and interesting characters. Check out the Official WEBSITE for the production blog, behind the scenes video, back story info and more! Or the press releases on Oregon Confluence, Dread Central, an early press write up for the film here, and other places on the net.

Today was day 5 of shooting. Tomorrow is a day off, then back at it on Wednesday! Lots of fun, and it's going great so far.

Lions Eat Their Own

Spent the last 3 nights in the woods filming the teaser trailer for a horror film. (See still above). Blood, torture, paint, and more! One shot is of me getting headbutted by Jack (played by KC Guyer), but while filming he slipped and got me for real. Ouch! When the trailer is cut I'll post it here.

Parker Fitzgerald Vintage Photo Shoot Part 2

A while back I posted some photos from a photo shoot I did with photographer Parker Fitzgerald. Here are some more photos from that same shoot. Again, I cannot describe how pleased I am with these photos. Parker has incredible skill.

Nominations?

WOW! Blogger Scott Feinberg has made well informed predictions of who will be nominated for Academy Awards in the past, and recently released a forecast for 2011. Guess what?? It includes Rid Of Me for Best Actress (Katie O'Grady), Best Supporting Actress (Orianna Herman), and Best Original Screenplay (James Westby)! Rid Of Me actors up against big names and fantastic films!? Whether or not this forecast is accurate, it is still flattering and the whole cast and crew of Rid Of Me should be proud!

Here's a link to the list of predictions:

SCOTT FEINBERG’S INITIAL Academy Award FORECAST FOR 2011

EDIT 6/8/11:

Also! About Face Magazine just released it's Summer 2011 issue featuring Rid Of Me! Download it for FREE online HERE!

48 Hour Film Festival (Yes Another!)

Recently I participated in another 48 Hour Film Festival, this time shooting with Anthony Statham and Anthony Lopez. Too many people worked on this to list. It was a fun, playful, and creative (not to mention hectic and stressful) shoot. The film is from the perspective of a hotel bathtub as it describes all the crazy stuff it has witnessed over the years. I play a punk who takes everything for granted and doesn't really care about anything. That's my interpretation at least. Anyway, here's the YouTube, enjoy!

AnOther Magazine Photo Spread

Check out THIS LINK to AnOther Magazine's online version of the punk rock themed spread I and 3 other awesome gals are in. My mother bought the magazine last week here in Portland, I'll have to get scans of the pages so I can post jpegs. But the link works just dandy! Go click it! EDIT: I have scanned images! Go to my NEW POST to check them out!

Photoshoot with Parker Fitzgerald

A few weeks ago photographer Parker Fitzgerald and make up artist Caprice Hammon and I headed out to the beautiful gorge to shoot entirely with film and Polaroid using multiple vintage cameras. Here are the results. I must say, I am extremely impressed and Parker is a superb photographer with a clear vision and knows how to get just what he's looking for.

New York City - Tribeca Film Festival: More Press and Sightseeing

New York City is buzzing with Tribeca. Everywhere I went, I saw something related to the Film Festival. On April 23, 2011 the cast and crew of Rid Of Me that was in NYC did a Q&A at the Apple Store in Soho. Here's some press and photos from that:

Apple Store Soho Q&A Photos (Wire Image)

Apple Store Soho Q&A Photos (Movie Magic)

NY Press

ViMooz Article

I did manage to do some sightseeing while in NYC. Here are a few photos from Central Park, Time Square, and other places I visited on Sunday:

^"News" at the Fox building

Later that night I went to the "God Bless Ozzy Osbourne" premier after party (yes the Osbournes were there briefly) and then a show down the street at Dropout bar that had some cool bands. Names are like secret passwords in this town.