Forget Borat, my films Pride and Drought have been licensed by the Hamburg Short Film Agency for their new TV Mini Movie Channel. The blurb says "Starting in the autumn of 2007 Mini Movie Channel will be broadcasting short films from all around the world - 24 hours a day. At the beginning the channel will be available on Free TV in CIS territory (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tadzhikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan). Mini Movie Channel will also later be broadcasting to other countries as a pay TV channel via satellite and cable." So now you know.

It's been a year since I last updated this and I think that feels about right. One blog a year is probably enough from me to add to all the information overload on the internet. Having premiered on UK TV on the Performance Channel, Me, My Swami and I is still going strong. It is representing Europe on the jaman.com site from where it can be downloaded. And following its very creditable semi-final placing in the prestigious Japan CON-CAN Movie Festival, it is now screening on the Japanese on-demand cable TV channels Oita Cable Telecom Co., Ltd (Oita prefecture) and Cable media waiwai Co., Ltd (Miyazaki prefecture), as well as being distributed on mobile phones by NTT DoCoMo. So you can watch it in a triple simulcast on TV, the internet and on your mobile phone. Go on, you want to, don't you!

Hey! I've just heard that my short film comedy Me, My Swami and I has been signed up for internet distribution by Cinequest (voted one of the top 10 festivals in the world). Come January 2007, film fans will be able to buy a download of the film from www.cinequestonline.org

Me, My Swami and I has screened at heaps of festivals worldwide, including the world's biggest short film festival LA Shortsfest, and was a semi-finalist at Japan's prestigious CON CAN Movie Festival. For more information see the film's website at www.memyswamiandi.com and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469131

Kino Karno Film Festival (UK)
"A very slickly filmed comic tale of (fake?) gurus and picking up women in supermarkets."

CON-CAN Movie Festival (Japan)
"This is really funny. Great twist and the 'real' guru is a brilliant cameo."
"I liked the stupidity at the end (also very surprising). I like funny films. Good casting too."
"This made me laugh. I like revenge stories...!"
"A good movie, i like this kind of humor."
"This is a charming and amusing film. The story weaves intriguingly between the everyday banality of suburban life and the magical world of Indian mysticism."
"Me, My Swami and I is quirky and a bit surreal, but has a really warm, enchanting feeling about it too."
"This is a sharply observed, witty take on contemporary relationships and although I don't know anyone who can levitate, the situations and the characters are definitely recognisable!"
I cheered for the female lead at the end!"
"This is a clever idea, well-executed. The lead is very convincing in the role of naive woman who learns a lesson in life from her experiences. A lot of themes lie beneath the film's witty surface."
"Movie is well done! And good actors!"

Short Cuts Film Festival (Hyderabad, India)
"watched the movie 'me my swami and i'. it is very heartening to note the indian connection of the movie and also the interest taken by foreigners in things/issues indian. i liked the movie very much."

Digital Barcelona Film Festival (DiBa) (Spain)
"one of the highlights of our festival"

I'll be making regular blogs to update on the film's progress, with exciting news to come of a UK television broadcast in November. Bye for now!