I had footage air on CNN today. It was very exciting for me, and even more exciting for THARCE Gulu to get some amazing publicity, thanks to Judy's daughter Eliza. And yes, I really did take a screen grab of my name. Like I said, it was an exciting day.
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/02/21/Iyw.eliza.dushku.cnn?iref=allsearch

I LOVE my job. I'm working with Swiss TV, as their US Production Coordinator for their television show "SF on Tour". It's always been my dream to work on a travel show and this hasn't disappointed. The crew is small and includes the director, on-camera host, dp, and soundman. Everyone has been so nice even when I have trouble pronouncing their German-Swiss names.  The trip takes us from Bisbee, Arizona, to the Grand Canyon, to Sedona,  to Las Vegas. It's been an amazing journey, and even better because the crew is so wonderful.

You may have heard about child soldiers...children who were abducted from their homes, forced into a violent life of slavery and fighting. Northern Uganda is one of the places where this happened. And this is where I spent my July. Though the war ended years ago, the aftermath can still be seen in the town of Gulu. It was here that I traveled with a group organized by Judy Dushku, who is a professor of Government at Suffolk University. She is heading up a new non-profit called "THARCE-GULU". This group went to build huts for vulnerable, war-affected people in the community. I went along to document the housebuilding, and also to bring instruments, books, dvds, laptops and cameras in order to start an arts center through THARCE. I lead a one-day 'storytelling' workshop with a group of war-affected students. One day was definitely not enough, and I think that as THARCE Gulu expands and develops, I might go back again.

It was an amazing month. Very life changing! Videos to come soon...

I've spent January in Utah, watching films at Sundance, and attending the Sundance Windrider Forum. Windrider is run by the amazing John & Ed Priddy Brothers, who I was lucky enough to meet in person. You will not meet nicer people and the Priddy Brothers have a long history of supporting inspiring and uplifting films. Mind the Gap is being featured on their website this month and I am really honored. Much thanks to the Priddy Brothers for their support!

I absolutely love being in Park City during Sundance. Yes, there are tons of wannabe filmmakers and posers, and I probably fall into that category, but there is an energy that is really also really inspiring. Another highlight of the trip was getting to meet Heather Rae, who is a fantastic indie film producer with a penchant for telling honest stories. She produced 'Frozen River'- which is just one of her wonderful past films, but a personal favorite of mine . I really liked her because she seems very intimidating...she's gorgeous, classy, smart, successful and yet was so down-to-earth.  It's great to have women role models. 

See MTG featured on Windrider here:
http://windriderforum.org/2010/02/03/sometimes-all-we-can-do-is-mind-the-gap/weeblylink_new_window

October 2009
There are a few four letter words that could describe how this past weekend was, but COLD is probably the best one. Out of all the Fall weekends in Massachusetts, of course the first snow of the year had to hit during our outdoor, Gettysburg reenactment shoot. 
I've been working as a producer on a pilot for the History Channel with Madrush Pictures.  This three day shoot had explosions, stunt men (flown in from LA), special effects, horses, and a cast and crew of over 100. This was by far the biggest and most demanding shoots I've ever worked on but there was an amazing cast and crew. People were such troopers, despite the wintry mix of rain, snow, winds and mud galore. I had 10 amazing PA's and I feel indebted to all of them for their support. 

You can view the finished pilot here:

http://www.madrushpictures.com/archives/category/television

September 2009

Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts has turned into the set of the newest film from Christian Vuissa. I'm working as his Assistant Director on his movie, "Joseph". I have always admired his work, so it's wonderful to have a chance to work with him and I'm learning a lot. I've always thought that period piece films would need to be an extravagant big budget production- but not this one. You wouldn't tell that from the footage though! It's amazing to see what Christian is able to do.

Watch the trailer here: http://www.vimeo.com/6912527

For me, one of the most gut-wrenching moments of my life comes during the 10 seconds of blackness sitting in a theater before my film is about to screen. Sometimes it gets so bad I want to run out of the theater and vomit... but so far I haven't. Maybe my biggest fear is that people will hate it, but then in reality, some people are of course going to hate it, and as a filmmaker you can't please everyone. I'm learning this! Nevertheless, when someone says something nice, it really feels good.

This was recently posted by Adam K, in review of the 2009 LDS Film Festival:

Mind the Gap by Kristal Williams-Rowley and Marcy Holland
This was the winner of the competition, and deservedly so. It centers on Sara, the daughter of a railroad engineer whose train is the weapon in a classmate's suicide. Sara struggles to deal with her feelings of bitterness towards the dead girl and her sense of injustice at the victimization (not for the first time) of her father, who copes with his own feelings by keeping a collection of small items found on the bodies of the people he has hit. Not only does this film reveal some startling statistics about the railroad industry, it openly confronts some difficult issues that are not often addressed simply because they are not obvious. The storytelling is superb. I was left feeling unsure whether this was a purely fictional film or a docu-drama. The film is beautiful, difficult, and in the end, uplifting.

http://ldscinema.blogspot.com/2009/06/in-review-ldsff-09-part-8-short-films.html
Thank you Adam!!

April 2009

風　Swift as the wind
林　Quiet as the forest
火　Conquer like the fire
山　Steady as the mountain

Thanks Sun Tzu for the wisdom! I've spent the past few months tapping into my Chinese heritage by being immersed in all that is Ancient China. As an Assistant Producer  at Four in Hand Productions, I've been working on production and research for a 2-hour History Channel special, called "Art of War".  After an intense few weeks for pre-production we flew out to LA to shoot all the reenactments for the show. One of the most embarassing moments came when the director called me to come up in front of the entire cast and crew to show our main actor how to correctly 'bow'...Asian style. The problem is that there are about 3 different ways that would have worked so I had to show all three, one of which involves castigating oneself on the ground. I guess that's what comes from being in charge of researching historical facts. 

A highlight of the shoot was being able to cast my friend Tyler to play an amputee.