Films, Fiends, and Friends October 28, 2012

You’re in for a bag full of treats this week in #litchat. We’re breaking from our typical week of MediaMonday, followed by Wednesday topical theme and Friday guest host. Here’s what our week looks like:

Monday, October 29, 2012: Kickstarting a Film

Kimberly Wetherell

Kimberly Wetherell is a writer, filmmaker and visionary. Her most recent project, Lullaby, is a poignant drama about a ‘Hidden Child’ of the Holocaust’s invented life as a Catholic, and her family’s discovery of the truth. What a hook, no? Why then has she had such difficulty finding funding for a film with such a powerful premise?

Here’s what her Kickstarter fundraising page says:

Why are we raising funds on Kickstarter?

Simply put, finding traditional ROI-seeking investors is extremely difficult. Our writer/director/producer has been developing the feature version of this film for nearly six years, and after running into many various obstacles, she decided to make a short version as a prelude to the feature.

Our driving mission in making this film is not only to lure producers and investors to the larger feature project, but to use this film as an educational tool to bring immediate attention to the underserved Diaspora of Hidden Children around the world, before they are no longer with us.

Wetherell will discuss the Lullaby project, from its concept to its completion as a short film, as well as her hopes to see the film make it as a full-length feature.

Wetherell made her cinematic debut with the award-winning short romantic comedy, Ménage à trois (2005), the story of a boy… a girl… and her cell phone. She followed it up with another award-winning short film, Why We Wax (2008), a comedic documentary about the hair… “down there,” which is distributed by Seventh Art Releasing in North America, by Planète France/Canal Plus in France and all its territories, and a clip is available to watch on Al Gore’s CurrentTV. In 2008, she was the associate producer on the feature film Today’s Special (2010).

Watch the visually arresting and powerful film trailer here: Lullaby.

Contribute to the Lullaby Kickstarter campaign here.

Follow Kimberly Wetherell on Twitter: @kayemdub.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012: Halloween Horror

Most cultures and religions have a celebration of the dead, whether it be through honoring ancestors, memorial day decoration of graves, sugar candy skulls and sweet offerings, carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating, or midnight bonfires.

In the West, Halloween is that day. It begins early in a child’s life as parents dress up babies to resemble cartoon mice, gothic vampires, or fairy princesses. We never seem to outgrow the desire to dress up and pretend for a day that we are someone or something else—an alter ego from which to play out our inner child.

Halloween also brings out the annual horror fans who enjoy ghost stories told by campfire, tales of the undead, of razor-fingered freaks and blood-sucking fiends.

Join us on Wednesday as we discuss Horror fiction.

Friday, November 2, 2012: Friendkeeping with Julie Klam

Photo by Sarah Shatz

What’s in a friend? Julie Klam visits this topic in her new book, Friendkeeping: A Field Guide to the People You Love, Hate, and Can’t Live Without. In the witty and transparent way she burst onto the literary memoir showcase with her debut, Please Excuse My Daughter, Klam delves into the mysteries of friendship. She reveals in herself a lonely girl with two older brothers, always seeking a playmate. Gravitating toward the theater and arts crowds in high school and college, Klum collected friends like a museum director curates the finest pieces for a show. Not that she collected them just to have a huge selection in her friendship display, but as individuals who offered distinctive and unusual attributes for contributing as well as taking away something special. Klam often reflects her childhood angst for friends with that of her young daughter—an only child—who Klam sees as light years ahead of her in terms of self-acceptance and positive personal image. Friendkeeping is an ideal gift book for birthdays and holidays, but it will make an especially great book to stuff in gift baskets for any occasion.

Julie Klam grew up in Bedford, N.Y. After attending NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and interning at Late Night with David Letterman, she went on to write for such publications as O: The Oprah Magazine, Rolling Stone, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, and The New York Times Magazine and for the VH1 television show “Pop-Up Video,” where she earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Special Class Writing. Klam is author of four memoirs, Please Excuse My Daughter, You Had Me At Woof, Love At First Bark, and Friendkeeping. She lives in New York City.

Follow Julie Klam on Twitter: @JulieKlam.