A week of digital digression. Astonishing how many things can go wrong with machines that only think in binary – they’re too often in two minds about things. The good news is that we have the film off the Avid and ingested into the Baselight (for those of you to whom this means anything at all). Colour grading is well under way, and tomorrow we get into the serious ADR. And after many attempts, yesterday I took delivery of a DVD version of the final cut. We’ve taken 7 minutes out of the film, bringing running time including credits to 100 minutes.

So it was that we got to courier off the film to the Toronto International Film Festival. It has long been our dream to have the international premiere at this festival. Toronto was where Rawiri Paratene burst onto the world stage with Whale Rider back in 2003. It’s a great showcase, being a festival which still believes in cinema as art rather than commodity. Of course competition to gain selection is fierce, and we’ll be up against the odds. But that’s where this film has always been from the very beginning. So we have a small and not so secret hope that come September, we’ll be in Canada.

Thanks to all our many supporters for the encouragement along the way. Frustrating I know that our baby is hidden in the dark of the post-production womb, and that at best these reports are like indistinct ultrasound pictures. In due course, all will become clear. A birth is on the cards.

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