If Hollywood wanted to make a movie out of this week's events, she would have to spend millions of dollars. But who needs Hollywood when Sandy actually travels miles and miles to come and knock on your door? New York City got hurt badly this week, but I was one of the lucky ones. The power outage didn't affect me, my apartment didn't flood, and I was able to go on with my life. Well, sort of...
The day of Sandy, I received the news that my video Cutting Ice to Snow was selected to be screened at AI-AP's Premiere International Motion Arts Awards. That was Monday, and despite the storm, I was able to start the week excited and happy. Our new page, The Annex Press, which I've been working on for the last couple weeks, finally went live this week. But before it did so, I had to make some last-minute tweaks with the help of Francesco. The Annex Press is a terrific platform for bloggers, and those who are asked to write for it get paid up to $100 based on their BuzzScore. How's that for news? Pretty impressive, I think. In addition to writing the text for this new page, I'm developing an illustrative icon for The Annex Press with the graphic designer, Cara Martin, who has made
During the week, I continued to add new films to Eren's Picks and got in touch with filmmakers to introduce the new Film Annex features to them. Speaking of getting touch with filmmakers, I also reached out to John Penotti, who had visited our studio for an interview last week, to inquire about the short films GreeneStreet Films produced. My hope and goal is to showcase those films on our platform.
Later in the week, I worked on putting together a write-up that calls all filmmakers to create a video to promote our new technology platform, Examer. I also posted all the social media questions I prepared with my colleague Jennifer as blog posts so that filmmakers can have easy access to them. The announcement will go out to all the Film Annex subscribers on Monday, and I'm excited to see what our filmmakers will come up with. This video will be an interesting bridge between Afghan students and filmmakers from all around the world.
Speaking of announcements, I also sent out a message to our audience today and invited everyone to submit footage about Hurricane Sandy to be included in a documentary. The video will be distributed on Film Annex as well as platforms like National Geographic. My day at work came to a close with a long email to Ambassador Steven E. Steiner of United States Institute of Peace about our Afghan Development Initiative. I was introduced to Mr. Steiner via my mother who is an active member of KADER, one of the oldest and biggest women's organizations in Turkey. Mr. Steiner invited me to join a roundtable discussion in Washington DC this month about women's rights in Muslim societies. I hope to attend or at least contribute to the discussion via email.
These are the highlights of my week. Till next week,
Eren
