Author:

Jim Munroe

New Haphead Teaser and Kickstarter

Posted by Jim Munroe – October 23, 2014

We think the series will make an impression, geddit?

We think the series will make an impression — geddit?

We shot Haphead over the summer and now we’re looking to finish it via some crowdfunding. Wanna help us get this ninja gamer neo-noir webseries out there? Check out our Kickstarter and consider telling your pals about it! We got the Facebook, we got the Twitter…

We learned a lot making Ghosts With Shit Jobs together, eh? You’ll see that learning up on the screen in this new one. Feedback always welcome!

Haphead in the Blogosphere

“Support some kick-ass indie sci-fi about gamer ninjas”
– Annalee Newitz, Editor-in-Chief, io9

“Munroe and co. have shown that they can produce amazing scfi movies with tiny budgets”
– Cory Doctorow, science fiction author, blogger and co-editor of Boing Boing

“Given the sly and subversive design fiction of Ghost With Shit Jobs [the previous movie]…we have great expectations for Haphead”
– Greg J. Smith, designer, researcher and digital culture writer, Creative Applications

Enter the Haphead Lair

Posted by Jim Munroe – August 19, 2014

You won't have to do this... unless you want to.

On Friday we’re shooting a crazy scene where the main character chances upon a haphead party, where the party-goers are all showing off their physical skills they learned from playing videogames — martial arts, BMXing, parkour etc.

We’ve rented out a parkour gym (pictured above) made from a refurbished warehouse at St. Clair and Keele. If you’re free Friday evening and want to see a variety of tricksters do their thing, as well as be on film, drop anthony@lofiscifi.com a line!

All Aboard the Haphead Train!

Posted by Jim Munroe – August 7, 2014

(Reblogged from No Media Kings)

hapheadtrain

About a month ago we got the word that Haphead, our near-future videogame subculture webseries, received funding. It’s a lot of the same folks I’ve been making lo-fi sci-fi no-budget films with since 2007 — except this time we’re getting paid a living wage for it! Pretty wild. Having a budget also means we can consider renting locations (like the train car above!) as well as accelerate the process — we’ll be releasing the first 45-60min (AKA “Season 1”) in January, instead of the 3 year odyssey that Ghosts With Shit Jobs was. I also won’t be wearing as many hats (just three: executive producer/creator/writer) but I know from the awesome proof-of-concept trailer our team produced with minimal interference from me that it’s in very, very good hands.

If you want to jump on the Haphead train before our mid-August shooting begins, this is what we’re still looking for!

  • a large abandoned warehouse or factory we can rent for a day (something like this pic)
  • people with physical talents: parkour, martial arts, circus skills, skateboarding/scootering, breakdancing
  • adult background actors (AKA extras) of different ages/ethnicities (no experience needed)
  • small camper / magic van / Winnebago
  • a house with a little character
  • onset medic

If you have a lead on any of the above, please drop our producer Anthony a line at anthony@lofiscifi.com and he can give you more details.

JUST ELLA at Toronto After Dark Festival

Posted by Jim Munroe – October 10, 2013

Screenshot from 2013-10-10 11:49:04

The short film I wrote/directed for last year’s Lo-fi Sci-fi 48 Hour Film Challenge is going to be screening at my favourite Toronto film fest! It screens before Battery on Sat. Oct. 19th at 9:30pm — tickets here.

JUST ELLA posits a future overrun by gibbering monstrosities. Ella takes refuge in a “the Ossington Safehouse, a collectively-run space dedicated to human sovereignty.” But despite doing the assigned tasks on the chore list, she isn’t safe — the terrors outside are nothing compared to those within.

Contains perhaps the first cinematic example of autocomplete used for a dramatic reveal.

Our BIFF Experience and GHOSTS Tour T-Shirts

Posted by Jim Munroe – September 5, 2013

At a time of year when everyone’s talking TIFF, we thought we’d talk BIFF. For us, getting into the Beijing International Film Festival was a bigger deal, what with Ghosts With Shit Jobs‘s premise being so connected to China.

Co-director Tate Young interviewed BIFF-goers earlier this year on what they thought about our flick, and got lots of great city shots to boot, in this 6.5 minute mini-doc. (Bonus: Tate’s ‘How to Film a Selfie‘ for some behind-the-scenes.)

It’s now four years since we began this project and it’s been quite a trip — literally and figuratively. Since its London, England premiere last year we’ve toured with the movie to nearly 20 cities across the world. Figured it merited its own commemorative tour t-shirt, which you can buy at cost for the next week (mens | ladies). It’s got all the cities on the back!

shirtFront
shirtBack

As an aside, you should enjoy TIFF while it lasts — it ends in 2019 after cultural funding disappears completely. BIFF buys all the red carpets at an auction afterwards.

Beijing, Here We Come!

Posted by Jim Munroe – April 5, 2013

bookdetail

Believe it or not folks, but thanks to Telefilm’s help our movie is screening in mainland China for the Beijing International Film Festival starting Apr 19th! And Tate (co-director and editor) and Kelly (actress) are going to be there to represent!

We’ve always been curious as to what actual mainland Chinese would think of our fictional future where China’s on top. We even did Chinese subtitles for the trailer in the hopes we’d get some Baidu-juice. I talked a bit about it in my interview with the Phnom Penh weekly last month before the screening there, but that wasn’t the first time we screened in Asia.

Our Asian premiere was in Seoul, and while I’ve mentioned some of the feedback from Koreans Tate received before, now the full story can be told — we have published the full account of the first time GHOSTS screened in Asia online, as well as as a PDF (with pics), epub and mobi (without) ebooks. And it’s not what you think, unless what you’re thinking involves cartoonishly outsized golden bow ties.

So sink into Lo-fi Sci-fi in the Land of Gangnam and join us in pondering what our 24th tourstop will be like.

The Future of Fear in Cambodia

Posted by Jim Munroe – March 22, 2013

Credit: Film Noir Studio Phnom Penh

Two weeks ago I did a microtalk while in Phnom Penh at an event called Nerd Night and showed the trailer to GHOSTS. At the break a fellow who runs a small community run cinema booked the feature for its Cambodian premiere. Pretty soon I was being interviewed for the local weekly in town, The Advisor, for the cover story!

Issue-65-742x1024

Click the image if you want to read the interview — it was pretty in-depth.

The screening went well, despite a blackout during the trailers (“Welcome to Cambodia!” said the owner to the crowd, who waited patiently for the power to come back on).

But that week was exciting for another reason — we locked another Asian premiere. Maybe our biggest. But you’ll have to wait til next week for that announcement!

Chat From Sack

Posted by Jim Munroe – February 21, 2013

California!
Rolled into Sacramento on the train yesterday for the Movies on A Big Screen event. It was great — probably about 60 people, warm and diverse crowd. Really fun q&a afterwards where the first question was whether Sanford Kong was a trained mime — they were as spellbound by his performance as the doctor as we were.

Toronto-bound folks will be thrilled to hear that it’s a lovely 13 degrees here & sunny. The people I’m staying with have an orange tree in the backyard, and I got to eat one for breakfast. Tasted pretty much the same, but it was still pretty awesome.

Last week’s run at San Francisco Indie Film Festival saw close to 200 folks come through on the three nights. Got to hang out with Jamie, a fan of the film, at the amazing goth bar he owns called the DNA Lounge. And I met with the guys who are working on Overgrowth, a rabbit-ninja fighting game, and they seem open to working together on a future project. So lots of interesting developments developin’!

GHOSTS Producer’s New Project

Posted by Jim Munroe – February 9, 2013

20130206183238-waiter3

You all knew Anthony was funny from his on-set banter, but now he serves it up with a tasty side of snark. GHOSTS producer Anthony Cortese is fundrasing for a new webseries called Table 12 which vents on behalf of all waiters everywhere. Check out his pitch (funny unto itself) on the IndieGoGo site. The first ep, The Modifiers, is up on Funny or Die.

Wanted: Associate Producer for a New Lo-fi Sci-fi flick

Posted by Jim Munroe – January 27, 2013

Thanks Trevor!We’ve had a pretty terrific response to GHOSTS — most recently there it is on iTunes Canada New and Noteworthy section, to the left — and we’re looking to get rolling on another movie. We’d like to explore the new funding possibilities that our success with GHOSTS has opened up, so we’re putting out the call for an Associate Producer. We’re going to spread the word broadly, but first we wanted to see if anyone reading this blog was interested or knew of good potential candidates.

You have a fascination with the business side of movie-making, both in the status quo funding options and the new possibilities offered by technological changes. You’re very organized, yet have patience with those who are not. Where others see a labyrinthine bureaucracy, you see a research challenge and a list of to-dos. Sometimes you think you are a robot, but then you cry at a sad movie. 

If you have questions or think you’d be good for the job, get in touch at jim@lofiscifi.com.