In a timely change of fortune, Soul Searcher has made the official selection for Escapism, a relatively new film festival taking place in North Carolina, USA. The screening – which will be the film’s US premiere – is just three weeks away. Thanks to Jim and everyone at the Carolina Theatre for selecting the movie. See the screening page for more info.

There’s a new section on this site called Development, which is a compilation of e-mails James and I sent each other during 2002 while we were writing the script. I was putting it together for the DVD, but decided that due to its wordiness it would work better on the web. It’s an interesting look at the writing process of two nutters.

This journal’s getting like Return of the King. Will it ever end? My arse is getting sore.

As the lack of updates suggests, little has happened lately with Soul Searcher. In the US, Aimee is still waiting to hear from some of the big companies before she moves down to the next tier. I have no doubt it will eventually sell over there but it’s going to take a long time. Over here however, the number of distributors yet to pass on the movie is dwindling. “It’s not the film,” one distributor said. “It’s the marketplace. It’s over-saturated.” Things are similarly discouraging on the festival front. Soul Searcher hasn’t been selected for any of the festivals I entered in the spring, not even the genre ones like Fright Fest.

Other than recording commentaries, work on the DVD has not progressed for quite a while due to my computer’s lameness. I plan to get a new one very soon and start editing the documentary again – from scratch, unfortunately, due to a hard drive failure. The Curse is not dead.

Jim Groom’s film Room 36 opened at the Odeon on Panton Street at the weekend. A hilarious black comedy with another great Scott Benzie score – I thoroughly recommend it. Jim was talking about self-releasing it theatrically when I saw him in Cannes but now he’s actually done it. The Curse of Soul Searcher seems mild compared with the hell he went through. It’s taken him eleven years to complete the film. Here’s hoping it continues to do well at the box office.

The journal for Shadowland has been running for a couple of weeks now, but the time is not yet right for it to be unleashed on the world. Stay tuned.

Yesterday I went to a Shooting People screening of Diary of a Bad Lad – remember Mike and John from my Cannes diary? They of the Journal Cross-over. Anyway, their film was excellent. The most convincing fake documentary I’ve ever seen. A good script and fantastic performances. Mike said not to worry that Soul Searcher hasn’t been picked up – he’s met loads of people who’ve made films in the same kind of budget range and can’t seem to get a distribution deal for love nor money.