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LOVE & VODKA is exceptionally excited to be partnering with Razom in third-party fundraising at our screening for the Socially Relevant Film Festival 2025, on Saturday, March 15th / 7:20 p.m. -- Cinema Village theater in NYC. Please come out an support indie film, film festivals and Ukraine all in one event -- "Love & Vodka," the #SRFF2025 and Razom! For more information, please go to: https://www.razomforukraine.org/events/screening-of-love-vodka/ 
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We are headed to NEW YORK CITY! Join us in NYC with Love & Vodka Movie as we screen our New and Improved cut at the SR Socially Relevant Film Festival New York -- make sure to snap up your $5 #earlybird ticket (check out the website) and remember to visit the festival website for details. March 11th through the 16th, you'll find us celebrating the lineup at the #SociallyRelevantFilmFestival and our #SocialImpact film, designed to bring LOVE to #ukraine! Mark your calendars and get your EARLY BIRD tickets to #LoveandVodkaMovie now, while they're still available! First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2025 is off and running and we're doing our best to keep up with it, in spite of having a paired down team. There's a lot to update you on (both joyful and somber), so let's get to it... Executive Producer, MPI Co-Founder, Friend, KURT MAYRY  Motion Picture Institute Co-Founder and LOVE & VODKA Executive Kurt Mayry back in May 2024, prior to sound ADR at MPI Executive Producer, Motion Picture Institute Co-Founder and friend Kurt Mayry passed suddenly from leukemia in late 2024 and left a gaping void in all of our lives. Kurt was Producer/Director Heidi Philipsen's mentor and LOVE & VODKA would not have been made if not for his generosity. A beautiful memorial was held at the Motion Picture Institute and it was amazing to see how one person could have a rippling effect on generations of filmmakers in Michigan and beyond. We miss him dearly.  Director/Producer Heidi Philipsen, Assistant Editor Max Meissner, Executive Producer Judy Philipsen, Shawano Cinema Owner/Operator/Creative Director Zeke Heling and Wisconsin Relatives Holiday Test Audience Screening in Shawano, Wisconsin In order to gather more private audience feedback on LOVE & VODKA and test it out in various ARTHOUSE theaters around the Midwest, Heidi went on the road to visit her relatives and screened the indie before an audience of 20. The feedback was exceptionally positive (and not just because they're relatives -- you filmmakers out there will agree, FAMILY tends to be the hardest to win over sometimes!) We DID notice that the character voices were competing a bit heavily with the background soundtrack music and thus, decided to look into that deeper. And so...  Sound Post Team: (from left to right) Sound Supervisor Claudia Mattai Del Moro, Sound Dialogue Mixer, Andre Reichow, Sound Designer & Mixer, Sabrina Naumann-Reichow, Producer (p.g.a. mark) Niko Meissner and, holding the camera, Director/Producer (p.g.a. mark) Heidi Philipse at the University of Babelsberg School of Film & Television Test Screening at University of Babelsberg School of Film & TV in Babelsberg, Germany We held ANOTHER test screening at Babelsberg U., where Heidi is now a bonafide MBA in EUROPEAN FILM BUSINESS graduate student! This time, however, the screening was just for SOUND DESIGN & MIXER Sabrina Naumann-Reichow, Dialogue Editor Andre Reichow, pga mark Producer Niko Meissner, and Heidi. Thus, we've decided to -- yep, you go it -- open the film back up and make more tweaks on the film sound. Sound post is one of the hardest nuts to crack, when it comes to films, and yet also the most important. A film lacking top production value in sound post will kill it when it comes to exhibition and distribution. We're scheduled to go back into the sound studio in early February, just before the Berlinale and European Film Market kick off. This is the stage that can be so difficult, especially for MICROBUDGET Indies, because everyone thinks that as soon as it hits its first screening, the film is done. But even BIG budget films do test screenings and head back to "fix it in post." In the meantime...  An on screen shot of LOVE & VODKA with actors Sara Wolf, Dale Dobson and Zach Bradley at the University of Babelsberg School of Film & Television. Copyright Love & Vodka LLC 2025 All Rights Reserved The End of the MOVIEMAKING Marathon The end of the LOVE & VODKA journey doesn't end there; in fact, it's just the beginning. We're looking into a limited release arthouse theater screening journey across America in strategic cities where non-profit organizations helping Ukrainian diaspora and refugees are located, so that we can partner with them, spreading the word about our film and raising funds to assist. More news on that to come, so stay tuned to our website: www.love-vodka-movie.com and social media (Facebook & Instagram) @loveandvodkamovie.  Poster created by Sean Strong Copyright Love & Vodka, LLC 2024 Do not reprint or use without explicit permission in writing from Personae Entertainment Pictures. NYWIFT Fiscal Sponsorship Donations Help Keep Us Afloat!
And if you have some extra cash lying around or would like to make a contribution in honor of a friend, family member or colleague, we would so appreciate your donation to our fiscally sponsored film. It helps us with our continued expenses (Post Production Ain't Cheap and Neither are Film Festival Entry Fees!), please consider either donating to our film via New York Women in Film & Television's Fiscal Sponsorship program, or our GoFundMe, by visiting the fundraising page of our website: https://www.love-vodka-movie.com/donate.html If you don't, your support via a "like" or "follow" to one of our social media pages is also mighty nice -- it let's us know you care and see us -- kinda like cheering a marathon runner on as she nears the last few miles before the finish line. Truly, it means the world. Thanks, again, for all of your support! Sincerely, Heidi Producer/Director (and additional writer) LOVE & VODKA  Well, we did it! Together, our team pulled off the huge feat of finishing post production and preparing "Love & Vodka" for the big screen -- and on June 23rd, 2024, we enjoyed the honor of being the closing night feature film at the Cinetopia Film Festival at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, Michigan. "Love & Vodka" screened to an audience of around 1,000 festival-goers and we're thrilled to share that many of our actors and crew members were there to join us for the big event.
We've since returned to make a few more tweaks to our sound design and have applied to many more film festivals -- so we hope to have more announcements of up-coming screenings soon. Oh -- and there will be MERCH! Stay tuned! Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving! xoxox Heidi Philipsen and the "Love & Vodka" Team  From the Erich Pommer Institute:
"The 3rd cohort of the European Film Business and Law LL.M. | MBA program has officially kicked off! 🚀🎥 This year, we are thrilled to welcome a diverse group of 7 talented students, bringing together a unique blend of skills, backgrounds, and perspectives. Here’s a look at the new cohort: 🌍 Diversity in Location and Background: the students represents different countries and continents, spanning from Europe, Africa and North and South America 🎓 Their professional backgrounds span across film distribution, media law, production, filmmaking, and sales. We wish a good start of study to our students: Vincent Edusei, Philipp Friederichs, Lediona Kasapi, Fritzi Kaupert, Júnia Matsuura, Heidi Elizabeth Philipsen-Meissner and Marian Gabriel Weber. Stay tuned as these promising talents embark on this unique educational journey, shaping the future of the European film industry! 🎬✨" The European Film Business and Law LL.M. | MBA is an initiative of the Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, the University of Potsdam and the Erich Pommer Institut gGmbH. hashtag#FilmBusiness hashtag#EuropeanFilm hashtag#MBA hashtag#LLM hashtag#MasterProgram hashtag#FilmIndustry  Woah! It's been a few months posting about fundraising -- forgive us, but after the big test audience screening in Ann Arbor at Cinetopia we needed a BREAK.
Rest assured, we've been busy in the background working on making sound design and sound post tweaks (that we noticed in the theatrical test screening), squaring away all of our accounting and contracts, preparing for the social media to come (press notes writing, etc.) and strategizing on film festivals applications, distribution, and, and, and... Now that summer is at an end and the film festival circuit is reaching its new cycle for submissions, we're back. STILL in debt, somewhat, but not taking on any more post debt outside of film festival submissions. The good news? We're so energized by all that we experienced in our screening at Cinetopia and the audience feedback that we won't stop on our journey, no matter how unknown it may be right now. Your donations will continue to help us cover film festival entry fees (and they run from $50 to $200!) as well as continued administration and marketing (dropbox, our website, etc.) We promise to keep you in the loop as to what is on our horizon with "Love & Vodka" and thank you so much for being a part of our journey! Please go to our DONATE page and thank you in advance for helping us out! Yours, truly, Heidi & the Love &Vodka team  From all of us at Love & Vodka Movie and Personae Entertainment -- we wish Ukrainians everywhere a Happy Independence Day of Ukraine!
For those of our #loveandvodkamovie fans and supporters who would like to learn more about Ukrainian independence, please check out this site (the Diplomatic Service of the European Union: https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/ukraines-independence-day-24-august-2024_en #ukraine #ukraineindepedenceday #IndependenceDayUkraine FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MICHIGAN NATIVE MAKES SOLO DIRECTORIAL DEBUT WITH “LOVE AND VODKA,” PREMIERING AT CINETOPIA FILM FESTIVAL ANN ARBOR JUNE 23, 2024 Ukrainian-American Romantic Comedy Celebrates Transatlantic Friendship Between Two Countries with a Focus on Love and Laughter in a Time of Tragic Loss and War ANN ARBOR, Mich. – June 3rd, 2024 – “Love and Vodka,” an independent film five years in the making, is set to make its debut at the upcoming Cinetopia Film Festival Ann Arbor. The movie, which was shot in Bay City and Grayling, Mich., is directed and produced by University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University graduate Heidi Philipsen-Meissner, Director/Producer/CEO of Personae Entertainment. The movie stars Ukrainian actress Svitlana Kosolapova and American actor Zack Bradley. The film will be the final film screened at Cinetopia Film Festival Ann Arbor on June 23, 2024, at 5 p.m. For more on the screening and festival, visit https://marquee-arts.org/cinetopia/. “Love and Vodka,” which is based on a true story, is about a high school film teacher who recalls the magic of 2018 when he fell in love with a Ukrainian exchange student and impulsively traveled to Ukraine to propose to her and meet her family. Three years later, the war breaks out, as he works to finish the script and save the love of his life. The trials and tribulations in “Love and Vodka” were mirrored in real life during the filmmaking process, as Philipsen-Meissner made a transatlantic move from Michigan to Germany to immerse herself in the European film industry to find coproducing partners in Ukraine and Germany. Plans were then put on hold when Covid-19 emerged, and she experienced several deaths in her family. The film was then set to begin shooting in the summer of 2022 but was put on hold once again with the Russian attacks on Ukraine. The script then had to be rewritten to be respectful of the current times and the location was moved to Michigan. “While I have experienced my own difficulties during this process, it will never compare to what our fellow human beings in Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees around the world have been through and are still going through,” said Heidi Philipsen-Meissner of Personae Entertainment. “Being able to tell a heartwarming story about their culture, country, and people has been my way of keeping hope alive.” “Love and Vodka” quickly turned into a passion project for Philipsen-Meissner, as she found her heart pouring out for Ukraine. While making the movie, she simultaneously focused on protesting, giving, and helping whenever and wherever she could. While living in Germany, she helped find homes and language lessons for refugees and donated cartloads of non-perishable items for volunteers. “As an artist-activist who understands the power of storytelling, I started to understand this war was as much about culture and identity as it was about geopolitics,” said Philipsen-Meissner. “This led me to believe that maybe making a film about love and Ukrainian culture wasn’t such an off-kilter idea, after all.” To see a preview of ‘Love and Vodka’ and to support this film as it makes its way to other film festivals across the country and world, please visit: https://www.love-vodka-movie.com. For more on ‘Love and Vodka’ and Personae Entertainment, visit https://www.personaeentertainmentpictures.com/. About Personae Entertainment Personae Entertainment Pictures is a film development and production company that started out as a small collective making short films, local commercials, and production managing low-budget indies in upstate New York. It has evolved into a transatlantic company with offices in Berlin and Detroit, with a singular focus on international feature films. Developing its own IP content, while also partnering with collaborators, Personae Entertainment Pictures is dedicated to collaborating with innovative filmmakers and international co-producers. Media Contact Jason Brown, PublicCity PR, [email protected]; 248-663-6166 ###  "Love & Vodka" is proud to announce that it's going to have its big premiere this June at the Cinetopia Film Festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan!
We'll be sending out a press release soon, but for now, allow us to say how happy we are that our very first screening will be at the Michigan and State theaters in downtown, Ann Arbor, and so close to home. Michigan is where we made "Love & Vodka," and we can't think of a better way to celebrate our love for Michigan movie-making than to have our premiere screening amongst family, friends and colleagues in Michigan. According to the Cinetopia Film Festival's own website: JUNE 13 - JUNE 23, 2024The Cinetopia Film Festival has been known for showcasing a diverse and exciting selection of films. Ann Arbor is sure to be buzzing with film enthusiasts eager to explore the 2024 lineup from June 13 – June 23. Cinetopia is excited to collaborate with the Ann Arbor Summer Festival (A2SF) is proud to announce an exciting collaboration with Cinetopia, enriching the cultural landscape of Ann Arbor with an innovative cinematic experience. As part of this partnership, the beloved “Movies in Moonlight” series will feature a curated selection of films under the starlit sky. Additionally, audiences will be treated to a unique journey through cinematic history with a special lineup of silent films, transporting viewers to a bygone era of storytelling. This collaboration not only celebrates the art of film but also fosters community engagement and appreciation for diverse cinematic experiences, promising unforgettable summer evenings filled with cinematic magic in Ann Arbor. For tickets and schedule information, go to: https://marquee-arts.org/cinetopia for more information. |
UpdatesBlog updates by Producer/Director/Writer Heidi Philipsen and Junior Producer, Sophie Meissner Archives
February 2025
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