Waabooz (Rabbit) is making appearances at several film festivals, and is continuing to run away with multiple awards. Waabooz is still heading to festivals across the USA and Canada, and has *already* scooped up the following accolades! Once again, congrats to the entire Waabooz team! If you haven’t yet seen or screened Waabooz, please check out the website below and contact your local film fest with a screening recommendation!

Waabooz, a narrative short about how a young Native American artist named Rabbit overcomes his fears through Waabooz, a superhero of his own design brought to life with the help of his grandfather. Twelve year-old Rabbit spends most of his days collecting comics, keeping his little sister out of his hair, and avoiding the teasing of his peers for being an outcast. It's not easy being different on a remote Wisconsin reservation. He keeps busy drawing and has perfected Waabooz, a superhero that embodies Rabbit's desired self. Rabbit dreads dancing in an upcoming powwow; he's awkward and shy and would rather be left out of this community event. When his bedridden grandfather learns of his fears, he decides to help Rabbit become his own hero and find strength within himself.

The dramatic and animated short features award-winning actors Saginaw Grant and Ethan Engberg, and an award-winning team of filmmakers, including Molly Katagiri (Director/Executive producer), Wenonah Wilms (Writer/Executive Producer), Tammy Hollingsworth (Producer/Executive Producer), Nicolas Selma (Production Designer-Animation Sequence), and yours truly as the Composer.

https://www.waaboozmovie.com/

​I’m a VIP and have the badge to prove it! Well, temporarily. It was again my pleasure to attend the Green Bay Film Festival this past weekend, where a number of uplifting events happened.

I received good feedback after giving my workshop “Film Scoring For Film Makers” especially from a filmmaker who’s ready to start talking with a composer about the film’s music. They had gone out of their way to attend the workshop, postponing other activities to get there, and found the workshop very helpful at a crucial time in their production. It was rewarding to hear, and confirms my own dedication to teaching the workshop that tutors producers, directors and editors about the basics of spotting a film for music, and how to identify the musical shifts and changes within a film scene to accommodate the on-screen subject matter.

​The two student filmmaker-composer match-ups, that resulted in two GBFF bootcamp films with original music scores, were screened at this year’s award ceremony: More Than Puppy Love by filmmaker Marisa Jacques’ with composer Lyndsey Agar, and Superhereo Superstar by filmmaker Sophie Goska with composer Rayna Kupsky. A prominent feature of both scores was the participation of the Civic Symphony of Green Bay, under the baton of Seong-Kyung Graham, who performed and recorded the student composer scores! And of course, I was a proud teacher of the two film score composers!

​Speaking of awards, the new film Waabooz (“Rabbit”) picked up yet another accolade, the Audience Choice Award! In the partly-animated, dramatic short film, Rabbit’s grandfather tells a story of imagination and a little magic that brings Waabooz to life, and features lead actor Ethan Engberg and established veteran actor Saginaw Grant. Congrats to everyone involved, cast and crew, especially director Molly Katagiri of Minnesota. This film is going places: Run Rabbit Run!

The music score is primarily drums and drumming, with a bit of added guitar, percussion and flutes, and I was very happy with how it turned out. Special shout out to Carlos Fernandez for the guitar work! I was beaming at the awards program, and honored to be the Waabooz composer working with such a great team!