I have good news in this update: On Dec 13 we recorded the voice actors
for the film – the ones who spoke the words of St. Elizabeth, Ludwig, the
testifying handmaids, Master Conrad and other historical figures. On Feb
9, after a delay for Christmas vacation and to search for just the right
person, we recorded the final narration track with a wonderful voice
actress. Earlier this month, I also received a CD with the very beautiful
music composed and recorded by Peter Vamos. My brother is still finishing
his part – but very soon all the major work for the film will be done.
I had no idea there would be this many delays, and once again I must
apologize to everyone, especially all the people who donated – but rest
assured, all of your contributions have been put to good use. So far, no
date has been set for the Quebec and New York premieres, but I will keep
you posted. I hope also to redo one of our trailers with the Vamos music,
but until then, you can enjoy the earlier versions here and here:
More of the bills for video and photo rights and stock shots are coming
due. Perhaps the biggest item is the $600 we owe to the Vatican Television
Center for the rights to a video of John Paul II speaking about St.
Elizabeth in Hungary. And we still have a music clearance of $200 to deal
with. (All the other music has been donated). So once again, I’d like to
urge people who are interested in the film to make a donation. You can
donate here, using your Paypal account or credit or debit card.
Or you can send a check or money order to Lori Pieper, Tau Cross Books and
Media, 30 W. 190th St., Apt. 6N, Bronx, NY 10468. If you donate $10 or
more, you will get a copy of the DVD. Please be sure to include your name
and mailing address. As soon as the film is actually completed, I will
start taking pre-orders, but you will have to pay full price, so donating
is still a bargain!
Please keep reading these updates to learn of future showings. If you are
in the New York area and are interested in having a showing in your
church, school, SFO fraternity, etc. — anywhere that has a TV or screen
and DVD player, please let me know, and I will supply you wisth a DVD and
try to be on hand for it. The final cut will be around 1 hr 45 ssssmin.
Because of the need for funds to complete the film, I want to either
charge admission or take up a collection for these showings.
Thanks you for your patience, especially all those who have donated so
generously. May God, St. Francis and St. Elizabeth bless you.
Here’s what I wrote in my most recent newsletter, sent today:
Dear Friends of St. Elizabeth,
Many of you have been sending inquiries about the documentary on St. Elizabeth; my apologies for my delay in responding. In fact, things have really been moving.
The picture editing is complete, and the score for the movie is now being written by Patrick Pieper (yes, my brother, who is quite talented); we also have the cooperation of a gifted Hungarian composer named Peter Vamos, who now resides in the U.S., and who is supplying some pieces of music for the early portion of the film set in Hungary.
The writing of the film narration is completely finished and the subtitles have gone out to be translated; and I will soon be set to record the final narration. Still, this takes time, and unfortunately I won’t be able to have the film done before the end of the year as I had hoped. But look for it very early in the new year.
The other great news is that I am now arranging for the Canadian premiere, probably in January, in a movie theater in Quebec, with the help of a dear friend of mine who approached the theater about it. I am still looking for a place for the New York premiere.
To this end, I am working on a short (3-min) theatrical trailer for the film, and have just posted a rough version to YouTube. You can see there some of the filmed recreations of Elizabeth’s life we worked so hard on, as well as some behind-the-scenes shots, and more pictures of the centenary celebrations.
The previous 10-min. trailer has been updated with some of these shots as well.
I would have loved to have a showing of the rough cut of the film this month at our own fraternity for Elizabeth’s feast day, but the parish’s high school cafeteria was all booked up. We’ve decided to have the showing early next year when the film is done. But there was a very successful showing at the Immaculate Conception fraternity in Norristown, PA. on November 7.
All of these showings, I hope, will help raise enough money for the distribution of the film on DVD. I have had some generous donations of late, and this helps, but there are still outstanding bills for picture
and video rights as well as narration, translation and other costs. Every little bit helps.
So once again, I’d like to urge people who are interested in the film to make a donation. You can donate here, using your Paypal account or credit or debit card.
Or you can send a check or money order to Lori Pieper, Tau Cross Books and Media, 30 W. 190th St., Apt. 6N, Bronx, NY 10468. If you donate $10 or more, you will get a free copy of the DVD. Please be sure to include your name and mailing address. I’m hoping this will give me the last push necessary to put the film out. Sometime in January, if not before, I will start taking pre-orders, and the cost will be higher.
Please keep reading these updates to learn of future showings. If you are in the New York area and are interested in having a showing in your church, school, SFO fraternity, etc. — anywhere that has a TV or screen and DVD player, please let me know, and I will supply you with a DVD and try to be on hand for it. The film has grown, and is running at 100 minutes (1 hr, 40 min.), so plan enough time for a feature-length film.
Thanks you for your patience, especially all those who have donated so generously. May God, St. Francis and St. Elizabeth bless you.
This is the latest newsletter on the documentary I have sent out by e-mail. If you interested in getting on the list for these notices, please let me know at editor@taucrossbooks.com. Please not also that the PayPal set-up has now been fixed, so that when you donate at the documentary’s website, the extra $3.75 for shipping isn’t added any longer.
Dear Friends,
I’m happy to say that the first showing of a rough cut of A Woman For Our Time: St. Elizabeth of Hungary on June 1 went very well. Some 80 people attended the screening at St. Elizabeth’s Church in Melville, and there was very enthusiastic applause and much comment afterward. This is a great way to help toward finalizing the editing, because I now know what works and what doesn’t. The temporary narration for the showing was provided by an actress friend of mine, who agreed to donate her services at short notice.
There is still a lot to be done not only for the final editing, but completion of narration in different voices, final music score and preparing subtitle tracks, as well as making copies for distribution. Not to mention the outstanding bills for photo and video rights.
Unfortunately, I have come to a complete standstill on the financial side. A very generous donation from a Franciscan friend helped me get a much needed transfer of some of our original HDV tapes to disk (the original transfer had been lost, and the only thing left was the bad DVD version that caused all sorts of trouble). Because the tapes from Rome used an older camera, a camera I couldn’t seem to rent anywhere, I had to go to a video house to have them do the transfer; in all that cost $750.00.
So once again, I’d like to urge people who are interested in the film to make a donation. You can donate HERE, using your Paypal account or credit or debit card.
Or you can send a check or money order to Lori Pieper, Tau Cross Books and Media, 30 W. 190th St., Apt. 6N, Bronx, NY 10468. If you donate $10 or more, you will get a free copy of the DVD. Please be sure to include your name and mailing address. I’m hoping this will give me the last push necessary to put the film out.
In a short time, I hope to put one last short trailer on YouTube, using some of the beautiful recreation footage of Elizabeth’s life we shot last fall in LA. It will also include a bit from Elizabeth’s childhood I shot in May in Queens, with little Isabel Mogollon playing Elizabeth.
And also hopefully I will soon be able to announce the distribution date.
Please keep reading these updates to learn of future showings. If you are in the New York area and are interested in having a showing in your church, school, SFO fraternity, etc. — anywhere that has a TV and DVD player, please let me know.
Thanks you for your patience, especially all those who have donated so generously. May God, St. Francis and St. Elizabeth bless you.
Well, maybe it wasn’t quite a world premiere, since it isn’t even finished, but the screening of the rough cut of my film A Woman for Our Time: St. Elizabeth of Hungary last Tuesday night was a great success, with some 80 people in attendance and enormous applause afterward.
I haven’t been able to put up anything about it until now, since I’ve had to do some 60 hours of work this past week — and I’m not yet done — to make up for time lost last week. Not to mention the fact that our little early heat wave this past week in New York has really been dragging me down. (Happily it got cooler last night and is now quite comfortable). I do plan to keep everyone updated on possible future screenings this summer, as the film is readied for DVD.
Don’t forget, if you would like to receive further updates on the film via e-mail, please write to me at editor@taucrossbooks.com, and you will be put on the list. You can also donate to completion of the film here:
I have admittedly been remiss in posting updates here since the big announcement. But I haven’t been idle. On Saturday, I filmed the last little scene needed for the recreations, with Elizabeth as a child, thanks to Elaine Mogollon and her little daughter Isabel.
The scene is Elizabeth being discovered with her father with bread she is carrying for the poor, which turns into roses. (I discussed the various versions of this story here). We had a really windy day to contend with, but the shoot was a success!
Here’s a peek (unfortunately, since these are actual stills from the videotape, and because they are of someone in motion, unless they’re extreme closeups, they’re inevitably going to be a little fuzzy):
Pausing to look at all the sights on our way to Jerusalem. . . Mainly about faith, the Church, film, writing, famous Christian authors, and anything else I'm interested in at the moment.
The photo above was taken at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome in March 2007.
Quote of the Month
"The conviction that there is a Creator God is what gave rise to the idea of human rights, the idea of the equality of all people before the law, the recognition of the inviolability of human dignity in every single person and the awareness of people’s responsibility for their actions. Our cultural memory is shaped by these rational insights. To ignore it or dismiss it as a thing of the past would be to dismember our culture totally and to rob it of its completeness. The culture of Europe arose from the encounter between Jerusalem, Athens and Rome – from the encounter between Israel’s monotheism, the philosophical reason of the Greeks and Roman law. This three-way encounter has shaped the inner identity of Europe. In the awareness of man’s responsibility before God and in the acknowledgment of the inviolable dignity of every single human person, it has established criteria of law: it is these criteria that we are called to defend at this moment in our history."
Pope Benedict XVI to the German Parliament, Sept 22, 2011.
