*SPECIAL* The DECADE in Review; HAPPY NEW YEAR!‏

Dear LUMPIA Lovers,

It’s so hard for us to say goodbye to an absolutely GREAT year in 2009.
Around this time, we usually draft out an email reviewing our accomplishments
of the past year. Since we’re entering a NEW DECADE, we wanted to take
this unique opportunity to share with you instead our special 2000-2009
DECADE IN REVIEW...

YEAR 2000
10 years ago, I was the Associate Producer of a little film called THE DEBUT,
which finally made its world premiere in Los Angeles after a long, grueling
production process for director Gene Cajayon and co-writer John Manal Castro.
One of my duties included writing the various DEBUT e-mail newsletters, (which
would later evolve into this LUMPIA mailing list) and leading the grassroots
marketing team.



One of the many volunteers I had recruited for that team was a colleague I had
just met: A.J. Calomay. I was introduced to his extraordinary video editing skills
when he assembled a high-energy trailer for an amateur reunion movie I shot with
my old friends called LUMPIA.

YEAR 2001
After winning several awards during the film festival circuit, THE DEBUT still couldn’t
generate any potential distributors. Gene made the valiant call of self-distributing the
film himself. The next thing I know, we’re in San Francisco Bay Area movie theatres
destroying the Hollywood competition with sold out screenings. Thus began YEAR ONE of
“The Tour” where I found myself promoting and introducing screenings in the Bay Area,
Sacramento, Virginia Beach, Stockton, and Los Angeles.



YEAR 2002
That LUMPIA Trailer that A.J. created became one of the first viral videos, creating a
community buzz online as well as having VHS copies of the video being passed around.
A.J. started assembling the first cut version of LUMPIA while I was on tour. YEAR TWO
was the cross-country leg of the self-distribution tour, in which I drove my own car to
cities like Washington DC, Chicago, Houston, and flew out to Hawaii for the summer. By
the time the tour finally ended in New York that November, we drove home to California
with some good news waiting for us.



YEAR 2003
SONY PICTURES & COLUMBIA TRISTAR HOME ENTERTAINMENT buys the
DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS for THE DEBUT ON DVD, HOME VIDEO, AND
IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETS! After spending 2 years on the road,
that headline gave us the happy ending that we truly deserved. It also
gave me my first big creative job as the Debut’s DVD Supervising Producer.
Together with A.J. and Xylophone Films, we went through all the behind the scenes
footage and created about 60 minutes worth of SPECIAL FEATURES
for the studio DVD release.



On March 2003, Xylophone Films and my newly formed Kid Heroes Productions
premiere the full movie LUMPIA in front of a sold out, standing room only audience
at San Francisco State University. This would kick off yet another country tour on
a smaller scale, of community screenings at high schools and colleges. The highlight screening
was at the Hawaii International Film Festival, where it generated a RAVE REVIEW
from Variety.

YEAR 2004
Our video shoots for INNERVOICES, THE PACIFICS, & JANICE ARANAS
marked our first batch of music videos. What started out as an opportunity to help
promote independent musicians who had donated their songs to our movie, became an undying
passion in the genre of music videos. That all led to my biggest gig yet:
directing the BLACK EYED PEAS in “The Apl Song” music video.



We would bring LUMPIA-lovin’ to an all-time high with the first LUMPIA PALOOZA
concert in San Francisco, our first attempt in reuniting an old band, and our big
holiday DVD release of LUMPIA, which we celebrated at a Tower Records in-store event.
The LUMPIA DVD would end up being the number one selling DVD at that store!



YEAR 2005
Our new reputation landed us more film festival recognition, more college/high school/
community invites as a speaker, and more directing gigs. Next up came music videos
for 6th DAY,INVID, and LAUREN HILDEBRANDT.



We continued our odd role as a concert promoter with LUMPIA PALOOZA 2,
this time headlined by American Idol finalist Camile Velasco. Taking advantage
of our success with the LUMPIA DVD, we also played the role of DVD distributor
by acquiring the home video rights to Romeo Candido’s film LOLO’S CHILD
and releasing it that holiday season alongside LUMPIA PALOOZA 2.



YEAR 2006
The year starts with the big in-store DVD release of BOOTLEG VISUALS,
a passion project that compiled unique, LUMPIA-lovin’ music videos past and
present. It also brought together some of our favorite artists together in one place:
Apl.de.Ap of the Black Eyed Peas, Kim del Fierro, Bolo of Paw Ray, and former members of
Kai, One Vo1ce, and Premiere.



We continued our music video streak with IMMIJ, KIM DEL FIERRO, and
the NATIVE GUNS. After a year long development, we finally reunited with
the BLACK EYED PEAS and created 2 music videos of BEBOT,
featuring a who’s who of Filipino American artists.



Both versions of the music video debuted with over 90,000 combined hits
in its first weekend on YouTube. An open letter drafted by college professors
and scholars was then distributed online addressed to us attacking the
music video's representation of women. The letter ignited a stir within the community
and a media controversy that would dog us in our community screenings for months
to come. It would finally slow us down with our project output, but not before releasing
yet another DVD acquisition in Bernard Badion’s LEAVE IT TO CHANCE
and organizing our third and final LUMPIA PALOOZA concert in San Diego.

YEAR 2007
A transitional year for us with a lot of leftover projects started in 2006. We finally
released the delayed music videos for KIM DEL FIERRO and the NATIVE GUNS.
Our Generation One video for BEBOT won the President’s Award from the
California Preservation Foundation for its focus on Stockton’s Little Manila neighborhood.



We began work on our very first commercial for L&L Hawaiian Barbecue
while also creating a community viral video to raise awareness about the
Filipino Veterans Equity Act.



I traveled backed home to San Francisco to direct my first stage play for
actress/singer Fe de los Reyes called AMERIKANA THE MUSICAL. The year
ended on a winning note as we scored our FIRST EVER competitive award win.
Our Native Guns video won the BEST MUSIC VIDEO
award at the SAN DIEGO ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL.



YEAR 2008
We gained another client in the USC CREDIT UNION as we produce two
commercials for them. The writers strike didn’t prevent us from creating our own
diversity promos for NBC’s “Heroes” and “The Office”. We also created a PSA
targeting the Filipino American community to register and vote featuring
DJ KUTTIN KANDI (5th Platoon) and comic book artist WHILCE PORTACIO (Wetworks,
Iron Man, Uncanny X-Men, Stone)



That summer proved to be a rejuvenating highlight for me personally and
career-wise. After being chosen to be one of four filmmakers to take part in the
Los Angeles Film Festival's 72-Hour Film Competition, I won it all with my
short film BEING REEL.



That win would lead to the year-ending creation of Bambu’s music video
CROOKS & ROOKS. Collaborating with Bambu proved to be a lucky charm
for us. The rapper was part of our award-winning Native Guns “Champion” and
starred in the winning BEING REEL short film. The winning streak would continue…

YEAR 2009
…with “LOVE (Cupid Style)”. This music video entry for LINCOLN was our
first project for FILMAKA. Our video won the competition and was aired nationally
during the CBS broadcast of the Grammy Awards.



Make that FOUR in a row with Bambu, as our “Crooks & Rooks” music video
became mtvU’s VIDEO PICK OF THE WEEK and then won the
BEST MUSIC VIDEO at the Chicago International Hip Hop Film Festival.

All the love gets us back into the music video field as we create new videos
for VOX MERGER and HOPIE SPITSHARD.



We entered more video competitions, this time for AMAZON, an honorable
mention for SKINIT, and the biggest win of all:
FIRST PLACE GRAND PRIZE for our DIRECTV short film “The Digital Family”.
That project marks a turning point that will hopefully bring us back
full circle to the kinds of projects we worked on when this decade began…



WHAT’S NEXT?
Thank you all for joining us in this LONG trip back memory lane. Despite the ups
and downs this past decade has brought us, we have a LOT to be thankful for.
It just motivates us to continue and move FORWARD. I say this all the time,
but it shows in all that we’ve accomplished the past 10 years. Your support
and LUMPIA-love keeps us going! I can’t wait to write about our projects and
achievements for the next 10 years.

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW DECADE!

Peace and LUMPIA grease,
Patricio Ginelsa
"indie" Filmmaker
http://www.kidheroes.net
http://www.xylophonefilms.com
http://www.LoveThatLumpia.com

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