every day is banana day: Preparing for MARCELINE

Andy and I have been spending every night and every weekend finishing up our film, Marceline. The film is about Walt Disney’s ties to his boyhood home, as well as the town and its people. This is what has been consuming every non working hour of every day and why I haven’t been posting too much on here.

Andy began work on this film five years ago when we still lived in southern California. The idea came on our first trip to Marceline in December of 2006. Being avid Disney fans, Andy and I decided we needed to visit Marceline, especially since we would already be visiting his family for Christmas just an hour and half away.

Though we arrived on a cold, dreary afternoon, and although the shops and museum were mostly all closed already for the day, we could still feel the magic of this incredible little town. We visited the barn near Walt’s dreaming tree. Inside the barn they had markers and people had scribbled messages and notes all over the walls. You could really see how much Disney means to so many people just reading those notes. We found the perfect place to scribble our note, right above the door and we knew what we wanted it to say; “Here you leave today and enter the worlds of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy” the same note that is inscribed above the tunnels that go under the railroad and lead out to Main St. USA at Disneyland. But we forgot exactly the order in which the inscription was written. Andy and I are very big on accuracy, so we called Disneyland (yes, I keep Disneyland on speed dial) from that spot in the barn. The cast member that answered couldn’t remember what it said either. He put us on hold and went down to Main St. to check for us! I don’t think I’ll ever forget about that moment on our first trip to Marceline.

We knew we had to capture this town on film. Andy decided to head out there with our friend Frank while I was in school. Andy spent nearly two months filming Marceline and its people and then he came back to California and went back to school and back to work. A year and half later we moved to Columbia, Missouri and began making regular trips to Marceline to film or visit the new friends we had made. We finally had enough footage to begin editing.

Editing can be a really long process. Especially when you have 25 hours of footage and the editors already have full time jobs… It has taken a really long time to get to the point we are at right now. The film is nearly complete. We are just now in the process of adding a few finishing touches.

During the making of this film Andy and I moved 5 times, got engaged, graduated from college, got married, and had our daughter, Lilly Belle (she is named for Walt Disney’s private train car, The Lilly Belle, which Walt named after his wife, Lillian- yes, we are Disney FREAKS). It’s been a long journey to get to the point we are at right now.

I am so excited for the people of Marceline to see this film (and nervous too!) The film premieres in just three weeks during Marceline’s Toonfest weekend at the historic Uptown Theater. There will be a pretty fun and exciting party afterwards- at which point I think we will finally be able to relax!

Toonfest is a fabulous FREE festival celebrating the art of cartooning held annually in Marceline. They have guest artists come from around the world and speak about what they do. There’s a parade, food, games, a princess tea party and a pirate treasure hunt, a dreaming tree celebration and so much more! I recommend that any fan of Walt Disney or Cartooning visit Marceline, especially during Toonfest.

Marceline will premiere on Friday September 16th, 8PM at the historic Uptown Theater in Marceline, Missouri. Andy and I will be on hand for a Q&A following the screening.

There will be an encore screening Sunday September 18th at 2PM at the Uptown Theater. Andy and I will also be at this screening and available for a Q&A after the film.

Did I mention both screenings are FREE!?