GI Film Fest: D minus 2

Hello all,

Just 2 more days until the world premier for Chosin at the GI Film Festival in Washington, DC. Brian and I arrived in DC on Tuesday afternoon for the start of the festival and so far things have been going great. Brendan Millet and Laura Law, the founders of the festival, have really put together a fantastic event featuring over 30 films that honor our nations veterans. They hosted a Congressional reception last night and had the honor of meeting Senator John McCain. Senator McCain's son is a U.S. Marine and Brian actually trained him at the School of Infantry at Camp Pendelton.

We also met up with a pair of Army vets, Nick and Tom, who run a veteran-owned and operated t-shirt company called "Ranger Up." They are sponsors for the festival and they also sponsor military vets that are fighters in the UFC. Much like Brian and I, these guys have used their experience as soldiers to launch a company and forge their own path. Check out their gear at www.rangerup.com

Military.com interviewed Brian for a piece that will also feature Glenn Close, Ricky Schroder, and Gary Sinise. I will post the link once the story is launched.

More to follow as the week continues....

Semper Fi,

Anton

CHOSIN on Fox News

Friends,

In case you missed it last week, Brian and I were on Fox News discussing the film. You can watch here:

http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/28407950/honoring-our-vets.htm

January has been a big month for the project. Brian and I finished editing and we have about one more month of work left to complete the musical score, sound design, sound mix, titles, map animations, and color correction. It sounds like a lot, but we have a team of great people working with us and the film will be done by the end of February in time to get it into a few film festivals. The best news is that we are still on track to hit our goal of releasing the film in time for the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War coming up in June. I will keep you all posted.

Thanks to all of you for your continued support!

Semper Fi,

Anton

Chosin on CBS

Hi all,

Chosin was featured this evening in a piece on CBS Evening News. If you didn't get a chance to tune in, you can watch the video here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5827235n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

Brian, Joe Owen, and I were interviewed by Jeff Glor and the piece was produced by Alturo Rhymes. This weekend marks the 59th Anniversary of the Chosin Reservoir Campaign, and the team at CBS did a great job honoring these veterans for their service and their sacrifices.

News on the film: We made big headway over the last week and we completed a rough cut just before Thanksgiving. Our composer, Will Bates, has been hard at work tightening up the score so that we can make our submission deadlines for the spring film festivals. A few more months of hard work and we will have the film finished!

Semper Fi,

Anton

Brian on Fox News

Veterans Day week has quickly become our favorite holiday. After the Veterans Day parade I hustled down to Fox News to talk about the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities program (EBV). The EBV provides free business training to disabled vets in order to help them open their own business. I graduate the EBV program from Syracuse in 2008 and it is one of the key reasons I am here today. I was invited onto Fox's Situation Room to talk about the EBV program, being a Veteran Entrepreneur, and of course, CHOSIN! What a week! We will post the interview online when we get it!

Semper Fi,

Brian

Anton and I had the privilege of marching with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in the NY City Veterans Day Parade. It was a great time and the people of the city came out by the thousands to show their support. After the parade we went to an after-party at the Crown Plaza. We had a lot of help and we are grateful to the IAVA and all its supporters.

Semper Fi,

Brian

Marine Corps Birthday Ball

As Marines, we always throw a great party for our Birthday on 10 November. This year I was invited as the Guest of Honor to the Avenel (NJ) Marine Corps League's ball in Woodbridge, NJ. It was a great time and in keeping with the tradition of "once a Marine, always a Marine", these guys continue to serve. These great Marines donated $2,500 to our Toys for Tots campaign. In my 14 years of service, nothing has been more rewarding than to put a smile on a kid's face. In these pics are me with the oldest Marine and the youngest Marine present at the ball. The oldest Marine was fought in WWII and the youngest just returned from Iraq 2 months ago. Now that is what I call tradition.

Semper Fi,

Brian

USS New York

Brian managed to wrangle a pair of tickets to the USS New York commissioning ceremony held yesterday near the USS Intrepid. Hilary Clinton was the keynote speaker for the event, preceded by several dignitaries from the Navy and Northrop Grumman. Our Commandant, General James T. Conway, also said a few words. I may be a little biased, but I think he stole the show. He ended his piece by specifically addressing the Marines in the crowd with a famous quote from George Orwell: "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

As long as America has her Marine Corps, I know that I will sleep just fine.

Now and update on the film's progress: Brian and I have been hard at work editing and we were able to hand a 1 and 1/2 hour rough cut (very very very rough) to our composer last week. Will Bates (http://www.willbates.net/) is writing the music for the film, which you can hear on the trailer we now have posted on our home page. We should have a rough cut ready for test screenings by Thanksgiving. Deadlines for the spring film festival circuit are right around the corner, so we are going to have to work fast.

S/F

Anton