MHB wins the Codes Pro Media ReelHeART Award at the ReelHeart International Film Festival in Toronto this past weekend!  The award is given to “The visiting filmmaker that exhibits true independent spirit, from promotion to inspiration and engagement”  With the award comes a medallion and a Sony Cybershot 7.2 mega pixel digital camera, which Director Nancy O’Mallon will put to good use on her next film, about cranberries!

Congrats Nancy!  Keep spreading the blueberry news!

Peace,
Melissa

Tribute to Iris Morales, Kathleen Cleaver and Ted Demme

The images from the Hip Hop Odyssey Awards are up now in the photo section. It was a wonderful night and I got to spend with some of my closest friends in film - my girls Jessica and Bobbi.

Jessica Habie and Rosa Clemente (more…)

ICE T @ Hip Hop Odyssey Festival Awards - M. Ulto

Last night, I went to the Hip Hip Odyssey Awards with my collaborators on “The Art of Love & Struggle” - Director Jessica Habie, Performer/Writer Bobbi Williams and Composer Spiritchild.

It was where Hip Hop lives - the real culture, not the parody of it in mainstream media. This was a community event, celebrating those who came before, those who step up now and those who will take the torch of Hip Hop into the future. From celebrating Cold Crush Crew to Lady Pink, it was a lesson in the roots of the culture, the struggle to make art viable, and a reminder that message is still very powerful.

Listening to Ice T accept his award, as an outstanding Hip Hop Actor, reminded me of a few things, shifting my perspective and hearing the echo of struggle in his speech. Here was a man orphaned at 11, left to fend for himself on the streets. As he put it, if you had a sister, a cousin, a distant relative, you had an advantage over him. He hustled, he strove, he adapted when opportunities came to him, and he followed one voice - his own. He reminded me that the hustle is not about the product but the process - anything can be accomplished, it’s the mastering of methods that’s the first step. (more…)

 

 No Daddy - Teairra Mari [3:51m]: Play Now | Download (961)

I’ll be attending the Hip Hop Odyssey Awards tonight! Hopefully “The Art of Love & Struggle” gets some recognition (fingers and toes crossed). The film was very well received at the screening last night. Jessica Habie, the director, attended and got back to me with some of the reactions.

The awards are sold out almost (standing room only) and here’s why:

The festival culminates with the ODYSSEY AWARDS extravaganza hosted by Hip-Hop Powerhouse, ED LOVER and legendary Comedian, PAUL MOONEY on Tupac Shakur’s Birthday. The evening will be dedicated to celebrating the winning filmmakers of the festival, Hip-Hop Legends, and Media Trailblazers. The Awesome 2 are back and will be spinning along with the NYC house band, DUJEOUS. The line up of performers include: SUPER NATURAL, STYLES P, SAFAHRI RHA, NYOIL, KAZI, P STAR, BEATBOX ENT., TRES CORONAS, KELLY ZEN-YIE TSAI, LA BRUJA, CONSEQUENCE, TONI BLACKMAN, AJA-MONET, K BANGER, and ABIODUN FROM THE LAST POETS.

Hip-Hop Celebrities will pay special tributes to the COLD CRUSH, CRASH CREW and PUBLIC ENEMY; Best Hip-Hop Actor, ICE-T; Trailblazers, RALPH MCDANIELS, CHARLIE AHEARN, AND ERNEST DICKERSON; and LEGENDS, GRAND WIZARD THEODORE, SANDRA “LADY PINK” FABARA, and the FIRST LADY OF HIP-HOP, CINDY CAMPBELL. Some of the presenters include: Fab 5 Freddy, Davey D, Rosa Clemente, Joe Conzo, Dana Dane, Warrington Hudlin, Michaela Davis, Rob Swift, Harry Allen, Immortal Technique, Londell Mcmillan, Grouchy Greg, Jazzyfatnasty, Cipha Sounds, Pebeelee Poo, Henry Chalfant, Large Professor, Roxanne Shante, DJ Wiz, Ernie Paniccioli, Amada Diva, DJ Beverly Bond, Bizarre Royal, GrandMixer DXT, Jamal Joseph, and Miss Info.

Going to be a fantastic event!

Peace,
Melissa

The Mighty Humble Blueberry will be shown as an official selection of the New Jersey International Film Festival. If you are free Sunday, check it out.

The film will be screened in Scott Hall #123, Rutgers University on Sunday, June 17, 2007 at 7:00 PM.. The directions below can also be found on the festival website at www.NJfilmfest.com

Peace,
Melissa

Dig within. Within is the wellspring of Good; and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig.
Marcus Aurelius

Meditation lately has yielded a vibrant connection to the universe. My mandala art reflects this inner bubbling up of joy. Prayer is more dialogue than passive smoothing out of mind. I lean on it, comfortably. (more…)

The Pink of Me Mandala - M. Ulto

Somehow you are crawling in on long, sweeping thoughts
My white hot wound suddenly sweet, rich and pink with you
The sky bloomed bright instantly to my unfinished why
Trust, faith, dream and let love unfold (more…)

Check out the notes from last week’s H20 panel on Filmmaking Methods. (Thanks to Alex Golliner for posting these!)

Peace,
Melissa

Shooting with Christi Smith from PFF Entertainment

Last night I shot a couple of interviews for the next edition of SheStory.tv - the theme being passionate persistence. Christi Smith, from PFF Entertainment, lives, works and partners with her passions. She started her business around a board game she created, PervArtistry, a charades/pictionary type game, with a delightfully naughty twist. She and her fiance/business partner, Ted Scofield, have expanded to t-shirts, events and a book is in the works! We also shot with Carla Hall, an incredible singer, who has found an outlet for her work surprisingly during her day job in banking.

I also watched Alan Berliner’s documentary, Wide Awake, about insomnia and the artist. It was masterfully done, well edited, showing with the flurries of images, sounds and thought loops the chaos that plagues the artist’s mind. So much of it echoed my own experiences with sleep and work. The late night hours, the racing mind, the intense focus the later it gets, the siesta…all things I wrestle with. Thomas Edison, Teddy Roosevelt, Marlene Dietrich, Franz Kafka, Margaret Thatcher, Van Gogh, Marilyn Monroe, Winston Churchill, Charles Dickens, Catherine the Great…all insomniacs. It was interesting how having a child changed his perspective on sleep, but overall, didn’t change much. Perhaps a sequel, following the clock resetting? Ah, but then, Alan might be sleeping when he’d otherwise be editing!

Peace,
Melissa

+OLHARES Poster (click here for full size)

I’m very excited - all the arrangements are made, and I’m heading off to sunny Lisbon June 20 to 25. Here is the list of invited artists to this unique festival:

LIST OF INVITED ARTISTS
FILIPA CÉSAR (PT/GR)
JOÃO ONOFRE(PT)
URSULA BOECKLER (GR)
NIKOLAI GALITZINE (FR)
GEORG GRAW (GR)
DIANE GUYOT (FR)
BRENDAN McNAMEE (UK)
GIACOMO PICCA (UK)
JULIAN ROSEFELDT (GR)
EDDIE SINGLETON (UK)
MELISSA ULTO (USA)
LORCAN FINNEGAN (IRL)
DALTONIC BROTHERS (PT)
TIAGO PEREIRA (PT)
JOÃO PAULO SERAFIM (PT)
CTG37&BIKINIDRESSCODE(CZ)

A short collection of clips from SheStory.tv will be shown on Friday, June 22, and I will be VJ’ing in a video jam session.

If you are in that part of the world later this month, come on by and say hello!

Peace,
Melissa

Weehawken Nights 1, M. Ulto 2007 (click for large version)

Above is my evening view from the end of my street in Weehawken. I get to gaze at the glittering spectacle of the skyline from a high perch. It is always dazzling, like a magnificent beast covered in scales of glass, metal and concrete, huffing and puffing in spires of smoke, steam and mist.

Last Friday…on my Mac at work…

Guess who is in my network? Sometimes a network node called Jesus appears. Is there a ghost in the machine? Hahahaha…

My Mac loves me, this I know, because my network told me so…

Peace,
Melissa

Take full account of what excellencies which you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not.
Marcus Aurelius Antonius

What keeps an artist going is the joy at being able to express with great faculty their thoughts. To create tangible expressions of their inner world is a great gift. Who does not long to tell, in a meaningful way, their story to some degree, and have it understood, even appreciated?

I turned a year older a few days ago. Funny, I still feel 17 - a little amazed at myself and my circumstances, a little frustrated, hormonal, goofy, stubborn, impetuous, at times awkward, at times brilliant grace. Glittering with possibility still - ever changing, growing, exploring, creating.

I don’t look older, meaning my chassis must have been built right. Good genes, no drinking, being a vegetarian. I need to balance work and play better, as I’m a total workaholic. But then when you get to play with the tools and ideas I do, why would you want to sleep? (more…)

Check out spoken word poet Brother Earl’s EPK:

 

 BROTHER EARL EPK [8:24m]: Play Now | Download (380)