Looking for Funding

Last week Erin interviewed with the Burton Foundation in Salt Lake City about funding to market the film once we've finished postproduction. These funds would help us create press packets and festival applications, as well as travel to festivals to promote the film.

We've got a few other options before us, including Arizona Arts grants and the like. If you know of a funding opportunity or a private donor that is interested in the film, please let us know. We've gotten very good at writing grants!

Erin's Past Films III

An excerpt from Erin's film about Salt Lake artist Dan Brady.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGVKnaQx24M

Hairstyles

"Hair styles men find appealing" from an early version of Fascinating Womanhood

I love when self-help books get specific about what a reader can do to change her life for the better. These are the tips that every reader must understand to know you've found the sage wisdom. Fascinating Womanhood has several gems, particularly, the hair and fashion guidelines. These tips for women to change their appearance suggest the change will bring greater success in marriage and relationships.

 Which hairstyle would you pick?

Have you noticed a difference when you change your hairstyle?

Brian Andelin, creative force

Brian Andelin, Executive Director of the Renaissance Society and Fascinating Womanhood.

An influential force behind the Fascinating Womanhood Documentary is Brian Andelin, the current Executive Director of the Renaissance Society. He manages the website and day-to-day operations of Fascinating Womanhood. He has made arrangements for interviews and introduced us to key people in the unfolding development of the film.  We interviewed Brian several weeks ago at the beautiful Salt Lake City Library downtown. Its always a pleasure visiting with Brian and we have appreciated his encouragement and creativity. Last time we talked he said, "if Beethoven and Handel had access to all the technology we have today they would be amazed because they were writing music with a bird feather!"

Brian Andelin, Executive Director of Renaissance Society and Erin Fox, film director.

Helen's Ideas on Love

From Fascinating Womanhood, 2007 edition...

"Celestial love is what every woman has longed for since the world began. Even in childhood little girls have tender dreams of romance in which they are the beautiful princess sought after by the handsome prince. Snow White and Cinderella are favorites of little girls. During youth, uppermost in a young girl’s mind is finding a man who will love and cherish her. This tender love has long been the theme of great operas, novels, and songs. Romantic love, one of the most moving forces in life, rightfully deserves our study and consideration."

Helen's ideas on love are influenced by her Mormon background, hence the term celestial, which for Mormons represents an exalted heavenly sphere. But they are also influenced by her extensive reading of 19th century European literature (Hugo and Austen come to mind) and popular culture (the Disney films Snow White (1939) and Cinderella (1950) were incredibly popular).

And her ideas bring up questions. Is romantic love truly something we should associate with heaven? Should our wants and needs when we are teenagers dictate the rest of our lives, or should we expect our wants and needs to change and mature as we (and our relationships) mature? What does it mean to love, and which responsibilities does it entail?

Modern Mormon Men

We have a post on Modern Mormon Men!

Check out their blog here:

www.modernmormonmen.com/2012/08/guest-post-what-do-modern-mormon-men.html

They'll let us know what they think is fascinating.

Shirley Cox, Fascinating Womanhood master teacher

Thanks again to our Kickstarter supporters! We made our goal and some of the donors will be receiving a gift in the mail from Emily. The artwork has been featured in the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art and Exponent II Magazine.

Last week I had the privilege of meeting with Shirley Cox and we filmed an interview for the film. Mrs. Cox has been teaching Fascinating Womanhood classes since 1968 with great success and dramatic stories from her students. She is currently teaching online classes to women from around the world (you can find more information about how to contact Shirley HERE). We're thrilled to include her experiences in the Fascinating Womanhood Documentary.

Future One-liners

Here we are hashing it out at the studio, reviewing footage, tying ideas together, living the dream. I've run across some great one-liners from our interviews. I may be saying these to the people around me over the next few weeks.

Sonja Farnsworth, Rhetorician. "As Mormon feminists, we didn't charm anybody."

Alissa Goodwin Snell, Dating Coach and Licensed Therapist. "A lot of women don't have confidence in themselves, don't truly love themselves. So they decide to read another book, or get another degree, because they don't think they're worth a man's attention."

Sannette Judy, Helen's sister-in-law. "You know, when Helen taught me how to do dishes, that completely changed my life."

Merrilee Saunders, Helen's youngest daughter. "Feminism has created a whole generation of weak men."

Stephanie Probst, Blogger. "I think each edition became longer because it took a lot more words to make the same concepts palatable."

Holly Welker, Scholar. "I wonder what Helen would think about 'cougars'."

Rough Cut

We're working on the rough cut this week, having rented a work space in the charming studio of Ink Run Press, in the heart of Salt Lake City. How could one not be inspired by the surroundings?

We hope to have a solid draft by the end of the week--lots of note-taking and discussions. Wish us luck and please tell your friends!