The online session was done at Rearden Studios in San Francisco, a state-of-the-art HD postproduction company, which donated their facility to the making of “Hope.” Rearden’s equipment was ideal for the project: dual 2.5GHZ Power Mac G5s with the Aja Kona-2 HD card provided the processing power, while media was stored in 2 Xserve RAID 2.8TB drives.

“We formatted the media as RAID 0 to sustain the 1080 HD data rate,” Peltier says. “The Final Cut Pro offline project was used to recapture the footage at full 1080 HD. Compositing was done in Motion. The final DVD compression was done using Compressor, and the disk was authored in DVD Studio Pro.”

“Final Cut Pro HD made it very easy to create an offline project by capturing and compressing the footage on the fly.”

With the visuals assembled, only one production hurdle remained: the original score. Normand Roger worked remotely from his own studio in Canada and sent his work to the production team via FTP. Peltier says it was no problem integrating all of the different hardware and software into the creative process using his array of Apple tools.

The Festival Circuit and Beyond

With the film completed, the next step was to find an audience. “Hope” has already been screened at the Artivist (art and activism) film festival, held at the Egyptian Theater (Spielberg Theater) in Hollywood. It has also been selected for presentation at the Seattle International Film Festival.

But the film’s creators are not limiting their vision to the festival circuit. Luna Media is strongly focused on non-traditional distribution channels. “We would like to see this film widely disseminated — shown at festivals, rallies, conferences and in classrooms, anywhere it can make an impact and be used as a call to action,” says Margerin. “What is important to us is that the emotional impact of the film is translated into concrete, positive action.” She’d like the film “to inspire us to change course and follow a path of wisdom, responsibility, beauty, simplicity and gentleness.”

As an example of their partnership strategy, Margerin cites the contribution of Viva Rio — a Brazilian non-profit organization that seeks to stimulate individuals, associations and companies to build a more democratic and just society. Viva Rio, which works to combat urban violence in Brazil, provided the filmmakers with a dramatic shot of a street littered with guns and a steamroller destroying the weapons.

International Appeal

To reach a wide audience, says associate producer Robin Fontaine, “there are two main avenues for distribution: First, partnering with other organizations working toward peace, environmental goals and justice — groups that are already activist — and having them use the film in their meetings to spark discussion and inspire people. We’re also working on developing a curriculum around the film, where students can pick an activist project based on their reaction to it.”

For a film whose purpose is to inspire discussion, some might see it as ironic that “Hope” has no dialogue. According to Fontaine, the decision to have no dialogue was intended to help emphasize the film’s universal message and to make it as accessible in St. Paul as it would be in Sao Paulo.

Luna Media’s goal of international distribution will soon become a reality as “Hope” gets some first-class exposure. “It’s being shown at the 60th anniversary of the UN in Costa Rica,” Fontaine says. “The celebration is hosted by the University for Peace in San José. Margerin has known them and done activism work through them for a long time. When we finished the film we sent them a copy. They loved it and wanted to show it for the celebration.”

Onward

What’s next for Luna Media? “There’s some talk of doing another film along the same lines, using stories from various Asian cultures to craft a message of peace,” says Margerin.

Meanwhile, Willy Whitefeather continues to travel to Native American communities in the Southwest to show the film and talk about its message. “We made it for the young people because that’s who is gonna carry forward and make a new world for the next generations to come,” he says.

Margerin concurs: “It is now more important than ever to strive for unity and peace on earth. I hope that by making this film, I and the entire crew have contributed to this effort.”