WHALE HD-Remaster is Now Available on Apple TV

hi, its a good day to pick up our 2018 HD-Remaster of the 2010 film WHALE now on Apple TV.

some words about the picture below:

"WHALE is beautiful in ways I never expected. Lyrical and delightfully lo-fi" -Lucas Mcnelly -Filmmaker (Blanc de Blanc)

"A debut well worth catching.... the film, especially in its quieter moments, has a dream-like quality that rewards the viewer with its insight into just trying to be able to juggle life's hardship with an innate desire to just enjoy life" -Sam Ippolto Pittsurgh Examiner

"An exquisitely handmade exploration of holding onto one's spirit in this world....sublime imagery finds transcendence in the ordinary...WHALE manages to feel timeless, yet particularly relevant for this moment in history- a crystallization of the widespread longing for something beyond what modern society has to offer us all" -- Steve Bagatourian Writer IFC's American Gun

"WHALE is what Truffaut called the cinema of the future.... It has talent and ambition to spare; Motlagh knows exactly what he wants and he knows how to get it. He's not afraid to be personal, to be slightly obscure and elliptical, to use the freedom that independence gives him. whale is definitely worth seeing and considering for filmgoers and filmmakers alike." -Tom Russell- Turtleneck Films

"Pulsing with a restlessness of purpose and Vision" - Alejandro Adams -- Braintrustdv

"The acting/non-acting is so flawless Whale appears to be a blend between documentary footage and a foreign/art house project....I can very comfortably say that Whale is one of the most exciting & well made indie films I've seen in a while...creating an interesting/reflective image of ethnic & economic diversity in America." -Sujewa Ekanayake -- DIY Filmmaker Blog

"Writer/Director Amir is a fresh cinematic voice from the west coast. Distinctly schooled in technique yet has a unique approach to aesthetic over narrative. The film was more of a poem then a traditional story and I love that!" -Ryan Balas- One Way Community

"First, let me start off by saying that Whale, written and directed by Amir Motlagh, is a visual masterpiece. It is shot and edited in my favorite style of dynamic camerawork done with an amazing flare for composition and coverage, and immediately draws you in.......Yes, I love Whale. I love it because the characters and dialogue are more natural than 99% of Hollywood movies made. I love it because the scene between Cameron and his ex is one of the best and most realistic scenes I've seen in a long time." - Reid Gershbein -- Royal Baronial Theatre (#2wkfilm)

"An unassuming, soulful debut feature..."I was quite taken by Whale...Motlagh's eye for composition (I knew I was in good hands from the film's very first shot) and ability to flirt with indie film clichés without becoming entrapped by them mark him as a director to watch.." - Andy Horbal

the changing faces of WHALE

i remember when ye (kanye w) iterated on a finished piece of work. maybe it was the life of pablo, can’t recall exactly but the timeline was full of mr west being lauded as the first artist to treat work as iterative, instead of absolute, like software (SaaS).

this came mostly from the VC techo-sphere, a top down propaganda arm that related everything to “software eating the world”.

of course, this was not the first case of this. it might have been the most public version, because of the sheer reach & influence of Mr Ye, but artists have iterated on finished works since cave paintings.

it’s of course a very different thing when said item is all digital. it’s much more difficult after you shipped out a million CD’s/DVDs but we are living in a different era altogether, where we leave no trace but 1/0’s behind.

my version of this iteration process occurred in 2009. i had finally finished my first feature film, WHALE, and released the work on DVD. this was a painstaking ordeal and had taken several years to finally get to the point of release. i felt somewhat relieved.

but, nearly right after we started both selling and sending out screeners, I couldn’t get rid of an itch, in fact I couldn’t sleep. i felt i had given up on the edit too soon, and knew that something was missing but i couldn’t work out the problem & i didn’t have the energy to face it (also, the tech issues at the time, with my PowerPC G5 giving up and project files being corrupted was part of this defeat).

in this fog of insomnia, on one of those nights i was taking nyquil just to fall asleep,i had a dream, and this dream was a direct solution to the problem, sound and visual. so, i went back to the edit room and came back several months later. now, it felt truly finished and i could sleep soundly again.

the other thing that’s changed over the years has been the keyart of the film, with the most recent refresh done by artist/designer Ali Sabet for the HD-re-release that went live in 2019 . this HD version of the film also has one or two tiny changes (i had to fire up a PowerPC mac running final cut pro 5 and this was a whole nightmare and another story). so, this new streaming version is in fact the finished version of the film, a v2.44 version as it stands.

below is some of the art over the years, including the rare OG DVD design.

WHALE keyart redesign done with the help of artist/designer Ali Sabet for HD re-release - 2019

WHALE DVD coverart for current in circulation DVD’s - 2010

WHALE original DVD front cover design for released, but scrapped version of the film - 2009

WHALE original DVD back cover design for released, but scrapped version of the film - 2009

Things and Such....

Project Updates:

Planning to start our release cycle shortly, which includes multiple media types.  On the film side, we have gotten multiple offers on the two films but none of them seem favorable to someone trying to retain rights all while viewing things in on a longer cycle. This is a game of leverage, and I'm perfectly comfortable waking away even though I have to rely on my own platform. Which is the great lesson of our time. Build your platform.