Stand Up is Finally Getting in Theaters! Bring Stand Up to a BIG SCREEN Near You!

Stand Up Trailer #2

Finally! The wrestling movie that’s going to show wrestlers how to #DefyDefeat is coming to theaters, and with a little help from the wrestling community, to a theater near you!

We’ve partnered with Tugg.com a web-platform that enables individuals, groups, and organizations to set up personalized screenings of Stand Up in theaters and community venues across the country. The best thing about a Tugg screening is that it gives Stand Up and those hosting the screening, freedom to make the events truly unique from your average theatrical experience, and to make an immediate real-world impact! Use this opportunity to spark change in your wrestling program and area in the following ways:

• Rally and inspire your team by offering this fun, constructive, and rewarding event. Make it an after practice special before the weekend or a big tournament! The film was made to lift spirits and show wrestlers how much deeper they can dig!

• Use a screening event to fundraise for your team! You can earn audience contributions, revenue (up to 40% for those aiming for a goal) from the event, or sales through merchandising (if the establishment allows).

• Anyone can attend your event! Bring wrestlers, coaches, parents, and even other teams. Use this as an opportunity to unite your local wrestling community and build support for your teams! Audiences who have a blast with you will surely come out to see you wrestle!

• Bring more attention to the sport in your school. Invite the students to show them what the sport is truly about and how it can propel them to a next level.

• Bring the director via Skype or in person to relate his motivational story behind Stand Up, and to hold a Q&A afterwards.

• Allow those purchasing tickets to also purchase the Special Edition DVD with multiple extras that will educate your wrestlers, giving them an edge on the mat.

This is a great opportunity to raise wrestling awareness, motivation, and pride! To spark change in your area and wrestling program, events can be used as fundraisers and can include audience discussions. As long as the venues allow it, you can even sell Stand Up merchandise to further support your cause.

Set up your own Tugg Theatrical Screening NOW at http://www.reelnationmedia.com/standuptuggtheatrical

Reel Nation Media will also be hosting screenings across the country. The theatrical premiere will be held on March 3rd, 2017, at the Midtown Cinema in Harrisburg, PA, where the film was created. The film will be touring Pennsylvania and surrounding states in March, and then other states like California, Oklahoma, Minnesota, and Iowa in April.

Click here to get your Harrisburg Screening ticket!

If you can’t make it to any of the upcoming screenings, dont worry! The film is available online on demand through VHX, a web platform that allows you to stream thousands of movies from almost any device. Click here to go watch Stand Up on VHX now!

Standard DVDs will also be rolling out on Amazon and on our website in late February.

Special Edition DVDs will be coming in mid March. Click here to get notified on DVDs.

Read on for answers to some FAQ we’ve received, answered by producer and director Abdullah Abu-Mahfouz

Why Should I see Stand Up in Theaters Instead of DVD or Online?

Stand Up was made for the big screen! There’s truly a difference from watching it on your living room TV and then the big screen. We pride ourselves in the fact that Stand Up is literally as close as you can get to wrestling in a match. The camera puts you right there, but you really need to see it in a theater for it to truly shake you.

Stand Up was also meant for wrestling communities to see together. Watching it with all your teammates and sharing the laughs and cinematic anxiety is the emotional connection we want to create with audiences. We also want wrestlers to reflect upon the film together, and we hope that engagement leads to inspiration, truth, and understanding.

Please contact us if you want us to set up a screening near you!

Why is Stand Up coming to Theaters?

Good question! Yes we could just release on DVD and video on demand, but we really wanted to accomplish the following objectives with Stand Up.

• Inspire wrestling teams across the US.

• Give wrestling teams/programs a chance to use the film as a fundraiser or promotional event.

• We wanted to let the world know what kind of films Reel Nation Media is capable of and how it can directly impact communities.

We feel that without a theatrical run, Stand Up cannot effectively contribute to these goals.

Why is Stand Up Coming so Late to Theaters? Isn’t it Already Out Online?

Ahhhhh… Well Stand Up is our first feature film, and our first self-distributed film. It was honestly a huge learning process that went through many mistakes. Originally we were set to release in theaters at the start of the Pennsylvania wrestling season, November 2016, but we ran into the following problems:

• We had to crowdfund for theatrical materials that we were too naive to know we needed to work with Tugg.

• Our crowdfunding funds came late due to some banking issues. That is when we released the film on VHX because we wanted you guys to see the movie ASAP.

• After receiving our funds, we underestimated the amount of time the development and shipment of the distribution materials would take.

It was a learning experience indeed, and I do look back and hate myself for the blatantly wrong decisions made on my end. In a sense I feel like I failed as a producer to distribute something needed by the wrestling community, but I think growing and becoming better from that failure is what Stand Up is all about.

Stand Up is all about defying defeat by finding true success in hardship, and that is the growth and development you undertake, if only you can recognize that.

I am so proud to have Stand Up as my first feature film worthy of being in theaters, and I hope that I can impart the positive qualities I’ve learned from wrestling and producing Stand Up to wrestlers everywhere. If one person benefits, then it is all worth it.

The most successful people are the ones who fail the best. Stand Up!

Get a ticket for the Harrisburg Screening at new.tugg.com/events/stand-up

Set up a theatrical screening at http://www.reelnationmedia.com/standuptuggtheatrical

Fundraise for your wrestling cause with Stand Up at http://www.reelnationmedia.com/standupfundraiser

Watch Stand Up on VHX at https://reelnationmedia.vhx.tv/products/stand-up

Visit Stand Up’s webpage at http://www.reelnationmedia.com/standup

Keep it Reel!

If you want more content like this from us, please support us by following our social media pages and subscribing to our YouTube Channel. Expect amazing things to happen in 2017.

If you’d like to throw us a tip, you can use the donation button at the bottom of the article. Anything helps us as we are a tiny team working endless hours, but happily devoted to the mission: To unite virtuous, sincere artists and audiences to inspire truth, understanding, hope, and reform, within themselves and the world, in a beautiful, powerful, and enjoyable journey through the media arts.

#StandUp #Theatrical #Theater #MidtownCinema #HarrisburgPA #DVD #VHX #WatchStandUpOnline #WatchStandUp #Wrestling #FundraiseforWrestling #FeatureFilm #Documentary #ReelNationMedia #AbdullahAbuMahfouz #Amazon

Dangal - Reel Fast Movie Review

Dangal is a wrestling movie based on the lives of Mahavir Phogat and his daughters, it captures their journey to success. Mahavir is most known as an amateur wrestler from Haryana, India, who coached his daughter, Geeta, to become the first Indian female wrestler to qualify for the Olympics. Check out the trailer below!

The Story Behind the Story

I had initially heard about Dangal because of the famous Bollywood actor Aamir Khan's training program. Aamir is an actor who is known for his dedication to his films and this movie is evidence of that. A lot of bodybuilders took interest in his transformation which created more hype for the film. Aamir Khan's plan was to get overweight for his older years in the film and then drop his body fat drastically for when he needed to look fit again. It was a remarkable transformation that Aamir Khan went through and he managed to do it within five months.

Dangal

Dangal is about accomplishing one's dreams despite the plethora of obstacles in one's path.

It grapples the issue that still plagues us today, gender stereotypes. What does it mean to be a man, what does it mean to be a woman? It also tackles the issue of women's wrestling in rural India. Before Geeta and Babita, the daughters of the Mahavir Phogat which is Aamir Khan's character, it was unheard of for women in their village to compete in wrestling.

Mahavir Phogat was an incredible wrestler who gave up his dream of getting a gold for financial reasons. To continue his wrestling journey, he makes it his goal to train his daughters to compete and win a gold medal. Despite everyone's lack of support Mahavir continues to train his daughters not letting anything or anyone deter him. The two girls continue to improve and begin to compete in competitions.

The Film

The story is told chronologically and it does a good job capturing the relationship between a father and his daughters and how he tries to become their coach, straining their relationship. The film’s dramatic scenes keep your interest throughout the wrestling journey.

The performance of the actors felt sincere as their training shined through on-screen. All their practice learning wrestling moves and technique really helped those who are less familiar with the sport really understand what was going on as the matches unfolded. I also liked how the comic relief character was still useful to the film. It's great to see the standard archetypes of screenplay writing are being molded so that the characters aren't flat; this keeps the characters and their interactions unpredictable. One of the biggest pros of Dangal is that it is one of the few movies to have a female lead be without a romantic B-Plot for fan-service.

My Lasting Thoughts on the Film:​​

It teaches you to not give up on your dreams. It sounds cheesy, which I don't mind because cheese is pretty yummy especially pepper jack, but with the right mindset a chance will come to fulfill your dreams. You have to be ready and charge full force at that chance to claim it just like Mahavir did when he realized that his daughters had the talent for wrestling.

Giving up leads to a guaranteed loss, and taking a chance is just that, a chance at victory. Sure it doesn't mean you are guaranteed a win, but if I was the type to promise, I would promise you that the effort you put into your passion will almost always be better than if you had just given up on it.

There will always be reasons you can't do something: you're not the strongest, you're not the fastest, or the smartest but as long as you try… your attempt is what truly matters. Because when defeat has you pinned to the ground you have to Stand Up! Which is the name of our wrestling film. Make sure you see the trailer, and get involved if it peaks your interest.

Click here: www.reelnationmedia.com/standup

So what do you think about Dangal and its message? Did it leave an impact on you? Tell us why or why not in the comments below.

Did you like this review? We just started this blog. Let us know if you’d like to see more movie reviews, or if there are certain things we can do to improve.

And as always... Keep it Reel!

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If you want more content like this from us, please support us by following our social media pages and subscribing to our YouTube Channel. Expect amazing things to happen in 2017.

If you’d like to throw us a tip, you can use the donation button at the bottom of the article. Anything helps us as we are a tiny team working endless hours, but happily devoted to the mission: To unite virtuous, sincere artists and audiences to inspire truth, understanding, hope, and reform, within themselves and the world, in a beautiful, powerful, and enjoyable journey through the media arts.

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_7YlGv9u1g&t=7s

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNmNlZWQxYWQtZDRlMy00MDllLWEwZDEtMTlhZmQzZTBhZjU4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTE4Mzg4MTE@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,667,1000_AL_.jpg

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ4MzQzMzM2Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTQ1NzU3MDI@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,713,1000_AL_.jpg

#dangal #wrestling #womenswrestling #ReelNationMedia #ReelFastMovieReview #MovieReview #Bollywood #Women39sWrestling #MahavirPhogat #AamirKhan #StandUp

This Town is Bologna!

A 200lb bologna in the sky brings a small Pennsylvanian city together in celebration.

Community, family, and the New Year? It’s a load of bologna! Bologna Drop follows the story of Lebanon PA, a small city, celebrating the coming of 2016 in the most unusual way possible… dropping a 12 foot long, 200-pound bologna from the sky. Witness this inspiring community strive for those in need and inner beauty.

TRAILER:

Link to full film at the bottom of the article.

“Bologna Drop” is Reel Nation Media’s latest free short film after almost 2 years of releasing free content. This article explores the making and meaning behind the film from film director, Abdullah Abu-Mahfouz.

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Into the Bologna

Daniel Bills (co-founder of Reel Nation Media) and I were stuck; we were searching for local stories to make a film about, and were at that wall for about a week. One day, Daniel suddenly spoke through his chuckles with his trademark eyebrow raise, “This town drops a two-hundred pound bologna for their New Year celebration.” We had found our story.

After doing further research, we realized that this event resonated with us much deeper than we expected. The town of Lebanon, PA used this celebration as an opportunity to use what made them unique to give back to their community. At the time, Daniel and I were searching for what was unique about us and Reel Nation Media to add value to the world. This quirky but sincere celebration provided us a journey to figure this out.

We pitched the idea to Al Jazeera America, and they liked it! Their reaction was similar to ours in that they thought it was absolutely out of this world and more importantly: unlike anything else they’ve heard of. With our hearts set and a powerhouse international media company having our backs, we went greenlighted the film for development.

We were excited to grow as filmmakers in our network and in our craft.

Preproduction

At the beginning of December, Daniel made first contact with the community of Lebanon. They were completely cooperative and willing for the production. After a few more days of phone calls, research, and negotiating, we made our first visit to Lebanon around the middle of the month.

Initially we thought the story was going to be about a community coming together to break a world record and achieve a high risk, high stakes monument in a goofy fashion, but our scouting told us otherwise. We found out that the film would become about a community coming together to revive town spirit in the way that fit their strengths and tackled their weaknesses, thus resulting in a happier community that has one of the best non-profit facilities we have seen. The Lebanon Rescue Mission.

Production

Our first day was at Godshall’s Quality Meats Inc. The meat company graciously allowed us to film the creation of the bologna from start to finish. It was an experience Daniel nor I had witnessed before; it felt like a top security lab. Our footage had to be checked, we had to wear lab coats and hard hats, and be escorted everywhere we went. This is all coming from good intentions to protect the company’s renowned bologna recipe. Even with the tight security, we were given an awesome tour of the factory and got to see how they grew over the years. We realized how much they really impacted Lebanon.

We also met and interviewed Joe Ramos at the factory, who was an awesome guy to be around. He would become the leading voice of the film. On Christmas Eve, we interviewed Cheryl Batdorf, who was the president of the CLA (Commission of Lebanon). Her interview didn’t make it to the final film because of a huge mistake (you will see later). At that point, everything was going smoothly.

Unfortunately the smooth road wouldn't last for long; Al Jazeera America notified us that they were no longer interested in the bologna movie, but were interested in another film we had pitched (Refuge). It was a huge blow to us because that meant 25 full days of work in December would be unpaid (we took no days off). Should we continue with the movie? Or should we move on?

We obviously decided to stick it out. I don’t remember why to this day, but I think that’s just how we are here at Reel Nation Media. We never give up on something we believe in. Just look at Dead ED!

It wouldn’t be the last wall we faced…

On New Year’s Eve, we showed up to downtown Lebanon at noon to capture the Bologna being lifted into the air and the event being set up. Through our research and what we’ve been told, we thought that the vendors and attendees would start rolling in early in the afternoon. Little did we know that everyone would actually start arriving around 10pm. Out of ignorance and fear of missing anything important, Daniel and I naively stayed out in the cold for 10 hours (13 total, but hey who’s counting).

Today, we can guess that we caught hypothermia around 6pm that evening. I don’t know about Daniel, but I spent the following week as a fragile, sick man buried under blankets. I’ve never felt so cold in my entire life.

When 10pm hit, people finally started showing up and so did the vendors. The DJ and Salvation Army Truck you see in the film were filmed at that time. The rest is in the movie, filmed with frozen fingers and joints. By the time the bologna dropped, we had grown to hate our lives. I think that’s something that is still clearly reflected in the end product. I don’t think it’s our best work by a long shot.

With our production dropped by AJAM and our bodies giving in, we really had little will to continue on with this film. I think all artists/creators can relate to the feeling of making something you really have no heart for anymore; it feels like you’re killing apart of your passion for your craft. That’s what it certainly felt like while laying down sick and chilled to the bone while stressing about how to pay the company’s overhead and our personal bills. But we are Reel Nation Media, and we never give in.

To the right is our (Daniel left, Abdullah right) frozen faces selfie while filming.

Not giving up was entirely worth it. The next Monday we visited Lebanon Rescue Mission to see what had become of the Bologna. There we saw it being distributed to the needy. We had the pleasure of interviewing Jenny Topping, a woman whose whole professional life had been, and still is, dedicated to volunteering and giving back to the community. Seeing the positive end result of the bologna and meeting a person with a character like Jenny’s made us remember the biggest reason why we set out to make this film: to find inspiration.

I can’t believe I’m saying it, but through the Bologna Drop, I found inspiration to mold Reel Nation Media’s Mission Statement to what it is today: To unite virtuous, sincere artists and audiences to inspire truth, understanding, hope, and reform, within themselves and the world, in a beautiful, powerful, and enjoyable journey through the media arts. For a creator to inspire those virtues within himself is what I took away from this movie. Seeing what positivity could be accomplished in this world made me realize that the physical journey of making the media art can be like a pilgrimage for the spirit.

You can find out more about Reel Nation Media’s Mission here: www.reelnationmedia.com/about.

Post Production

The inspiration I learned above was sparked by visiting the Lebanon Rescue Mission, but it wasn’t fully realized until one year later, December 2016, when I had to edit the movie. The reason that it took so long was another wall I ran into; I accidentally deleted Cheryl Batdorf’s interview while organizing the editing project. We planned for her to be the leading voice of the film... It was one of those times where you couldn't hate yourself more. SHAME!

It wasn’t until the next New Year was approaching when I mustered enough courage to tackle the edit again. I realized that my mistake actually gave me an advantage. Cheryl’s point of view came out to be just as an organizer, whereas Joe Ramos’ perspective was both an organizer and a community member attending the event. It turned out that the unfortunate event worked out in our favor.

In the end, here are the 3 biggest things I took away from the Bologna Drop:

1. Creating film and other art can be an outer pilgrimage/journey for inner growth and change.

2. Inspiration has a chain effect. The community of Lebanon inspired us to finish this short film because what they were doing was inspiring in itself.

3. Learning late is better than never.

That’s a Wrap!

Finishing a small project like this for non-monetary gain has lead us to a much deeper growth. We now want to make short films like these much more often so we can come to a better understanding of our mission and the world around us. More importantly, we want you, the audience, to experience that same inspiration for yourself when you watch the end product. By doing more shorter pieces, we hope to learn more about you, our audiences, and how you want to be inspired and changed for the better.

Keep it Reel!

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WATCH THE FULL 6 MINUTE MOVIE AT: https://youtu.be/ljgLOlJ4rME

If you want more content like this from us, please support us by following our social media pages and subscribing to our YouTube Channel. Expect amazing things to happen in 2017.

If you’d like to throw us a tip, you can use the donation button at the bottom of the article. Anything helps us as we are a tiny team working endless hours, but happily devoted to the mission: To unite virtuous, sincere artists and audiences to inspire truth, understanding, hope, and reform, within themselves and the world, in a beautiful, powerful, and enjoyable journey through the media arts.

#BolognaDrop #LebanonPA #Godshall39sQualityMeats #ReelNationMedia #AbdullahAbuMahfouz #DanielBills #ShortDocumentaryFilm #BehindtheScenes #NewYear39sEve #LebanonRescueMission #MissionStatement #Inspiration #WatchtheFullMovie