Our particular spot wasn’t chosen though it was a “Staff Pick.”  Looking at the nine spots Clinique chose and recently debuted on their facebook page, they were looking for more of a slice of life piece than an actual commercial which is what we delivered.

If you’re an aspiring film-maker and you haven’t checked out Poptent yet, do yourself a favor and sign up.  They a have a lot of different assignments available, with better odds of earning some money than say the Doritos contest I’ve done the last two years.  Even if you don’t sell an ad, the deadlines and creativity that stems from these projects are good practice to hone your skills.

Let me know what you think.

• Directed by Dara Cuoco
• Concept by Cheri Waterhouse
• DP/Editor/Graphics/Colorist: Paul Cuoco
• Music by Sue Paine

Featuring (in order of appearance)

• Carol-Ann Plante (& family)
• Dara Cuoco
• Gina Chai
• Susan McCord

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s in High Definition by default, so If you have trouble viewing it, please click on the “HD” in the bottom right corner to lower the resolution for easier playback.

Please share this with your friends, click on the “like” buttons, post it on facebook, and retweet the links!  The bigger the audience we build now, the bigger the impact the film can have when it premieres in a few weeks.   Composer Peter Tinari and I are finishing up the music and sound,  and the film will be complete soon.

For more frequent updates follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or the film’s website.

Thanks as always for your support.

Sincerely,
Paul Cuoco
Writer/Director – The Specimen

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can learn more about the film at it’s website.  You can also get more updates by Liking it on Facebook or following on Twitter.

In addition to it’s new look, we’ve also updated the official website www.glazed.notafraid.com and created a Facebook Fan Page to help spread the word and hopefully enlist some new fans.  So please become a fan and share it with your friends.

Enjoy.

64 Years ago today, April 11th, 1945, the US Army liberated the Buchenwald Concentration camp in Germany.    12 years ago,  my grandfather, Anthony Cuoco passed on, and in the aftermath we discovered that he had been there.  He never talked about it.  We were never able to hear the details first hand, but through those pictures I began to dig and research,  and the culmination of that research and his photos was my first short film, Inheritance.

The film was very much a labor of love, but much more than that I felt a responsibility to make sure this story was told.  I had the tools, the training, the knowledge, and the proof.

My friend and producer Jeff Loach and I poured our hearts and souls into making the film happen.  Jeff as the amazing producer that he is, wouldn’t rest until we secured Harrison Young our first choice to play my Grandfather.

The film debuted April 9th 2005 at the San Fernando Valley International Film Festival,  just two days prior to the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald.  The timing was not lost on me, and I felt there was more to it than serendipity.  Harrison Young, passed away only a few short months later.

Recently, I have seen a spate of blog posts, you tube videos, and other hateful communications saying that these concentration camps never existed.  That the  holocaust was a massive conspiracy.  I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears, even though my research had told me that 17% of American’s don’t believe this happened, it seems that worldwide those numbers are even greater.  For a moment I felt like a failure.  That despite my best efforts, we as human beings are doomed to repeat these horrible atrocities.  In the news, I see examples of ethnic cleansing still happening today and I’m sick to my stomach.

Then I received an e-mail from a history teacher in Bradenton, FL.  He had watched the film online on IMDB.com, and contacted me to get a copy of the film to show is students, telling me that, “It says more in less than 10 minutes than I could tell them myself in 90 minutes.”    I remembered, that this wasn’t the first such request.  I had received dozens over the years including a man from Italy who asked for a transcript since the online version had no subtitles.  While others can post world-wide about how it never happened, I can still provide that much needed counter-point.

So today, on the 64th anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald, I am making the film available online for the first time in it’s full resolution via Vimeo.com.  I will also be releasing the the film to the public on DVD in cooperation with Amazon.com, and will be donating all proceeds from the sale of these DVD’s to the American Veterans Association and the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.

I know many have you reading this have seen it previously at film festivals, personal screenings, and on-line, but I urge you to please watch it again, then pass it on.  Share the links,  forward the e-mails, talk about it with your kids.  As I wrote in the film, “This can not happen again.”

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Paul Cuoco