<![CDATA[Heidi Elizabeth Philipsen-Meissner - Blog]]>Thu, 11 Dec 2025 13:37:48 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[& the WFCC "BEST film" at SRFF2025 goes to....]]>Sat, 07 Jun 2025 22:18:23 GMThttp://www.heidielizabethphilipsenmeissner.com/blog/-the-wfcc-best-film-at-srff2025-goes-toIt's been a hot minute (or two or three), but we've got great news to catch up on, so here we go:
Our film LOVE & VODKA won the Women Film Critics' Circle "Best Film" Award at the SR Socially Relevant™ Film Festival NY back in March!
I'm exceptionally honored to receive such an important and prestigious industry acknowledgment from the Women Film Critics Circle #WFCC and #SRFF2025 and continue working tirelessly to get this #fishoutofwater #romantic #dramedy to more #filmfestivals and #filmfestivalaudiences soon!

]]><![CDATA[THIRD-PARTY FUNDRAISER FOR RAZOM]]>Fri, 14 Mar 2025 13:18:14 GMThttp://www.heidielizabethphilipsenmeissner.com/blog/third-party-fundraiser-for-razomMy company Personae Entertainment, feature film debut, LOVE & VODKA, and I are exceptionally excited to be partnering with Razom in third-party fundraising at our screening for the Socially Relevant Film Festival 2025, on Saturday, March 15th / 7:20 p.m.  -- Cinema Village theater in NYC.

Please come out an support indie film, film festivals and Ukraine all in one event -- "Love & Vodka," the #SRFF2025 and Razom!

For more information, please go to: https://www.razomforukraine.org/events/screening-of-love-vodka/
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]]><![CDATA[Official press release sr socially relevant film festival & love & vodka]]>Mon, 10 Feb 2025 08:23:41 GMThttp://www.heidielizabethphilipsenmeissner.com/blog/official-press-release-sr-socially-relevant-film-festival-love-vodka
]]><![CDATA[socially relevant film festival new york]]>Sat, 08 Feb 2025 09:56:29 GMThttp://www.heidielizabethphilipsenmeissner.com/blog/socially-relevant-film-festival-new-yorkDirectorial Debut Film to Screen in NYC this March!

GREAT News! My directorial debut film, #LOVEANDVODKAMOVIE, has been officially accepted into the SR Socially Relevant Film Festival New York ! The L&V team and I are SO honored!
Join us in NYC for the 12th edition of the SR Socially Relevant Film Festival New York -- March 11th through 16th and get your tickets while you can!
Early Bird SINGLE tickets are only $5 -- but you must act NOW!
Get your EARLY BIRD tickets to the new and improved cut of Personae Entertainment's Love & Vodka Movie today!
https://www.ratedsrfilms.org/2025-program-narrative-features
]]><![CDATA[PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER HEIDI PHILIPSEN SELECTED FOR THE EUROPEAN FILM BUSINESS AND LAW LL.M. | MBA  PROGRAM - AN INITIATIVE OF THE FILMUNIVERSITÄT BABELSBERG KONRAD WOLF, THE UNIVERSITY OF POTSDAM AND THE ERICH POMMER INSTITUT GMBH.]]>Fri, 01 Nov 2024 10:10:10 GMThttp://www.heidielizabethphilipsenmeissner.com/blog/producerdirectorwriter-heidi-philipsen-selected-for-the-european-film-business-and-law-llm-mba-program-an-initiative-of-the-filmuniversitat-babelsberg-konrad-wolf-the-university-of-potsdam-and-the-erich-pommer-institut-gmbh
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From the Erich Pommer Institute:

"The 3rd cohort of the European Film Business and Law LL.M. | MBA program has officially kicked off! 🚀🎥
This year, we are thrilled to welcome a diverse group of 7 talented students, bringing together a unique blend of skills, backgrounds, and perspectives. Here’s a look at the new cohort:
🌍 Diversity in Location and Background: the students represents different countries and continents, spanning from Europe, Africa and North and South America
🎓 Their professional backgrounds span across film distribution, media law, production, filmmaking, and sales.

We wish a good start of study to our students: Vincent Edusei, Philipp Friederichs, Lediona Kasapi, Fritzi Kaupert, Júnia Matsuura, Heidi Elizabeth Philipsen-Meissner and Marian Gabriel Weber.

Stay tuned as these promising talents embark on this unique educational journey, shaping the future of the European film industry! 🎬✨"

The European Film Business and Law LL.M. | MBA is an initiative of the Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, the University of Potsdam and the Erich Pommer Institut gGmbH.
hashtag#FilmBusiness hashtag#EuropeanFilm hashtag#MBA hashtag#LLM hashtag#MasterProgram hashtag#FilmIndustry
]]><![CDATA[Sustainable and Green Films and LOVE & VODKA]]>Mon, 30 Sep 2024 18:40:46 GMThttp://www.heidielizabethphilipsenmeissner.com/blog/sustainable-and-green-films-and-love-vodkaThere's a lot of talk about hashtag#sustainability and hashtag#greenfilm these days and I can't help but consider what it means to me as a writer, producer and director.

Many of you know that I made a romantic comedy called LOVE & VODKA (or LOVE & HORILKA for our Ukrainian fans) in Michigan, where my team and I created opportunities for local film crews, actors, vendors and provided first-time employment opportunities to recently resettled Ukrainian refugees looking for hope in their newly adopted country.

Now, I know from experience that film festivals, sales agents and distributors love "star talent" to help brand and sell a film. Somehow, however, they haven't seemed to connect the dots between films made on a sustainable green logistical format and the various non-sustainable/non-green hoops required to bring said "star" onto a film set far away from L.A., NYC, Chicago or any of the larger hubs for industry talent.

Sustainability, for me, means investing in your local and regional talent and believing that if you can tell a good story, the story and the great talent should sell the film.

GenZ audiences (I have two GenZ young adults, I know) don't care about "names" as much as they do something that engages and inspires them. And they will go to multiple platforms just to find and watch that favorite film or series. YouTube is as good or better than an over-priced Disney Channel (ahem, no offense) in their eyes.

Older audiences (I watch films with my mother) don't necessarily recognize the current "name" talent and they prefer something that feels authentic and emotionally real.

In between are movie-goers and streamers (like our Millennial-era Marketing Team Member Ariel Wan) who want to invest more in hashtag#community and know that their time is well-spent (as well as their dollar) building joy with members in the community around them.

Topics and themes have become the new "names" and "stars" in the world I see and analyze. And if sales and distribution could get on board with that, there would be more opportunities for all of the locally made, sustainably sourced and green produced indie film productions like mine.

Check out the great comedic performance of Michigan-local actress Sara Cate in LOVE & VODKA, hopefully hashtag#comingsoon to a hashtag#filmfestival hashtag#cinema and hashtag#streamingplatform near you! hashtag#personaeentertainmentpictures Personae Entertainment Pictures hashtag#loveandvodkamovie
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​The incomparable Sara Cate / @saracatheryn plays the comedic role of "Annette Fox" (Bobby Fox's mother) with natural hilarity and grace (if that's even possible -- she somehow pulls it off with aplomb!)
Here's about about the role of "Annette Fox":
Michigander from the UP. Met her sweetheart, Robert Fuchs, Sr. in high school and married the week after they both graduated from college. Had Bobby when she was about 25. Considered and considers herself a strong, faithful, religious woman who goes to church every Sunday, was active in her son's schooling, worked her whole life as a secretary in a legal office. Plays group tennis every Tuesdays and Thursdays at the club. She's stylish in a conventional Midwest/Michigan American way. Not too familiar with her ancestors behind her great-grandparents and couldn't tell you more than she's part German, Polish and maybe some Italian. Worries about her son and his preoccupation with this "Eastern European" girl-- hoping it's just a phase. Does not want him to move to "The Eastern Block," where she's afraid he'll get into trouble with the KGB and never come back.
Wow -- that's a lot to think about for back story in a scene. But no worries -- Sara Cate pulls it off and keeps you engaged as the audience member.
We hope you'll enjoy her performance as much as we do at our next screening opportunity, coming soon to a #filmfestival near you!
#filmfestival #film #filmmaking #cinema #filmmaker #indiefilm #director #movies #movie #actor #filmmakers #films #festival #filmfest #independentfilm #filmfestivals #actress #art #filmproduction #filmfreeway #producer #officialselection #supportindiefilm #actorslife #midwest #ukraine #ukrainianculture #familylife #loveandvodkamovie #personaeentertainmentpictures #saracate
]]><![CDATA[FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE]]>Mon, 03 Jun 2024 15:05:46 GMThttp://www.heidielizabethphilipsenmeissner.com/blog/for-immediate-release6085190​ 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
MICHIGAN NATIVE MAKES SOLO DIRECTORIAL DEBUT WITH 
“LOVE AND VODKA,” PREMIERING AT CINETOPIA FILM FESTIVAL 
ANN ARBOR JUNE 23, 2024
Ukrainian-American Romantic Comedy Celebrates Transatlantic Friendship Between Two Countries with a Focus on Love and Laughter in a Time of Tragic Loss and War
 
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – June 3rd, 2024 – “Love and Vodka,” an independent film five years in the making, is set to make its debut at the upcoming Cinetopia Film Festival Ann Arbor. The movie, which was shot in Bay City and Grayling, Mich., is directed and produced by University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University graduate Heidi Philipsen-Meissner, Director/Producer/CEO of Personae Entertainment. The movie stars Ukrainian actress Svitlana Kosolapova and American actor Zack Bradley.
 
The film will be the final film screened at Cinetopia Film Festival Ann Arbor on June 23, 2024, at 5 p.m. For more on the screening and festival, visit https://marquee-arts.org/cinetopia/.
 
“Love and Vodka,” which is based on a true story, is about a high school film teacher who recalls the magic of 2018 when he fell in love with a Ukrainian exchange student and impulsively traveled to Ukraine to propose to her and meet her family. Three years later, the war breaks out, as he works to finish the script and save the love of his life. 
 
The trials and tribulations in “Love and Vodka” were mirrored in real life during the filmmaking process, as Philipsen-Meissner made a transatlantic move from Michigan to Germany to immerse herself in the European film industry to find coproducing partners in Ukraine and Germany. Plans were then put on hold when Covid-19 emerged, and she experienced several deaths in her family. The film was then set to begin shooting in the summer of 2022 but was put on hold once again with the Russian attacks on Ukraine. The script then had to be rewritten to be respectful of the current times and the location was moved to Michigan.
 
“While I have experienced my own difficulties during this process, it will never compare to what our fellow human beings in Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees around the world have been through and are still going through,” said Heidi Philipsen-Meissner of Personae Entertainment. “Being able to tell a heartwarming story about their culture, country, and people has been my way of keeping hope alive.”
 
“Love and Vodka” quickly turned into a passion project for Philipsen-Meissner, as she found her heart pouring out for Ukraine. While making the movie, she simultaneously focused on protesting, giving, and helping whenever and wherever she could. While living in Germany, she helped find homes and language lessons for refugees and donated cartloads of non-perishable items for volunteers.

“As an artist-activist who understands the power of storytelling, I started to understand this war was as much about culture and identity as it was about geopolitics,” said Philipsen-Meissner. “This led me to believe that maybe making a film about love and Ukrainian culture wasn’t such an off-kilter idea, after all.”
 
To see a preview of ‘Love and Vodka’ and to support this film as it makes its way to other film festivals across the country and world, please visit: https://www.love-vodka-movie.com.
 
For more on ‘Love and Vodka’ and Personae Entertainment, visit https://www.personaeentertainmentpictures.com/.
 
About Personae Entertainment 
Personae Entertainment Pictures is a film development and production company that started out as a small collective making short films, local commercials, and production managing low-budget indies in upstate New York. It has evolved into a transatlantic company with offices in Berlin and Detroit, with a singular focus on international feature films. Developing its own IP content, while also partnering with collaborators, Personae Entertainment Pictures is dedicated to collaborating with innovative filmmakers and international co-producers. 
 
Media Contact
Jason Brown, PublicCity PR, jbrown@publiccitypr.net; 248-663-6166
 
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]]><![CDATA[Our "Love & Vodka" Poster is In!]]>Fri, 03 May 2024 02:53:42 GMThttp://www.heidielizabethphilipsenmeissner.com/blog/our-love-vodka-poster-is-in
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Very excited to share the official poster for my solo directorial debut feature, "Love & Vodka," as created by the talented Sean Strong. For more information, please go to: www.love-vodka-movie.com 
]]><![CDATA["Love & Vodka" Feature Film GoFundMe Campaign]]>Thu, 29 Feb 2024 18:54:46 GMThttp://www.heidielizabethphilipsenmeissner.com/blog/love-vodka-feature-film-gofundme-campaign
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Post-Production Final Fundraising Push

привіт (Hello) Everyone! This is my first of many updates.

Very soon, I'll be adding some of the team members to this GoFundMe page, but for now, I'm holding down the fort and sharing a bit about our campaign.

If you've landed on this page, I'd like to thank you for considering supporting us, as we've got a fantastic collective team behind LOVE & VODKA, and most of the producers have been working either on spec or pro bono -- such as myself.

"On spec" and "pro bono" for over four years is a long time, and though I love film and directing and producing so much that I consider it a joy and a privilege, there is only so far you can go without funding.

And so we have built and amazing movie on a "wing and a prayer" and most people would never believe what we've been able to achieve with the time and resources we've had.

The truth is that there are so many filmmakers out there right now and stories to be told that you've got to work hard to get your cinematic story out there for people to know you exist.

This script wasn't mine, originally. RJ Fox brought it to me in the fall of 2017 and I was so busy getting my first feature, DARCY, out there into film festivals and distribution, that I didn't have time until the summer of 2018, to read it. I optioned it originally. But over time, it needed a lot of development work to keep up with the times and so I, and several others, helped contribute to get it to where it is today.

And where it is today reflects more upon the times in Ukraine and all that the world has been through in the last several years.

And yet, as director and a screenwriter, I've decided that it's best to stay hopeful and positive. Ukraine is going through enough turmoil right now and my act of defiance is to focus on love, family and bridging transatlantic borders. Hope is so important. So many people in dire situations are holding on because of hope. And I've worked hard to find Ukrainian cast and crew - many who are currently in refugee status after fleeing the war - for whom this film's subject matter and working on it could be a beacon of hope.

Take our Editor and Colorist, Yakiv, for example. He's one of many. He's left Ukraine for Vancouver and has been starting from scratch in his life. His family is still home in Ukraine and though he is naturally a hopeful and positive person sometimes, while we are in an editing session, he opens up about how its hard, how he worries about his family. It's becoming "normal" to hear about bombs in his hometown where his parents still live. We've been working via Skype together since October. It's a 9 hour time difference and while he's starting his day at 9:30 a.m., I'm setting in for an evening session of editing with him at 6:30 p.m. my time - because I am usually in Berlin (when I'm not in my home town of Ypsilanti, Michigan, where I grew up).

Yakiv's shared with me that he's enjoyed working on a positive and feel-good film about his country and his people, as there are so many documentaries and stories about war and crime in Ukraine that he can't see it anymore. It sends him into a bleak depression.

LOVE & VODKA has been not only a professional opportunity and source of income for him, it's been a beacon of hope and medium for laughter... something he has needed so much during these difficult times in his young life. Yakiv is a young professional trying to live a normal life and focus on creating a future. He's enormously talented and we are lucky to be working with him. I've paid him out of my own pockets up until now.

But I am now in debt and my pockets are empty. And so I'm turning to #gofundme and the public to help me out. "Why don't you have more producers raising funds?" you might be asking yourself. "Good question," I answer.

Honestly, prior to the war in Ukraine, I did have a contract with a Ukrainian co-producer and co-production company and we were going to shoot Love & Vodka on a $1 million budget in Odessa. And then the war broke out. And my producer had to drop this project for obvious reasons - he had to protect his family from Russian bombs. My option on the script was running out and, after asking RJ Fox for an extension, he felt that he couldn't extend it.

Thus, respecting his decision but not able to let go of the time and money I had already invested in the film, I decided to make this film the way I know as an American grass-roots indie filmmaker, crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding is not easy. It's humbling to ask for support. When people don't respond, it's very easy to take it personally and you find yourself wondering if you are good enough. If your project is worthy. Many fellow producers have told me to let this project go. That would have been the easy thing to do. I don't know... maybe I should have.

But when I believe in something, I believe in something. That... and I have a heart for the underdog - I always want to see them succeed.

This film, LOVE & VODKA, though it started out as a piece written by fledging screenwriter RJ Fox (who has come a long way since he first wrote the original script and has since written many scripts, books and essays), has turned out to be so much bigger than any of us. For me, it's a vehicle for hope and standing up against the bullies of the world. More on that later, but for now -- thank you for reading.

​If you are so inclined, please help spread the word and share via word of mouth, email, social media shout out, essay, blog or news article.
]]><![CDATA[Once Upon A Highschool Film Teacher's Dream...]]>Mon, 22 Jan 2024 11:49:58 GMThttp://www.heidielizabethphilipsenmeissner.com/blog/once-upon-a-highschool-film-teachers-dream
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Once upon a time, there was a high school film teacher who’s dream was to be a screenwriter and see his stories on the #bigscreen
​
He wrote a script based upon a real life experience - the trip he took to #ukraine to visit his girlfriend’s family when he was in his 20s. The script waited to be made into a movie… and waited… and waited. Time passed. Over ten years.

And then the high school teacher heard about a parent of a student at his school who was a #producer and #director of #indiefilms He decided to take a chance and reach out.

That was in the year #2017 One pandemic, Russian attacks on Ukraine, a film industry union strike and seven years later, and this little film that could is in #postproduction And though the Final Cut of @loveandvodkamovie won’t be exactly like the original story of R.J. Fox's @foxwriter7 ‘s #script , his work inspired its heart and spirit for adventure.

Producer/Director/Writer @heidiphilipsen is running the proverbial baton to the finish line and aims to craft a #movie that #delights #moves and #inspires - with a #cast of #ukrainian #actors and #michiganders who will most certainly entertain! #followus for #news and #updates on #future #screenings and #filmfestival run information. 

#ukraine #universityofmichigan @uofm_alumni #baycity #ypsilanti #annarbor @personaeentertainment #screenwriters #womeninfilm #filmteachersmakingfilms @uofmichigan @easternmichigan #ukrainiansinmichigan 
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