IN DEVELOPMENT:
MESSAGE TO SHIGATSE – Based on a true story, this dramatic feature chronicles a BBC journalist's involvement in one of the great human rights stories of our time. COMPLETED PROJECTS
TIBET IN SONG – A documentary about Tibet’s musical culture, directed by former political prisoner Ngawang Choephel. Selected for Sundance 2009 World Cinema Documentary Competition - World Premiere. W
inner, Special Jury Prize, World Cinema Documentary - Sundance 2009. Winner, International Human Rights Film Award, Cinema for Peace, 2010. Produced/released by Guge Productions with support from nextPix. Co-produced by Don Thompson. SINGING THE BONES – Three women explore the mystery of birth and death through the practice of midwifery. Distributed internationally to five countries and the US. Film festivals included Montreal Film Fest and Mill Valley. Produced in association with nextPix. Released internationally by Fat Salmon Cinema. CLOUDS – A physicist takes a seaside sabbatical to work on an obscure theory about the nature of reality, only to find his humanity cannot be separated from any mathematical equation. Winner of numerous awards and special recognition on the festival circuit, CLOUDS was distributed theatrically by IN Pictures and is now available on DVD. Co-produced by Will Arntz, producer of WHAT THE BLEEP. Produced by Pacific Grove Productions in association with nextPix. Released theatrically by IN Pictures and on DVD by Passion River and netFlix. GRANTS
Since 2001, nextPix Productions has sponsored the firstPix grant program that offers first time directors a no-strings attached finishing grant for their film. Projects that have received grants have gone on to film festivals such as Sundance, Chicago Documentary Film Fest, Mill Valley, and many others. In addition, many of the films have found theatrical and/or cable distribution (HBO, Seven Arts Releasing and others). THEATER
nextPix Productions has also provided grants to the Maryland Ensemble Theater to help produce innovative multi-media theater. Theatrical projects have included Don Thompson’s ‘Democracy: A Work In Progress’ (2004-5) and the collaborative piece ‘Something Brilliant’ (2007). PEOPLE
Don Thompson – Don's background is as a playwright, filmmaker and essayist. His plays have been produced coast-to-coast and been positively reviewed by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun, The Reader, CityPaper and others. His popular play ‘Tibet Does Not Exist’ was re-staged in New York City in 2009. Thompson received B.A. (film production) and M.A. (media criticism) degrees from UCLA. Diana Takata – Diana co-founded nextPix Productions with Thompson and has a diverse background of 25 years in media, business and government. She received her BA degree from Occidental College and her MA degree from UCLA.
