Project Updates

Although my film screenings have quieted down lately, I have been working hard on a number of writing projects. My first novel in a series about a young female spy in Japan in the 1960s is complete and the manuscript is currently making the rounds with literary agents. My Nicholl Fellowships script, The Bonsai, has gone through a number of interesting revisions and a new version is out with a number of fellowships and competitions. Now that the country has begun to really face racial profiling, a hot topic in the presidential debates, and the new success of George Takei's musical, I'm hoping the time is right for someone to option and produce my script about the impact that internment had on a young Japanese American boy. In other news, my blog communities have grown quite a bit at this point. SPY VIBE is now nearing two million visitors (wow!), and I just launched a new site, ATARI DAYS, as a place to share some of my writing and artifacts from the 1970s/1980s. Although that period is informing a new novel (based on a recent graphic novel project), I also hope to develop a collection of essays to publish later as an anthology under the same title. Here is the design banner I made for the site this morning. Enjoy!

Cartoon Projects

It's been a busy period for me as an artist and writer over the past couple of years. Creating Spy Vibe, working on a new non-fiction book, and composing a song re-mix- then a film- for Yoko Ono have all been fun and rewarding. Although it's been mostly film and writing news lately, I have also been savoring a return to my original love- cartooning! There are a couple of cartoon projects in the works that I look forward to sharing when the time is right. And I have been enjoying getting to know fellow artists in the area and spending time at the Charles Schulz Museum and the Disney Family Museum (both are must-see destinations if you are in the Bay area). Today I had the pleasure of visiting with Charles Schulz's wife, Jeannie Schulz, who gave cartoonist/writer, Brian Fies, and I a tour of Sparky's studio. Sitting at his drawing board, I felt like a pilot given an opportunity to sit in Charles Lindbergh's plane! Thrilling and inspiring. Here I am, the kid in me beaming (thanks to Brian for the photo and Jeannie for the lovely visit). More info over at my website, jasonwhiton.com.

NEXT SCREENINGS

Jason's experimental short film for Yoko Ono will screen in Boston on January 11th and in Santa Fe on February 6th. More info at the New Media Film Festival.

Two of Jason's films are now distributed by Go Digital!

NOV 5TH SCREENINGS

Tickets now on sale for the Nov 5th screenings of Whiton's The Sun is Down and I Was a Dancer here.

NOVEMBER SCREENINGS

Two experimental films by Jason Whiton will screen at the New Media Film Festival in San Francisco on Nov 5th:

The Sun is Down
The experimental film for Jason Whiton's winning remix for Yoko Ono celebrates the meaning of her name, ocean child, with images of sea creatures.


I Was a Dancer
In this cinema verite-inspired short, form and movement become haunting testimony for an elderly Japanese woman who can no longer dance in a local festival.

SCREENINGS

The Sun is Down is currently screening in the series, Best of New Media Film Festival LA 2011:

July 18th: Microsoft (LA)
July 19th: Showbiz Cafe (NYC)
November 5th: Viz Theater (San Francisco)

"Love Piece"

Jason created a new sound collage, "Love Piece", which is a remix of The Sun is Down for Yoko Ono and the anniversary of the LOVE show by Cirque du Soleil. Hear "Love Piece" on SoundCloud.