 | Dear Friends, We're proud and honored to announce that our 16-min. narrative short film 'Standing Post' is 'An Official Selection' of the 39th Annual Cleveland International Film Festival, set for March 18-29 on the shores of Lake Erie. Why is this so important? Just another festival? Hardly. The CIFF is the biggest festival in Ohio (a huge state) and one of the largest in the Midwest. Over its 12-day run at the Towne City Centre, the festival will roll approx. 100K people through its doors in appreciation of film. Nearly 1,600 short films were submitted from 60 countries and 'Standing Post' is one of only 234 selected for screening. As an added incentive, the CIFF is one of a very small percentage of film festivals that is Academy Awards sanctioned. Jury award-winning films can be submitted to the Oscars for consideration. I'm not naive enough to think that could happen, but you have to be in the game and go up to bat to hit a home run. We don't make films for awards, we make them to practice our craft, tell good stories and conduct business. But you have to find an audience and events this big don't hurt. smile emoticon Like Lebron James, we're returning to Cleveland (Quicken Loans Arena is across the street) after a four-year absence when our documentary feature 'Outside the Wire' was an audience favorite. The Red, White and Blue Project. - Anthony Hornus of the Red, White and Blue Project as well as the Writer, Director and Producer of Standing Post. |
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CHRISTIAN MOVIE INDIEGOGO
 2013 was most definitely a good year and a bad year. It was a year filled with learning and a year full of loss and gain. 2013 brought me many opportunities and many learning experiences.
I recently spent thanksgiving with a man I call a father. I was not aware that this thanksgiving was the last time I would see him. He was my dads best friend. He was at the hospital when I was born. He was the man that put cash in my hand when I was just a boy and demanded that I buy myself candy. He took on a great responsibility after my dad passed away. He happily took me under his wing guiding me and pushing me to be the best man I could be. I remember countless times being yelled at for all the right reasons. I remember him showing affection when needed and teaching me lessons to help me build myself into the man that I am. He was the man that made up a contract with me when I was a little boy. The contract stated that I would take care of him someday when I make it big in acting. I signed it, he signed it and a witness signed it. Obviously it was all in good fun but it was another way to motivate myself to succeed not only for myself but for those around me. Now that he's gone I feel as if I have an even bigger obligation to succeed more than anything. He will forever have a spot in my heart. I am very excited about the year to come! 2013 was a great year for me. I met so many great people in this crazy industry. I've worked with so many great people and I look forward to working with some of you in 2014. I have many reasons to be excited about this new year. There are so many promising opportunities to look forward to. Even if some don't lift off the ground I am beyond fortunate to have been given these chances. I look forward to creating more memories! I look forward to building stronger relationships with some of you not only for business but on a personal level too. Some of you I consider family. I don't want to have any specific new years resolutions. my main thing is that I want to keep improving in everything I am and everything I do. My knowledge, my business sense, my art, my passion, my love and my pursuit! I had an amazing journey with my good friend writer/director/producer/actor and among other things, SHANE HAGEDORN. We took a road trip together to get to Missouri for the premiere of SURRENDER. a wonderful film I starred in earlier on in 2013 Thank you Michael Joiner for helping me make the connection. I got to spend time with all of the people that helped build that amazing movie. I was flown to Florida for another screening of SURRENDER where I had some amazing meetings for some awesome opportunities for 2014. I was able to connect my mentor with some of the producers I am in contact with. I cannot wait to see what opportunities that will bring for all of our careers! I starred in a music video for a German band that was a lot of fun and it seems to be getting a lot of positive attention! I really enjoy working with Jesse Low and Cassidy Bisher. We did the music video together and a Cooley Law School Commercial together. Great guys! 2014 is going to kick-off right with an ASHES OF EDEN premiere and the release of STANDING POST. I'm also excited to see where SURRENDER will go. There are talks of taking that film to the next level, I am excited to see how far that movie will go! 2014!!! Let's do this! Love the FIGHT! Love the PURSUIT! Steven Sutherland  It's hard to think about losing such a great person in this industry. Although I did not know Paul Walker I still feel deeply saddened about his death. We all know him as the Fast and Furious star. Regrettably I didn't know much more about Paul Walker other than the awesome movies he has done and his love for the ocean.
After hearing about his death I began to learn more about the type of things he stood for. I realized he was more than just a great actor. He wanted to make the world a better place. Paul Walker started a non-profit program called REACH OUT WORLDWIDE. Reach Our Worldwide is a charity Program to organize a network of professional first responders to aid disaster-ridden areas. You can learn more about what this Non-Profit was all about HERE! Paul walker has always been one of my favorite actors. The first time I saw him in the Fast and Furious I was totally pulled in. He had this coolness about his acting that made him very likable. He was one of the ones I really wanted to work with. I always said I wanted to play his brother in a crazy hardcore drama. It's almost still hard to believe that he is no longer here. It's very sad to see a someone so young with so much promise and talent go. I just thought I would make a blog to remember him and honor him a little for the actor and the person he was. Lots of prayers to his family/friends that are going through a hard time right now. NEVER allow a moment to pass you by because you never know if today is your last day. No regrets! Love the fight! Love LIFE! RESPECT to you Paul! RIP - Steven Sutherland  So many people let themselves down everyday without even realizing it. We let certain situations control every move we make. We subconsciously push ourselves into what I think of as "The safe Zone." Just as Brad Pitt says in the movie Fight Club. "How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight." <--- I like to use that statement as more or less a metaphor. Obviously I don't want you going out starting fights with people. no, the FIGHT is life. "I don't want to die without any scars." You have to risk to gain. Sometimes you have to HURT to gain. If success was easy it would be a giant slide going into a ball pit full of money. Unfortunately, success is a long winding road. a road full of ups and downs.
This FIGHT I speak of is what you NEED and MUST to to gain success. You must take risks you must sacrifice and you must must must stay humble along the way. STAY grounded. NEVER lose hope! You're a boxer! You're not going to quit just because you got socked in the face a few times! You're going to keep swinging until you win the fight or the lights go out. I've already lost friends, I've been broke, I'm in the process of losing my job. I've failed miserably. I've been so freaked out before auditions I had to pull the car over to gain a clear conscious of what I'm trying to achieve in my life. I am FIGHTING! I am a FIGHTER. "IIT'S AN EASY PATH" In most cases I would NOT say it's easy. It's HARD. It's scary It's actually, absolutely terrifying. There's always that micro thought in the back of my mind, What if I don't make it? I'd rather be thinking "What if I don't make it as opposed to "What if I had tried." I say It's easy in a sense that It would be easy for me to jump in front of a bus to save someone I love. It's easy to struggle for something you're so absolutely passionate about.It's easy in a hard way - YA DIG?! You're letting yourself down if you don't get out there and TRY. You need to put yourself out there. you may fall. you may fall so hard you wont want to get back up. That's the fight people. you fall and you get back up! as I've said before, if you don't get up you'll get stomped. BOOM! STOMPED. You're letting yourself down if you don't make an attempt. Success isn't going to come to you. You have to seek it out and grab it! You're letting yourself down if you continue to do things that make you unhappy. yes I know we all need money to survive. But you're working a job you hate and you're going to settle and "TRY" to like it, You're letting yourself down my friend. Put one foot in front of the other and get your butt moving. we're on this earth for such a small amount of time. When I go, I want to look God in the eyes and say - Thank you for giving me the tools I needed to achieve everything I set my sites on. Love the fight! Love the struggle! Love the success! Love God and love yourself! Steven Sutherland  As Dustin Hoffman says "Your twenties are a question mark decade"
Life is a series of moments fleeting by with every second that ticks. It's up to us which moments we want to hold onto. Which to let go of. Which moments to remember and which to forget. My twenties decade isn't a question mark in the sense that I don't know what I want. It's more or less the question that constantly pops up in my head. "Will I succeed?" "How will I get there?" "What's my next move?" I cannot stress this enough. Life is lived once. Even I have more potential to live to the fullest. STUDY HARD! WORK HARD! GAIN EXPIERENCE. the only way to gain experience is to get out there and DO. Pour your entire heart and soul into what you want with life and GRASP that moment because it IS fleeting by. Don't be afraid to take chances. Make yourself vulnerable. Be honest, with yourself be honest with the people around you! You may not KNOW right now. You don't have to know. as one of my great mentors (Shane Hagedorn) says to me all the time. Stop worrying about tomorrow. You're here TODAY. Live for each day. I still have trouble with that. my mind is always set on the future. it's always a step head of where I am actually at. Sometimes that's not such a bad thing but it can really get you in trouble. I'm not saying don't have goals. Goals are extremely important. You MUST have goals. Just don't worry so much on how you're going to get there. Just work hard have passion and love your pursuit. You will never have this chance again. You will never Live this fleeting moment again. GRASP IT. REMEMBER IT. LEARN FROM IT. CHOSE TO MAKE IT YOUR OWN AND ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS IMPROVE EACH MOMENT. If you study if you learn and learn and work and work hard HARD HARD at what you want the sky is the limit for you. I see the sky and I don't see enough space for what I can achieve. my main question mark for my twenties decade is simple. - WHAT'S MY NEXT MOVE? SO? What's your next move? With extreme passion, Love the FIGHT, Live the Pursuit, Love God and of course, Love yourself! Steven Sutherland  This has been a big month for me. I've had two major releases in ONE WEEK. the Ashes Of Eden theatrical trailer was released on September 1st and the music video I starred in was released three days before that. GLORIA - BERLIN.
It was also announced that I am set to star in a Film called STANDING POST. Directed by Anthony Hornus. I've also had two auditions for major feature films. Either way it goes I have made some great contacts! I also had the opportunity to star in a Cooley Law School commercial. that was a very fun experience getting to work with my good friend Jesse Low. I also met an extremely talented and well rounded actor who has a bright future ahead of himself. Derrick Gilliam. You are the truth my man! I am also starting to get really excited for the release for SURRENDER. It should be set to release this fall! I also had the pleasure of doing a radio interview with my director/Producer/Co-Star Shane Hagedorn and Producer/Co-Star DJ Perry. I also having more interviews coming up including one on a New York radio talk show that I will be posting! STAY TUNED FANS! I recently finished a feature film script. Yes I write too! My script is actually being looked over by some distributors. We will see how they like it! Just to be given the opportunity to get my material in front of people that can truly do something with it is amazing and I am extremely grateful to have been given that chance/opportunity. Some other films that I am set to star in are currently in the waiting game for financing. All of you in this industry that are reading this. Don't you just love that word!! I have been given so many amazing opportunities and I am so happy and grateful for them. I put all my faith in God and in myself because I am a product of his creation. I trust in myself that he has given me the ability to do great things with my life and that's exactly what I am doing. As my boy Will Smith says - Lay each brick as perfectly as you can. Before you know it, you have an entire house! Thanks for reading guys!! Love God Love yourself Love the FIGHT! Steven Sutherland  I wake up to a note on my ceiling that says "you got this!"
This is some serious advice I'm about to give all you success chasers! The MOST important thing you need to know is this! Nobody is going to wake you up in the morning. Nobody is going to force you to study. Nobody is going to force you to hustle, work hard, fight, take chances or strive for something better. Mostly!!! Ready for this!?!?! READ BELOW! NOBODY... wait. Let me whisper this so you PAY ATTENTION. Nobody is going to force you to give up. ITS ALL ON YOU! We can't allow other people to do these things for us. chances are they're expecting you to do the same for them. You have to gain your independence stand your ground and create a foundation create your own opportunities. Once people see that you are starting to gain those things. Once they notice your success. Trust me they will come. People want to work with people who have a good reputation a great attitude a professional outlook and an independent image. Let your light shine!!! You gain successful people in your life because your success is also theirs! See how that works? It's a WIN WIN!! When peoples see you're willing to push yourself they will be drawn to that! ACTORS -- as a producer/director see you're going to DO WORK. GO HAM WORK HARDER THAN THE REST trust me your chances are better at getting that role! (but still work on your art/skill) SUCCESS DOESN'T HAVE FEET! WOW do you feel that? success is calling? It's telling you that you need to GET UP and get your butt to it. Success doesn't have feet ladies and gentlemen. Success is waiting for you to get off your butt and go get it. REMEMBER GOD! I heard someone say this I cannot remember who but It's very true. Don't pray for God to get you what you want out of life if you're not willing to put in the work to get it. He gives us the tools we need to get what we want! It's our job to trust in him that through him anything we fight for is possible! Except for my hacky sack skills. I can't get more than 10 in a row. GO OUT AND GET WHAT YOU WANT IN LIFE! DON'T TELL ME YOU CAN'T. DON'T TELL ME YOU'LL DO IT TOMORROW. DON'T TELL ME YOU WILL TRY. TELL ME YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT. YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT NOW. YOU CAN DO IT! TELL ME EXACTLY WHAT MY NOTE SAYS... "I GOT THIS" ITS NOT PROPER ENGLISH BUT THAT'S OKAY! .Alright you can write "I have this" if it bothers you. MOTIVATE YOURSELF PEOPLE! Don't rely on others. You're not going to get what you want unless YOU get it! Love God, Love Life, Love the FIGHT! Steven  You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. – Mae West I say this all the time. The only things in life we regret are the risks we don't take. That statement is very very very true! So why do so many people settle for what they don't want? I will tell you exactly why. They're afraid. Most people are afraid to take chances. I always wondered why that was. Are they afraid to losing their possessions? maybe they're afraid of change or meeting new people. Maybe they're afraid they wont be good enough. You cannot let FEAR be a wall that stops you from achieving your goals. You can either surrender to it or use it to your advantage. When we as human beings are out of our element we tend to push more for survival. FEAR can heighten our senses. Take away the normal! TURN YOUR TV OFF GET OFF YOUR BUTT MEET NEW PEOPLE TAKE CHANCES AND LIVE LIFE THE WAY IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE LIVED! Put your face in a book! You can really learn a lot about success from what others have learned. Like my man AKA one of my favorite actors, Will Smith says. “There are so many people who have lived and died before you. You will never have a new problem; you're not going to ever have a new problem. Somebody wrote the answer down in a book somewhere.” Most importantly Just get to it! Talk to people, ask questions. Study! Practice! Get GOOD and what you want. once you're good, excel! Once you've excelled, GET BETTER! Once you're better, become great! Once you're great... Make yourself a legend! Once you're a legend, strive for more! and always always share the success! help those around you when you can. Push those that need a push. Sometimes life hurts. Sometimes it gets hard. Push through it. You're living now!! Life is rough enough! "You're already in pain, you're already hurt get a reward from it!" - Eric Thomas. WATCH ERIC THOMAS MOTIVATION HERE I'm telling all of you that are reading this right now. TAKE A CHANCE! the title of this blog is beyond true. i know this blog is sort of all over the place. My point is.. DREAM BIG AND GO AFTER THAT DREAM! You're dreams are as close as reality will allow them to be and you are in total control of your reality. Start opening those doors! Love God Love yourself FIGHT! WIN! DREAM! Steven Sutherland  Someone once asked me an important question. What inspires you?
What inspires you? I began to ask myself this question... What inspires me? This question really hit home for me. What is it? WHAT inspires me? I know exactly what inspires me. On a deep level. Tragedy. In every unfortunate aspect of the word. I hate it. I HATE IT! But pain and heartache is something to learn from. dealing with my fathers suicide is still not easy. It hurts me every single day. I get little memories of events growing up.. Little flashes of moments with my father. Moments with smiles.. Moments with tears. tragedy has taught me that I can overcome anything that's thrown at me. Some may take longer than others. Every bit of pain I've experienced in my life has taught me extremely valuable lessons in life. One of the most important lessons I've learned in life is to not give up. No matter how hard things get. I cannot give up. Every terrible thing I've experienced in my life was because someone gave up. They gave up trying, they gave up self control.. They gave up on themselves..or they gave up on me. For the longest time I was so afraid to get close to anyone out of the fear that they would leave me just like the closest person in my life did. My own father. Reflecting on this I realized that not only getting close to someone, but getting close to what I want in my life was a scary thing. it was scary because I could fail. It was scary because I may get so close and fall through the ice. Completely falling flat on my face. Due to the tragedy I've been through in my life... I've learned that I can swim even in the coldest of water. A struggle is not a failure.. let me repeat that..A STRUGGLE IS NOT A FAILURE! ... A struggle only makes the win that much more rewarding. The main point to this blog is to open your eyes. No matter what you've been through in your life. No matter how bad things have been... remember this... THIS IS WHERE I AM AT... NOT WHERE I WILL BE. We must overcome tragedy before we can put our best foot forward and show the world what we're worth! It is those who have been through the worst in life that have the most to show for their fight... BUT you must FIGHT. if you don't... you'll drown.. raise your glass that's not half empty... that's not half full... YOUR GLASS IS FULL! RAISE IT!!!!!! Raise that glass and repeat these words... THIS FIGHT, THIS STRUGGLE THIS HARDSHIP... THIS IS WHAT IS GOING TO TURN MY LIFE INTO EVERYTHING I WANT IT TO BE. I WILL OVERCOME THIS AND I WILL BREAK DOWN EVERY WALL THAT IS PLACED IN MY WAY! Love God Love yourself Love the struggle....because you CAN overcome anything!! Steven Sutherland |
