Greetings HHSE Friends & Followers - there's truth to the adage: "The harder I work, the luckier I get," especially when it comes to feature film production. We are honored to have received an invitation to submit "The Last Days of Belle Starr" for competition in the Festival de Cannes (2023). The film's screenplay was submitted as a project "now in production," and was determined to be suitable for an indigenous theme of films participating in 2023 (including Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon.").
Our film tells the story of the weeks leading up to the "Oklahoma Land Rush," told - for the first time - from the perspective of the tribes and the Cherokee Nation residents of 1889. While the infamous Ron Howard "Far and Away" scene portrayed the Oklahoma Land Rush... it did not address that this historic event was created as a result of a total disregard and breach of the treaties which created the Indian Territory.
As part of the diligence in preserving the news value of this film, our cast and our production activities, we continue to operate under a closed set with a full and complete press and social media moratorium. Accordingly, the photos we are sharing today are of locations without actors, and film equipment... but nothing that will betray the moratorium that has been implemented to protect the message track of the film.
We realize that our refusal to over-share cast and production information has been annoying to some shareholders... and even more so to the "critics" (including one who was captured and clearly identified on security video last week, trying to break-into the film's production office in Tahlequah, OK!!). But suffice it to say that we are ecstatic with our cast, and with our production progress.
For clarity, "The Last Days of Belle Starr" has not yet been selected for competition into Cannes 2023. In order to go from "invitation" to "competition," we must submit a rough cut of the full feature by March 11, 2023. We see no issues in meeting this deadline. Regardless, it's hard to envision competing with - and then beating - the $267-million dollar Scorsese feature, which addresses issues in 1924 affecting the Osage tribe. But if the HHSE film is selected for competition, that is a tremendous honor, a huge publicity boost for the release, and a great credibility boost for our company.
Forward progress continues with the Company's other critical endeavors - including the Form 10 filing, the launch of MyFlix and the upcoming deadline for Q3 reporting to the OTC Markets. Stay tuned....
April 22, 1889 – Not as famous of a DATE as November 11, 1918
(Armistice Day) – but in the history of the colonization of the
continental United States, it was a profoundly impactful day.At High Noon, at strategic points along the
border to the INDIAN TERRITORY, cannons fired to announce the beginning
of the “land rush” for persons to make claims on 160-acre plots of land.
This action was an addendum to the Dawes Act of 1887, which in many respects
was built upon the previously passed Homestead Act of 1862.
But there was a big difference in 1889. The land being given
away had already been deeded to the “Five Civilized Tribes” in a series
of treaties and actions (such as the “Indian Removal Act” that created the
deadly and forced “Trail of Tears” march).
The land being “given” away by the United States in 1889 belonged
to the tribes – and they were not happy about this major treaty
violation.
Our current feature production, “The Last Days of Belle
Starr,” is all about this treaty violation and it’s impact to the tribes
and to the Cherokee Nation.In the weeks
before Congressional approval of the Dawes Act addendum, Belle Starr came out
of a self-imposed exile of three years (following the death of her Cherokee
husband, Sam Starr), to speak against this plan. As a white woman living on
Cherokee Land (and then living with Jim July Starr), Belle was the ideal
spokesperson to garner support from the residents of Fort Smith and other
border communities to oppose the take-away of tribal lands. But just one week
after her most persuasive, public speech,
she was shot dead in a murder that the authorities in Arkansas chose to not
investigate.Alas, despite her valiant efforts
and martyrdom for the tribes, the “land rush” proceeded… and it is
therefore an important element in our film.
The “Oklahoma Land Rush” was featured in the 1992 Ron
Howard film, “Far and Away” – starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. But
the worldview of that movie was to show what a GREAT idea it was to give land
to immigrants and would-be farmers. There is scant mention that the land was
being stolen back from the tribes – it was presented as just a big, happy, Hollywood
ending.
Not so happy for everyone. What about the 100,000+ tribal members that
lost their land and became homeless? What about the Communal Hunting Grounds
that provided habitat for the wildlife that sustained the tribes? What about
the concept of tribal sovereignty that was ignored and expelled as Senator
Dawes moved on to become the “Chairman of the Commission of the Five
Civilized Tribes?” April 22, 1889
was not a happy Hollywood ending for the tribes who lost over90-million acres of land and nearly all of
their sustenance hunting grounds.
Reality does not always deliver a happy ending, but reality
often makes for a more powerful and successful movie. That’s what we believe
and why “The Last Days of Belle Starr” has the potential of becoming an
important and commercially successful feature film.It’s also what has allowed
us to attract multiple “A” stars to the project – critically praised movie
stars with a cumulative worldwide box office of more than $10-Billion dollars.
So, here we are, right in the middle of production on this
exciting, major movie. For security reasons (and for “message track
control”) we are filming with a closed set and without promoting the involvement
of our principal stars until the filming is completed.But it’s been an exciting, exhausting and
exhilarating adventure… including our OWN recreation of the Oklahoma Land Rush
of 1889.
Granted, we do not have the $100-million budget that Ron
Howard had thirty-years ago for his Land Rush scenes. But we’re giving him
quite a challenge with our impressive coverage:six cameras plus a drone coverage of twelve horse drawn wagons, forty-two
horses with riders, and the official government stand with soldiers and
cannons.It’s amazing how “big” a scene
with that many horses appears on screen – enhanced to a degree with long-focal
length lenses that compress the space between the wagons and riders and create
a visual explosion of motion, dust and excitement. Big stuff… shots that will definitely
“make the trailer,” as they say.
Making a movie – ANY movie – requires tremendous work,
clarity of mind, dedication and commitment. It’s likely one of the hardest
creative endeavors of all… involving telling a story, engaging quality
performers to act it out, quality crew and gear to record the performances,
and all of the insane logistics of feeding cast, crew and hundreds of
background extras, having location generators and porta-potty service, fenced-in areas to house the horses (and water and feed for the horses), and the complex
logistics of flying and driving in dozens of people from different locations –
trying to get everyone in the same place at the same time to collectively make magic.
That’s why it’s so amusing when persons who have never
produced a film try to comment on those who are actual creators.Truly, if it were easy, everyone would produce
movies.Only people who have actually PRODUCED
or DIRECTED a major feature film understand the complexities… so the rest of
the wanna-bees (or “never will bees”) would be best advised to just
quietly sit back, watch and learn. The commentary in this paragraph is NOT directed at our legitimate HHSE shareholders... but is addressing the four or five chatroom naysayers who do nothing more than sling mud and fabricate consistently wrong prognostications and criticisms of HHSE and its management. HHSE will not apologize for succeeding and ruining a naked short-sell position. The bashers / short-sellers want nothing more than to scare longs into selling to them now, well below book value, so that THEY become the beneficiaries of the stock's meteoric rise.
Based on our star casting, there is a reasonable expectation
that “The Last Days of Belle Starr” will be licensed to nearly all of
the major territories and media, worldwide.
Accordingly, and based on the deal
structure of fees and profit participation for Hannover House, Inc. (HHSE), it’s
obtainable that the net income for the company could reach $10-mm…
which is approx. $.01 per share in earnings. Current Price-Earnings ratios for
entertainment companies suggests that this production alone could support a PPS
of over $.25 / share.
But “The Last Days of Belle Starr” is just one
element of three that has the likelihood of a combining for an immensely powerful
impact to HHSE this year. The others, as our shareholders know well, are
the basic registration filing (which will allow many traders and funds to
finally support the HHSE stock), and the launch of our own multi-studio
streaming service, MYFLIX.It’s the “Holy
Trinity” of major events that collectively could propel HHSE into a
legendary league.
So much more that we’d love to share now… but our discretion
is for the benefit of our shareholders.
A small army of Animal Wranglers are working on "The Last Days of Belle Starr" - to assure safety for the cast, crew and animals in the film. The production also has a major studio Stunt Team - as well as weapons experts and pyro-technicians (for "faked" bullet hits and blood-bag effects). For insurance and safety reasons, the weapons utilized in this film are all NON-FIRING REPLICAS, designed to be visually consistent with the pistols (Peace-Makers), Rifles and Shotguns of the era.
"FAR & AWAY" Oklahoma Land Rush sequence (1992) - courtesy of YouTube.
