Jsh-amie le Butch

Butch Jamie is now officially on DVD! Here's David and I at the release party last Wednesday (OK, so the photo's a little cheesy. But kind of cute, right?) -


We had a fun time at the party. I had a friend of mine who I haven't seen since my Freshman year of high school unexpectedly show up, as well as a couple of fellow Smith College alums. I ran into a representative from Here TV who told me that they're buying the TV rights (they've been in negotiations for awhile, so it hadn't yet been official). They raffled off some free DVDs and David won Season 5 of the L Word which he gave to me.

Earlier this week, After Ellen published an interview I did with them -

"Michelle Ehlen is a cinematic jack (or should we say jill?) of all trades. For her debut feature, Butch Jamie, she wrote, directed, produced, starred and edited the film, which centers on the adventures of a struggling butch lesbian actress in L.A. who lands a male role and runs with it. Shot on a shoestring budget in upstate New York, the film landed Ehlen Best Actress accolades at the 2007 Outfest film festival in L.A., and the laughter of just about everyone in queer festival audiences around the country."
--Click here for the rest of the article.

Also, I found out that my French distribution company, Optimale, will be releasing the DVD soon. Check out the totally pimped out, bling-bling DVD cover they designed -



As for the U.S./Canadian DVD, you can order it through several different retailers, including Wolfevideo.com. You can also rent it through Netflix, Blockbuster, and many independent stores.

David's Directorial Debut!

My good friend and co-star from Butch Jamie, David Au, now has a short film that he wrote and directed on LOGO called Fresh Like Strawberries. It already premiered on the channel (I found out about it too late), but it'll be re-running periodically. You can also watch it on LOGO's website.









David shot the film while we were at L.A. Film School, during the time I made Half-Laughing. Our production schedules conflicted with each other, but I was able to edit his film in addition to crewing on some of his other films, and he worked on my other films as well.

He's now in the process of finishing up a feature-length version (still untitled) of his short. It's a great character-driven script with a strong gay subplot, lots of comedic relief (something not in the short), and some hot guy on guy action as well (also not in the short - sorry guys). If all goes well with finding money for the production, we could be working on it at some point next year.

Ballerina Butches and more - oh my!

Hey, hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I went to my friend David's, the same one who's in Butch Jamie. He played my gay, Asian friend named David in the movie, so the role was quite a stretch for him. David is an amazing cook and he made the biggest Thanksgiving dinner I have ever seen! He's not even an American, so that makes it extra cute. I don't have any photos from the dinner, but here's a pic of him onset:


So I'll pick up where I left off with my last entry. After I went to Tampa, I flew directly to Portland to represent the movie at their Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Portland was more low-key than Tampa, but still cool. There I met Kathy Belge, who is "Dipstick" from the Lipstick and Dipstick advice column in Curve magazine. She lives in Portland and was there to introduce the screening.


Here's a picture of us butchin' it up. I just noticed how both of her hands are in fists and mine has that slightly femmy straying pinky. Well...I guess I may as well come out and say it. ...I'm not really all that butch. Take a look at this video (it's terrible, I know) --



That's an excerpt from Ballet Diesel, a mockumentary short I made a few years ago. The film is fictional, but it is true that my girlfriend used to call me "Ballet Diesel" because she thought I looked like a diesel dyke but walked like a ballerina. I don't really walk like a ballerina, but I suppose everyone's entitled to their own opinion. Anyway, Iron Rod Motion Pictures is planning to distribute it soon on a DVD compilation, so I'll keep you updated on that. The other woman in the film is Leah Williamson (she's the one who said I looked like a ballerina in real life; she used to be my girlfriend but now we're just good friends. I live in L.A. and she's in Upstate NY, so I make sure to tell her on the phone how butch I am now). Leah helped me produce Butch Jamie and when I was in Tampa, she was representing the film at the Image Out festival in Rochester. Here are some pics:





So that's it for today. I'll be back again soon!