IT is my pleasure to announce that the JET Progress production of the movie WINNOWING with BURNT-IN ENGLISH SUBTITLES, starring Sakura Kai (aka Setsuko Tsuchiya) and Daniel S. Janik, is now available for free to the first 1000 viewers at https://youtu.be/YmRwN4yz760. This is in addition to the version with no or optional computer-generated subtitles. Burnt-in or “open” subtitles, unlike computer-generated ones, are perfect and allow for a significantly more enjoyable viewing.

WINNOWING, ...

MY opinions expressed are typically those of but one of 336 million individual Americans spanning an increasingly disparate spectrum of opinions. But being a SAG actor, the SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike, in fact, affects me not only as an inveterate film enthusiast, but also as an actor AND filmmaker.

As an actor — https://janik.yolasite.com/actor.php — it means a cessation of work in a field of endeavor not only my livelihood but my passion. Acting opportunities are rarely tightly consecut...

WITH the JET Progress production of WINNOWING well into pre-production, having addressed blocking, shortlisting, studio, camera and sound, the last remaining issue has been that of insulating the film set from noise. It would be easy to fall into the tourist idea that Hawaii, being a true paradise, must be so quiet as to enhance the sound of the trades in the coconut trees. Not so, even in Waikiki. One of the challenges to filming outdoors or indoors on Oahu is the high levels of light and so...

HAVING had my moment on the big screen as lead actor in the multi-award-winning movie STATIC, I was gifted by author, screenwriter, author-and-actor colleague and friend, William Maltese, with an intriguing movie script, WINNOWING, written specifically for myself, Daniel S. Janik, and actress and life partner, Setsuko Tsuchiya. Thank you, William! In it Setsuko and I play not one but TWO lead roles in this story about an actor and actress auditioning for the “big” one, before two, hardene...

I wonder what that singular word invokes for you? For me, it means sharing the spotlight with others, including my sister’s cat, “Bugs,” who just recently became a celebrity showcasing a new kind of cat food dish that she apparently endorses whole heartedly. Okay, okay. I always make it a point to share the spotlight with my dance partner and actress, Setsuko Tsuchiya, who, BTW should be back on the set with me, filming a featured “honor dance” for FINDING KATE. In the first of an a...

IT’S been my distinct pleasure to be Daniel S. Janik, actor, with Setsuko Tsuchiya, actress, in “The Rainbow State” of Hawaii. Our acting opportunities have been and remain highly varied. Part of that, I believe, is a consequence of living in Hawaii with its multi-culturality. Being European by descent and my partner Japanese, Hawaii offers us a multitude of cultural experiences both in terms of our professions and our daily life.

For example, we’ve played in Hawaiiwood’s K. Simmon...

WITH the K. Simmons Production of FINDING KATE — https://kspllc.media/finding-kate — about to enter production, the question remains, who will play lead actress in the role of Kate Keenan and where in the world is she? Long-ignored computer genius Kate Keenan has designed a computer program that will put Hollywood and Bollywood out of business overnight. Suddenly everyone wants her…and her program. To stay alive, Kate goes into hiding, barely keeping ahead of a lethal hoard of pursuers....

HAVING recently finished my and Setsuko Tsuchiya’s parts in the Kurt Ken Kaminaka Production of THE PERFECT ILLUSION, and enjoyed our first social party in over two years (okay, it was a movie set, but, hey, it was real FUN to socialize in a bubble), it was time yesterday to visit the hospital, where Ren Gaya is dreaming wildly while in a deep coma. Or was that imagining himself wildly dreaming in a deep coma. Or is he in a coma at all? Don’t ask me, I’m just the doctor.

I play Dr. Ste...