Alfred, Niels and Anpo in the middle of their journey.

Happy New Year to all of you. We've been busy at work on a brand new trailer for the film, and it is coming together very nicely. You will see it before anyone else next week. This new trailer, for the first time, will properly represent all the dimensions of the story, now that the film has been shot.

Most importantly, it will, more than our current trailer, evoke the key role of Niels in the film, Alfred and Jakobine's son. Niels, of course, made the journey with Alfred across the country in the old taxi, and within the film, it will be through Niels that we will learn of the epic story of his parents' greatest adventure, and of Alfred's plans for the taxi before the new road trip begins.

Many of you have asked how the trip went. Did they have problems along the way? How did the taxi do? Did they make it all the way to Jakobines, and if so, how did she react?  The answers to some of these questions will be contained in the new trailer, but certainly not all. For these, you'll have to wait for the actual film!

One final update for now, is that we are about to go into final editing! Our talented editor, Alan Mackay, is now ready to jump in, and we're all very excited to see how he crafts the story, from the over 80 hours of footage that we shot. Also, we have new composers lined up to create music, and a beautiful score for the film, which is so important.

It's all very exciting, and we'll keep you posted more frequently now, as things move toward completion, and for now, keep an eye out for the brand new trailer next week.

This was our first week back in London since we wrapped principal photography, and it was all about catching up (and fighting jet lag), having spent almost 8 weeks shooting in the US. We all caught our collective breaths, and now it's time to start reviewing the over 80 hours of footage we shot, plan the edit, prepare for the archival dimension of the film, and plan other post production details. Lots to do.

We started reviewing the massive amount of new archival material this week, that we collected from Alfred and Jakobine's personal collections. Amazing stuff. We could almost tell the story with photographs alone!

Here, in no particular order is a new selection of photos, slides and paper matter from the archives, ready to be worked into the film. Some have captions, some don't, but we hope you enjoy them.

 A page from Alfred's Pakistani driver's license

Alfred's Moroccan driver's license

Alfred the adventurer.

The rad blowing coming up a hill in India (so steep was the hill, that the rad blew every 5 minutes).

Fixing the the taxi in Africa.

Filling the rad in Southern India.

Alfred and Jakobine with a white dove in Karachi, Pakistan.

Fitting as second, rear wheel in Casablanca, before they headed into the Sahara Desert.

On the beach in Casablanca, before heading into the Sahara. With Alfred are their friends Liza and Phlip.

Last week we told you that after 2000 miles of travel with the taxi, Alfred and Niels (and the crew) were finally on the outskirts of Oneida, NY...  Since then, you've been asking, and asking: Did Alfred make it?  If so, how did it go? How did Jakobine react?

Well, don't you hate when movie trailers give away the whole movie?!  We don't want this blog to do the same thing, so you're going to have to wait for the finished film to find out! But we can tell you this: the climax of this story was truly a climax! It was perfect!

We are very pleased to announce that we wrapped principal photography on Saturday, November 14th, but then director of photography Rollo Hollins, and director Jonathan Howells raced 2000 miles back across the country in just 3 days to shoot more landscapes and Americana. As this blog post is written, R and J are finally back in Albuquerque where it all started, and fly back to London tomorrow morning.

A little exhausted, and quite excited by how this amazing story has unfolded, we now head back to London to begin the actual making of this film. With shooting complete, now comes the editing - the sculpting the film's final form. We'll continue to update you, and provide exclusive sneak peaks in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned!

Please continue to pass word of the film along to friends. Even though Alfred's journey is complete, the film's journey is far from over, and is still in need of funding assistance. Please support "Alfred & Jakobine" by telling friends to consider "Buying a mile".

For now, here are brand new frames from our recent footage. First, a series of shots of Alfred and Niels driving closer and closer and closer towards Jakobine's house and the surprise, and also an image of Jakobine herself at her home in Oneida.

Next week, look out for a brand new sampling of amazing, archival photos uncovered from Jakobine and Alfred's personal collections during production, showcasing other incredible moments from their great taxi adventure in the 1950s.

This week we reached the outskirts of Oneida, NY, the home of Jakobine. Tune in next time for a report on how the actual arrival went... though you'll have to wait for the film itself to get the full picture!

The lead up to our arrival was high drama, as has been the whole journey. We broke down the morning before the arrival, and with fuel dripping from the taxi's carburetor, we even experienced a mini-explosion. Were it not for yet another generous mechanic, Dale in Syracuse NY, who worked on the taxi over night, we wouldn't have made it.

The day before that, the taxi was stopped by police and given a warning for it's rear lights not working.

But a few days ago, we arrived in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and had a party thrown for us. Over 100 people turned up to meet and welcome Alfred and Niels as they passed through town on their way to Oneida. It was a great motivator for our exhausted crew (and A and N) seeing the enthusiasm and admiration that was extended to the story and our production. Thanks again to Todd Cotgreave for making it all happen. Below is an NBC news segment about our arrival in Shepherdstown.

Alfred & Jakobine, NBC News from Jonathan Howells on Vimeo.