INSANE Festival Season begins…

So, starting today, the insane festival seasons begins! We are screening at the Florida Film Festival tomorrow morning, at the Sacramento Film Festival tomorrow evening, then immediately again at AFI Dallas, Vail Film Festival, Method Film Festival, the Phoenix Film Festival and the Gen Arts Film Festival in NY, all in the same 7 day period!!!!

It’s been a tough call, but I’ve chosen to definately attend our second screening in Florida, both at AFI in Dallas, and then end up in New York for Gen Arts. This screening will be particularly amazing because we have been paired with “The Take” starring John Leguizamo and Tyrese Gibson (both of whom will BE THERE!!). One of my lead actors told me Leguizamo is one of his all time favorite actors, so this is especially exciting for him.

One more great thing, “The Take” was written by the Pate brothers, Josh and Jonas Pate, who happen to have written the NBC TV series, Surface, that another of my lead actors, Carter Jenkins, starred in. How funny is that?

San Luis Obispo Film Festival

Last week we screened at the San Luis Obispo Film Festival, which was amazing! Highly recommended to any filmmakers out there… they were immensely nice, and I spoke on an amazing panel about the film industry and my own experiences. Our screening was sold out that evening, there was a line around the block and a lot of couldn’t even get in, it was fantastic. This is what I’m finding, that these slightly smaller festivals are more fun, that the people there actually care about the shorts and are really excited to see them.

Beverly Hills Short Film Festival and AFI Dallas orientation

We screened at the BHSFF last night, and it was an interesting experience. Unlike some of the other festivals, this is a smaller affair, in a city that literally has hundreds of film festivals (compared to say, Omaha, where we played last week, where it really is an event). That said, they played us in a spectacular theater, the Fine Arts Theatre, and the image looked fantastic on screen.

It was funny though because we were part of a “Thriller” block, and I think someone gets shot in almost every movie, so it almost began losing its impact

My favorite film playing with us that night was called “Samaritan”, largely because it actually had me guessing, wondering where it was going and interested in the answer… a cool little film.

The other thing I did today was attend the AFI Dallas film festival orientation, held at the AFI conservatory. It’s a completely different affair, a huge festival spanning two weeks, red carpets every night, with a press coordinator working to get your film coverage and seen… it was amazing, and I cannot wait for it. I also met some of the other filmmakers playing the festival, and they seemed like a really savvy, talented group… one man described a film called “Filthy Food” that sounds like it is genius, apparently it has been playing the circuit very successfully for a while, and I cannot wait to see it!! Look it up, seriously, it’s worth your while…