I am still on an incredible high from our world premiere two weekends ago in Los Angeles at Etheria Film Night - where we won the Jury Award and Audience Choice!
Etheria is a very competitive showcase for female directed genre films. Only 9 short films were selected out of over 1,000 submissions. Those 9 films were judged by a jury of major producers, directors and others in the biz - and our film was their favorite! I still can't believe it.
It was such a special weekend. I'm used to traveling to most festivals alone. But this time there was 11 of us who worked on the film there together. It was a once in a lifetime experience. I get weepy thinking about it.
Thank you so much Eric Havens (screenwriter), John Pata (editor), Najarra Townsend (actress), Robert Stern (DP & producer), Sarah Sharp (production design & producer), Nancy Hoang (script supervisor), Courtney Jones (makeup), Angela Dupuie (actress & hairstylist), David Kox (grip), Jill Towerman (associate producer) for coming. I'll never forget it.
Etheria treated us like royalty. Friday morning they held a photo shoot for the directors. How awesome are these photos by Andrea Macias?!
That evening was the kickoff party at Magnolia. I met Jackie Kong, the director of Blood Diner, and she raved about The Stylist. She wants to work with us! Etheria honored Jackie this year with the Inspiration Award.
Saturday was the BIG DAY! I hired an SUV to chauffeur a chunk of us to the premiere. We stopped by the beach for photos.
The main event was held at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. It was an amazing night. My wildest dreams came true.
Jen and Sylvia Soska, directors who I consider mentors and great friends, came out to support us. And turns out- they had a secret plan to interrupt the award ceremony and demand to hand us our award. Which made the whole thing even MORE special.
SO many people we love came out to support.
The after party was a blast. We danced the night away with Jackie and her family.
I finally got to meet and party with the amazing Izzy Lee- who I love!
Sunday morning the Etheria gang met up for brunch. John went a little overboard on the food.
The Stylist crew spent the rest of the day together. We went to the LaBrea Tar Pits, LACMA, and saw The Conjuring 2 in the dome theater at Cinerama.
That night Eric, John and I went exploring. We drove some of Muhullond Drive and discovered the lookout above the Hollywood Bowl.
On our final day in Los Angeles we did some film-related sightseeing. Starting with a reenactment of the shot from Rebel Without a Cause at the Griffith Observatory.
Next, we stopped by Elm Street to visit Nancy and Glen.
I haven't had that much fun in a long time. I'll cherish these memories forever. Some could see us as colleagues, and we are, but it's so much more than that to me. These people are my family. We believe in each other. We support each others dreams. That camaraderie is something I love and value very highly. And is probably my favorite thing about filmmaking.
No comments:
Post a Comment