recap from the 2007 dc shorts film festival

my short film “martial artsy” played at the festival and my short script “camera obscura” was in the screenwriting competition. i had a fantastic weekend in dc and saw amazing short films, met a lot of wonderful filmmakers, and got to see some of the city.

the festival treats the filmmakers very well. they find housing for you in the form of local people who offer to host a filmmaker in their home, they give you a metro card so you can get around the city, they give you a meal card good for free or discounted food at nearby restaurants, and they organize a lot of events for the filmmakers to mingle. there was a party every night! i’m sure everyone that went had a great time and i definitely recommend going.

before i went, i was feeling burnt out and was having doubts about continuing as a filmmaker. the festival was a great boost of inspiration and i can’t wait to start my next short.

the festival had 2 theaters for screening, one of which was for HD screenings shown off of an HD projector. the movies looked great on the big screen, the audio was great, and basically all the technical aspects were flawless.

“martial artsy” played in the HD screening as well as another screening, and it got a nice audience reaction. having people laugh at your comedy is a good sign you did something right.

i was briefly interviewed by ourstage.com, so they might post a video of that on their site sometime soon.

the script reading was the first time they had done it, so we were figuring things out as we went along. there were 7 scripts, all performed live in front of an audience and they would choose a winner based on audience votes and judge’s scores. unfortunately, my script did not win, but i was thrilled with how the reading went. the actors were absolutely perfect in their performances and i wouldn’t change a single thing if i had to do it all over. it does, however, motivate me to go back next year and win it for sure. the script that did win was very good and had a great performance as well, so congratulations to that writer. but i’m telling you, i’m going back next year with guns blazing.

i managed to get some sightseeing in, and took a segway tour of the city. i highly recommend it!

the most rewarding part of the festival was getting to meet so many talented filmmakers, writers, and actors. lucky for me, a lot of them are from LA so i hope to keep in touch with them. i did not go to film school so i don’t have that network of like minded people to draw inspiration from, and i’m thrilled to have met the people i did.