The good news, though, is that yesterday's screenings happened. Impressively, the kid-friendly screening at NYC Shorts was sold out. I figured they'd be lucky to get ten people, but I guess parents in New York pay attention to odd cultural events, unlike (gross generalization warning) parents in D.C. The Cell-Phone was very well received, and I got the lion's share of the questions afterward, though in fairness that's probably because my short was second-to-last.
The major standout of the evening--er, afternoon--was "The Danish Poet," a beautiful, hand-drawn animation that was both funny and profound. It featured the voice talent of Liv Ullmann, so it was a wee bit out of my league, obviously. But it earned my vote for best of the night.
(I see from the Wikipedia entry that Ullmann directed an adaptation of Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter, a novel which actually plays a major role in "The Danish Poet"'s plot. So I guess they had an "in.")
(Did I punctuate that correctly? "The Danish Poet"'s. "The Danish Poet's." Argh, I dunno.)
After the screening, I wished a fond farewell to Mike (we bowed, in the Japanese fashion) and hoofed/subwayed it to Penn Station, where I actually arrived in time, if I had hurried a bit, to catch a train an hour earlier. I elected to relax a bit instead. I arrived at the New Carrollton train station at 6:20, with plenty of time to make a 7:30 screening in Annapolis. So off we went.
As I've mentioned, "Soap Opera" was opening for The Big Bad Swim, a feature. I suspected that being a short opener is kinda like being the red-headed stepchild of the evening, and my introduction bore this theory out (and remember, kids, "Brewster-Geisz" rhymes with "Rooster Spice"):
Presenter: ... and also, the director of "Soap Opera," Zachary Brewster.... um, I'm not sure how to pronounce it...After that it could only get better, although the only questions I was asked were the usual: "How long did it take to produce?" and "How much did it cost?" I didn't begrudge this; The Big Bad Swim was a fantastic film which deserved the lion's share of the attention. In fact there was an odd connection which I think I've mentioned before: when I went to CTFF in October-ish with "The Cell-Phone," I met the film's producer, who like me grew up in Westport, Connecticut. At the time, though, Annapolis hadn't released its schedule, so I had no idea another film of mine would be opening for hers.
Me: (from my seat) Geisz.
Presenter: Um, Zachary Brewster-Geese? Is he here?
Me: (walking down the aisle) Geisz.
Presenter: Oh, yes--this is Zachary Brewster-Geezy.
Me, the other director, and half the audience: GEISZ!
I passed out a few business cards (Microsoft Word specials I had printed out Friday morning) and then we headed home. In a perfect world, I'd be flying to Chicago today... but we don't live in a perfect world. I blame the Democrats.
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