The venue was the Icehouse on Jackson. The exterior was neoclassical, yet unassuming. Once inside it was revealed that the building had no roof. It was an interesting courtyard, brimming with anticipation, kettle korn, and hot cider. The Matter of Chance posse was in full effect, sixteen people total: parents, brothers, sisters, an aunt, cousins, and friends (here's to winning the audience favorite award). Gabe and Rebecca were sorely missed.
Further into the depths of the structure was a large silver room with projector screen, speakers, and stills from all the films adorning the side walls. We got our seats and talked. Finally, the screening began. There were a number of very impressive films, our film, AGTC, screening roughly halfway through the evening. In fact, two teams did the typical "film about the 48 hour film challenge" thing, but did it with such attitude and flair that it was thoroughly entertaining. There are always surprises, and a few cliche films, ideas that everyone immediately thought of given the contraints, but we rejected as "too easy," thankfully.
Twenty-one films done and on to the awards ceremony. First, the novelty awards, Best Non-Human Actor (a pug), and so on. Next, Acting, all well-deserved winners. Nevertheless, Brock was cheated. Then, Cinematography, for which Brock has long said we should win at least some award, and we did that, taking 2nd place solid, and winning a 5-pack of DV tapes. 1st place was the breathtaking Somerset Storm, with images so perfect, I wouldn't have wanted to win 1st place from it, if such a thing were possible. Next, Story, and surprise of surprises, we won 1st place, and an iPod Shuffle! This, we were not expecting. 1st place Acting for Brock, perhaps, but not this. Our intentionally mind-boggling plot complexity worked. To think we almost scrapped the story half way through the night. It'd a good thing Brock made us stay with it. Finally, the Overall category, and Angie thought we might get it up until they announced the winner. Even all the people in the row behind us were murmuring that it must be AGTC. However, it was not to be. First Date by Friendly People Productions took the top prize, and a guaranteed spot in the 2006 Phoenix Film Festival.
The whole event was very well run. It was great to see as many awards given out as there were. At the end of the night it was announced that everyone got to take home the glossy, mounted stills that adorned the venue. So, that was it, no one left empty-handed, and a good time was had by all. I hope A3F keeps up the good work, it was the best Phoenix film event I have attended yet. I even had the pleasure of transporting the Brothers Brown and discussing the nuances of language and sanity. Delightful.
Two awards in the bag, the audience award on the horizon, and, yet, work on AGTC continues...
4 comments:
I just wanted to say that many of the films we saw last night were great. Somerset Storm and 48 Hours to Go in particular impressed me. I can't help but feel that filmmakers in Arizona are getting better, and I also want to add that sitting through these films was several times better then sitting through last year's 48-hour films. Some from the previous challenge were good, but generally I was underwhelmed. Not so this time around. Many of these films were very, very good.
Congrats to all the Matter-of-Chancers. It's good to see you guys are taking so many opportunities and making good use of them. I await the digital release of AGTC and Intense Math eagerly.
Rock on.
RGL (A Candy-Filled Mexican that Brock might remember).
RGL,
Thanks, but, oh, no, you gave it away! I haven't seen "The Truth..." yet, but I really want to.
Thanks,
Josh
Thanks RGL! I'll jet you some copies.
BTW: I love calling Dismembered Mexicans "The Truth...". It's like earlier this year when everyone was saying, "You have to see 'The Passion...'".
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