OCTOBER 2005 FESTIVALS
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Last October Apartment 206 had a bunch of screenings including...

Cinema Lounge

Apartment 206 screened Halloween night as part of Film Independent's Cinema Lounge series. It showed at Cinema Space, a combination restaurant / movie theater in Hollywood to a crowd of about 20. Afterwards there was a Q&A with myself and Thor Freudenthal, a very talented filmmaker who made a really fun short called "Motel."

Greg tells the ghost story "Apartment 206" was based on.

Ojai Film Festival

Jon and I had a great time at Ojai, a small but very friendly and well run festival north of LA. I only caught one of the screenings (Saturday morning) which had a minimal but very enthusiastic audience. I stayed after for awhile answering questions.

One of the highlights of the festival was an amazing panel they had about the actor-director relationship. Four actors, including Gena Rowlands and Dianne Ladd, answered questions and talked about working with directors like Scorsese and Cassaveties.

At the end of the day, the festival had a very beautiful awards ceremony at a private home. We met a bunch of great people there—and by sheer coincidence, bumped into Julianna Brannum, the woman who programmed Apartment 206 at Cinema Lounge (above).

NYC Horror Fest

I couldn't fly to New York for the NYC Horror Fest but my parents went in my place. The screening was SOLD OUT and the film, though less horrific than the two that played with it, was very well received. One thing I've learned on the festival circuit is horror and sci-fi film fans are AMAZING and very supportive and excited by the genre they love.

Since the festival, I've "met" the filmmaker to Mainstream (which played with Apartmnet 206) and some of these fans on Bunnyblog, the blog of the great Bunny Speigelman (who reviewed the film). Thanks for the support, Bunny!

Outside the Tribeca Cinemas where the festival was held.

My dad in front of the NYC Horror Fest poster.

A hospitality desk in the theater lobby.

The theater fills up before the screening.

My mom (front left) waits for the show to start.

Westwood Film Festival

We had a small but decent screening at the wonderful Crest theater in Westwood. A bunch of friends who hadn't seen the film came out. Afterwards, the festival director did a brief Q&A.

Greg, Nicki, fellow filmmaker Steve Loh, and Troy Bishop talk before the movie starts.

Also...

We had our largest audience yet (over 200 people!) at the FAIF film festival at the Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Unfortunately, the projection was not very good and in the wrong aspect ratio. Though I was squirmming, people were able to overlook it and get into the story.

Charleen, Jeremy, Jon and I went to the awards ceremony at the Beverly Garlands Hotel (in the exact same room that the San Fernando Valley Film Festival awards ceremony was held). Though Apartment 206 didn't win, it was nominated for best Cinematography.

We did, however, pick up a "Best Dark Fantasy Featurette" award at the International Horror and Sci-Fi film festival in Phoenix. I couldn't attend as I was at Ojai, but the Ronalds Brothers (who we met at Breckenrdige) told me it was a great festival with good attendance.