Film Festivals
The Morning After at AACTA Social Shorts 2019
The Morning After is going public!
After more than 12 months on the festival circuit, it’s time to let the film run free! And the big reason is – we got into the AFI/AACTA Social Shorts Awards!
Our film The Morning After will shortly be screening online as a part of AACTA’s #SocialShorts presented by MINI online short film competition and we need your vote!
The film will be available to view (and vote on!) from 9am on Monday 15 July through to 28th July. I’ll update this post with the link on Monday.
The idea is, you click the ‘like’ button next to the film’s title on the website, and thereby cast your vote for your favourite short film in each category (drama, comedy, open – we’re DRAMA). You then enter the draw to win a double pass to the 2019 AACTA Awards Ceremony and Official After Party. Obvs people outside Australia won’t be flying in just for this – but please do view and vote anyway, if you like the film? TA!
News September October ’18
Well, it’s now been almost a year since “The Morning After” was released into the wild…er, the film festival circuit. With a 40% selection rate, we’ve done pretty well – and September was especially good for us!
Ocean Coast Film Festival
“The Morning After” was an Official Selection and screened at this festival in its inaugural session on September 7. Unfortunately I was in the US at the time and couldn’t attend, but geez that Portugese coast looks nice!
Detroit SheTown Women’s Film Festival
This is another festival in its very first year, and again we were thrilled to be screened in Motor City! “The Morning After” screened on Saturday September 15 in the Thrillers section. I was in Long Beach at the time with another festival, but the organisers were so communicative, even offering discounted accommodation, and the event SOLD OUT! So yes, this is definitely one I’ll be submitting my next short film into – and any female filmmakers reading this should too!
Cambodia Town Film Festival
This festival has been going for 6 years, in Long Beach California, where a lot of Khmer people (as well as Vietnamese and Lao) settled in the aftermath of the Pol Pot regime. I attended this one, and was welcomed with open arms by organisers and volunteers. I loved Long Beach the place as well! Full of palm trees, much more chilled than LA, but still with cool shops and eateries, beaches, sea breezes and blue skies 🙂
On Saturday September 15 We heard a very moving address by Ellen Wong (Knives in Scott Pilgrim vs the World) on identity and sense of place, and then were graced with the appearance of Angelina Jolie! Ellen is on the festival committee now, and Angelina is a friend to the community, and may well attend each year (but you didn’t hear it from me). We screened in the morning block after the introductory addresses. Again, I recommend it to anyone in LA – it makes a great weekend getaway, and you’ll catch some great shorts, documentaries and features.
Best Short Fest
The Morning After was a semi-finalist at this Ontario, Canada festival, which took place on September 22 and 23.
And finally, it’s worth mentioning that the script for “The Morning After” has also done really well in the few script competitions I entered it into, especially – TA DAAAA!
PAGE International Screenwriting Awards
This is one of the biggest screenwriting awards in the world (along with the Nicholl, Austin, BlueCat etc) and each month we’ve been getting closer. First we made it through to the quarter-finals, then the semi-finals, and now we are down to the Top 10 Finalists in the Shorts category. On October 15 the winners will be declared, and some writers’ lives will be changed forever!
Cambodia International Film Festival
Yes, this little film that was made in Cambodia, has now screened in Cambodia!
The Morning After was made an Official Selection at the 2018 Cambodia International Screen Festival, which took place in the nation’s capital, Phnom Penh – and screened, not once, but twice!
It screened in the Cambodia in Short section – seeing as how it was entirely filmed in Siem Reap! On March 7th it screened at Koh Pich, and on Sat 10th it screened at the Prime Cineplex, Sovanna, after which we had a Q&A. I also had a few young khmer filmmakers up afterwards to discuss.
The audience, mostly young khmers, laughed quite a bit, especially earlier, where my protagonist Dave is stuck out in the wilds of a rice paddy field, with nothing but his shorts, with empty pockets. There’d be a flash of memory, then back to him in the middle of nowhere, and they’d laugh their arses off. A great sense of the ridiculous, I think. Totally different to western audience response, though.
I saw a bunch of great short films and some docos (although I missed a lot too!). One feature I have to rave about is Marlina The Murderer in Four Acts, an Indonesian feminist western by Mouly Surya, who studied writing and film in Australia. If it comes to your town, go see it!
Festival Successes
So, it’s been about 2 months since the Morning After was completed and submitted to festivals, and we’ve had a bunch of “Official Selections”, some “Finalist” awards and a few wins! Not only that, but we had our premiere screening at the Newtown Dendy Cinema, as part of A NIght Of Horror Film Festival.
ONIROS FILM AWARDS – Official Selection, and Best Mystery/Thriller finalist. It’s a quarterly award, so will go up against other finalists next year.
GENRE CELEBRATION FESTIVAL (Round 4) – Official Selection; was nominated for Best Drama Short, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing. Won Best Director!
CREATION INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, (Autumn session) – Official Selection; won Best Produced Screenplay and Best First Time Director (but I have to be honest, I was under the tutelage of Sean Cousins).
BLOODSTAINED INDIE FILM FESTIVAL – Official Selection.
LOST SANITY SCI-FI & HORROR FILM FESTIVAL – Official Selection.
PARIS PLAY FILM FESTIVAL – Official Selection.
CANADA SHORTS – Official Selection; Award of Excellence.
WORLDWIDE WOMEN’S FILM FESTIVAL (AZ) – Official Selection.
Screening:
A NIGHT OF HORROR FILM FESTIVAL – Official Selection and screened 29 November, 2017.
Thank you to all the festivals who selected our film! Hoping to travel next year to some festivals round the world, so fingers crossed for some more selections and finalist awards.
Film ready for festival submission
Well, it’s taken over a year, but it looks like the film is just about there! Post-production is drawing to a close, as colour grading and sound mix are finalised, and the whole thing is being uploaded to Vimeo, ready for Flickerfest submission tonight! And then, many other festival submissions after that. Phew!
Hopefully, we can soon start listing festivals where it can be seen. Fingers crossed!
And now – TIME FOR COCKTAILS!!!
