filmfestivals
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.
