So the Toronto Film Challenge gala was last night. This was the event where they give out all the awards for best actor, director, screenplay, picture, editing, and so on. So Tai and I got all dressed up and went to the Berkely Church on Queen Street East, met up with the rest of the group, and had a drink before the festivities started.
Once they got going, they showed a montage of behind-the-scenes footage that was shot by one of the TFC people which featured every other group shooting and editing, while it prominently featured our group drinking beer on Saturday afternoon, in the middle of the 48-Hour Challenge. I think we had more fun that most groups.
They introduced a guest speaker named Michael Sparaga who had been busting his butt for the last several years in the independent film world, and recently broke through with a film called Sidekick. He told an extremely interesting (and funny) story about how his film came to be, while he was waiting tables, shooting on weekend and racking up debt.
Before presenting awards, they played a scene from each of the Top 10 movies. It included many that I hadn't seen (because we missed the first half of the screenings) and a few that I recognized. When they played our clip, they used the second song, which I think was about a minute long, and played the whole thing. It was perfect. And when it was done, the crowd who had been clapping politely for each clip took it up a notch and made some serious noise for us. It was extremely satisfying.
So then they start giving out awards and we go 0 for 3 on Editing, Cinematography, and Audio. We knew the first two weren't going to happen, but we kinda thought we had a good chance at Audio. So then they got to the Best Original Screenplay award. Of course, I had written our script, so I was the one eligible, and I think I actually blacked out for a second when they called my name. I went up to the front to get my award, thanked my group and the organizers, and said something about supporting any sort of event that creates opportunities for creative people. A lot of people told me afterward that it was a great thing to say and that they agreed with me.
Then a man named J.R. Diggs came on stage to present an award for his TV show called "In the Can." Now, I don't know if this guy was drunk or if he is always borderline offensive and innapropriate and spastic, but either way he went on a lengthy rant about nothing in particular, made fun of pretty much everyone, and made the whole audience a little uncomfortable. Either way, he gave his award to a different group, which was too bad because it would have been fun to be on TV.
We didn't win the next award, which was for Best Actress. But when it came to Best Actor, and our creepy movie theatre stalker Chris's name was called, we got to cheer again. Of course Chris wasn't there, because he was working, but it was another award for The Lounge Singer.
Audience Choice went to someone else as well, but we had decided at the screenings that whoever brought the most friends to that would be able to vote themselves in. The guy who won best director seemed genuinely moved, which was kinda nice. Their film "Point of Sale" was very well done, and I think they deserved all the stuff they got.
But then it came to Best Picture. The big one. The one that matters. The WINNER of the whole competition. And it went to... The Vidiots ... for the Lounge Singer.
We all went a little crazy. We won the Toronto Film Challenge. 37 groups started, 27 groups finished. And we won. Wow.
We stayed around for a while afterwards and had some celebratory drinks, and shmoozed with some of the other teams, the guest speakers, the organizers, and so on. One of the judges who chose our film was Don Carmody who produced movies like Good Will Hunting and Chicago. One of the organizers said he told her that he couldn't get our song out of his head for days. Brilliant.
Dan says
on 7/28/07 2:34:24 PM:
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Hell yeah! Like I said in chat, given what I saw in the movie I'm not surprised but i AM stoked for ya ;) |
says
on 8/7/07 12:34:08 PM:
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Congrats Bri ... keep it up :-)
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Adam Beck says
on 8/7/07 3:14:34 PM:
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congrats Brian, way to go
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