About two weeks ago I was told that 'Win or Lose' was selected as a student academy award semi-finalist. Out of something like over 100 films, 'Win or Lose' would be competing with 3 other films to go onto the next round. These films screened yesterday at a theater in midtown at 3 pm. So I sat through the top 4 student documentaries chosen in our region. One was my film, one was about people who dance with wheel chairs, one about sick kids waiting for organs, one about some island some where...ummmmm, to be honest, I thought they were just OK. 2 of the 3 were not character driven and were kind of boring. The one that was character driven was about sick kids and played like a medical educational video: I had trouble watching it. By the time my film went on, the judge next to me was sleeping and about 15 people had cleared the room. As you could imagine, 'Win or Lose' did not play great. There was a group of dudes behind me that laughed at every joke but besides them, the crowd was tough. I was nervous.
Then I went for a run and then sat through the narrative category. Now here there was some really solid films in the narrative category including The Lone Star State, Mochi and Without You, or was it With You.....whatever, they were good films. The Lone Star State was one of the best student films I ever saw. The other two films were by Columbia University students and were really solid.
The narrative section ends and we all go upstairs for a cocktail hour and food. This is where the announcing of the winners will take place. Besides being hors d'oeuvres & red wine there was a stage with a 9 foot plastic academy award statue. So when they finally announce the winners, the announce Win or Lose along with 3 other docs. Everyone was told they could say a speech but most people just said thanks and walked off the stage. They announced the narrative section and neither Lone Star or Mochi won, I was kind of floored but it just reinforced what I always thought about art. It is really hard to judge.
There are still 2 more rounds. 9 films competing in the doc section, 3 will be chosen to go onto to the finals. I'll keep you updated.
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