Friday, April 28, 2006

Boston Busts Out LOLing

I'm still on the road, but here's the update from the super-ultra-wonderful-we can't believe it really happened Independent Film Festival of Boston. Wow! What a great Festival! Get your films ready for next year. You don't want to miss this one. I'm already devising schemes to make sure I will be back. The Festival was small enough to feel intimate but large enough to offer plenty of choices. A large percentage of filmmakers were in town as well, which was great for catching up with old friends and meeting new ones.



Free gifts were flowing at the Festival. This sweet bag was just the start. It was full of CDs and we were also given a Festival T-shirt, coupons for ice cream, and even a pair of shoes (!!!) from a company called No Sweat that doesn't use any sweatshop labor.



A dedicated staff of volunteers took care of us all weekend and made sure the food was constantly replenished and the Red Bull was flowing. We spent every moment we could hanging out in the Filmmaker Lounge.



The Festival put us up in a super swank hotel that came with multiple leopard print robes. If you send Kevin an email he might show you some pics from our late night photo shoot featuring this robe.



Before our first Boston screening, Kevin and I took the film to Prividence, RI for a screening at the Rhode Island School of Design. Kevin went to school here and we were excited to show the film to students. The screening took place in The Tap Room.



The screening was great, and lots of people showed up to check it out. Special Thanks to Paul Connelly, who help us set this event up.



We had our first of two sell-out screenings, and our best Q & A yet, on Friday night. The audience was great and asked very intelligent questions after the screening. They really seemed to "get it" and were excited about the way we made the film. Our wonderful moderator Joshua can be seen on the far right.



The Festival hosted a bunch of really fun parties, featuring acts like UV Protection, seen here. We ran into a lot of filmmakers that we knew from previous festivals...



...like the gang from THE LAST ROMANTIC. You can also see our new friend, Troy Morgan, in the background on the right.



We also spent a lot of time hanging out with the super cool Michael Tully, who we will be seeing a lot of on the Festival scene over the coming months. I plan to finally see his film, COCAINE ANGEL, at the Maryland Film Festival in May.



Festival Co-Founder and Director Jason Redmond took a moment from his hectic schedule to pose for a photo with Kris and Tipper.



The last time I saw Arin and Susan, the masterminds behind FOUR EYED MONSTERS, I was dropping them off at a train station in Chicago as they rushed to the airport to catch a plane back to NY. They were in Boston to present their podcasts promoting the film.



Adam Roffman (Festival Programmer) and I do our impersonation of the FEMs. Adam invited LOL to the Festival and we tried all weekend to express our gratitude. We hope to be back next year with a new project.

LOL will be showing next at the Maryland Film Festival on May 12 and 14. Come see it if you can.

1 comment:

Sujewa [Blog Admin] said...

Hey Joe,

If u & the team are gonna be in Baltimore for the MD film fest 5/12 - 14 weekend, then come down to DC on 5/13 for the 2 screenings of my flick Date Number One that day.

Glad team LOL had a good time in Boston.

- Sujewa