“I’m the Fuckin’ Best” - Recap of The New Hampshire Film Festival
I cannot believe how amazing it was to go to a film festival like this one. I met young, aspiring filmmakers, filmmakers with a respected name, avid film enthusiasts, and saw some spectacular documentaries and narrative films.
Waking up in the morning the first thing I noticed was SNOW! In the middle of October? What?? This was just the beginning of my weekend.
The first film I saw was Food, INC. It was disgusting, informative, and groundbreaking about the food industry. I knew a few things about what our food is like now, but I learned a lot more info. I liked the angle they were going with at the end about going for a positive change about the food we eat.
The first panel of discussion was about filmmaking and finance. After talking to a few aspiring filmmakers, I’m glad I’m taking Business Concepts for the Modern Media because the panel gave a lot of the information that I learned in class.
I explored the town a bit before I went to see the first feature film I interned for, “Don McKay.” I walked around the Music Hall a few times and then one guy taught I was the loneliest girl because I kept walking by him a few times until I saw the line producer of Don McKay. He then realized I was waiting for my friends. I got to reconnect with people from the team and representing the art department. Yeah! The movie was really great to see it from script to screen and unfolding with so many twists and turns. The guy sitting next to me talks a lot and kept telling me how much he enjoyed the film I worked on and how he would never be here if I didn’t talk him into it.
We went to see Serious Moonlight and I like the story. It was a chick flick that guys can actually enjoy. Afterwards, it was the first after party.
The after party was a lot of fun. I hung out with the line producer, the production coordinator, and the director and met other screenwriters and filmmakers. I got the director’s number! He said if I did get into the LA program, he said to call him! I also taught a guy how to cha-cha. It was great; he said I was the greatest thing that happened to him because I was a cute girl who was teaching him how to dance for free and not charging him! He wanted to take lessons with me more. By the end of the night, I got a few more business cards. I need my own business cards though.
Saturday morning was nice and sunny. I went to the Distribution and the New Frontier panel of discussion and most of the stuff they were talking about I was learning in that class as well. The highlight of that was a filmmaker in the audience accused of the co-founder of ThinkFilms of cheating filmmakers their money, how he was happy that it collapsed felt that it was important for the DYI model to exist now, and wondered why one of the filmmakers went with him. The guy on the panel yelled, “NO! NO! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!” It’s a really tough market nowadays with more films than distribution.
Afterwards, I saw Shooting Beauty, a documentary about photography and disable people. This was probably the best documentary I’ve seen because the emotions are so raw and relatable. One disable girl signed, “I am embarrassed. I am in love.” I couldn’t stop crying because that feeling is so universal. A simple project for 12 years became a great journey and I’m glad they shared a bit of their journey with us.
Adventures of Power is a must see. SO FUNNY! Love the intro; it was a great hook. Yeah, the people who were behind this were so cool too.
Some shorts we saw afterward were mind-blowing like Ana’s Playground. Really neat stuff that I’m glad I saw.
The after party was the BEST! I met the coolest people there. It started off with the line producer asking me with other people around us, “How good are you?” I said, “I don’t know.” He said, “No, you say “I’m the fuckin’ best! Say it!” I had to say, “I’m the fuckin’ best” in front of everyone. I guess that gave me a bit of confidence in this industry. I love how he introduced me to other people as 1) a drug dealer 2) his girlfriend and 3) 5 minutes later, his fiancé. It was pretty great. I also met a director and an actor of a short from Toronto. The actor said I should have my business card as a paint-by-number artist. The director said I had positive energy and asked what my sign was and apparently he was a Libra. A few minutes later, an actress came over and asked me if I were an actress and if the director was my boyfriend. I replied, “I just met him 5 minutes ago!” A few minutes later, I also met another director who thought I was an actress and told me to do it all! Maybe I should get back into acting. Who knows. The greatest way to end my night was when the line producer said, "Pearl, laugh if you think Mike (the other creative mind behind AOP) has a small ding-dong." Of course I couldn't stop laughing. I’m glad I got this amazing experience, meet with industry professionals and be part of a great film community.
Waking up in the morning the first thing I noticed was SNOW! In the middle of October? What?? This was just the beginning of my weekend.
The first film I saw was Food, INC. It was disgusting, informative, and groundbreaking about the food industry. I knew a few things about what our food is like now, but I learned a lot more info. I liked the angle they were going with at the end about going for a positive change about the food we eat.
The first panel of discussion was about filmmaking and finance. After talking to a few aspiring filmmakers, I’m glad I’m taking Business Concepts for the Modern Media because the panel gave a lot of the information that I learned in class.
I explored the town a bit before I went to see the first feature film I interned for, “Don McKay.” I walked around the Music Hall a few times and then one guy taught I was the loneliest girl because I kept walking by him a few times until I saw the line producer of Don McKay. He then realized I was waiting for my friends. I got to reconnect with people from the team and representing the art department. Yeah! The movie was really great to see it from script to screen and unfolding with so many twists and turns. The guy sitting next to me talks a lot and kept telling me how much he enjoyed the film I worked on and how he would never be here if I didn’t talk him into it.
We went to see Serious Moonlight and I like the story. It was a chick flick that guys can actually enjoy. Afterwards, it was the first after party.
The after party was a lot of fun. I hung out with the line producer, the production coordinator, and the director and met other screenwriters and filmmakers. I got the director’s number! He said if I did get into the LA program, he said to call him! I also taught a guy how to cha-cha. It was great; he said I was the greatest thing that happened to him because I was a cute girl who was teaching him how to dance for free and not charging him! He wanted to take lessons with me more. By the end of the night, I got a few more business cards. I need my own business cards though.
Saturday morning was nice and sunny. I went to the Distribution and the New Frontier panel of discussion and most of the stuff they were talking about I was learning in that class as well. The highlight of that was a filmmaker in the audience accused of the co-founder of ThinkFilms of cheating filmmakers their money, how he was happy that it collapsed felt that it was important for the DYI model to exist now, and wondered why one of the filmmakers went with him. The guy on the panel yelled, “NO! NO! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!” It’s a really tough market nowadays with more films than distribution.
Afterwards, I saw Shooting Beauty, a documentary about photography and disable people. This was probably the best documentary I’ve seen because the emotions are so raw and relatable. One disable girl signed, “I am embarrassed. I am in love.” I couldn’t stop crying because that feeling is so universal. A simple project for 12 years became a great journey and I’m glad they shared a bit of their journey with us.
Adventures of Power is a must see. SO FUNNY! Love the intro; it was a great hook. Yeah, the people who were behind this were so cool too.
Some shorts we saw afterward were mind-blowing like Ana’s Playground. Really neat stuff that I’m glad I saw.
The after party was the BEST! I met the coolest people there. It started off with the line producer asking me with other people around us, “How good are you?” I said, “I don’t know.” He said, “No, you say “I’m the fuckin’ best! Say it!” I had to say, “I’m the fuckin’ best” in front of everyone. I guess that gave me a bit of confidence in this industry. I love how he introduced me to other people as 1) a drug dealer 2) his girlfriend and 3) 5 minutes later, his fiancé. It was pretty great. I also met a director and an actor of a short from Toronto. The actor said I should have my business card as a paint-by-number artist. The director said I had positive energy and asked what my sign was and apparently he was a Libra. A few minutes later, an actress came over and asked me if I were an actress and if the director was my boyfriend. I replied, “I just met him 5 minutes ago!” A few minutes later, I also met another director who thought I was an actress and told me to do it all! Maybe I should get back into acting. Who knows. The greatest way to end my night was when the line producer said, "Pearl, laugh if you think Mike (the other creative mind behind AOP) has a small ding-dong." Of course I couldn't stop laughing. I’m glad I got this amazing experience, meet with industry professionals and be part of a great film community.