Stro

[Greg]

Ah, the twisting continues. I've got it in my head that I'm going to a big festival, solely based on the fact they have screened the film in it's entirety twice. It's the insidiousness of hope, like a mosquito buzzing around my brain. I'm finding it hard to concentrate on anything. I'm waiting for that festival to tell me something, but their notification date isn't until August. I've got a lot of spinning in the chair to do until then. I'm seriously considering starting a massive building project in the studio to get the studio squared away so I can think of other things. I'm also scratching at a movie about Jerzy Pawlowski. I figure I could set up some interviews while I'm in Poland.

Here's the conundrum. The Big Festival conflicts with Burbank IFF. They are the same week. Back in the blissful days of just signing up for festivals, I figured I would go to one and HK would go to the other. Seriously, I never thought the Big Festival would give me a second glance. But if the Big Festival is going to screen my film, I really think I should give it the world premiere. This means cancelling about another dozen festivals including Burbank which I have already agreed to attend. Although, in their letter, if I don't upload by July 7, they will just assume I don't want to be part of the festival. I don't mind cancelling the ones who haven't selected, but I will feel bad about Burbank. They were the first to say yes!

In a perfect world, I will get a schedule from the Big Festival saying when they will screen the movie and then I can tell Burbank they can't screen until after that occurs. That will work. I'm sure the festival organizers won't mind getting jerked around by some newby filmmaker.

Of course, the Big Film Festival could pass entirely on the project. Like I said, they aren't supposed to talk until August. I'm thinking I should plan on going to the Big Festival and preemptively cancel all the festivals from now until September. But if I do that and the Big Festival cancels, then I've missed my shot at a bunch of mid-level festivals.

Damn Mosquito. I didn't think I had a chance at the Big Festival until I saw they had seen the film twice. Something, they also did at the Warsaw IFF. And Warsaw IFF wasn't supposed to notify until September.

Poor little me, right? My default state is pessimistic and this is really screwing with that. I expected very little after the run I had with The Last Captain. I'd be happy to screen at the SF Doc Fest. But Warsaw has seriously skewed my expectations. I think Stro could perform at the big markets. Maybe my view of the Warsaw IFF is skewed? Maybe it's just a small festival masquerading as a big festival under the imprimatur of FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers' Associations). The FIAPF only recognizes 15 festivals as International Film Festivals. Also on the list are Berlin, Venice, and Cannes.

Do I roll the dice or not? Decisions. Decisions.