I haven’t written a festival recap in over a year! I did write this blog post with highlights of our Q&A’s from Affliction’s virtual run; and I did write this twitter thread about the good side of my virtual fest experiences over the last year. But last weekend screening Game Brunch at Blackbird Film Festival was my first time screening in front of a live crowd since November 2019, so here I am back to recapping! (Thanks to vaccines!)
I don’t want this post to be too long because I feel like it could turn into a stream of consciousness about 2020 and the pandemic we’re still living in. Plus, I’ve talked about my love for Blackbird in my 2018 and 2019 recaps. So I’m just going to share the highlights of my 2021 experience under these pics from the weekend.
The festival was held in person from Thursday, June 17th through Sunday, the 20th, via outdoor tent screenings during the day and drive-in screenings at night. It then went virtual from the 21st through 30th. I really appreciate the festival sticking with an outdoor setting because of the concerns I expressed in my IndieWorks Update regarding venue staff safety, an ambiguous honor system in terms of being vaccinated/going maskless, and potentially more contagious variants. I also appreciate the fact that the fest chose to continue offering a virtual option as well, to give more attention to the films beyond the small group of people able to attend in person.
I attended with Kelsey, Dani (who acts in the film), and my husband Justin. Because it was being held at a beautiful lodge instead of at the typical university, we decided to make a real vacation out of it - spending time eating out (for the first time in over a year) and enjoying nature (also for the first time in a year), instead of binging films - as I tend to do at festivals. I loved the weekend for this reason, but it also meant I didn’t get to watch as many films and participate in filmmaker meetups as much as I would’ve liked. (Thankfully, I was able to make up for that via the virtual version over the last week. The program was very strong and thoughtful, as usual!)
We were able to attend the evening kick-off party and morning movie trivia and we had a blast with the trivia especially.
Screening in a tent was fun and felt comfortable for going maskless but also not ideal for picture and audio quality. A white tent kept it cool in the sun but also kept the room pretty bright, so “Game Brunch” didn’t look the way I’d hoped for the audience to see it. And the tent let some noise pollution in, which thankfully wasn’t traffic since we were in the woods - but there was music and chatter from people exploring the (cute but too close) craft fair the festival had also organized. So I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed. However, it was still so nice to be able to experience the film in front of an audience. It was not only my first time doing so in general in over a year, it was the first time seeing “Game Brunch” with strangers at all. I had forgotten how nerve-racking that experience is! But once people started laughing, I was loving it. There were 30 people there; it seemed to be primarily other filmmakers and their families. Considering the volume issues, it’s hard to say whether or not all the context leading to the punchline communicated, but the film got a lot of laughs in all the right places.
It wasn’t until I was standing up in front of everyone that I realized it had not only been a year since I last spoke live in front of a crowd, but it was my first time talking in person to even more than a handful of people at a time (and just a month a earlier, it had been a year since I spoke to literally anyone in person other than Justin)! So I was unsurprisingly anxious and realized while awkwardly introducing myself that I need to work on finding my public speaking groove again. (I had definitely grown comfortable in my zoom speaking & teaching zone, where I could be seated in lounge pants and surrounded by my cats and all the various beverages I could want.) Despite my initial unease though, the Q&A was nice. It was moderated by IndieWorks alum Stacey Maltin, who did a great job picking up on the nuances of each of the films. I look forward to finding my groove again and doing more speaking at other live festivals later this year.
I got a few nice comments about how amazing the cast chemistry was; and one guy told me it was exactly his type of humor and his favorite of the festival. Also, an elderly woman told me she didn’t understand my film but she thanked me for seeing my vision through - which was endearing and oddly sweet.
I was excited to experience my first drive-in but it unfortunately got rained out the night we planned to go. The festival was able to quickly pivot and secure a screening room inside the lodge to screen the night’s films, though. We ended up grabbing dinner while that was being organized, but it looked like a major success from their photos. Overall, the festival staff did a wonderful job making this strange year easing back in a success. They provided a lot of opportunities to safely connect with other filmmakers and experience other local artists through live music and things like the craft fair I mentioned. It was a lovely weekend “in the sticks” (as Upstate-born Justin would say).
This post was still pretty long - sorry!
Local Vegan Treat:
Everything at Brix is delicious!
Catch the film next at:
Chattanooga Film Festival (you have one more day to check out the excellent virtual lineup!)
Queens World Film Festival (online on July 1st, in-person on July 2nd)
Adirondack Film Festival (October 14-17 - details soon)
