There's No Place Like Home: The Joys of a Local Festival



Left to right:  Director Laura Thies,
Festival Director Bill Sorvino, &
Best Supporting Actress nominee
Tara Westwood



Above: great turnout from cast & crew

I've loved taking Surviving Family to film festivals over the past few months:  we premiered in Massachussetts, and have since screened in Florida, Ohio, Washington, California, Arkansas, and Toronto.  But as Dorothy says in The Wizard of OZ, "There's no place like home."

We had our local premiere on Friday night October 12 in the Landmark Loews Theater in Jersey City, as part of the Golden Door Film Festival to a large and enthusastic crowd.  Many of the NY-based cast and crew were on hand, as were friends, family, and indie film lovers from the area. 

At the awards ceremony on Sunday night, we were thrilled to pick up 4 awards:  Best Actress (Sarah Wilson), Best Supporting Actress (Phyllis Somerville), the Alice Guy Blache Female Filmmaker Award (director Laura Thies), and the Best Local Movie.  We were nominated for an amazing 11 awards in total:  another Best Supporting Actress nomination for Tara Westwood, Best Director, Best Feature, Best Cinematography (Timothy Naylor), Best Editing (Laura Thies), Best Screenplay (Mara Lesemann), and Best Costume Design (Cortney Hillman). 

Adding to the fun of evening, actor Paul Sorvino, best known for his role in Goodfellas and the uncle of festival director Bill Sorvino, was on hand to present the Spirit of New Jersey Award to actor and artist Federico Castelluccio, who is well known to fans of The Sopranos for his role as Furio, the Italian hitman who caught Carmella Soprano's eye.

It will be great to take the movie back on the road - next on the agenda is the River City Festival of Films in Owensboro, KY in early November.  But it was GREAT to be the home team for the weekend!