Awards and Audiences

Director Laura Thies

Writer/producer Mara Lesemann

Executive Producer Carlo Fiorletta

We survived our marathon weekend of 3 film festivals in fine form, and even prospered.  Executive Producer Carlo Fiorletta brought back from the Indie Gathering not just the Best Actress award for our leading lady, Sarah Wilson, but also the Audience Favorite Award.  And we were thrilled to receive the Best Narrative Feature award from the Columbia Gorge International Film Festival.

Labor Day weekend brought another screening, this time at the terrific Central Florida Film Festival, where Surviving Family was a finalist for the Best Narrative Feature Award.

Director Laura Thies even made it home to Germany in time for her brother's wedding!

But the best, the most rewarding part of these festivals has been the audience reaction at each and every one of them, which has made us realize that yes, we really do have a good movie here.  What matters are the two women who grabbed me after a screening to tell me how much it meant to them, and how much it touched them.  And the people who were thrilled to find out that a second screening had been added, because they had missed the first one and their friends had loved it.  And the guy sitting behind me in a theater who laughed at each and every one of the humorous parts - even the one that comes so early in the movie that most viewers haven't yet realized that this is a movie where it IS OK to laugh.

Next up is the Toronto Indie Fest - we screen at the Toronto Underground Cinema at 186 Spadina Avenue in Toronto on Monday evening September 10 at 6 PM.  The beautiful and talented Tara Westwood, who stars as Jean Malone Fulton, will join me for this one.

More soon....