Off to Cannes

Well, this will be the very first post on the Shoefly Studios blog. I guess I needed something to kick me in the pants and sit down and write. That kick came a couple of weeks ago when a film I worked on for the 48 Hour Film Project was selected to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival. My team, Glasseye Films has participated in the 48 HFP for several years now, and I have been fortunate enough to have been a part of it.

For those of you who don't know what the 48 Hour Film Project is, it is an international film competition that happens in 70+ cities during the year. Teams compete in the host city for the title of "Best of (insert your city here). 2009's competiton in Boston pitted close to 100 teams, frantically scrambling to make a film in 48 hours. On a Friday night, each team draws a genre (sci-fi, comedy, buddy flick, etc.) from a hat. Your team may have a different genre than the next guy's, but each of the films must contain the same pre-determined line of dialogue, character, and specific prop. Your team then has 48 hours, or until 7:00 pm on Sunday to write, shoot, score and edit a film.

It makes for a tiring, crazy weekend, but it is amazing to see the results of creative people working together under a tight, tight deadline. The films are screened at a local theater, and they run the gamut from painfully awful to amazingly good. Team Glasseye's film "Conversion" was honored as Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Writing, and Best Ensemble Cast in Boston. This was the second Glasseye Films production to win the Best Film category in Boston! From there, the film was screened at "Filmapalooza!" in conjunction with NAB. NAB, or National Association of Broadcasters, is held in Las Vegas every spring. Competition was stiff, as films from all around the world were shown. "Conversion" finished off the podium, but a week later we got the news that our little film was headed to the South of France for the Festival De Cannes!

I will try to post pictures and stories from the festival...I have no idea what to expect, so I hope we all have fun finding out together!