Buffalo Niagara Film Festival

Ah finally posting a new blog sorry for the long absence on this blog. Well picking up where i left off we finally got back for the third or fourth time from the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival! (well that was three days ago on Monday!) I have to say Jong had to put up with alot of crazy comments, corney jokes and my physco Babel on the way up to buffalo and on our way back to NYC. (the actual times i was awake and not driving.) Mainly to keep him up (but i don't think he needed my help!) It was a long drive but worth it i guess.

I have to say that i think I'm a New Yorker. After all the places I've been because of the film festivals I'm finding it hard to imagine life outside of this city! I guess its mainly i feel out of place when I'm in these other cities and somehow i feel like an outcast. (well i guess i am that outcast but at least in NYC we are all that way so it doesn't matter!) We couldn't find much to do in buffalo but Karting (very fun and AJ's is a nice place to go Karting.) So we were racing these Karts and the object of it all is to get the fastest lap for the session. long story short i got my posterior kicked in by the Director (Jong Wook Lee) but i did win the first time around. The only reason this was the highlight was outside of NYC two Asian guys with medium length hair and one of them happening to be fashionable is not a blend in sort of thing. I guess if we both had short hair cuts and dressed more typically we would have had a pleasant experience. Interestingly enough we didn't fit the requirement to go to this empty club called Omega (what a dumb name anyway!) the damn place made me think of the omega moo's from the movie Revenge of the Nerds. Interesting name for a club. They wouldn't let us in because one of us was wearing a hoodie (Couldn't say anything about the Gucci Hat i guess.) if the bouncer knew anything about making money he would of let us in an empty club. At least they would of had been able to sell some drinks.

Nit picking aside the bars were fun and food was good. Enough with the tourism report. Our screenings went well the feedback from the audience renewed my spirits once again! it was refreshing to see that people were getting it. I also started to realize different things in the movie that i didn't see from the first couple of screenings as well as new things every time i view it. (but that's a whole other blog.) It really lifted my spirits to see this. (We drove so long and had many sleepless nights.) What i was hoping for was more of a turnout from the UB crowd; however i was informed (after handing out cards like i was an religious zealot.) that it was finals week for them. I must say though it was worth the shot. Only if the screening was maybe a month or a couple weeks earlier.

I decided to just fill in the voids with this post so on to the conclusion. The final day we were there we checked out of the hotel and headed straight to the theatre. We decided to watch a few more movies that were playing in the festival we saw Saving GOD and A Deal Is A Deal. I really enjoyed A Deal Is A Deal but thought it got too mellow dramatic at the end but it was a fun movie. Saving God was too Mellow Dramatic for me but that's just me. We got some food and then we hung out at Starbucks until the Award ceremony started. Small detour in our story we were contemplating not going to the Award Ceremony but the director had a feeling and through the advice of his wife Terry we decided to go. (So back to the Award Ceremony.) There we are drinking the wine (i decided I was going to drink the bar dry.) and chatting with people. I was trying to be cool drinking my wine and eating cheese haha, and then the ceremony begins. We listened as they announced the winners one by one as each category was going by we were assuming we won that award if they were to give us an award. the last three categories for awards came up and we started packing and getting ready to head out the door cause surely we couldn't have won in those categories (they were regional and location based.) and then it happened. "The award for Best Feature Film Goes to Roses Have thorns." Both the director and i look at each other with the most stupid face imaginable and uttered " No Way" and that's how we found out we won the Best Feature Film Award at the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival. I almost shit my pants when they announced it. (that's how surprised and excited i was not to mention all the cheese i ate.)