I got my first Official Rejection yesterday for ACCIDENTAL ART. SXSW, my most coveted festival in this run turned the short down. Realistically, it was a long shot. I’m not surprised, nor depressed, but I am disappointed. I had 2-3 hours of a bummer, but then the Beverly Hills Shorts Film Festival accepted the movie, so that eased the blow entirely. There are a few dozen more festivals I’m awaiting the answer to. I’m not worried at all. I feel great, actually.

We just watched CHE parts I and II on Blu Ray from Criterion. I’ve wanted to see this movie so bad because it was the first ever feature film shot with the RED ONE camera that we used on ACCIDENTAL ART. I originally wanted to see CHE in the theater on a 35mm film print to see how it transferred from a video source to celluloid and then projected, but it came and went so fast, I never heard that it played more than one showing in Columbus.

And the past comes back to haunt me again. HORRORS OF WAR, my first feature film to the uninitiated, has just been released in the UK on DVD as ZOMBIES OF WAR. I sure wish someone had told me. I’m only the co-director, producer, co-editor, and co-writer of the movie. It's always a surreal experience when your movie comes out in the UK and no one thought to tell the producers, directors, or anyone involved...

I just mailed out 4 more submissions to film festivals. That puts my total at 71 since December. Not all of these are ACCIDENTAL ART, some are RELATIONSHIP CARD going to the same festival, or sometimes even REFRACTORY, and in this rare care, it’s also UNCLE PETE’S PLAY TIME and HOW TO DEAL WITH TELEMARKETERS since this is for a comedy festival, but sending more than one movie increases the odds of getting something in the festivals.

I am a fan of Kevin Smith, the filmmaker not the dead actor from Xena Warrior Princess. His story of making CLERKS was inspirational for an entire generation of filmmakers, me included. The legend of making a film for $26,976 on credit cards lives on, but of course I have never used credit cards to make a film.

Aside from wanting to see the movie because of the bad ass trailer, I watched BOOK OF ELI from the Hughes Brothers because it was shot on the RED ONE camera, the same as ACCIDENTAL ART, but this was transferred to a 35mm film print and projected on a big screen. I wanted to see what it looked like... plus it looked bad ass.

Ah how the wheel keeps turning. Your faithful narrator continues to plod on. Another year gone by and another birthday poker bash at the studio. I don't really feel any older. My continual immaturity and inability to grow up refuses to let age dictate anything other than a number on a calendar.

This week's shipment of submissions will put me past the 50 mark. That's 50 film festival submissions. Wow. I don't think I've ever submitted that much before. We'll see if it pans out. Over the next month or so, I'll see if I made something that gets into the big festivals. As I said before, I never really tried that hard. I finally have a movie that looks and feels like a "film festival" movie. Then again, I have received my first official rejection... which is a natural segue into:

I’ve kept busy since Cowtown. The total film festival submissions has now surpassed 37, a magic number. In days long gone, I used to submit like this all the time, all year round. As a got involved in post production full time, the time to seek out and focus on self promotion and marketing waned. I need to get back to it, not quite as much as the past, but definitely more than of late.

Whew. Another Cowtown Film Series done. These things are a lot of work, but I do most of it myself. After that Look At My Shorts iV screening, it will be a really long time before I start delegating again. I am very pleased with many things, but I have my own criticisms of my own screening as well.