Festival Diary # 4

It's sunday and the final day of the film festival. It has been a long week with plenty of movies, beer and shoptalk. All the screenings of my film have gone well. Three out of four shows have been sold out and people seem to have enjoyed the film. There has been a few newspaper articles to help get some attention to it, but it has not been reviewed anywhere yet which is a little disappointing. But all in all it has been a succesful display for the film.

I went to the closing ceremony last night and saw the awards being handed out. I did not win and it was no real surprise that the award in my category went to the norwegian film "Varde", which has already done well and picked up several awards elsewhere. Other winnners of the night were "Revanche" (Austria), "It's Not Me, I Swear" (Canada), "Waltz With Bashir" (Israel) and "Jernanger" (Norway).
The closing film of the festival was Darren Aronofosky's "The Wrestler" and it was smashing! A completely different turn from the director of "Requiem For A Dream" and "The Fountain" and a tremendous performance from Mickey Rourke, which surely will make him the frontrunner for the Oscar in March. The film has a very fluent and sober style and even though the story is hardly original it makes a profound impact and it is surprisingly touching. Along with "Slumdog Millionaire" it is my top pick of the festival.

I am leaving town tomorrow morning and it's back to work. A week like this certainly leaves you wanting more and hopefully I can come back with another film next year.