ISFF Award

Fatherland was named Best Foreign Language Period Piece at this year's International Student Film Festival. The festival ran this weekend in Hollywood. Fellow Chapman film The Vaudevillian took home the Grand Jury Award.

The final scheduled festival screening of Fatherland will be this weekend at the Red Rock Film Festival. In the last year, it has played at more than 20 festivals on three continents. Though I was only able to attend a few of the festivals, it's been gratifying to know that on a given weekend the film is playing in some corner of the world.

As Fatherland winds down its run on the festival circuit, the producers are considering distribution options. We hope to soon be able to announce where the film will be available on DVD and the web.

Red Rock Film Fest

Fatherland will screen in competition at the Red Rock Film Festival, Nov. 13-16. Also screening will be The Vaudevillian, an excellent film from another Chapman grad, Bryan Nest, which I was able to see at the Siouxland Film Festival.

Viva Siouxland

At the last minute, I made it up to Sioux City Saturday for Fatherland's premiere screening in the great state of Iowa.

The Siouxland Film Festival is a great exhibition of work by regional filmmakers and grad students from across the country. Unlike most festivals, it's really more about providing an enjoyable screening for the public. There's no workshops, Q & A's, nor even introductions of the filmmakers. Instead, the films are just screened back to back in the beautiful setting of the Orpheum Theater. I'd estimate the crowd at at least 300, and unlike many festivals, most of those were NOT friends and family of the filmmakers.

I was very happy with how Fatherland looked and was received by the audience. It was the first time I've seen in on the big screen, and I couldn't have hoped for nicer venue. I was also really impressed with the two other films from Chapman University - Making a Killing and especially The Vaudevillian.