September 9, 1998

Jeff Matthews, the director of the Blue Sky International Film Festival in Las Vegas, left a message for me today.  He couldn't quite remember me when I called back, but said "Well, if I called you, then--congratulations.  You've been accepted to the festival."  Before I had a chance to be pleased, I realized that Blue Sky takes place on September 24-27, right between my film market screening on the 20th and the Anthology screening on the 30th.  I told Jeff that I'd get back to him as soon as I could make sure that the print could get from screening to screening in time; but it was too late in the day to reach any of the responsible parties.

Assuming I can shuttle the print around quickly enough, I seem to be in my first film festival.  If I don't attend, I'll feel terribly deprived, as if the proverbial tree had fallen in the forest and I wasn't there to hear it.  But it's going to be a tight squeeze - my film is supposed to show on the 26th and 27th, and the film market doesn't end until the 25th.  And I'm already taking six days vacation from work at a difficult time; it will be hard to push that any further.  And the trip will be expensive: the festival doesn't pay for anything, even the shipping of the print, which it seems to me is often covered.  And I get the feeling that Blue Sky might be a local sort of festival that doesn't lead to much else.  Oh, well--I'll have to think about it.  I wish the guy had at least remembered seeing my film....

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