Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend all of the competition screenings, where the ASIFA members vote on the work - I was traveling to some far-flung festival spots to screen "Revengeance", probably. In fact, I almost missed my own screening because I was in the middle of moving my studio to a new space 3 blocks north.
But I was able to make it to Independent Night, where they screened my new short, "Cop Dog" - and quite frankly, the screening didn't go very well. Some of my favorite jokes got no laughs at all and my two biggest gags got just weak titters from the audience. "Oh, well," I thought, "better luck next year."
However, when I got the invitation to the awards ceremony, they hinted that I should attend, which usually means your film has won something. So I figured maybe I'd get Honorable Mention for Design or some other minor award.
The grand night itself was a blast, almost everyone in the NY animation community was there - Candy Kugel, George Griffin, Emily Hubley, the great Signe Baumane, and surprise, Pat Smith, my co-blogger and fellow Scribble Junkie, with his family.
Katie Cropper Klein was the epitome of a glamorous and efficient hostess. The awards were given out very quickly and smoothly, then they came to the Independent Films section, and Pat Smith won 2nd Prize for "Pittari". And then "Cop Dog" won the First Prize - I was shocked, and of course, very happy. The Dog is back!!!
The only downer was that Willy Hartland didn't win anything for his wonderful film "NYC Sketchbook". We all retired downstairs for food and wine and celebrations - and of course, a lot of interesting gossip.
If you have a short film, you should definitely enter the ASIFA-East festival next year - it's a blast!
And now I'm off to the Reuben Awards, being held over Memorial Day weekend in my hometown of Portland, OR - where I'll be hanging out with Matt Groening, David Silverman, Linda Barry and many others - I'll give you a full report next week.
--Bill P.
with my producer, Wendy Cong Zhao
Signe Baumane and me! Animated by John Lustig
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