And That was That

That is a picture of our midnight screening in SLC.

We got there just before midnight - Angus sick as a dog, I was really tired and Natasha had got sick too and bottled it. The theatre was a cool kind of fleapit from the 20s. They sold dvds - director ranked, foreign and cult - in the lobby and it was in what looked like SLCs version of Williamsburg. Mormom hipsters, there you go.

WE racked the sound up to 8 which helped and let the film go.

We had our first walk outs! Two couples during the sex scene. The theatre manager told me afterwards that one of them - a young woman - was so nauseous she had to lie down in the foyer while her boyfriend tried to stop her from fainting. He said the only other time a film had had that kind of effect was when they played 'Irreversible'! COOL!

We had good audience participation - yet again. The big moments seem to be Bluey getting done, the flare, and the Josh torture stuff.

Afterwards almost the entire audience stayed and we had a great Q&A session - just Angus and me. Really missed the others, especially having the actors on stage because so many people are genuinely fascinated to know how this was acted and because they come across so damn well. We had most of the usual questions - quite detailed and intelligent about the genesis of the script, where Donkey Punch came from, shooting and rehearsal methods etc. My 1st confrontational question - challenging the decision to include gore and asking me why I was so obvious and didn't rely more on suspense like Hitchcock. Think I answered well - and I did point out that if Hitchcock had half the chance he would have loved to have shot a sex scene like this. The guy was completely obsessed by sex. Interestingly, no one objected to that scene, at least not yet. One cool thing we're finding - people, men and women, really love it when these female characters fight back. Even when they're shredding guys up with outboard motors and burning them alive people REALLY root for these girls and Jaime has had a few 'Girl Power!' greetings after the shows.

Everyone always completely blown away by what we all achieved on our budget - shooting, cutting, sound design, music (which people LOVE), and the way it was all shot in schedule and to such quality. To all you out there - Nanu, Kate, Greg, Barry, Francois - well fucking done. You're being noticed.

OK. That was it. Sundance is over. I have no idea who's won what even though we spent a few minutes at their awards party before our screening. I'm off for a couple of days in LA to enjoy the attention, then it's back home and back to plugging away on everything else, a few swims at the Queen Mother, listening to the clanking heating and finally watching Season 4 of the Wire on dvd.

Peace out my droogies.

xxx

O