Hey everyone!
This past weekend was CRAZY. I took a road trip down with Jamelle Williams-Thomas and Odessa Rose — and her husband, Michael, who drove us all the way down to Charlotte and back up to DMV.
The reason for this road trip? The feature film I worked on “Water in a Broken Glass”, that premiered last March, was screening at CineOdyssey Film Festival in Charlotte! We thought, hey, it’s only a six hour drive, we can make it!
We only went for the last night of the festival because it was on Saturday and that was the only time everyone could take time to go. So, we arrived there at 4:30 and Jamelle had to do a panel discussion — at 4:30. Ha! We had to run into the auditorium because we were a few minutes late, but all ended up going well because it so happened they were running behind as well! The panel discussion was intriguing. It was on diversity in the film and television industry. They had a couple filmmakers (both were women by the way) and a couple of community organizers. The topics and discussions they touched on were really interesting and I’m glad I got to witness it.
Then after the panel we ran to our hotel, checked in and changed for the screening at 8PM. Seriously, we didn’t even have time to eat!!
Me… taking a selfie.
Watching this for the second time was like I was watching it for the first. Jamelle and the editor, Stefan, made some changes from the premiere (sound and color grading) and it was even better. I have to say, I loved hearing the audience’s reactions to certain parts of the movie. It was that moment where I felt like, “Hey, we made a great film!”.
And then after the screening there was a Q and A. The festival director, Tre McGriff, asked for everyone who worked on the film to come down… so down I went. Odessa, Jamelle and I sat down to answer questions about filming and how we did the funding. I was glad to be able to talk about being on set and the social media part (that’s what I’m doing right now).
AND THEN… oh my god… and then, Tre was like “So, this was a really great film, I watched this a ton of times and I fell in love, so we decided to give you this award…”
IT WAS BEST FILM.
Jamelle, Odessa and I were like, “WHAT?!?”
Jamelle Williams-Thomas, the director of Water in a Broken Glass, holding her award!
Seriously, guys, this film got Best Film in a festival. I almost cried. I felt like all this hard work that everyone put their heart and soul into was validated.
I can’t wait for more festivals to pick up this film because with every place we show it, everyone always tells us how happy that this film made them. How relatable it was to them and how they can’t wait to tell their friends and family.
That motivates me to write my scripts because I want to get that same reception. I want someone to come up to me at one of my film screenings and tell me that my story helped change their lives.
That’s what I live for and I can’t wait for that moment.
Thanks for reading!
-Emi