Anyone who’s been here before will notice the new digs, more appropriate for “In the Dark” (I don’t know what I was thinking with the white site before).

If anyone spots anything broken, missing, etc., please let me know!

Updated! Two more pics from my acceptance speech added (thanks to Mikel Weisler!) See bottom of the post for all pics.

“In the Dark” has taken home the “Best Sci-fi/Horror” award from the Dam Short Film Festival!

Tara Shayne (and her brother) and I attended the festival the last 2 days and it was a great experience. A wide variety of work was shown, covering everything from comedy to documentary to horror (of course!). As mentioned earlier, our movie was programmed into the best time block, around midnight on Friday the 13th! Everyone enjoyed the screening, including Mr. Desi Arnaz, Jr., owner of the Boulder Theatre, where the festival held its screenings.

The following day, after the remaining movies were screened, DSFF held their awards ceremony, complete with limo ride and the red carpet treatment. My first thought when I heard them announce “In the Dark” as an award winner was, “Oh, no, I’m going to have to get down there and pretend I’m not freaking out!”

I had Tara come up with me and so she was the first one I thanked, and everyone applauded her. I then thanked the cast and crew because without them nothing would’ve happened. And I ended by saying, “Let’s hope this is just the beginning.”

We met lots of great people, surprisingly many from the LA area (or soon to be). Before our screening I found out that “In the Dark” was accepted into Backseat Film Festival in Philadelphia (look out, Philly!) and after the awards show, I was personally invited by the director of the Las Vegas Latino Short Film Festival to submit “In the Dark”.

So all around, a successful festival visit!!

Check out some pics from our visit -

The main event of the Late Night Horror Film Festival took place yesterday as planned (screenings took place the two previous days for judging), and a grand time was had by all. In attendance on behalf of “In the Dark” was Art Chmielewski, who generously allowed us to shoot the movie in his home (which many in the audience not only loved but agreed that helped the movie work); Robert Salcido, who was our back-up boom operator and myself.

Despite a small turnout, I couldn’t take 10 steps without someone shaking my hand and congratulating me on a well-made movie! It was quite bizarre to be getting this kind of recognition after the movie had been finished for so long, and from complete strangers! At the after-party, I had long conversations with people who were just over the moon about “In the Dark,” debating theories over what happened and what could’ve been changed, etc. Definitely refreshing to find this many people that involved with the movie!

To cap off the evening, “In the Dark” was given the award for Best Editing, besting out even two feature films, one of which was “Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer,” a well-known and modestly-budgeted movie starring Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger). But I also have it on good authority that it was #2 for a few of the other awards, mainly Best Effects, which, they admit had they known what the effects were, it would have likely won. So in other words, not winning Best Effects is actually a testament to how GOOD and invisible the effects were!!

All around a fun time, watched some great movies, had some drinks, met fun people, networked a bit. A successful festival visit for “In the Dark”. I like to think is a sign of things to come.

I’ve just received word (email) about 30 minutes ago that my movie has been selected to screen at this year’s Dam Short Film Festival!! I believe this is the biggest film festival either of my movies have been accepted to, so this is a pretty big deal for me.

The festival takes place February 11th to the 14th (yes, it ends of Valentine’s Day) in Boulder City, Nevada, just a quick bounce south from Las Vegas. “In the Dark” will be screening late night Friday the 13th as part of Dam’s “Horror: Scream If You Can” line-up along with 5 other shorts (11:30pm to 1am). You can see the complete festival schedule here, and all festival info here.

I’m very much interested in attending, hopefully I will!

“In the Dark” hasn’t yet been accepted into Gone With The Film, but I thought I’d help spread the word to fellow moviemakers that this particular festival has been postponed due to the recent brush fires in the Sylmar, CA area. Apparently the festival director’s home and business (Iris International Film) was burned down, which also took with it some of the earlier festival submissions (”In the Dark” was submitted after the fire).

If you are someone who submitted their entry before November 14th, you will need to resend your movie.

Best of luck to Mario Polanco and the rest in getting things back together.

I have just received word that “In the Dark” will make its film festival debut at the Late Night Horror Film Festival! And to make this event even more special, it’s in my very hometown of Whittier, California.

The festival will also be featuring some big-hitting movies, including one of Robert Englund’s (Freddy Kreuger) recent movies, Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer.

The Late Night Horror Film Festival is scheduled to run January 15th through 17th, 2009 in various locations in Whittier, with the main event taking place January 17th at the Wray Theatre. For more info, visit the official LNHFF Myspace page.

I’m proud to announce that I just saw that “In the Dark” is now listed in the Internet Movie Database! Check it out! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1318402/

I have also submitted the movie so far to the following festivals: Oxford International Film Festival, Burbank International Film Festival, Dam Short Film Festival, and Paranoia Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival. Will also be submitting to the Late Night Horror Film Festival by the end of this week.

Through a couple personal connections, I’ve managed to get “In the Dark” into not one, not two, but THREE video rental stores! They won’t be rented per se, but offered as “free previews” along with a regular rental, and borrowers will be required to provide feedback when they return the movie.

BUT renters will also have the option to buy a copy if they want to! Everyone wins

Just got word today from Sean Doyle at the Baker Street Filmmakers Showcase that the screening in Boston last night was a big success and that the people loved “In the Dark”!