OFFICIAL SELECTION IN STRASBOURG

Europe's coming through, again. 'True Beauty' just got accepted into the Strasbourg International Film Festival, running August 28 through September 6. Kinda like a home-coming. When I grew up in Germany it wasn't too far from Strasbourg. Our father, a francophile for no apparent reason (thought he spoke French perfectly, but I think the natives just smiled and nodded to make him go away) dragged us every summer vacation to France. France, France, France. Up and down. Left and Right. Every battlefield of WWI and the sequel. Maybe that's why the French were not that keen on the old man. The short of the story is that I've been to Strasbourg before. And now I'm kinda going back. Thought that was neat.

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GERMANY! FINALLY...

Had my doubts about that fatherland of mine. Felt like I wasn't good enough to play in my own home. But here comes Halle, to save the day: 'True Beauty' was accepted into the Shortmoves International Short Film Festival, taking place in Halle, Germany, September 18-19. Na also. Geht doch!

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or, if you're adventurous (or German)

MEHR INFORMATION

BEST AMERICAN SPECTRUM SHORT IN INDIANAPOLIS

'True Beauty' won 'Best American Spectrum Short Film' (guess it's a fancy way of saying Best American Short Film; I admit, it does sound cooler; long parenthetical, sorry) at the Indianapolis International Film Festival last weekend! Not much more to say but KICKASS!

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DUSTIN SEAVEY NOMINATED FOR BEST ACTOR

If you've seen the film, you know he deserves it: Dustin has been nominated for Best Actor at the Feel Good Film Festival. Of course he couldn't have done it without me, directing him. So where's my nomination? Huh? But seriously, it's good to see his work recognized. Awards Ceremony is Sunday, August 9th. Cross your fingers...

OFFICIAL SELECTION AT FIRSTGLANCE

FirstGlance Film Fest Philadelphia has selected 'True Beauty' to screen in this year's festival, taking place in, you guessed it, Philadelphia, October 22-25. I'm so feeling the brotherly love...

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TRUE BEAUTY FEELS GOOD ON OPENING NIGHT

Not only has 'True Beauty' been accepted into this year's Feel Good Film Festival, but we're playing opening night on August 7th at the Egyptian. They're taking the 'Feel Good' very serious at this festival: There's a vodka reception right before the screening, so I'm expecting happy drunk people (I'll be one of them), then a fight, teary declarations of love, and all ending in a big group hug. I'm so there...

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OFFICIAL SELECTION AT SAUSALITO FILM FESTIVAL

Possibly the prettiest town in America (according to me; no, I haven't seen all the pretty towns in America, but this is my blog) has accepted 'True Beauty' in this year's festival. The Sausalito Film Festival runs August 21st - 23rd and shows 'films that speak to our naturally rebellious nature, our creative soul, our passion for cultural understanding'. And now, thanks to 'True Beauty', also to our inner bonehead...

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TRUE BEAUTY GETTING ITS KICKS...

... in the 8th Annual Route 66 Film Festival. It takes place September 19-20 in Springfield, Illinois, and is on the list of 25 Festivals worth the fee in Moviemaker Magazine. I couldn't agree more.

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OFFICIAL SELECTION AT PORT TOWNSEND FILM FESTIVAL

The Pacific-Northwest, long declared by my wife to be her favorite region, is making a strong case for becoming mine: after Washougal and the Bumbershoot festival in Seattle, Port Townsend decided to accept 'True Beauty' in their 10th Annual Film Festival. There don't seem to be that many people in Port Townsend (8,334 at the 2000 census), so the population-to-True-Beauty-This-Night-exposure ratio might turn out to be rather high!

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FILE THAT UNDER WHAT THE &$@#?

Didn't really expect that: 'True Beauty' won 1st Prize at the Indie Gathering in the category Suspense / Thriller. (record scratch) What? Really. I can prove it too: http://www.theindiegathering.com/2009winners.htm.
I mean I'm not complaining. I'll take it! Suspense it is! I'm thrilled...

SPECIAL JURY MENTION IN THE PALACE

Hope 'Special' means good and not... well, special: 'True Beauty' got a Special Jury Mention at the 7th In The Palace Short Film Festival. Can't buy anything for that, but I can brag about it. Like I'm doing here.

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BEST SCREENPLAY AT TOFIFEST

'True Beauty' won Best Screenplay in the Short Film Competition at Tofifest in Poland, the festival with 'angry cinematography' as one of the judging criterias. Well, nobody's angry anymore. At least not until I get my next bank statement.

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OFFICIAL SELECTION AT 1 REEL FILM FESTIVAL

There's an advantage to making a 'short' short film: 'True Beauty' was accepted in the 1 Reel Film Festival, a part of Bumbershoot, Seattle's city-wide music and arts festival. They've been doing this Bumbershoot thing for 39 years now, and over 150,000 visitors swarm the city of Seattle over Labor Day weekend to see 'the best in music, film, comedy, spoken word, dance, theatre, performance and visual arts'. And now 'True Beauty'...

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HIGHS AND LOWS OF FESTIVALS

There was some great news yesterday: 'True Beauty' was accepted into the Action on Film Festival in Pasadena. Yay! Then it turns out the festival is at exactly the same time as LA Shorts Fest. Crap! Promised the good folks at LA Shorts that I wouldn't show the film anywhere in LA county prior to their screening. And so, sadly, we got pulled from Action on Film. But hey, in the end, it's a good problem to have...