It's Showtime Folks!
(September 27th 2003)
The 'On The Downlow' Premiere (Test Screening)
We held our free premiere (test) screening of 'On The Downlow' at DePaul University thanks to arrangements made through my buddy Martin Williams. I arrived at 3pm along with copies of the Downlow script to be given to the actors as gifts. Tadeo ran a little late but soon arrives & along with Marty we begin to set up the audio & projection system. We screened the film in two classrooms simultaneously because with all the advertisement we gave we were expecting a lot of people. Good idea too because we had a final head count of just over 250 guests - Not bad for showing an unknown film on a Saturday night. As a gift to the viewing audience for coming, each one received a rolled 'mini' poster of the film, each which was wrapped in little rosaries - a neat marketing & souvenir idea.
Once everyone was settled, Tadeo & I were introduced & we stumbled through our little introduction on how the film came to be. Then as independent filmmaker Dalia Tapia took the podium to talk about her upcoming film we ran into the second screening room & repeated our introductions there, although we didn't stumble too much here since we had practice in the first room. Soon after the lights were turned down & the show began!
What can I say? It went great! The audience laughed at the right places & some places where we didn't think they would. Some nervous laughter at a certain scene that reviled our little secret & a huge round of applause once the film ended. During the Q&A session afterwards we realized we had a really good film here. Not only did the viewers not expect it to be as good as it was, but the topics it raised really made it one of those films that you talk about after you leave the theatre.
Tadeo & I had done it, combined our ideas & talents & created a great little independent film. Now to prepare for the film festival circuit. We're going to ship this baby all over the world. If it gets as much attention as the original 'Broken Warning' short did we'll really be happy. Do we want our film to win? Of coarse we do! But we're not going to be expecting too much, we're just going to take our time & get it out there & see what happens. Just knowing that people will see our film, something that we created is enough of a high for us. This first public screening was a success - Lets see what happens next!
September 28th 2003 - The 'On The Downlow' cast party was held at Tadeo's place where we gorged on snacks & vittles, watched the film again (with a live commentary discussion by those present), talked distribution with filmmaker Juan Fausto (Driveby & Once Upon A Time In The Hood), & just tried to have the best time we could, knowing that we'd have to come back to reality tomorrow morning & continue the daily grind at work.
But there is a future for Iconoclast films, we've got some duzy ideas & we're going to make them into reality. One down & many more to come - you ain't seen nothing yet!
During this time we also talk about a feature version of our short 'Greasepaint'.
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September 29th 2003 - After coming down from the excitement of our premiere it was ready to get working on the future of our film. Now that it's done what the hell are we going to do with it. We decided that we were going to wait in getting distribution rights for the film which would have gotten it sitting on the shelves of video stores. No, we thought the best way to get everyone to see it, to show everyone out there that we were serious about making movies was to enter it in as many film festivals we could - all around the world! But before we could do that we would have to secure the licensing rights to the various songs that are played in the film. Two of these songs weren't going to be a problem since we met with the local Chicago artists who agreed to let us use there music. Well, that was until they saw our film.
Next
On the Road With 'Downlow' - Pt 1
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Copyright ©2003 Roger B. Domian