TWWGB WINS AWARD IN CLEVELAND

CLEVELAND ROCKS!!
That pretty much sums up Cleveland. We had the best time in Cleveland and the film festival staff were just unbelievable. They really supported the film and helped us with travel for our team. We knew something was special about Cleveland when we first started corresponding with Bill Guentzler--he was just so nice. And then we started corresponding with Beth Radisek, who decided her family was going to sponsor our film. Aron and I couldn't believe the support. We had two screenings scheduled and then our film was also going to play as part of the FILMSLAM program for high school students. Words can't describe how incredible the experience was for us. We were treated so well --and they just truly loved the film. We were blown away by the experience. Aron did three videos on our Cleveland experience....check them out here. This is the only way to really explain it.

Here is Jerry after a screening and with high school students for FILMSLAM.








Last night, we got a call from Beth and she informed us we had won the Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Film Competition at the 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival. What an amazing end to an incredible festival. Here is a little description on the award category:

Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Film Competition
The selections included in Standing Up are "films with a conscience." Standing Up celebrates social justice and activism by presenting films with messages that cannot and should not be ignored. The winner is determined by audience vote. Standing Up honors those with a different view of the world we live in and the continual fight to make it a better world. Standing Up honors the memory of Greg Gund.

TWWGB Hits the Road!!

Ok, so this blog post has been a long time coming. But once you read about our whirlwind experience, hopefully you'll forgive us. This has been an exciting few weeks for us. Actually, it’s been pretty unreal. Where to begin….

NORTH FORT HOOD
We had been waiting for SXSW for some time. We wanted to get the world premiere done so we could just play the film at festivals and start getting it out there. Aron and I arrived in Austin in the morning and had to race to North Fort Hood. We had promised a Maine National Guard unit that we would do a special screening for them before they headed out to Afghanistan. They were finishing up their training in Texas and were going to have a surprise landing in Bangor, Maine before they headed over. We knew we had to make this trip—and so we raced to get their in time—knowing we were going to have to drive back right after and start preparing for SXSW.

The trip to North Fort Hood was well-worth the chaos beforehand. We got to the Chapel where the film was to screen and the unit had popcorn and drinks ready and they were waiting to screen off of a laptop hooked to a projector. Not the preference for us but they said they were used to watching movies this way. So we went with it.

They totally got the film—and laughed at parts that only people in the military could appreciate. Aron and I received a standing ovation and on the dark road heading home, we couldn’t stop talking about how great an event it was.

But before we could take a break, we had to register at SXSW. So we registered and then spent the rest of the evening putting up posters wherever we could. We were hoping this was going to be sufficient to get word out about the movie.

SXSW SCREENINGS (click here to see the video at SXSW)

On the day of our 1st screening, Aron and I got to the theater about 90 minutes early. Aron did a technical check and it all looked great. The screen at the Austin Convention Center was HUGE. The film looked great on screen. As we sat down and waited for our screening, we started seeing people lining up for a film. We still had about 80 minutes before the screening so I went over to the group in line and asked them what they were waiting to see. They said, "THE WAY WE GET BY." I couldn't believe it....there were people not only showing up for the film but coming over an hour early! It was awesome and it made us feel really great. We had great crowds and a surprise guest for our first two screenings (I can't give it away because they'll be coming to more screenings!). We had a blast.

SXSW SPECIAL JURY AWARD
Our film was one of eight in the documentary feature competition. Aron and I figured we'd go to the Awards show but weren't really counting on anything. So, you can imagine what a shock it was as we started listening to the judges begin to read a description of our film...Aron and I looked at each other and I thought..."wait a minute--that's us!"... It was pretty awesome having our film recognized in this way and it made us feel so special!