SIZE MATTERS!

"If there is an empty seat next to you, please raise your hand"

At our farewell screening in Hamburg I had more pain to endure... people being turned away because the screening was sold out. Such is life! Had a blast... now looking forward to going home and hugging my boys! Next Stop WOODSTOCK!!!

Does size really matter?

10:30 pm on a Sunday night in a gourgeos 200+ seat theater in a trendy part of town our film premieres in Hamburg... no more than 25 people in attendance. I take a breath! I had not experienced this since our film has been in festivals. The houses have mostly been sold out or close to it... Do I see it as 1\8th empty or 1\8th full?

I intruduce the movie as we always do and the film rolls on. However, this time I stay to watch it, maybe because of a sore heart or if only to fill another seat. Through the opening credits I'm figuring, well it's a late screening... and today was a major election day in Germany... people have to work tomorrow and blah, blah, blah...

By the time Mariana and Antonio are having their big bathroom fight I am no longer licking my wounds but completely engrossed in the film. Next thing i know the credits roll and when the lights go up I am called up for the Q&A. Every step I take to the front of the house makes me prouder than the next of the film we just saw. By the time I reach the front, I can only see the people that did come and their immense gratitude for the story we just shared. We hear 'half empty/half full' all the time, but to experience it elevates it from a cliche to life's sweatest moments. While the size of the audiece will always vary, the quality of the work remains. I made sure to thank everyone in attendance as they made our Hamburg premiere very meaningful. Danke Schön

Up for over 30hrs

I am in Hamburg after flying from NYC, eating currywurst for lunch, seeing 'you won't miss me' by NYC filmmaker Ry Russo-Young (whom Paola met in Portugal)and 2 glasses of wine and all night dancing! So why am I not in bed? Not sure I can answer that, but loving it so far! I know I have to get some ZZZZzzzz as we screen EN on Sunday at 22:15 hrs (I still have to count, but getting used to it). BTW in their catalogue our film is under the 'Vitrina' section, which they highlighted our film to represent the section... an honor! I will bring back enough copies for all...
Gute Nacht!

Finger typing from London

As the title suggest I am blogging from my phone so do excuse any typos! At the moment I am in London, under my warm covers resting from av full two days of being a tourist!!!! And I have been THAT tourist. I carry a map, a lonely planet book, I'm armed with 2 cameras and walk slowly as I look at all the sights pissing off the londeners who have some place to be. And Im happy to be that person!

As I have mentioned on Twitter/facebook I love it here. I feel like I could easily live here, have a life here, be happy here. Paris I adore but I don't feel like Paris could ever be mine the way New York is mine BUT I could own London! Hopefully life will bring me to live in London for s few years.

I've spent the last two days alone. Doing what I want to do, taking my time in the rain, seeing the theater I want to see, sitting, standing and walking whenever I want. Basically I have had freedom for two days and it has been great. I've learned that I am much quieter than I thought. I don't really speak to strangers, instead I watch and listen and prefer to stay to myself. If someone speaks to me the convo comes pouring but I rarely will initiate any conversation. I am not judging it...it's simply an observation about myself.

I return to NYC in 3 days and I have quite a bit of writing to do For a deadline I have upon my return and I also some charater work for a Law and Order gig I just booked. So once I get back to NYC I hit the ground running! In other words I need to enjoy the calm before the storm.

Redemption!

I woke up this morning a bit disoriented...I wasn't sure where I was..I didn't recognize the hotel room (tends to happen when your traveling a lot) and then after a few seconds of figuring out where literally in the world I was...everything flooded back. I was in the beautiful town of Deauville, in a stunning hotel with marvelous views that overlooked the ocean. I took a deep breath and grabbed my phone to check my e-mails...oh i am a product of this tech addicted generation!

I opened an e-mail that read..."Congrats ENTRE NOS won Best American Film in Portugal!" I did a double take...read it again to make sure my mind had not played tricks on me but no there it was again plain as day light "Congrats ENTRE NOS won Best American Film in Portugal!"! I smiled, took another breath and thought of all the people that made this movie happen. In that moment I was deeply grateful, deeply humbled and deeply touched by EVERYONE that worked their butts off not for money (cause no one made a lot of money) but for a more elusive idea...for art, for faith, for gratitude and for whatever reasons each person decided were important to sacrifice so much of themselves in order to make Entre Nos happen.

I took a shower, got dressed and went to Gloria's room to give her the good news. When I told her she couldn't stop laughing...it was 8am and we were trying to not wake our neighbors up but Gloria couldn't stop laughing and we soon rushed down to breakfast and toasted OUR success with a delicious mimosa.

Now Gloria is heading back to NYC and I am in Paris for a few days and then I head off to London. I've been to Paris now 4 times but in all my visits here I have missed some very important landmarks...the Louve and Notre Dame..so today I took the day and visited each place. It was wonderful to be by myself after a week of not having a moment alone.

Tomorrow my plan is to write, write and write. I have this romantic idea that I will be very inspired in the cafes of Paris....I hope the ghosts of all the great writers who have been inspired by this beautiful city over the centuries will come and visit me and help me on my new journey.

Will write more hopefully tomorrow!

Life is good today!

Love on the streets of Deauville

Yesterday, with our hair and make up all done up, P & I walk out of our hotel for our press session followed by our screening. Right away the paparazzi "Paola... Paola!" (with perfect pronunciation) so she smiles, waves and signs! We continue... We arrive at the red carpet (which was a NYC block long) and then "Paola! Gloria! Paola! Gloria!" sign & wave... We're escorted to our photo session and on-camera interview. LOVELY!

After champagne in the green room, we have our very dramatic and thrilling entrance to the 1,500 seat theater (a la Rocky) with loud pounding music - Boom, boom, boom - boom, boom, boom! And since they don't do a post Q&A, they call us on stage to introduce the film. We stay for a few minutes to make sure sound and pic are great and then head out to find food as we are now starving and have a whole night planned.

We find our spot in an outdoor restaurant. We debate about getting back to the theater before the movie ends or just staying for a nice meal and catching up- although we would risk getting the audience's reaction. But once we sit down and I take my shoes off (auch) we're not getting up.

After a nice talk and lunch, we stroll back to our hotel (with my shoes in my hand) and notice droves of people bc the movie just let out... then from acoss the steet we hear OUT LOUD, "Bravo Paola! "Bravo Gloria!" (my shoes go back on- auchies) and more to sign and pics to smile... then more people come up to us and so warmly congratulate us on the film right in the middle of the steet. In our best French (and only word we know)... Merci, merci, merci! So much love... we were so touched. Like the best things in life, if we had planned it, it would not have happened so beautifully!

On a different but important note, yesterday was September 11th. We were way, but our hearts never left home.

It was bound to happen...

So eventually we had to cross that bridge...eventually we would not have perfection and last night was when is when it happened.

Last night we had out first (and hopefully last) bad screening. I hate even typing that ( and yes I am thumb typing from my phone) but I feel I have to share the good and the bad. Ok..so why was it so bad??? Well the sound was unbearable..it wasn't on our end it was the euqipment and the picture was just as bad. The projector was completely off...very yellow. It was so bad that I stayed for 2 mins and then walked out. I couldn't torture myself any longer. Some might say that I am being dramatic (as I tend to be and film directors tend to be EXTRA sensative about tech stuff) but I am not being dramatic. I walked in for the end credits and there was a guy covering his ears..that's how bad it was.

I came home last night after the screening and went right to bed. It had been a bad day...my bag was still lost and the screening sucked. I wanted to blog about it last night but the hotel computer was broken and my laptop was dead and the charger was in my lost bag....so I decided to just sleep.

This morning I woke up to my bag in the hotel lobby in perfect condition and the shining sun. I went to the beach and didn't even think about the screening. I let it all go...I had to...

So now I am off to a party..met a few filmmakers (one if which saw entre nos at Tribeca and loved it...such a small world....and that of course made me feel better) gonna eat some food and catch a flick.

Avanti!!!

Lost in translation

I learned that speaking spanish does not mean I understand a word of Portugese. Portugese sounds like a mixture of Italian, Spanish and Chinese...which leaves me at a complete loss when it comes to comunicating. Thank god my Portugese brothers and sister are all fluent in Spanish so communication is relatively easy.

I walked around the downtown area of Setebul and it was really beautiful. It reminded me so much of Cuba, with its arciteture and pealing paint, the colors that were once bright but with time have become a muted color of their former selves. So beautiful..brought back many memories of Cuba.

I also ate some AMAZING fish for luch which had me fantazing of the old fisherman that must of caught it off his rickety fishing boat this morning. I took about an hour to complete my meal..no rush...just me alone relishing every bite..every moment...enjoying my company and my thoughts.

It was a mostly quiet day today..not a lot of festival activity..and I feel as if I am in a deep trance since this jet lag has allowed me to only sleep a few hours in about 36 hours. But the quiet tranquil trance state will change in about two hours as we will be screening the film tonight. A flip of mood will ne a must.

As most of you know my luggage didn't make it...its lost somewhere in between Paris and Lisbon..I have made due for today but tomorrow is when the problems really come into play. But I am not thinking about tomorrow...I am staying in the moment today and enjoying the breeze, the quiet and the trance like state.

More tomorow...no spell check and my jet lag has taken an effect on my typing skills pardon all the typos!

Outbound

In 40 mins I will be on a plane to Paris and then catch a connection to Lisbon arriving at about 10:30 am. We screen ENTRE NOS tomorrow night so I will have just enough time to get my hussle on so people show up at the screening. I've never been to Portugal and am very excited to drink amazing port and practice my Portuguese. I've promised myself and by extension you, that I will document my two weeks through Europe via my blog. I'll be posting pics, video (if I can figure out how to do it as I am very tech stupid) and writing my thoughts.

It will be fun as I am bound to get into many adventures especially since I am traveling by myself! This is my first time REALLY traveling alone. I have gone to a few places for work alone but I've never vacationed alone...so I am excited to learn new things about myself and see how I deal with be alone for two weeks. It's good practice for me as I have a master plan (one that I cannot share with you just yet) but this is getting me prepared for that fabulous plan.

Anyway, my phone is about to die (that's how committed I am to writing this thing...I'll type the dam thing with my thumbs!) so I must be on my way.

Next up...Lisbon!!!!
Paola