Yesterday, I got word that “Yellow Scare” won another award (It’s true! I even wrote a blog post about it!). It was unexpected but welcome, and got me thinking about how we are nearing the end of the festival run for my little indie WWII comedy. There are still 4 festivals we are still waiting to hear from, but after that, the run is over.
It’s been an interesting festival experience. I was slightly disillusioned about some of the “big film festivals,” but at the same time I had some truly fantastic experiences at the festivals we went to (WE LOVE YOU, GOLDEN DOOR IFF!), and I learned things about the business that I didn’t know before. Some good, some less than good.
“Yellow Scare” isn’t for everyone. But for the people that like it, they really like it. And that is what counts in the end. When I write, I write for myself, because if I don’t like it, how can I expect anyone else to? So, I wrote a screenplay that I really like… One that is an homage to the classics I grew up with while being its own thing… And it was a screenplay that made me laugh on the page & continues to make me laugh on the screen.
The second that we, at Narrow Bridge, decided to make a 2nd feature we realized that each project would have to be better than what preceded it. And in terms of the amount of festival acceptances & awards we received, “Yellow Scare” has the most festival laurels and awards of anything we have ever done. (And I had an excuse to go to Orlando around Halloween-time, which has long been something I wanted to do.)
We were official selections at: the 2018 Hoboken International Film Festival, Auckland International Film Festival, Fort Worth Indie Film Showcase, Gen Con Film Festival, Golden Door International Film Festival, Orlando Film Festival, and the Comedy World Network International Film Festival.
We won Best Supporting Actress (Mila Milosevic) at the Hoboken IFF.
We won Best “Foreign” Sci-Fi Feature at the Fort Worth Indie Film Showcase and were nominated for Best “Foreign” Feature, Best Comedy, and Best Noir there too.
We won Best Comedy, the Founder’s Award, and Best Supporting Actor (#DanielMichaelGregory) at the Golden Door International Film Festival and were also nominated for Best Feature Film, Best Local Film, Best Supporting Actress (Laura Folger-Lopez), and Best Director (Joseph Whelski).
We were nominated for Best Poster (Steven Defendini) at the Orlando Film Festival.
We won 2nd Place Best Feature Film at the Comedy World Network IFF.
Oh, and September 23, 2018 is Narrow Bridge Films Day in the city of Bayonne, NJ.
I can’t tell you what will happen with the remaining festivals we have out there… Maybe we’ll get in… Maybe we’ll win some more awards… Or maybe “Yellow Scare” won’t be for them.
Either way, the next step will be securing distribution for the movie. Armed with our laurels and awards, we will begin reaching out to different companies that we have met along our travels (American Film Market 2016) and some others that don’t know us yet. Hopefully, in keeping with our goal of improving, the distribution we get will be even better than what’s come before.
Finally, I will take this time to once again thank everyone who was a part of this movie.
Joe & Alan – Thank you for helping to take my crazy screenplay and the minimal resources we had and filming it so beautifully.
Isaac & Billy – Thank you for being hilarious IN the movie and for playing multiple roles BEHIND the scenes to help me from going completely crazy — Partially Crazy, yes. But never completely crazy.
Joey – Thank you for being there since day 1 and always capturing such amazing sound, and then the monumental post-production work that you always do.
Maggie, Steve, Danijela – Thank you for taking our incredibly limited budget and somehow creating fantastic period sets in an even more limited amount of time.
Tinea – Thank you for doing the same with the amazing period costumes you created.
Morgan – Thank YOU for doing the same with the hair and makeup.
Sami & Doug – Thank you for all of the different things you did on set… But mainly thank you for not driving the van into the river.
Jenna – Thank you for organizing so much and doing all of the things you did as Line Producer.
Mariette – Thank you for choreographing this movie… Especially when you consider that I didn’t really hire any “dancers.”
Dan (Granda) – Thank you for another film score. Next time, hopefully, there will be enough money to get a live orchestra again.
Kristen & Josh – Thank you for being instrumental in getting our singers in form for their songs under conditions that were not always ideal.
Gordon – Thank you for being, essentially, a one man lighting artist and showing me how much a gaffer can do.
Alex – Thank you for your amazing work on set and in post production on color correction.
Lyon – Thank you for enhancing what we did on set with some great SFX.
My AMAZING Cast – Thank you for elevating the words on the script to new heights and being 100% in this thing. Some of you have been with us from Day 1 (#DanielMichaelGregory) and some of you just joined us for this film. I heart you all. You are all best actors/actresses to me.
GOLDEN DOOR IFF – I have to single this amazing festival out again. We have been attending the GDIFF for years now, and they always make us feel welcome and invited in a way that other festival’s haven’t always done. This year, they were beyond amazing… From the awards, to the red carpet events, to connecting with our home city and county to present us with certificates honoring our work. Not enough can be said about this festival. ❤
SUPPORTERS – Whether you are just reading along, or if you donated to our Indiegogo Campaign(s), or if you saw one of our screenings… Thank you for your support. It means more to us than you will ever know.
And that is it… Amazing people… Festivals… Awards… It has been a hell of a ride, and it’s not quite over yet.
I’m going to leave you with the best review the movie has received. A 5 year old (now 6 year old) close friend of my family loves the movie… She even quotes it unprompted. After she saw it she said, “I laughed so hard, I thought my butt was gonna fall off.”
And you know what? That ain’t bad.
Much love,
Sam
Narrow Bridge Films 